TWEET THAT! Score #10forTebow

This season NFL quarterback Tim Tebow has been racking up scores of points for the Broncos. While this is very exciting for him and all his fans, pro-abortion proponents have turned it into something rather unfavorable . . .

Since Tim Tebow is outspokenly pro-life and has the power to reach millions of people; abortion supporters are not too happy. Pro-abortion advocates have started a campaign that encourages $10 to be donated to any pro-abortion organization for every touchdown Tebow makes. I find this wicked and frustrating, espeically because the campaign has gotten quite a bit of traction. Those who support the taking of innocent lives may be getting a kick out of this campaign, but little to they realize that the pro-life movement will not sit by idly while it happens.

Pro-life blogger Jill Stanek has provided us with an opportunity to counter the negative attack and have a positive impact:

So, pro-lifers unite! Let’s take over the #10forTebow hashtag – beginning today! Use that hashtag for all your tweets. And watch the Broncos/Patriots tomorrow, December 18, at 4:15p EST and note your $10 donation at #10forTebow! 

Even if you're not able to donate $10 for each of Tebow's touchdowns you can help create some buzz on Facebook and Twitter by sharing this blog and by using the #10forTebow hashtag.

For the Dignity of the Born and Unborn,

Timmerie

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International ProLife Youth Conference Day 2

Couldn't make it? No worries, you can still take the knowledge and tools that were given. . .
 
Warwick Pascoe – Making of a Masterpiece

If people understood how beautiful the masterpiece of human beings is, they would value life so much more. Warwick Pascoe opened his talk with this question, “Has anyone ever told you that you are a masterpiece?”

No one argues whether or not the baby in this picture is human and whether or not it should be protected. Warwick gives presentations in schools, colleges, prisons, and in business settings all over New Zealand where he shows the beautiful masterpieces of the child developing in utero. Warwick teaches about fetal development in the hope of creating better understand of the masterpiece of human beings -- even at the earliest stages of development in the womb.

There is no debate about what has been created in the womb. It is the value of what has been created which is debated. Therefore, respect the value of your own masterpiece and those of others. Help others to see the masterpiece of human development because every individual is a unique masterpiece.

Panel Forum: Advocating Life on Your Campus

Jeff White of Survivors (Moderator)
Panelists:
Kristina Garza of Survivors
Joe Langfeld of Human Life Alliance
Rebecca Roughneed of Youth Defence
Allison Aranda of Life Legal Defense Coalition

Kristina Garza, Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

~ Mother Teresa ~

In 2006 Kristina ran into Survivors Campus Life Team, which does abortion education on college campuses, on her campus. She was handed a peice of literature that later led her to do something about abortion. Always pro-life, however apathetic, Kristina started to speak out against abortion because others were, and had reached out to her. Kristina said “You never know the seeds you’re planting.” No matter how much time you give, God will use you. It’s important that you at least do something!

Joe Langfeld, Human Life Alliance

“You’re prolife. So what? What are you going to do about it?” Joe Langfeld started his talk off with this challenge.

Human Life Alliance (HLA) reaches millions of high school and college students accross the country with their pro-life literature. HLA works hard to create materials that reach students where they’re at. Many students after reading the literature say “they would never have read it if they knew it was pro-life”. Thanks to fantastic marketing, HLA has created attention grabbing images which attract people to read their materials. With this in mind, Joe strongly reminded conference attendees to reach people where they’re at. Remember, what you’re marketing may not be appealing to you as a pro-lifer but it may be to someone who is not pro-life.

Joe reminded the young people present “Your beliefs will show up in your actions everywhere you go.” Joe shared that many years ago he quit a job when the political candidate he worked for decided to change his position on abortion to pro-abortion after formerly being pro-life… The politician acknowledged he knew abortion was wrong but for furthering his work he would change sides and support pro-abortion legislation.

Joe told an amazing story of a woman that contacted Joe after having received a piece of HLA literature two years prior. The young woman later used that literature to convince her own mother not to make her have an abortion, and her child is alive today because of it.

