Charles A. “Chuck” Donovan

Do pro-life laws, whether state or federal, actually save lives? According to a new study from the pro-abortion WeCount coalition, the answer is “yes,” with the number of abortions nationwide falling by 10,000 in the first two months after the Dobbs decision.

The provision of alternatives to abortion has been the hallmark of the U.S. pro-life movement since the founding of the first pregnancy help centers more than a half century ago.  Ever since, and accelerating after the mid-1980s, PHCs, as the centers are known by shorthand, have rapidly expanded their personnel, volunteers, and services.

“Greater love hath no man than this,” says John 15:13, “that a man lay down his life for his friends.” As with the parable of the Good Samaritan, so often that great love is lain down for those who are strangers – one’s “not yet” friends. So it was with the Sister Paula Vandegaer, a pioneering nun devoted to the sanctity of every life and to walking alongside women considering abortion. Sister Paula passed away in Los Angeles, California, on August 13 at age 82.

The drama now playing out on the Missouri-Illinois border has some resonance with previous questions in American history. The drama involves a bold plan by the national abortion giant, Planned Parenthood, to open a mammoth abortion facility in southwest Illinois, just 13 miles from downtown St. Louis where is found the last abortion center remaining open in the Show-Me State.

Something interesting is afoot in recent disappointments for advocates of the right to life.  In a series of cases that may test the appeal of a new jurisprudence on abortion, two federal appeals courts and the Supreme Court itself have turned aside attempts to enact a law banning disability discrimination abortions.

These findings represent a tremendous leap forward for parents, physicians, therapists, and educators. Now expectant parents can obtain powerful information about the quality of life for persons with Down syndrome.

What does it mean to be human? This is the fundamental question presented in the film Summer in the Forest (“Summer”). A documentary of people with intellectual disabilities, Summer suggests that friendship and relationship are central to the human experience and dignity.

On April 4, 2018, the Louisiana House of Representatives made significant progress in the promotion of adoption as an abortion alternative. The Louisiana House Education Committee and Health and Welfare Committee each advanced pro-adoption legislation to a full House session for debate on April 11, 2018.

In pursuit of the possibility that abortion drugs could be distributed via pharmacies or mail order shipment for at-home use, researchers from a group called Gynuity Health Projects sought RU-486 online from 20 websites and had them tested for their potency – that is, whether they contained enough of the drugs in the two-step regimen to effectuate an abortion.