Affiliated
Medical Services halts RU-486 abortions
On Friday, April 20, Planned Parenthood of
Wisconsin announced their indefinite
suspension of medication-induced abortions
across the state, citing the effect of
Wisconsin Act 217 – the Coercive and Webcam
Abortion Prevention Act.
Now, we learned that Affiliated Medical
Services — Wisconsin’s only late-term
abortion facility, one of two surgical
abortion facilities in Milwaukee and site of
40 Days
for Life in Milwaukee – has
discontinued RU-486 abortions as well. Press
release from NARAL Wisconsin here.
From Affiliated’s website (also
confirmed via sidewalk counselors’
interactions with AMS staff):
Effective
5-11-12 Due to pending
legislation in Wisconsin, we are no longer
able to offer the Abortion Pill. We
regret this inconvenience and encourage
you to contact state legislators and the
Governor to express your frustration!
In the late 1990s following the enactment of
the state partial birth abortion restriction
law, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI)
"announced" the suspension of all surgical
abortions in the state. That suspension
lasted only a few days, later followed by an
injunction prohibiting enforcement of the
new law. Is this game being replayed? Are
they really going to give up one-fourth of
their abortion business so easily?
Hopefully, but we shall see in the days
ahead.
In the meantime, we are pleased that PPWI
and now AMS have suspended the reckless and
dangerous practice of RU-486 (mifepristone)
abortions. The average woman loses four
times the amount of blood in a drug-induced
medical abortion as compared to a standard
surgical abortion. Several deaths have been
attributed to mifepristone and therefore its
prescription and use -- from a medical
standpoint -- ought to be highly restricted,
if not banned.
In 2010, Pro-Life Wisconsin warned of the
likelihood of RU-486 web cam abortions in
Wisconsin and the health dangers of
mifepristone. We reported that Planned
Parenthood of Wisconsin dispenses birth
control, which can act as an abortifacient,
via teleconferencing. At the time, video
phones, which are the size of a laptop
computer, were at 10 Planned Parenthood
locations, chosen because they are the
organization's Title X family planning
clinics and receive funding from the federal
government.
Act 217 effectively prohibits webcam
abortions by requiring the prescribing
physician to perform a physical exam of the
woman and to be physically present in the
room when the abortion-inducing drug is
given. The bill also requires the woman to
return to the abortion facility for a
follow-up visit 12 to 18 days after the use
of an abortion-inducing drug to confirm the
termination of the pregnancy and evaluate
her medical condition.
Setting
the pro-life agenda in Madison: PLW is your voice!
Pro-Life Wisconsin is proud to be your 100%
pro-life voice at the State Capitol during
every legislative session. With pro-life
majorities in the State Senate and State
Assembly backed by a 100% pro-life governor,
the 2011-2012 legislative session produced
many victories for preborn children and laid
the groundwork for greater pro-life progress
in the future. In fact, this session was the
most fruitful in our organization’s
twenty-year history. Click here
[PDF] to recap what your PLW legislative
team achieved this session and where we need
to go next year.
From LifeSiteNews:
The Vatican is backing a petition campaign in
the European Union that seeks a debate about
enshrining personhood for the unborn from the
moment of conception.
The Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Laity
says the campaign, which must gather at least
one million signatures from 7 EU states by May
11th, 2013, is a "significant opportunity to
send a wake-up call to the people of Europe."
While the EU cannot change the laws of member
states to protect unborn life, the petition aims
to ensure the EU respects life in its areas of
competence, particularly in terms of development
aid and scientific research.
The petition's organizing committee includes
representatives from 21 pro-life organizations
in 21 EU states. The campaign involves a
coordinated effort by Christian associations and
movements across the continent with the support
of educational and cultural activities in each
of the 27 states, and organizers hope to secure
far more than minimum of a million signatures.
According to the Pontifical Council for the
Laity, the organizers view the effort as "far
more than a need," saying it "is in fact
urgent."
In October 2011, the Wisconsin Personhood
Amendment was introduced in the Wisconsin
legislature, the first time personhood has been
proposed as law in the state. Read more about
the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment here.
LifeSiteNews did a brief article about a recent
animated video PLW did about personhood, which
you can read here.
