Hundreds of Thousands of People Marched for Life in Washington D.C.

West Coast Walk for Life & Int'l March for Life in France Attract Thousands of Pro-Life Advocates

UCLA Survey Finds Incoming College Students Split on Abortion   

Illinois Choose Life Plates Upheld by Federal Judge as Free Speech

Girl With Genetic Defect Lives Seven Years After Parents Refuse Abortion

Illinois Attorney General Wants Parental Notification Abortion Law Enforced 

Mississippi Bill Would Allow Women to See An Ultrasound Before Abortion

Pro-Life Song Wins Annual Pop Music Contest in the Philippines

Chinese Army 'Harvesting Body Parts'

College Pro-Life Group Plans Walk Across Canada in Summer 2007

Arizona Man First Convicted Under New State Unborn Victims Law...  

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PRO-LIFE PEOPLE MARCH FOR LIFE IN WASHINGTON. Proving the pro-life movement is alive and well despite abortion advocates obtaining control of Congress last November, hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates participated in the annual March for Life. The mood was optimistic and positive despite 34 years of legalized abortion since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision.

"We come out here to remember lives that were lost and to let people know we all need to remember that," Tom Gill of South Bend told WSBT News.
"The more people we can get to take notice of this issue, the more people will realize abortion is killing innocent human beings," he added.

"We're here letting people know we are for life," added Florida teacher Veronica M. "We are against abortion, and for life at all its stages."

The 2006 elections dashed the hopes of pro-life advocates of continuing the pro-life agenda they've been able to enact during large portions of President Bush's tenure in office. However, National Right to Life political director Karen Cross said the election results didn't mean Americans were changing their attitudes opposing abortion.

"We know that the majority of the country is opposed to the vast majority of abortions," Cross said.

She pointed to a post-election poll conducted by the Polling Company firm showing 24% of voters were opposed to abortion except when the mother's life is in danger, or in cases of rape or incest. Another 14% were opposed to abortion except to save the mother's life and 14% were opposed to abortion in all circumstances.

"Fully 52% of the country is opposed to abortion except in very rare circumstances," Cross explained.
There are other reasons to rejoice despite 34 years of legalized abortion. The rate and number of abortions in the United States continue to decline, most notably among teens.

Rigali: "More and more citizens are coming to question abortion and to recognize -- as a starting point for deeper conversion -- that there is something radically wrong with abortion and the support given it by our laws," he added.  [22Jan07, Ertelt, DC, LifeNews.com]

WEST COAST WALK FOR LIFE ATTRACTS THOUSANDS OF PRO-LIFE ADVOCATES. About 20,000 pro-life people participated in the 3rd annual Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco, a location most people don't think of as a place for a large pro-life event.

Last year, more than 15,000 families, friends and students attended the 'walk' to celebrate women and to celebrate life. This year, organizers and law enforcement said there was an even greater turnout. "The Walk for Life West Coast is a growing movement that is attracting national attention, especially among young people," said Dolores Meehan [co-founder of the event]. "Clearly, the pro-life movement is quite alive in California."

"Walk for Life's primary goal is to reach out to women and men of all political persuasions with the message that abortion hurts all women," said Eva Muntean [Walk for Life co-founder]. [22Jan07, LifeNews.com]

FRANCE: January 21 International March for Life Expected to Draw 10,000 Participants. The Federation of Organizations in the Defense of Life is anticipating at least 10,000 participants for the 2007 March for Life scheduled for Paris January 21, with pro-life groups from several European countries expected to attend again this year.

Pro-life delegations from Spain, Belgium, Germany and Italy have been invited to participate--organizers have emphasized the need to build greater unity among branches of the pro-life movement.  “Thousands of people participated in the great march for life in 2005 and 2006. This year, it’s going to be even more numerous!” organizers said in a press release yesterday.

“If you can come to Paris on that day, we will be delighted to meet you and introduce you to the crowd! We must unite and build a pro-life network here in Europe if we want to influence European decision making!”

As well, the organizers are asking pro-life supporters who are unable to attend to send written declarations of support. March organizers spoke out on the ever-increasing death toll of abortion in the nation, saying, “here in France, 220,000 children are murdered each year through abortion.

And more than 7 million people have been killed since the legalization of abortion in the country.” Abortion in France “has consequences for demographic aging, the closing of maternity homes and schools and the problem of pensions for retirees,” the statement said, as well as leading to the breakdown of the family and the devaluing of the human person. This will be the third year the March for Life has been held in Paris, following previous marches held in 2005 and 2006. Ten thousand participants, among them large numbers of young people, joined the march last year. Youth from Spain, Belgium and Germany were well represented at the demonstration.

