Presenting our first annual 2017 Pro-Life Awards winners and losers:
Rah! For the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for electing a conservative pro-life Archbishop to head its Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
Bah! To N.J. voters for electing a vehemently pro-abortion Governor.
Big Rah! For the court in Texas that nixed a law suit against the folks who taped Planned Parenthood employees boasting about harvesting and selling aborted baby body parts.
Big Bah! To Planned Parenthood for bringing the suit.
Bigger Rah! To N.J. Congressman Chris Smith for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion bill which passed in the House and could make the Hyde Amendment permanent.
Bigger Bah! To Oregon Governor Katherine Brown for signing law to pay for all abortions including for illegals and handing the $10.2 million bill to taxpayers.
Biggest Rah of All! To the U.S. Senate for putting Judge Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court!
Then there is you, our donors. In 2017 you made it possible for the Life Education Council to develop and execute life-saving endeavors, some never before achieved. We’ve saved the best Rah’s for you.
Pregnancy resource centers: you wanted more advertisements on buses running through their neighborhoods 24/7 where residents could see their phone numbers, call and get appointments for free ultrasound screenings. As one center, Life Choices, wrote: “Transforming the hearts and minds of the mothers we serve is our daily mission – but first we must get them to walk through our doors. This is why the bus ads are so exciting!”
Another center, Care Net, for which we sponsored billboards told us: “We have had great feedback from donors who have seen the billboards and are very pleased to see this type of advertising. God bless your continued work in the fight; so thankful to be in partnership.”
And Lighthouse shared a photo of one of the babies saved by the bus ads.
You also expanded the Choose Life banner program. 344 have been produced; 334 distributed even into other states, and you have turned the banner itself into a nationally recognized pro-life icon. More banners than ever were televised in the January March for Life.
Also, for the first time, a Choose Life banner bears the contact information of a pregnancy resource center close by. It is displayed at St. John the Apostle Church, Linden.
Reinforcing your commitment to pregnancy resource centers you donated $1,200 to Lighthouse to provide pre- and post-partum care for a baby you helped save from abortion.
You gave $3,000 to the Patient’s Rights Action Fund for YouTube videos opposing N.J.’s doctor assisted suicide bill. The videos reported that the drugs that would be administered to patients were some of the same banned for use in capital punishment cases because they are inhumane. The bill has not been enacted.
You also told us how you’d like your donations used in 2018. When we asked if you favored our sponsoring a True Love Waits program, you overwhelming said “yes.” Some of you told us it would be better to prevent unwanted pregnancies than to have young women consider aborting.
Prevention is what True Love Waits is about. In a series of sessions led by trained speakers and counselors, students in public schools, Catholic schools and church classes learn the many positives of abstinence before marriage, including avoiding pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and low self-esteem. Most of the students in the program resolve to remain abstinent. So, we’ll contribute up to $2,000 to the Respect Life Office of the Archdioceses of Newark to help underwrite the cost of one of the programs.
We told you we are going to speak in a louder voice in 2018 by setting up social media accounts.
Fortunately, an experienced social media manager has agreed to join us. She is Nicole Herbig, a student at Pillar College, formerly Somerset Christian College. Nicole has broad background in administrative work, including managing accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
She will be responsible for frequent posting of our blogs which we anticipate will bring the Life Education Council a wider audience and potentially new donors. We will provide Nicole a monthly stipend of $100.
What we propose to do in 2018 and what we can do depends on your commitment to our agenda.
It always does. So, we maintain our confidence that you will continue your generous support. That is especially true at year’s end when you can add up your annual LEC donations and deduct all of them from your 2017 federal income taxes.
A year from now, when we again celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, we’ll compile another Pro-Life Awards list. What a terrific gift it would be to have a list with more winners and fewer losers. We pray that the Babe born in Bethlehem will help us protect the babies in the womb.
We wish you a happy and holy Christmas.
Jeff Danco, Luke Amoroso, Neil Sullivan, Marisol Rodriguez, Adolf Schimpf, Frank Tinari,
Betty LaRosa, Trustees
Christmas, 2017
Sulli5@aol.com; bettylarosa1@gmail.com