In closing Joe posed this challenge: “Think about doing something big and bold. What can reach the most people as possible?”

Rebecca Roughneen, Youth Defense

Rebecca, her comrades, and vigilant pro-lifers that came before her, have helped to maintain an Abortion Free Ireland! Rebecca considers the most important pro-life work to be that which is done on campuses reaching young women.

Rebecca recalls when a friend of hers in college became pregnant and traveled to Europe to obtain an abortion (in Ireland abortion is illegal). Rebecca regrets and feels bad for not speaking up to help her friend from aborting the child. After this experience Rebecca felt called to be active in the fight against abortion. Rebecca encourages everyone to at least give an hour a week to the pro-life movement because “every person here can end abortion!”

Several years ago, during a time of great political struggle to keep abortion illegal in Ireland, seven youth people took to the streets with images of aborted children and they coordinated constant prayer vigils and rallies. If those seven young people, 20 years ago in Ireland, had not stood up and fought against abortion, abortion would be legal today in Ireland. Ireland is abortion free to this day and it’s because people give whatever time they can to stand against the injustice of abortion of the babies.

Rebecca closed by saying, “It’s so easy to save babies. A lot of times, all it takes is you standing there in front of the abortion clinic praying.”

Allison Aranda, Attorney at Life Legal Defense Coalition

Life Legal Defense is willing to persevere in the long process to stand up for what is just and right and will work with pro-lifers who need help in legal cases. Allison shared her shock when years ago she heard of Survivors Campus Life Team and other people who were arrested for talking about abortion while standing on a public sidewalk. This made no sense to her and she was appalled! Soon there after, Allison went to checkout Survivors activism for the first time, only to be immediately surprised upon arrival, because the police were already at the clinic and were trying to arrest the group for holding signs on a public sidewalk and for writing with chalk “Choose Life” along with other pro-life messages. She was shocked because they weren’t doing anything wrong! She said, “Really, for using chalk that washes off?” Since then Allison has worked, with groups like Survivors, to educate pro-life activists and prayer warriors about their civil rights and how to defend those rights when erroneously challenged, even when the challenge comes from law enforcement.

Sometimes people will do whatever it takes just to keep your message from getting out into the community, and they are successful at times by just taking your signs or holding you in a police car for an hour. Don’t allow people of authority to bully you into not standing up for what you believe in! Unfortunately, there will always be an attempt to silence your pro-life work, just because of your message and not because you’re doing something wrong.

Jill Stanek, JillStanek.com – New Media and Social Media:

The next HUGE pro-life frontier

Jill began by sharing about demographics of the present generation -- Generation Y-- (those born between 1982-2002). Jill explained that my generation is one of “Digital Natives” because we are so in tune with technology from texting, Facebook, Twitter, smart phones, and more. Considering the saviness of Generation Y, Jill encouraged conference participants to blog, and went on to share a little bit about how her own personal blog reaches thousands of people every single day. That’s a lot of people who can be influenced simply through utilizing technology and writing about abortion. (See Jill’s blogging tips given during the social/new media session on day 1.)

International ProLife Youth Conference Day 1

As the first day of the International ProLife Youth Conference (IPYC) comes to a close, over 300 young people from across the world are going to sleep energized about the pro-life work they have been activated to participate in. The speakers and panelists have done an incredible job of truly inspiring the next generation to be apart of the global movement for life. I know that incredible pro-life leaders will come from this conference and numerous lives will be saved. As promised, here is what you’re missing if you weren’t able to joins us at the conference.

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

After opening up the conference with the above quote from Ellie Wiesel, master of ceremonies, Reverend Patrick Mahoney, from Christian Defense Coalition shared the main goal of the IPYC, “to leave transformed” in two ways: we do not want to be silent about abortion and we want to take a side on abortion. Speak out against abortion!

