March for Life

March for Life Trip Planning Webinar

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March for Life Trip Planning Webinar

Tuesday, October 28, 8:00 p.m.

Trip Planning Google Hangout (2)It is hard to believe that we are less than 100 days from the next March for Life, January 22, 2015!  Our Team would like to help you, and others in your group, experience a most meaningful and deeply impactful March for Life journey!  During the webinar we will discuss the new March for Life Trip Planner, the March for Life Conference and Expo, as well as hear from a few special guests who will share tips and tricks on planning and making the most of your March for Life trip!  Additionally, we’ll share exclusive information with you about the 2015 March for Life theme!

Guests include Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-3); Jill Stanek, pro-life blogger; Kristan Hawkins, Students for Life of America; Christa Lopiccolo, Archdiocese of Washington; and students from Liberty University and Notre Dame University.

You can join in the conversation and submit questions on Twitter using #marchforlife, or email info@marchforlife.org. Participants will have opportunities to win March for Life gear throughout the night!

RSVP below and come back HERE on Tuesday, October 28th at 8:00 p.m. to watch!

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The Photo That Shocked The Nation

There has never been a better time in the history of the world for a person with a disability to be alive, yet, tragically, the vast majority of babies diagnosed in the womb with a disability are aborted.  Why are these babies not given a chance at life? Expectant parents and doctors have been convinced that children will have a “poor quality of life”, and rather than pursuing medical treatments and options, doctors recommend abortion as a solution. It is stunning that in 21st Century America, where modern medicine can grow new limbs and cure once incurable diseases, doctors and medical professionals too quickly turn to abortion as a resolution to a prenatal diagnosis of disability.

Thankfully, there are parents who refuse to accept abortion as a solution. In 1999, Julie and Alex Armas received the diagnosis that their preborn baby, Samuel, had Spina Bifida. However, Julie and Alex decided to fight for their son’s life. They qualified for an experimental pre-natal surgery at Vanderbilt University Hospital. At 21 weeks, Samuel was operated on in utero. That day there was a photographer was in the operating room, taking photos for a USA Today piece on pre-natal surgeries. The photo that was used in the spread sent shock waves around the world, and was dubbed “the Hand of Hope.”

The-Hand-of-Hope-72dpiThe photo displayed for the world, the humanity of the tiny baby in the womb, as well as the miracle of modern medicine!

When Samuel was born, the doctors and nurses were blown away by how well he did. It’s amazing what the love and persistence of parents who refuse to accept abortion as a solution can do. Today, Samuel is fifteen years old. His quality of life is anything but low.

Five years after Samuel’s very successful surgery, Julie Armas was pregnant with her third son, and again received a diagnosis of Spina Bifida. When Julie and Alex sought the same beneficial treatment that Samuel received, they were refused the surgery. Julie described the irony of the abortion culture: “I could choose to end his life, but I couldn’t choose to have a surgery that I had already experienced, that I knew would benefit him.” How tragic.

October is Spina Bifida Awareness Month, as well as Down Syndrome Awareness Month. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it also happens to be the middle of a 40 Days for Life Campaign. It is time to move away from the attitude that babies diagnosed with disabilities are disposable. Society should no longer accept abortion as a solution for ending disabilities. Abortion can never be a solution, because abortion can only destroy. America, we can do better.

Watch the Armas Family’s Story here [130:00].

 

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March for Life Responds to GAO Report

This week the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report confirming what pro-lifers have been warning since 2010, your tax dollars are funding abortion through the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”).

Today, the March for Life participated in a press conference calling attention to this broken promise and calling on the Senate to act. Read Jeanne Monahan’s remarks below:

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Thank you to Mr. Pitts for sponsoring this important press conference and to all of the Members for taking time during such a full moment to discuss this critical report.

