Week in Review – Abortion, Elections, PPFA data, and Spiritual conflict
Welcome to our first PLTW of 2020.
The year started off with media reports that 207 members of Congress (39 senators and 168 House members) sent a brief to the United States Supreme Court stating its landmark decisions on abortion—Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey—should be “reconsidered and, if appropriate, overruled.”
As these efforts are taking place at the federal level, some states are looking to further solidify abortion in their jurisdiction. An example is in Massachusetts where “An Act to Remove Obstacles and Expand Abortion Access” (called the ROE Act) is currently being pushed in the state by a host of pro-abortion groups. These groups, including State Representative Dylan Fernandes, the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, ACLU of Massachusetts, Indivisible Outer Cape, Cape Cod Women for Change and Upper Cape Women’s Coalition, are hosting a meeting on Monday, January 13, to explore the ROE Act.
As these battles rage, 2020 is also a presidential election year—with a real need to elect a pro-life president as well as a majority of pro-lifers in both the US Senate and the US House of Representatives. Many people think they don’t have to worry about the election until November, but the truth is that the primary caucuses and elections will determine what choices you have in November. Those primaries are coming up fast:
| February 3 | Iowa |
| February 11 | New Hampshire |
| February 22 | Nevada |
| February 29 | South Carolina |
| March 3 | primaries in 14 states: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. |
For a full list of primaries and dates, go here. Get involved early and support true pro-life candidates.
Planned Parenthood released its 2018-2019 Annual Report this week and said it committed 345,627 abortions in one year—the largest number ever. For full details and analysis of the data, see the articles here.
Finally, as we spend time with marches, rallies, elections, and other needed activities, let’s not forget that this is basically a spiritual battle. We must turn to Jesus and ask Him to bring an end to this tragedy in America. When God sent Jesus to earth to save us, He could have done it in any manner He wanted. God the Father chose to send Jesus to us through Mary. We know, then, that one of the most effective ways to go to Jesus is also through Mary. Last October, American Life League launched the Marian Blue Wave to have people commit to saying a Rosary a week to end abortion, end Planned Parenthood, and pray for our clergy—especially our bishops.
In 2019, we surpassed our initial goals with 2,000 people from 29 countries making the commitment. Our next goal is to find 500 faithful Catholics from each of our 197 Catholic dioceses in America to pray a weekly Rosary for all the intentions of the Marian Blue Wave
Movement—including praying for and supporting all of our bishops.
ALL in the News – ALL Starts New Year with Huge Media Hits
On January 2, American Life League video editor, Dwain Currier, published a video on the “Top 8 Headline-Grabbing Stories of 2019”. Currier’s video has garnered hundreds of views and was featured in a Pregnancy Help News article.
Also on January 2, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy passed legislation that will give Planned Parenthood $9.5 million. Murphy, a Catholic, was called out by Judie Brown in a scathing press statement. This statement was reprinted by the same website, Insider NJ, which initially reported Murphy’s Planned Parenthood funding. After no response from Murphy, Brown released another statement on January 7, calling for immediate action from all New Jersey bishops to uphold Canon 915.
Over the weekend of January 4, Planned Parenthood released their 2018-2019 annual report. ALL executive director Jim Sedlak released a statement highlighting that in one year Planned Parenthood lost 400,000 donors. This statement was quoted in several articles, including Townhall, One News Now, and Live Action.
Judie’s weekly commentaries continue to be featured as a column on Renew America.
Jim Sedlak’s Pro-Life Activism from Creation to Death is a weekly talk-radio program on the Radio Maria USA network. The show can be heard live every Friday at noon (Eastern Time) and is repeated on Saturdays (10 PM).
Video of the Week – Top 8 Headline-Grabbing Stories of 2019
What pro-life or pro-abortion stories of 2019 were the most memorable? Here’s a closer look at the stories that dominated pro-life headlines.
Action Item of the Week – East Coast and West Coast join in call for justice
January is always pro-life action month. This year is the 47th anniversary of the decriminalization of abortion by the United States Supreme Court. On January 22, 1973, the court handed down its infamous Roe v. Wade and and Doe v. Bolton decisions.
We call your attention to two events by the African-American community.
Please help us advertise these January events:
- January 15, 9:00 PM – the 3rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Fundraising Webcast
- Details: https://issues4life.org/webcast.html
- Speakers include:
- Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, Archdiocese of San Francisco
- Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
- Dr. La Verne Tolbert, former Planned Parenthood board member
- Father Joseph D. Fessio, S.J., founder and editor of Ignatius Press
- Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests For Life
- Tegra Little, CEO, No Longer Bound Abortion|Miscarriage Recovery
Ministry
- January
24, Noon to 2:00 PM – The 13th Annual StandUp4Life Rally/Walk in Oakland
- Details: https://issues4life.org/s4life.html
There are two major national pro-life events:
- January 22-24 in Washington, DC, is the National March For
Life
- Schedule for the three-day event is:
- Wednesday, January 22, 2020
- March for Life Expo*: 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
- Thursday, January 23, 2020
- March for Life Expo*: 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
- Conference: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- Youth Rally: 2:00 p.m.– 4:00 p.m.
- Friday,
January 24, 2020
- March for Life Expo*: 8:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
- Rally Program and March: 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
- Rose Dinner: 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
*LOOK FOR AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE AT EXPO BOOTH #321
4. January 25 in San Francisco is the Walk For Life West Coast
Pro-life Social Media – ALL’s Most “Like” Instagram Photos of 2019
Our Instagram account was one of the busiest social media accounts we’ve maintained. While content on Facebook provides supporters with content authored by American Life League, Instagram provides followers with original images illustrated and photographed that promote a culture of life. In fact, our Instagram followers trend heavily young adult, the perfect audience for teaching the pro-life message.
Images from the March for Life were the most liked content of all our Instagram content. So we looked back at the 10 most liked images we posted in 2019. (You even put an image of this author in the top 10 most liked!—DC) Take a look for yourself, and while you’re there, be sure to follow us on Instagram if you aren’t already. We’ll be posting images from the 2020 March for Life in a couple of weeks.