Building a Culture of Life -- Lila Rose

After sharing about her prolife journey and her first exposure to abortion at age 9, when she found a book on abortion with images of little aborted babies that shocked her. After getting over the initial shock of learning that what was shown in those pictures was abortion, and that abortion was/is a constitutional right because of Roe v Wade, Lila prayed "Lord, use me to help save lives." Isn’t it amazing what God does when you give yourself? Since then, Lila Rose has been effective in exposing the sexual abuse of Planned Parenthood and much more. You can learn more about her work at LiveAction.org.

"legally, violently tortured to death." abortion clinic 5 minutes away from location. Open today and tomorrow performing abortions.

One of the things that stood out the most to me during Lila’s talk was when she shared about her teen years doing pro-life work and when she first started having her meetings for what is now Live Action. She encouraged the audience to always persevere and explained how sometimes she would make extreme efforts to plan her meeting to take action in fighting abortion, and no one would show up. Lila mentioned a conversation with her mom. Lila told he mom she didn'’t understand why her friends said they were pro-life but they didn’t show up. Her mom told her leadership is lonely, but you have to keep pushing. There will be times when you feel alone, discouraged, or you don't know what you want to do; but you have to move forward and keep taking the next steps.

This being said, we don't know what the future will bring. You never know when your life will end. It could end tomorrow, but until our last breath we should give our time and make an effort to save lives.

Trust God and move forward in saving lives because we must stop the cycle of death that begins when abortion takes place. Never be discouraged and always trust that God will help finish our work, but always move forward.

Lila left us with these thoughts: Every day try to ask yourself what am I doing for my unborn brothers and sisters? What would I have done during the Jewish Holocaust when people were being killed? Now, will I stop babies from being killed during America’s Holocaust?

Panel Forum: Using New Media to Advance the Pro-Life Message
Panelists:
Jill Stanek of JillStanek.com
Bryan Kemper of Stand True
Lila Rose of Live Action

Jill Stanek Encourages people to be active bloggers for life and here are her 12 tips for Blogging:

1. Strive for excellence- you're representing the pro-life movement.
2. Find your niche- become an expert on something
3. Think of your blog as a vocation- not your ego trip and be generous and give credit and love to other pro-lifers
4. Develop a mission statement
5. Blog strategically- what can I blog today that will help our movement the most or hurt theirs the most
6. Blog often
7. Keep it pithy - edit it well. Keep it as compact as possible. Break up paragraphs and add pictures and graphs
8. Give photo credit - link to website or give info
9. Write original content
10. Cross post to twitter and Facebook - increase visibility
11. Be accurate - back up your work and verify even if great source
12. Develop a thick skin -- people will criticize you and defame you for what you do

Social media tips from Bryan Kemper:

Create hot graphics that are made public and tag people. Allow people to share. The images get people thinking, creates great awareness, and brings tons of new traffic.

Status 365-- Sign up for automatic pro-life updates to your Facebook page at AbolishAbortion.com

"Young people believe God is bigger than abortion!" Bryan Kemper

Lila Rose’s shares on social/new media:

It’s cutting edge and bypasses the boundaries of filtered media. Where we couldn’t break through the gatekeepers of media years ago, we can now with the powerful tools like Facebook and Twitter.

Visual media is even stronger than a lot of words. Pictures have historically changed public perception and made history. Images of of the slave trade, the civil rights movement, the Jewish holocaust of World War II, and many other atrocities have been put to a stop because people saw first hand what was happening and didn’t allow it to contiue. What’s so amazing about this is that you can be the distributer of images and videos that change the culture!

Some questions asked of the panelists during the social media session:

Q. What can one do when they see women online who say they're considering having an abortion?

A. Pray to the holy spirit to guide your words.
Tell the woman you care about them and their baby.
Remind the woman it is child and abortion will hurt her emotionally and physically.
Tell her she can make the right choice and you will help her.

Q. What if you post something Prolife and it turns into a big debate?

A. Don’t go down a rabbit trail. Always bring it back to the unborn babies and those hurt by abortion. Be kind and loving in your response. Don’t make enemies by answering disrespectfully. People will respect you and your opinion even if they don’t agree with you when you’re respectful. There are far more people reading those comments and conversations that don't say anything, but it they learn form it.