We probably all remember well the March of 2010 when the entire passage of healthcare law hinged on abortion coverage and support. The bottom line was that if abortion was included in the healthcare law, it wouldn’t get the support it needed in Congress to pass. In those intense days President Obama promised that abortion coverage would not be included in the healthcare law. He even went so far as to imply that Hyde protections — the established pro-life protections since the late 70s would remain status quo in the law.

Today we stand here to say that nothing could be further from the truth.  We have known that but for those who were confused by the 1000+ pages in the bill and the very confusing rollout of this law, please read this GAO report and take it to heart. There is without a doubt abortion in the healthcare law. This report is about the state exchanges, but abortion is included in other ways. The largest expansion of abortion since Roe vs Wade.

For example, consider the HHS mandate forcing groups like the MfL to cover drugs and devices that can destroy life in its earliest stages. The March for Life is a non-religious, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated solely to protecting human life in its most vulnerable stages. But because of the healthcare law we are being forced to cover abortifacients in our healthcare. We refuse to do that. And so we are now engaged in litigation fighting this injustice.

This summer the SCOTUS showed us that America still has all three branches keeping each other in check. With that hope we ask you to call your Senator to ask them to support HR7 and right the wrong of the Obama Administration and their broken promises. 

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A Long List of Broken Promises

Several weeks ago, I visited healthcare.gov in search of pro-life insurance plans offered under the Affordable Care Act. After spending several frustrating hours on the website, I gained only limited information. For example, I learned that some plans include abortion coverage in the summary of benefits, but more often than not there was no mention of coverage at all. Thus, as a young woman who opposes abortion, I was left in the dark as to whether my hard-earned dollars would pay for abortion.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report this morning that confirms my experience and indicates that there is, in fact, no consistent way to determine which plans under Obamacare cover abortion. The report stunningly reveals that in five states, including my home state of New Jersey, there is not one pro-life plan available. In December of 2013, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was asked under oath by Representative John Shimkus (R-IL) about how to determine the plans that cover abortion. She could not answer his question but promised to provide a list, which ultimately did not happen prior to her leaving the Administration. The Secretary also insisted that such information was clearly provided on the healthcare.gov website.  A statement, which, from my experience, is blatantly inaccurate.

Pro-life Americans should not have to spend hours reading summaries of benefits, or talking on the phone with insurance companies, in order to know if their health care plan violates their deeply held beliefs. This reality flies in the face of the transparency that was promised by the Obama Administration.

Your taxes are funding abortions

The GAO report has an even more disturbing revelation: taxpayers from all 50 states are subsidizing abortion under Obamacare, despite the fact that President Obama and members of his Administration, promised the contrary. In 2009, referencing the Hyde Amendment, President Obama told America: “This is a health care bill, not an abortion bill. We are not looking to change what is a core principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions.” [i]

During the healthcare debate in 2009, pro-abortion forces refused to extend Hyde Amendment type protections to the Affordable Care Act. Every year since 1976, the Hyde Amendment has banned federal funding for abortion under Medicaid, and is one of the most significant pro-life policies since Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court in 1973. Rather than extending the these types of protections, Obamacare set up an “abortion surcharge” through which insurance companies would bill individuals separately for abortion coverage, creating a pool of money funded by individuals, not tax dollars, to pay for abortion. This was not only an accounting gimmick, but it was unfair to Americans who would not know that their money was directly paying for abortion. Americans have the right to informed consent for something as critical as their money paying for abortion!

The GAO report further reveals that not one of the eighteen companies surveyed did actually bill separately or itemized an abortion surcharge! In other words, the accounting gimmick put in place is not even being practiced, and through their taxes, Americans in all 50 states are paying for 1,036 of 2,089 plans to cover abortion. Roughly half of the plans available through Obamacare provide abortion on demand!

The Obama Administration’s list of broken promises continues to grow, and the non-partisan GAO report confirms this. This is not the transparency that America was promised. Please, no more broken promises, Mr. President.

[i]  “Obama: ‘This is a Health Care Bill, Not an Abortion Bill” Nov 10, 2009,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pFiCPgmgqE