Thank you to the massive crowd for standing up for the truth – that life is a human right! We will continue marching until every life is protected by law and welcomed in life!
By Bethany Peck Leave a Comment
Thank you to the massive crowd for standing up for the truth – that life is a human right! We will continue marching until every life is protected by law and welcomed in life!
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American thinker – March for Life 2015: Love and Wrath Both Burning
Guest blog post by Georgette Forney & Janet Morana
When Robin Williams committed suicide last fall, the United States experienced a collective sense of grief that generated thousands of comments on social media outlets for an extensive period of time.
Why were people so strongly impacted by William’s death?
When death touches us personally, its impact is felt much deeper and it leaves a permanent hole where our love for that person resided. Even though the vast majority of people grieving for Robin Williams did not personally know him, we connected with his characters like Mrs. Doubtfire or Mork from Ork! He was like family, and he brought us joy.
Over the last six years, the Silent No More Awareness Campaign has seen a similar phenomenon happening with families who have been impact by the death of an unborn child.
This year the Silent No More Awareness Campaign is launching the Healing the Shockwaves of Abortion to help those who are grieving this type of loss. This year long initiative has a special focus each month on a target population impacted by abortion such as grandparents, siblings, and immediate and extended family members, abortion providers and a special emphasis in February and October on minority communities who are especially devastated by abortion loss. We hope to raise awareness, heal and restore the connection they are missing for their family member lost to abortion. Though our zip code based healing website abortionhealing.org all touched by abortion can find healing resources and the forgiveness and peace that grieving and memorializing the aborted child can bring to a family.
The typical pattern after the procedure is that abortions are kept a secret. Whether it was the mother’s, father’s or the couples decision, the experience is kept hidden with hopes that the pain and grief will go away by denying it light. But secrets tend to gnaw at the heart and lead to painful ways to express the hurt, such as anger, depression, eating disorders, and addictions to numb the hurt. This secret pain of the abortion Shockwaves sometimes even destroys marriage and family relationships.
Testimonies of those who have had abortions describe how abortion creates a sense of isolation, feeling like they are the only one hurting, while healing can restore connection and a sense of unity amongst family members. As people in a family heal from an abortion loss, relationships and love can once again flourish.
Every life is a gift but when a life is denied…everyone is denied the joy of knowing and interacting with that person. Look around your family. What would life be like without one of your grandchildren or siblings or nieces or nephews? Or is someone already missing in your family and painful secrets are keeping walls erected between you?
This year as the March ends at the Supreme Court we will have an historic launching of our Shockwaves Initiative with a special gathering reflecting the various target groups for our year long project. For the first time, joining the mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents and friends holding signs and sharing testimonies of their abortion loss at the steps of the Supreme Court, we will have a former abortionist, Anthony Levatino sharing his testimony and standing with all those impacted by the Shockwaves of abortion. Join us for this historic gathering after the March for Life.
This is why we march – we want people to realize abortion scatters hearts but healing gathers them back together.
Please visit abortionshockwaves.com for more information.
Guest blog post by Leticia Velasquez, Co-founder of KIDS (Keep Infants with Down Syndrome) and author of “A Special Mother is Born.”
Dating sites are very popular these days. You fill out a profile and find your ideal mate for life. Naturally, most profiles are a bit flattering, “energetic, attractive man who loves candlelit dinners and walks on the beach. . . .” Imagine a profile with no photo and the following description: I have mental delays and physical challenges including; heart defects, low muscle tone, hearing loss, visual impairment, spinal instability, increased tendency towards obesity and leukemia, shorter lifespan and limited prospects for happiness.
Most people would avoid this poor individual like the plague. Yet that is precisely the description given to women expecting a baby with Down syndrome. Nothing positive, only a laundry list of possible defects. The perfect baby she has been dreaming of has been reduced to a nightmare of neediness. No wonder from 75 to 92% of pregnant women receiving a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome chose to abort their baby. In one fourth of doctors’ offices, it is the doctor who holds up this list as an attorney citing evidence stating “This life is not worth living.”
The mother of the unborn baby with Down syndrome is often under relentless pressure from her spouse, relatives and even her own conscience as it is suggested “Think of your other children, what would having a baby like that do to them?” Who is speaking for the silent child at this point? As prenatal screening is performed earlier than ever, before the mother has developed a relationship with the baby in the womb, she has no idea how to counter the onslaught of bad news and, too often, has little knowledge of the positive aspects of raising a child with Down syndrome.
That’s where advocacy groups are filling the gap. From diagnosis to adulthood, those who are blessed to know people with Down syndrome are flooding the media with joyful images of fulfilling lives lived with an extra chromosome. My group, KIDS Keep Infants with Down Syndrome, has marched in the March for Life since 2009 to call attention to the joy of life with someone with Down syndrome. When we started, we were considered a novelty, but now I am happy to say, perceptions of Down syndrome are changing. Target, and Nordstrom’s feature ads with models with Down syndrome and a Spanish bathing suit designer chose an adorable baby with Down syndrome as her model. Award winning films like “Produce” about a man with Down syndrome whose work has become an inspiration, are available on the Internet. A TV reality show based on Tim’s Place, an Albuquerque restaurant where hugs are on the menu is coming next season.
Science is contributing to the wave of positive news about Down syndrome with six promising clinical trials of medicine to help ameliorate cognitive delays and suggestions on how the diagnosis of Down syndrome can be made in a more patient friendly manner. After all, there are two patients involved! A 2011 survey of families who include someone with Down syndrome by Dr. Brian Skotko provides insight into day to day life; ninety-nine percent of parents were happy with their child with Down syndrome and those with Down syndrome reported an equal amount of happiness with their lives. Ninety seven percent of siblings reported that they had become better people thanks to their sibling with Down syndrome.
I know this to be true as our entire family has become more compassionate, more giving, and more able to stop and smell the roses since our youngest daughter Christina was born with Down syndrome in 2002. Now we just want to help the world to see as my friend Eileen Haupt, the co-founder of KIDS says,” Doctors can tell you about the challenges which come with a child with Down syndrome but they can’t tell you about the love they bring.”
By Bethany Peck Leave a Comment
The National March for Life in Washington, D.C. is just a few days away! However, Americans are marching for life across the country this weekend to show their support for the cause of life! Check out these stories and YOUR social media posts. Let’s continue sharing with the world WHY we march using #WhyWeMarch.
Plan your TRIP TO THE MARCH FOR LIFE
Plan your TRIP TO THE MARCH FOR LIFE