Since I have seen a post on our former PCUC Facebook page calling the Covid-19 virus a “Fake Virus”, I feel compelled to publicly state my opposition to what the administrator is doing. If you also think this type of post does not belong on a pro-life Facebook page, please go to the page and express your opinion. The page is called Lawrence County Pro-LIFE Group (PCUC), and is being administered by a former officer without my approval or authorization. I have started a new page called People Concerned for the Unborn Child, New Castle, PA which I will administer. I believe my responsibility as chair of PCUC New Castle is to put forth a clear picture of our mission, which is to respect and defend all life from conception to natural death. I also believe that in doing that, we must only state facts, not theories, and show compassion to those who do not agree with us. No one will ever be converted with hateful, accusatory, and radical political statements on the internet. I have said from the beginning that we must speak the truth in love, just as Jesus did. To that end I am taking measures to have the former page removed or renamed, as it does not represent the views or mission of PCUC New Castle.

🔊 Play

By Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director

In this season of gift-giving, pretty packages with glittery ribbons abound, stirring curiosity and creating anticipation.  

The completely unexpected gift is often the best. Someone takes us by surprise, filling us with a sense of delight and wonder as we carefully unwrap the layers to discover whatever treasure lies within.

Imagine, however, we never open the gift. Perhaps the packaging is not what we expected. Or the ribbon is knotted and the gift difficult to open. Rather than embracing this gift with joyful anticipation, we are discouraged and discard it. Left unopened, we never realize what awaited us.

When a young woman faces an unexpected pregnancy, she may feel overwhelmed by the gift of life she has been given.  Perhaps it doesn’t seem the right gift at the right time or under the right circumstances. There are knots and imperfections and fear of the unknown.

The abortion industry plays into these negative feelings and says it’s all right to discard the gift. That it’s no big deal.  That the gift of life is not a gift at all, but a burden to be rid of, a “problem” that can literally be thrown away.

And in a vulnerable moment, she may succumb to this distorted notion, allowing a unique and precious gift to remain forever unopened, its promise and potential never known.

There may be a short-lived sense of relief.  But that will eventually give way to a longer lasting sentiment: wonder at what might have been.  And who might have been.

Too many women today know the ache of the unopened gift.

And too many lives, 62 million, have been discarded.

That is why we must always endeavor to help women in crisis open every gift of life. 

With strong support, these mothers can see through the imperfect packaging of an untimely pregnancy. By making resources available to them, they can undo difficult knots, peel back layers, and see the gift of precious human life revealed. A unique gift given to only them at that specific point in time.

A gift of life that can bring them or perhaps an adoptive family untold joy.

A gift of life that will impact the world as we experience its promise and potential.

As we exchange gifts this season, let us vow to cherish and support the gift of every human life, however it is “wrapped,” especially those gifts of life that are unexpected.

🔊 Play

By Michael Ciccocioppo, Executive Director

On behalf of the board of directors, chapters, staff, volunteers and the tens of thousands of grassroots members of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, I congratulate our Legislative/Political Action Committee Director Maria Gallagher for being selected as the Person of the Year 2020 by the Society of St. Sebastian.

Maria has been a lynchpin of the pro-life movement for a number of years.  Prior to joining our staff, Maria honed her pro-life advocacy skills at our sister organization, Ohio Right to Life.  During her 18 years at the Federation she has gained a well-deserved reputation across our state as the ‘go-to’ person on any topic related to the defense of the right to life. 

Maria is the tip of the spear when it comes to fighting for good pro-life legislation and stopping any legislation which erodes the right to life.  She bravely speaks truth to power when human lives are to be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency! 

Maria is a prolific pro-life writer who is featured across the country by National Right to Life News Today and LifeNews.com.

Dave Andrusko, editor of National Right to Life News Today, had high praise for Ms. Gallagher, “Maria Gallagher is as gracious as she is talented and as willing to help at the drop of a hat as any writer I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. Her life-affirming, upbeat stories for National Right to Life News Today (which I often ask her to write at the eleventh hour) invariably receive the most ‘likes’ and ‘retweets.’ She is a gold mine of pro-life information and an instrumental contributor to the Pro-Life Movement.”