The march, which will coincide with the annual U.S. March for Life held in Washington on Jan. 22, has particular significance this year as France heads towards a presidential election in April . Life issues are expected to be a key playing point in candidates’ platforms, CNA reported yesterday.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
March for Life Fever Catching on in France
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jan/06012407.html [By Gudrun Schultz PARIS, France, January 12, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com]

UCLA SURVEY FINDS INCOMING COLLEGE STUDENTS SPLIT ON ABORTION. The 2006 freshman norms are based on the responses of 271,441 first-time, full-time students at 393 of the nation's baccalaureate colleges and universities. UCLA's annual survey of the nation's entering undergraduates finds incoming college students more divided on politics and abortion. As more freshmen report that they discussed politics frequently as high school seniors, 43.1 percent identified themselves as "middle-of-the-road," the lowest mark since first measured by the research program in 1970. Additionally, the percentage of students identifying as "liberal" (28.4 percent) is at its highest level since 1975 (30.7 percent), and those identifying as "conservative" (23.9 percent) is at its highest level in the history of the Freshman Survey, now in its 40th year. While 78.4 percent of liberal freshmen support legalized abortion, only 31.8 percent of conservative students do. The middle-of-the-road freshmen who support abortion -- 56.3 percent.  [22Jan07, LifeNews.com]

ILLINOIS CHOOSE LIFE PLATES UPHELD BY FEDERAL JUDGE AS FREE SPEECH. A federal judge turned back pro-abortion objections against the Choose Life license plates in Illinois saying motorists have the free speech rights to purchase them and place them on their automobiles.

U.S. District Judge Coar said protests from abortion advocates don't trump the First Amendment. Coar also said the state must issue the specialty license plates as long as the sponsors of it meet normal requirements on the design and number of motorists wanting one. 

Attorney with the Thomas More Society: "We applaud Judge Coar’s decision as a ringing endorsement of the First Amendment rights of all Illinois citizens and as very welcome news for the cause of adoption in Illinois," he said. Choose Life Illinois filed the lawsuit in July 2004 against Illinois Secretary of State White. After receiving far more than the necessary number of signatures to submit an application for a Choose Life license plate -- they needed 800 and obtained 25,000 -- the state legislature did not approve the plate for two years. [24Jan07, Chicago, LifeNews.com]

GIRL WITH GENETIC DEFECT LIVES SEVEN YEARS AFTER PARENTS REFUSE ABORTION. Hope Ann W. lost her battle against trisomy 18 [Edward's syndrome] last week. But she lived seven years and brought joy to everyone around her.

Doctors had urged Hope's mother, Teri, to have an abortion after prenatal tests revealed her baby had a severely disabling genetic abnormality.

"They told me it would be the humane thing, that there was absolutely no hope," she told the Billings Gazette. "They were wrong. Had I listened to them, we wouldn't have had seven years of pure joy." Seven years of Hope, that is -- and of hope.

"The life she had was beautiful," said Kevin Sparrow. "There were some rough times for sure. She had to struggle. But she had a chance to live. She had a chance to live."

Most babies born with the condition die within a few days, and fewer than 10 percent live for a year. Teri said she knows some people think the public money used for Hope's care was wasted, but she disagrees. "We pay our taxes. We pay into a system that should be there when somebody, especially a child, is in need," she said.

"As a world power, don't we have the responsibility to give our children a chance? Here we are the richest country in the world, and we say we can't help a child live?" [22Jan07, LifeNews.com, Billings, MT]

ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERAL WANTS PARENTAL NOTIFICATION ABORTION LAW ENFORCED. Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked a federal court to enforce a law that requires abortion practitioners to notify parents that their teenage daughter is considering an abortion.

The state Supreme Court approved the rules necessary to enforcement the law the legislature approved in 1995 but it must overturn a legal order against it.

Madigan files papers on Friday with the U.S. District Court in Chicago to let the law "take effect as soon as the Illinois courts are administratively prepared to handle judicial bypass petitions." "As the chief legal officer of the State of Illinois, it is my duty to uphold the Constitution and to defend the laws of this state if they are constitutional," Madigan said, according to an AP report.

"At this point, forty-four states have parental involvement laws, and courts have upheld many parental notice laws that are similar to the Act." However, abortion advocates are challenging Madigan.

The pro-abortion American Civil Liberties Union promised a legal challenge that could delay the pro-life law even further. Lorie Chaiten, director of the Reproductive Rights Project for the ACLU's Illinois chapter, told AP it doesn't like the rules the state Supreme Court issued. They claim the rules make it too difficult for a teenager in an abusive situation to get permission for an abortion.

Teenagers can get a court-issued waiver of the parental notification requirement in abuse cases but the state's high court didn't issue rules on that saying it's a matter for lower courts to decide. [22Jan07, LifeNews.com, Springfield, IL]

MISSISSIPPI BILL WOULD ALLOW WOMEN TO SEE AN ULTRASOUND BEFORE ABORTION. A new bill filed in the Mississippi state legislature would allow women considering an abortion the chance to see an ultrasound beforehand.

When women see an ultrasound of their unborn child at a pregnancy center, a large percentage decide not to have an abortion.

Senate Public Health Committee Chairman Alan Nunnelee, a Republican from Tupelo who sponsored the same bill last year, is behind this year's version. "Abortionists make a lot of money and they want to convey the idea that this procedure involves a mass of tissue when in reality it involves a child," he told the Hattiesburg American newspaper.

