March for Life

Passage of No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act Wrap Up

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Passage of No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act Wrap Up

This week the House passed the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act by a vote of 227-188.. 

 

  • 221 Republicans and 6 Democrats (Cuellar, Lipinski, Matheson, McIntyre, Peterson and Rahall) voted yes

 

  • 1 Republican (Hanna) and 187 Democrats voted no

 

  •   1 Republican (Broun) voted present

 

  •   8 Republicans (Amodei, Campbell, Jones, Miller of FL, Petri, Runyan, Tipton and Westmoreland) and 7 Democrats (Blumenauer, Clay, Hinojosa, McCarthy, Ruppersberger, Rush, and Sanchez) were absent

Video of Speeches by Pro-Life Members on the bill:

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Part 2, Part 3

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC)

Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN)

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC)

Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL)

Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS)

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA)

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ)

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)

Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO)

Rep. Diane Black (R-TN)

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL)

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)

Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA)

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS)

Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN)

Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-MS)

 

Please contact Members to thank them, and Senators to tell them to get taxpayers out of the abortion business.

 

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Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 28, 2014
CONTACT: Tom McClusky (571-289-2024)

President Obama and the State of the Union: What He Should Have Said

WASHINGTON, D.C. Tonight President Barack Obama gave his State of the Union address.  March for Life President Jeanne Monahan reacts to his speech: 
“President Obama’s State of the Union address tonight was a disappointment to any American who believes in the dignity of the human person Instead of embracing a pro-life message that empowers women and is reflective of the majority of Americans –as was evident in the hundreds of thousands of dedicated pro-life participants in the March for life in Washington just last week– this President still opposes the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. The act, which the House of Representative passed earlier today in a bipartisan vote, prevents taxpayers’ dollars from supporting the abortion business. A January 2010 Quinnipiac University Poll showed that 67% of respondents opposed federal funding of abortion.
“As for the pressing issue of conscience rights, the President was silent. His own mandate which forces groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor and the March for Life Education and Defense Fund to cover abortion inducing drugs and devices is currently in front of various courts across the nation, including the United States Supreme Court.
“Forcing a group of Catholic nuns to be complicit in the purchase of abortifacients, contraceptives and sterilizations is the antithesis of ‘empowering women.’ No American should be forced into that situation. Recent polling shows a large majority of Americans do not agree with the President; at least 59 percent oppose this anti-conscience mandate.

 

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Where Do We Go From Here?

Despite a cold freeze in Washington, D.C. last week, pro-life America once again turned out for our annual March for Life (MfL) in “droves and droves and droves and droves” to borrow a phrase from one reporter covering the story. The bright sun and snow combined at times so that the ground on the National Mall appeared to almost sparkle, appropriate given the energetic spirit emanating from our young participants throughout the afternoon.

Marchers’ signs were creative and compassionate. Included were “Peace Begins in the Womb”, “I am a Feminist Fighting for Equality for the Pre-Born”, and “Babies Are a Blessing Not a Burden” among many others.  We were delighted by more mainstream media coverage this year, including CNN, MSNBC, FOX, ABC and many print outlets.

Social media was a big part of the March for Life. Young people had smiles on their faces and mobile phones in hand. The day prior to the March, the first ever MfL “app” was unveiled and during the March for Life rally, a text number (99000; keyword: “march4life”) was provided to participants to stay in touch. The two twitter hash-tags associated with the event, #marchforlife and #whywemarch, “trended” on twitter on January 22, 2014 (for non-social media types, this means that these hash-tags were two of the top six common twitter phrases utilized by tweeters throughout the day – no small feat).

In many measurable ways, the 2014 March for Life was a success!  And we are ready for a break now – our staff is tired after putting in long hours leading up to the event. Young people who slept on busses and took long rides to the March for Life are still defrosting and recovering from the trip. And their chaperones are really exhausted! But our work is not done; and there is no rest for the weary! If the enthusiasm that was contagious on the day of the March for Life dims over the day or week after the event, in reality the March did not meet its most important goal: changing culture. 

So, the question is: where do we go from here?

Many of you have heard that that March for Life Education and Defense Fund is now a year-round organization, with our ultimate lofty goal being to help build a culture of life in America. We believe that one of the ways this will happen is through participants continuing to figuratively “march” year round. We plan to stay in touch with those who were involved with the MfL – either in person or through social media- by helping to provide tools to impact local areas to become more respectful of life. We will do this through trainings and webinars. We also plan to continue to use social media for ongoing pro-life education of Marchers. In the spring, we will co-host a conference for women around the time of Mother’s Day.

So, as we begin 2014, let us take a few minutes to soak in our experiences last week. But let us not stop there but rather further consider what we can do to make an impact all year round in our communities, be it through starting a group, writing an op-ed, joining a school board or health board, or praying in front of an abortion clinic. Every little action counts. It is only in this way that as a collective unit we will be able to truly build a culture of life across America, one community at a time. 

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Call your Representative today to thank him for protecting taxpayers AND life

Consistently since last summer we asked Congress to do something about tax dollars that go to fund abortion as it will be the main ask of Marchers at the annual March for Life.  With the President’s health care law, commonly known as Obamacare, taking full effect we are also seeing the law funding and subsidizing abortion while using tax dollars. 

 

Today the House of Representatives listened and are voting on H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.  According to the House schedule for today, the House will debate the rule (which also allows consideration of the Farm Bill, so speeches will be on both bills) in the early afternoon.  After the rule is approved, there will be one hour of debate on H.R. 7 followed by a motion to recommit and a vote on final passage.