Undercover
video: Planned Parenthood coaches on sex-selection
abortion of baby girl
From LifeSiteNews:
A Texas Planned Parenthood counselor speaking to
an undercover investigator posing as a mother
hoping to abort her baby if it's a girl has been
caught on video giving advice on how to abuse
Medicaid to obtain an ultrasound to determine
the baby's sex, and then abort if it's a girl
before the legal cutoff at five months'
gestation.
"I see that you say that you want to terminate
if it's a girl, so are you just wanting to
continue the pregnancy in the meantime, or
what?" Planned Parenthood counselor Rebecca
casually asks the Live Action undercover
investigator in the video released
Tuesday morning.
The counselor is seen discussing the difficulty
of obtaining an abortion after the baby is old
enough to determine its gender by ultrasound,
and confirms the investigator's stated fears of
encountering bias against her sex-selective
abortion.
"A lot of doctors will place judgment because
the brain is already developed, a lot. Pretty
much everything's already developed," she says.
"Just keep it quiet and then come here?" the
woman asks. "Yeah, I would," Rebecca
replies.
Rebecca, who says she has had two abortions
herself, describes how she successfully applied
for Medicaid "as if I was gonna continue my
pregnancy, went through the OB/GYN, and then me
and my husband decided we were gonna go ahead
and terminate. We terminated, and I still stayed
on Medicaid and just got on birth control."
Live Action in a press release this morning said
Planned Parenthood "betrays its own supposedly
feminist ideology" by supporting the selected
abortion of girls, a practice as many as 77
percent of Americans oppose.
Join communities across the state in marking the
47th anniversary of the Supreme Court Griswold v.
Connecticut decision, which
decriminalized birth control, led to the
pseudoscientific redefinition of pregnancy from
conception to implantation and paved the way for
Roe v. Wade
and abortion on demand.
In addition to our local Griswold events,
PLW is a co-sponsor of American Life League's
"The Pill Kills 2012 National Symposium" on June
2. ALL will host a webcast panel of nationally
renowned experts on the medical, cultural, and
spiritual impact of the birth control pill. For
more information, click here.
List of PLW Griswold observances: PLW Kenosha
will gather on June 2 at 11 a.m. at Planned
Parenthood, 3601 Roosevelt Rd, Kenosha.
Pro-Life
Wisconsin affiliates from Ozaukee and
Washington counties will gather at the
West Bend Planned Parenthood on Thursday, June 7
from 7-8pm.
PLW Milwaukee
County will gather on June 7 from
5-6p.m. at Planned Parenthood on Hwy 100 and
Lincoln Ave in West Allis. An ice cream social
will follow.
PLW Juneau
County will gather at the Juneau County
Courthouse in Mauston from 3-4 p.m. on Sunday,
June 10 for prayer and scripture reading.
PLW Marathon
County will gather on June 7 at 3 p.m.
at Family Planning Health Services, 719 North
3rd Avenue, Wausau.
Vigil for Life
will gather for a prayer vigil on June 7 at 6
p.m. at Planned Parenthood, 3706 Orin
Road, Madison.
PLW Portage
County & Servants of Our Lady of Guadalupe
will hold a prayer vigil on June 4 at 4:30 p.m.
at the Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin Rapids.
An additional vigil will be held June 6 at 5:30
p.m. in Stevens Point at the Family Planning
Health Services on Division St.
Griswold v.
Connecticut plans are being finalized
in additional locations. Call the Pro-Life
Wisconsin office at (262) 796-1111 for
information.
Practicing NFP or using contraception: "Same
Difference"? Dr. Michael
Kloess, a family practice physician and the
Executive Director of Our Lady of Hope Clinic (in
Madison, WI), will give a presentation
on NFP, with Question & Answer Session.
The talk will be June 14 at St. John the
Evangelist Parish, 8500 W. Cold Spring Rd.,
Greenfield, WI, in the Church Hall. For more
information, please contact Kathy at 414‐329‐0991.
Stand
Up for Religious Freedom Rally: On June 8,
tens of thousands of faithful citizens will be
gathering in prayer and public witness in towns
and cities across the United States to oppose the
HHS Mandate and Stand Up for Religious Freedom.