Steven Ertelt, editor & founder of LifeNews.com, had this to say about Ms. Gallagher, “Maria is an amazing writer with a gift for pro-life storytelling. She has an uncanny ability to relate the pro-life message in feature stories and vignettes that touch the heart and soul. Her writing encourages people to consider the pro-life perspective or take action on their existing pro-life beliefs. Millions of people have read Maria’s work in LifeNews.com — perhaps even without knowing it. We’ll never how many people Maria has touched through her compelling writing but she is a pro-life treasure.”

Joe Kral, president of the Society of St. Sebastian, pointed out that Maria’s periodic articles for the Society’s pro-life weekly, Sebastian’s Point, are always on point and terrific.  He stated, “Without a doubt, Ms. Gallagher has been a tremendous asset. She constantly shows her love of human life and her ability to reach out to both politician and everyday citizen on these important issues. Maria’s hard work models the very essence of what St. Sebastian inspires us to do today.”

The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation commends the Society of St. Sebastian for recognizing Maria’s outstanding sustained contributions to the pro-life movement.  The Society has amassed a tremendous body of pro-life scholarship for which we express our most sincere gratitude.

~Jeanne Mancini, President of March for Life~ 

Washington, D. C. – Today, the March for Life Education and Defense Fund announced the first wave of speakers for the 48^th annual March for Life on January 29, 2021. Tim Tebow, a two-time national champion, first-round NFL draft pick and Heisman Trophy winner will give an address virtually at the Rally. Marchers will be addressed in person by retired NFL player Benjamin Watson and his wife Kirsten Watson who are authors, speakers, podcasters, movie producers, and parents of seven; Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family; and J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention will speak at the 2021 Rally. Elizabeth Eller, student body president at Christendom College, will be the student speaker this year. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, KS as well as Cissie Graham Lynch, daughter of Franklin Graham and granddaughter of the late Rev. Billy Graham, will lead the opening and closing prayers. The 2021 March for Life will be led by students from Christendom College in Front Royal, VA who will carry the banner; and students from Immanuel Lutheran School in Alexandria, VA will carry the flags.

All of these speakers work in their own way towards a society that values and protects every human life. The theme for this year’s March for Life is Together Strong: Life Unites and highlights the critical role each person plays in building a culture of life.

“We are thrilled to welcome this remarkable group of speakers to the world’s largest annual human rights demonstration,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life who will emcee the event. “These speakers will showcase that the strength of the pro-life movement is in its diversity. In a world marked by division, unrest, and fear, the pro-life movement brings together people from all walks of life, each with their own unique mission to promote the inherent dignity of the human person.”

March for Life Rally Friday, January 29, 2021 12:00pm – 1:00pm ET

Speakers include:

• Jim Daly, author, broadcaster, president of Focus on the Family
• Elizabeth Eller, student body president at Christendom College
• D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church, in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina and 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention
• Cissie Graham Lynch, daughter of Franklin Graham and granddaughter of the late Rev. Billy Graham and currently serving as a senior advisor and ministry spokesperson for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse
• Joseph F. Naumann, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, KS and Chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Pro-Life Committee
• Tim Tebow, two-time national champion, first-round NFL draft pick and Heisman Trophy winner and currently pursuing a career in professional baseball as a member of the New York Mets organization. He is the author of three New York Times Best Selling books.
• Benjamin and Kirsten Watson, authors, speakers, podcasters, movie producers, and parents of seven who are dedicated to the cause of family, justice and human dignity. Benjamin played 16 seasons in the NFL and won a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots.

Matthew West, the GMA Dove Award®-winning and GRAMMY Award®-nominated artist/songwriter, will be performing at this year’s Pre-Rally Concert from 11am-noon.

The 48^th annual March for Life, the world’s largest annual human rights demonstration, will be held on January 29, 2021. The March for Life will continue share more information about the theme Together Strong: Life Unites and additional speakers leading up to the March for Life.

RSVP

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The annual Rose Dinner, a pro-life gala we host on the evening of the March for Life, is going virtual this year. Please join us on Friday, January 29^th at 7 p.m. for an intimate evening of inspiration filled with amazing speakers and pro-life messages.

Purchase Tickets for the Rose Dinner

About our keynote speaker:

Tim Tebow is a two-time national champion, first-round NFL draft pick and Heisman Trophy winner. In addition, he serves as a college football analyst for ESPN. Prior to joining ESPN Tebow played three years in the NFL for the Denver Broncos and the New Your Jets. Currently, Tebow is pursuing a career in professional baseball as a member of the New York Mets organization.