 

Please take some time right now to thank your Member of Congress for doing the right thing.  For more information on the bill please see below.

 

To call your Member of Congress:
US Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121

 

To locate your Member on-line:
U.S. House of Representatives: www.house.gov.

 

You can also look up your Congressman on the March for Life app, available from iTunes and Google Play.

 

Get American Taxpayers Out of the Abortion Industry!

 

H.R. 7, The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act was introduced by Pro-life Caucus Co-Chairs Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and would establish a government-wide permanent prohibition on funding for elective abortion and insurance coverage that includes elective abortion.  It would also close abortion-funding loopholes created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), prohibit tax-preferred status for abortion through health savings accounts (and other similar arrangements) and itemized deductions.

 

No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act would not affect either the ability of an individual to pay for an abortion (or for abortion coverage) through private funds, or the ability of an entity to provide separate abortion coverage.  H.R. 7 does not affect funding for family planning services.

 

At the end of Title I of the U.S. Code, the legislation would add the Hyde Amendment that now covers programs funded through the Labor/Health and Human Services appropriations bill, the Act also would make permanent such laws as the Helms Amendment (no funds for abortion as a method of family planning overseas) and the Smith Amendment (no funds for health plans covering elective abortions for federal employees).

 

Statistics bolster the argument that direct federal funding for abortion increases the number of abortions performed.

 

  • In 1993, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the Federal Government would pay for as many as 675,000 abortions annually were the Hyde Amendment and other measures not in place to prevent taxpayer funding of abortion in government supported programs.

 

  • According to a 2007 Guttmacher report, the Hyde Amendment ban on federal funding for abortion has prevented between “18-35%” of women from having an abortion. In other words, unrestricted federal funding for abortion will increase the number of women obtaining an abortion by an average of 25%.

 

  • Researchers at the Charlotte Lozier Institute found that Obamacare will lead to 71,000 to 115,000 more publically funded abortions per year.

 

Regardless of one’s views on protecting life in the womb a large majority of Americans agree taxpayers should not be paying for abortions. 

 

Abortion, plain and simple, is the taking of an innocent life and is opposed by a large majority of Americans.  H.R. 7 gets the federal government out of directly funding the abortion industry and should be passed immediately.

 

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2014 Recap

Here’s a recap of the 2014 March for Life–> March for Life on Storify.

Check out the March for Life on Flickr for pictures.

Here’s a list of print and online media pieces about the 2014 March for Life.  

Thank you for your prayers and support for the 2014 March for Life!  As you probably heard, a snowstorm hit Washington, D.C. the day before the March, bringing 4 inches of snow (the most snow the city has seen in 3 years!) and bitter temperatures.  Despite the freezing cold, our Nation’s Capital was filled with an upbeat and positive crowd for the rally and March!  The tens of thousands of people who braved the bitter cold to speak out for life are truly a testament to the beauty and passion of our cause.

We are excited to report that this dedication of a courageous, loving, diverse and mostly youthful, gathering of Americans did not go unnoticed.  We want to share with you the vast media coverage of the 41st March for Life.  Both Fox and CNN provided significant coverage of the March for Life, with Jake Tapper of The Lead on CNN walking the final quarter mile of the march in person with me for an interview.  We also want to share a clip of the Kelly File on Fox News with you, as the comments of Filmmaker Dennis Michael Lynch are truly telling of the March.  He himself even admits, “I learned so much just from listening to the speeches!”

We have a list of the online and print media about the March for Life, and the clips of all TV coverage will be available shortly.  We also want to share with you a summary of the social media activity from the March for Life.  For those of you who are social media-savvy, you’ll know that the fact that our hashtags #MarchforLife and #WhyWeMarch we’re “trending” nationwide is significant in that they were a top subject of discussion on Twitter for the entire country!  The “WhyWeMarch” subject allowed marchers and supporters nationwide to get to the heart of the March and proclaim “we march for a culture of life and to remember the 56 million unborn lives that have been lost because of abortion.”   Check out this album of pictures of “WhyWeMarch” photo submissions.

As you know our rally featured speakers on the topic of “Adoption: A Noble Decision.”  We were pleased to have Dr. James Dobson and his son Ryan Dobson of FamilyTalk Radio, as well as the Homecoming Queen at Auburn University, Molly Anne Dutton, tell their adoption stories.  Additionally, Ryan Bomberger of the Radiance Foundation gave the keynote address at our annual Rose Dinner with a powerful and personal story of adoption and purpose.  While the 2014 March for Life is over, our work at the March for Life Education and Defense Fund for the year has just begun.  We have educational and advocacy initiatives planned, so stay tuned for updates.  You can also download our mobile app for Android and iPhone devices as a resource for the entire year as we “march on” for life, or visit the Take Action section of our website.

If you have stories, videos, or pictures of the March for Life, we’d love to see and hear them!  You can always share them on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or email us at info@marchforlife.org.  I want to close with a few quotes from young Marchers who shared their experiences on Instagram.  One young woman wrote “The 18 hour bus ride wasn’t awesome, but at a stop along the way, a young pregnant woman told a few of us she was going to cancel her appointment at Planned Parenthood after seeing all of us.  God is so good! #WhyWeMarch #MiraclesHappen.”  Another young woman wrote “Yesterday was inspiring and humbling.  We survived Roe v. Wade but it will not survive us.”  We greatly appreciate you joining with us in turning this passion and momentum into action for life.  

To support the March for Life, as well as our year-long activities, click HERE.