Ann Rose, the vice president of the National Women's Health Organization, which operates the only abortion business in Mississippi, says it already shows women an ultrasound picture if they want it. "This bill is just another one of their litany of issues trying to harass clinics and women trying to get abortions," Rose said. "It don't think it will see the light of day." Last year, the state Senate approved Nunnelee's proposal but the bill eventually died as the state House turned it into a ban on virtually all abortions in the state. [22Jan07, LifeNews.com, Jackson, MS]

CHINESE ARMY 'HARVESTING BODY PARTS. From correspondents in Ottawa, CHINA'S military is harvesting organs from unwilling live prison inmates, mostly Falungong practitioners, for transplants on a large scale - including to foreign recipients- according to a study.

The report's authors  - Canada's former secretary of state for the Asia Pacific region David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas - implicated dozens of hospitals and jails throughout China in July, after a two-month investigation.

Chinese officials denied those allegations.

Mr Matas and Mr Kilgour's second report, released 1Feb, includes interviews with organ recipients in 30 countries and Canadian hospital staff who cared for more than 100 patients who had undergone suspicious transplant surgeries in China.

"The involvement of the People's Liberation Army in these transplants is widespread,'' Mr Kilgour said at a press conference.

Like many civilian hospitals in rural China, military hospitals turned to selling organs to make up for government funding cuts in the 1980s, the report said.

But military personnel could operate with much more secrecy, it said.

"Recipients often tell us that even when they receive transplants at civilian hospitals, those conducting the operation are military personnel,'' the report said.

Hospitals in Canada's biggest cities - Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto - confirmed "a substantial number'' of Canadians had travelled to China for dubious organ transplants, Mr Kilgour said.

"We're in the three digits, up over 100 (from Canada each year), and the trend is accelerating,'' Mr Matas said.

To curb what they called a "disgusting form of evil", the pair asked pharmaceutical firms to stop selling organ anti-rejection drugs to China.

They also asked countries to post travel advisories warning about China's alleged organ harvest, asked states to cease offering follow-up care for patients who had dubious organ transplants in China and asked foreign doctors to cut ties with their Chinese counterparts suspected of such practices.

The authors said states should enact legislation to ban citizens from traveling to China for organ transplants from unwilling donors, although they admitted that such cases would be difficult to prosecute. [1Feb07, Agence France-Presse, http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C23599%2C21152231-1702%2C00.html]

PRO-LIFE SONG WINS ANNUAL POP MUSIC CONTEST IN THE PHILIPPINES. "Bakho sa Anghel," a song that condemns abortion, topped 11 other songs to capture the top prize for composer Frederick Villarojo. He won the grand prize at the Cebu Pop Music Festival 19Jan07.

This is the second year that lyricist Gwendolyn Suico-Crescencio penned the lyrics of the grand prize-winning song, after last year's "Tatay, Pauli Na," a ballad for a father working overseas. [22Jan07, LifeNews.com, Manilla, Philippines]

COLLEGE PRO-LIFE GROUP PLANS WALK ACROSS CANADA THIS SUMMER. A college pro-life group that encourages students to walk across the country with the pro-life message says it's putting together a similar walk of about 3200 miles across Canada this summer.

Crossroads had three walks across the country last year and the Canadian walk would have four groups taking the pro-life message city by city. Like its American walks, the Canadian trip would be made up of volunteer students from colleges and universities across Canada and would coincide with the American ones.

“A Canadian walk is something that has been frequently proposed by pro-life students from Canada,” Jim Nolan, Crossroads' president told LifeNews.com in a statement. “Due to the extraordinary success of our American walks since 1995, and the high volume of volunteer students we have signed up for this summer, it's beginning to look as though this will be the year a Canadian walk will be possible, provided that we have a sufficient number of Canadian volunteers," he explained.

Since 1995, Crossroads walkers have spoken to over two million Americans at churches alone, and countless millions through local and national media and speaking engagements. Walking a combined 10,000 miles through 35 states and thousands of towns and cities, the volunteers on Crossroads take the term “grassroots” to a new level.

Crossroads currently sponsors three simultaneous pro-life walks across America each summer, beginning in Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego, and concluding together in Washington, D.C.
The group also sponsors Spring Break walks up the Florida coast, and recently conducted a walk across Europe to World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, in 2005.
Related web sites:
[3Feb07, Washington, DC LifeNews.com; Crossroads - http://www.crossroadswalk.org

AZ MAN FIRST ONE CONVICTED UNDER NEW STATE UNBORN VICTIMS LAW. An Arizona man who killed his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child is the first to have been convicted under a 2005 state law that protects pregnant women and their babies from violence. The unborn victims law allows prosecutors to hold criminals accountable for both deaths. Jorge Gurrola, 24, received two counts of second degree murder for killing Monica Sanchez and killing her seven week old unborn child. Inlcuding Arizona, some 34 states have the laws, which gained national prominence with the deaths of Laci and Connor Peterson, and 24 of them protect both mother and child throughout pregnancy. Arizona state legislators strengthened the law in 2005 just months after Scott Peterson was convicted for killing his wife and child. [3Feb07, Phoenix, LifeNews.com]