Join the Rally in La Crosse and say NO to the
Health and Human Services Mandate that forces all
employers - including catholic charities and
ministries - to provide contraception, abortion
inducing drugs, and sterilization free to all
employees through their healthcare plans or face
crippling fines. The very existence and
continuation of our religious institutions,
hospitals, educators and ministries are at stake!
Friday, June 8 from 12 noon - 1 PM at the corner
of 4th and State Streets in La Crosse. For info
and to help please contact Elizabeth Garibaldi at
608-769-4014 or lizzdemos@yahoo.com.
Witness for Life: Each Thursday, St.
Mary Catholic Church in Kenosha will offer 8am
Mass, followed by a Rosary procession to the
nearby Planned Parenthood. St. Mary's is located
at 7307 40th Avenue, Kenosha. For more information
call Monica at 262-515-3132 or Laura at
262-358-0705.
The Wausua 40 Days
for Life group will continue their prayer
vigil by meeting the first Thursdays of the month,
May through August. We will meet at Family
Planning Health Services, 719 N 3rd Avenue in
Wausau at 3 pm. Please join us in prayer to be a
public witness for the unborn and for mothers to
make the right choice.
Kneel for Life: Capitol Campaign meets Wednesdays
at the Capitol from 1-2pm. We try to precede
with Mass at St. Patrick's at 12:10, then we
walk over from there. Our purpose is to be a
peaceful, joyful presence praying to tear down
the evil strongholds present there and be an
encouragement for the pro-life
legislators/staff. We pray the Rosary, Chaplet
of Mercy and St. Michael prayer as we walk in
twos or independently, throughout the Capitol.
The third Monday of every month All Saints
Catholic Church in Berlin says a Rosary for
life at the church's monument for the unborn
after a 5:15p.m. Mass. Everyone welcome.
The
pro-life group at St. Frances Cabrini Parishmeets
to pray every Thursday evening from6-6:30
p.m. at the West Bend Planned Parenthood, 532
Shepherd’s Drive, West Bend, WI. Located on
the West end of town, approximately 1-1/2
miles west of Hwy 45 on West Washington Street
(aka: Highway 33) in West Bend. It is in a
shopping mall on the north-side of the street.
We are on the sidewalk.
Holy Hour for the Unborn: St. John the
Evangelist Parish, 8500 W. Cold Spring Rd.,
Greenfield, Wis. We come together every fourth
Wednesday of the month from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. to
pray for the end of abortion. The church has 24
hours of Adoration seven days a week. Contact
Kathy Knaack with questions,
Kathy.knaack@gmail.com. Cenacles of Life meets every
Saturday morning at St. Pius X Catholic Church
in Cambridge at 8:30 am to pray two rosaries for
an end to the culture of death.
Cenacles
of Life
meets at St Mary’s Good Shepherd Chapel, 108
McHenry St, Burlington, WI every Wednesday at 6
p.m., and recites the second oral Rosary in the
main body of the church, finishing at 7:15 p.m. Cenacles
of Life
meets every Saturday morning at 6:45 a.m. to
pray two Rosaries for pro-life intentions before
the 7:30 a.m. Mass at St. Mary's Catholic Church
in Pine Bluff, west of Madison.
The Servants of Our Lady of Guadalupe has a prayer vigil
every Monday at 4:30 p.m. in Wisconsin Rapids on
8th St. by the Shopko mall to pray for the
closing of the Planned Parenthood. If you have
any questions contact Will Goodman at (608)
698-7443.
The Servants of Our Lady of Guadalupe has a prayer vigil
every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in Stevens Point in
front of the strip mall next to Family Video to
pray for the closing of Family Planning Health
Services. State Director Peggy Hamill will join
them in prayer this Wednesday, March 28. If you
have any questions contact Jen Dunnett at (715)
340-2779.
If you enjoy
receiving the Monday Update every week, please consider
donating to Pro-Life Wisconsin’s life-saving work. For your
convenience, credit card donations are accepted by phone,
(262) 796-1111 or toll-free (877) GOD’S WILL or use our
secure online donation form. Thank you for your generosity!
