by Hans Johnson

There was a guest performer at the New year’s Eve concert of Christian singer Coffey Anderson in Irving, Texas.

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions

[HT: houstonbombera/Twitter]

UPDATE 1/27, 12p: St. Blogustine has more good photos.

1/26, 11:58a: (Title credit, Right Links Blog)

Daughter Daena, son-in-law Andy, and I marched with an estimated 400-650,000 like-minded pro-life souls yesterday at the 40th annual March for Life. Here was our view while in the thick of it (click all photos to enlarge)…

The March always ends at the Supreme Court Building, where the infamous Roe v. Wade decision was made on January 22, 1973. There is always a small band of abortion supporters waiting there to greet the pro-life throng. Here’s a shot capturing the competing signs and chants (bullhorn held by Kristan Hawkins, executive director for Students for Life of America)…

Other photos, the first via Right Links Blog…

UPDATE 4:25p:: New York Times photo of the March, going on to claim in the article only “tens of thousands” attended?

[Top photo via Daena Moore]

by Kelli

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

• At The Public Discourse, Michael New notes the fact that abortion has not delivered on its promises to reduce the out-of-wedlock birthrate, the incidence of child abuse, or the crime rate.
• Abortion in Washington shares poll results from the state, showing the population overwhelmingly supports parental notification before abortions are performed on minors.

• Down on the Pharm reports that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (pictured left) is promoting a Reproductive Care Act, which would “allow late term abortions after 24 weeks… for any reason.”
• Moral Outcry analyzes Planned Parenthood’s new de-emphasis of the “pro-choice” label as well as their accompanying ad campaign.
• Big Blue Wave discusses a recent study on condom distribution in Tanzania, which included pre-adolescents, age 10+. Almost 63% of the study’s participants argued that “condoms are suitable for adults, not children of their age because they should not be engaging in sexual activities before marriage.”
• Coming Home shares news from the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists that says RU-486 chemical abortions (which take 36-72 hours) may be reversible through the use of progesterone injections.
• Kansans for Life says the ACLU “has withdrawn their failing lawsuit against a 2011 Kansas law which bars private health care insurance from covering elective abortions.”
• At Live Action, Kristen Walker Hatten addresses the fear so often felt by women experiencing unplanned pregnancies.
• At Life Training Institute, Scott Klusendorf gives an excellent response to a pro-life pastor who chose to vote pro-choice this past election:
  

  I grieve that my former pastor supports a party where 90 percent of its current House membership voted against a bill protecting unborn females from sex-selection abortions. He voted for a party that supports forcing religious groups to fund insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs. He voted for a party that says doctors must perform or refer for abortion or go out of business. While he’s worried about Christians forcing their views on others, the party he supports is forcing Christians to comply with abortion mandates or face legal prosecution.

Thomas Aquinas College remembers former student Andrew “Kent” Moore, who was tragically killed last July while participating in the Crossroads Walks Across America:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/G3fm2cRz0Ts[/youtube]

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• The Pope has tweeted support for the March for Life.
• Gerard Bradley discusses the paradox of Personhood and how the Supreme Court’s refusal to address the most foundational question could resurface:
  

  Roe’s shaky edifice is built on a studied and stubborn refusal to address the foundational question about who the law is for. This reticence is all the more remarkable because none of the seven justices in Roe’s majority seems to have believed that the unborn really are persons. They reckoned nonetheless that the constitutional law they produced could not be grounded in any answer — theirs, yours, mine — to that philosophical question. Their reticence was supposed to credential the Court’s judgment as somehow uniquely objective and thus supremely authoritative.

• Michael New reviews Dr. Monica Miller’s book, Abandoned:
  

  Overall, the best service this book provides is to give the reader a window on the pro-life movement from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. During this time, clinic blockades played a prominent role in the right-to-life movement. This was for a couple of reasons.

  First, the Roe v. Wade decision occurred as the Vietnam War was concluding. Many thought that the same civil-disobedience tactics used by opponents of the Vietnam War would be useful in stopping abortion. Second, those who engaged in clinic blockades thought that these tactics were strategically shrewd. When arrested, pro-lifers invoked a “necessity” defense — stating that their conduct was justified as necessary to prevent public or private injury. They hoped a necessity defense would allow attorneys to present evidence documenting the humanity of the unborn — and ultimately lead to a reversal of Roe v. Wade.

• Despite the claims of some abortion advocates, Daniel Williams notes how the pro-life movement formed in many states before Roe:
  

  In the spring of 1971, pro-lifers defeated abortion legalization bills in all twenty-five of the state legislatures that considered them. The next year, their record was almost as successful: Only one state liberalized its abortion law, and it did so only under court order. Pro-lifers were equally successful at the ballot box.

  When Michigan and North Dakota introduced voter initiatives to legalize abortion in 1972, pro-lifers defeated both measures by wide margins. By the end of 1972, pro-lifers thought that they were probably within only one year of repealing New York’s permissive abortion law, and the director of Planned Parenthood’s Western Region division worried that pro-lifers would soon make abortion illegal in California too. “In the West we view ’73 as a difficult year for abortion,” he confided to a colleague in the summer of 1972.

Created Equal “exposes the hypocrisy of President Obama’s oath – swearing to protect while defending the killing – at his inauguration”:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/HjQF1WD2V5g[/youtube]

UDPATE 1/25, 8:10p: Watch or rewatch ProLifeCon here: http://www.frc.org/prolifecon

1/24, 11:42a: I’m happy to announce the Family Research Council will again host ProLifeCon tomorrow, an annual gathering of pro-life online activists the morning of the March for Life.

PLC runs from 8:30-11:30a EST. More from FRC:

The event will be webcast live, and will feature experts and legislators to inform you about the cutting edge of the pro-life movement and give you ways to make a difference on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the rest of the online world.

I’m honored to have been asked to emcee the event again this year.

There is a great list of confirmed speakers!

• Jeanne Monahan, President, March for Life
• Dr. Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
• Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.)
• Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.)
• Kate Bryan, Communications Director, LiveAction
• Kristan Hawkins, President, Students for Life of America
• Josh Duggar (oldest Duggar son, pictured above right with family)
• Dan Pennell, Life United
• Roland Warren, Chief Executive Officer, Care Net
• Janet Durig, Executive Director, Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center
• Dean Nelson, National Black Pro-Life Coalition
• Jason Jones, MovieToMovement
• Dr. Michael J. New, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Be sure to register now!

On the cold, dark, wet winter’s evening of Jan. 19, without any media promotion and with little notice, an estimated 35,000 Irish people gathered in Dublin to oppose the government’s proposed legislation. In American terms, this would be equivalent to 3 million people attending Friday’s March for Life.

The event was described as “extraordinary” and “a master class production” by the mainstream press. Reporters commented that the sheer numbers present should give the government “pause for thought” before implementing any abortion legislation.

~ Dr. Eoghan de Faoite describing the opposition against attempts to legalize abortion in Ireland, Washington Examiner, January 23

[HT: Hot Air]