Tebow is the author of three New York Times Best Selling books; Through My Eyes, which was named the #1 sports and religion book of 2011 and Shaken: “Discovering your True Identity in the Midst of Life’s Storms” which released in 2016 and won the 2017 Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Book of the Year. Tebow released his third New York Times bestseller, This Is The Day, in September of 2018.

Tim Tebow grew up the son of missionaries and has returned to the Philippines several times throughout his life to spread God’s word and do the Lord’s work by serving the needy.

The Tim Tebow Foundation was established in 2012 with the goal to bring Faith, Hope, and Love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need. The foundation fulfills this mission every day by making dream come true for children with life-threatening illnesses, building Timmy’s Playrooms in children’s hospitals, providing life-changing surgeries to children of the Philippines through the Tebow CURE Hospital, sponsoring Night to Shine, a nationwide prom and worldwide movement for people with special needs, providing care for orphans in six countries and adoption aid grants for families who choose to adopt an international child with special needs.

Tim is married to Demi-Leigh Tebow (née Nel-Peters) who is a South African model and former beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 2017. She was crowned Miss South Africa 2017, and is the second Miss Universe winner from South Africa.

Purchase Tickets for the Rose Dinner

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Joe Biden’s announcement that he will nominate California attorney general Xavier Becerra to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a massive blow to all who value women and the lives of the unborn. As a former Democratic representative and current attorney general of California, Becerra has made a career of expanding abortion access, removing protections in place to protect women, and targeting pro-life groups. He has received perfect ratings from both Planned Parenthood and NARAL. It would be a mistake to confirm such a pro-abortion radical to lead HHS.

One need only look at Becerra’s record to imagine what a Health and Human Services Department would look like under his leadership. As the California attorney general, Becerra filed numerous lawsuits to overturn pro-life laws in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio. The laws ranged from ensuring that women were protected from unscrupulous abortionists to banning late-term abortions. Becerra justified the lawsuits by claiming that the laws were direct attacks on Roe v. Wade and said, “No government, state or federal, has the right,” to interfere with abortion.

Becerra has made significant efforts to expand abortion access and decrease protections for women despite the fact that the majority of Americans want to see additional limits on the procedure. When in Congress, Becerra voted against a bill that would protect minors from being driven across state lines to procure an abortion without parental consent. Becerra also voted against a bill that would have banned the gruesome practice of partial-birth abortion. Becerra even voted against the Unborn Victims Against Violence Act, which makes a federal offense of harming or killing a child in utero during a violent crime. These bills that he voted against sought to protect vulnerable women and unborn children. It is clear the Becerra is motivated by a radical abortion-driven agenda.

Throughout his career in public office, he has targeted pro-life pregnancy centers and even the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic group of nuns who care for the elderly poor. As attorney general, Becerra defended the California mandate that required pro-life pregnancy centers to provide written or digital information to their patients about how to obtain a state-funded abortion. This meant that staff and volunteers at such centers would be compelled to violate their conscience. Thankfully, the Supreme Court in NIFLA v. Becerra ruled in favor of pro-life pregnancy centers. In another attack on conscience protections, Becerra sued the Little Sisters of the Poor, insisting they violate their conscience and pay for contraception and abortifacients.

When Planned Parenthood’s fetal trafficking was exposed by the Center for Medical Progress, Becerra did everything in his power, both in Congress and as California attorney general, to defend Planned Parenthood. In Congress, Becerra voted against a congressional investigation into the scandal. Later, as California attorney general, Becerra followed in the footsteps of then–attorney general, Kamala Harris, when he brought 14 felony charges against the people who exposed Planned Parenthood’s baby-body-parts trafficking scheme.

Based on Becerra’s record, there is no doubt that he will use HHS’s trillion-dollar budget to advocate policies that promote abortion and attack conscience protections for health workers. At a time when the country is so fractured, it is tragic that Biden has picked such a divisive figure for a key role in his cabinet. And it’s particularly disturbing after he campaigned on unifying Americans.

But there is hope. The Senate could block Becerra’s nomination if enough pro-life senators oppose it. This makes it even more important for pro-life candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue to win the Georgia runoff election. I urge all pro-life Georgians to get out and vote and to encourage their friends and family to do the same. The message is clear: Without a pro-life majority in the Senate, the Biden-Harris administration will bring its radical abortion agenda to the highest offices in the land.

The post Becerra Would Be a Radical Pro-Abortion Warrior at HHS appeared first on March for Life.