Closing remarks from panelists Bryan Kemper -- Online activism cannot replace actual activism. It should only supplement activism.

Austin Ruse, C-Fam

C-Fam’s work is amazing and so many don't know it. Austin shared that we (the pro-life movement) “have won”! As the UN has tried to make abortion a universal right C-Fam has actively stopped this from happening.

"When someone raises the flag. others gather to it." Austin Ruse

"History is made by those who stay to the very end." Austin Ruse

Words on ending abortion from Austin,"The microphone will not be taken back unless it is taken back here and all other places."

Bryan Kemper of Stand True

Bryan Kemper from Stand True encourages young people to participate in BeMyVote.com campaign to change the 2012 elections to promote the dignity of human life.

The challenge Bryan gave to everyone at the conferene:

What would I do if the house across from a Nazi camp was mine? Would I help a Jew who came to me asking for help? Would I go and try to save them? A holocaust is happening in our society today. Babies are torn apart and taken away in trashcans from abortion clinics. There are two big differences between the Jews and the babies in the womb: 1) stage of life 2) the child in the womb does not have a voice.

A lot of people say, "yeah, being prolife and standing against abortion is great, but I’m not called to it".

We are all called to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our neighbor is our fellow human being. Am I going to walk past my neighbor robbed and beaten on the side of the road? Am I called to love my neighbor as myself or will I leave my neighbor to die in a ditch? That ditch is over 53 million lives lost to abortion. But I don’t feel called to help my neighbor?

Dr. Eogan De Faoite of Ireland’s Youth Defence

Dr. Eogan has worked to help keep Ireland abortion free!

In 1992 a group of 7 college age students stood up against Ireland’s version of Roe v Wade, and they were successful. This group is called Youth Defence. They were made the leaders of the pro-life movement in Ireland by organizing events and creating awareness to fight to keep Ireland abortion free. Nearly 20 years later, Ireland is still abortion free! Commitment to the cause, strength in conviction, trust and motivation in God, and having courage to take necessary risks is what has kept abortion illegal in Ireland. This movement doesn’t need a bunch of people; it needs a group of people to take a bunch of risks. All these risks are nothing when we consider what we are fighting for.

Youth Defence has had to develop a quick pace to stay one step ahead of the opponent to keep Ireland abortion free. Abortion needs to not be illegal; it needs to be unthinkable.

Activism, outreach, and education are the keys that have helped to keep Ireland abortion free to this day,and graphic images have been a huge part of conveying what abortion truly is to the people of Ireland.


In closing, the International ProLife Youth Conference has been an incredible, inspiring, and motivating experience. There is much more I could share, but I would have to write for days. I encourage you to share this article with your friends and family. We will work to end abortion. Will you be apart of the global movement for life? Answer the call!

For the Dignity of the Born and Unborn,

Timmerie

Continue to Follow the conference live on www.Twitter.com/Timmerie and stay tuned for more blog updates!

Read about day 2 of the conference. 

Congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood: What to expect

[Editor's note: Today's post is by Jill Stanek. It originally appeared on her blog and is reposted with permission.]

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Yesterday came the welcome news that a congressional committee has launched an investigation of Planned Parenthood.

Republican Congressman Cliff Stearns (pictured right), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (under the Energy & Commerce Committee), had been threatening a probe for months, particularly after Americans United for Life released a damning report in July documenting decades of malfeasance by the United States’ largest abortion provider.

Stearns followed through and on September 15  issued a letter to Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards requesting 12 years’ worth of financial records, state audits, and policies from both Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its 83 affiliates, to be handed over “within two weeks of the date of this letter,” or by tomorrow, September 29.

According to the letter, Stearns’ committee will investigate improper billing and overbilling by PP affiliates to the government; comingling of government funds intended for Titles X and XIX with PP’s abortion operations, which would be illegal; and PP’s policies and procedures for reporting sex abuse and trafficking to authorities.

AUL’s report documented that PP affiliates have indeed been caught overbilling, failing to report minor sex abuse, and failing to comply with parental involvement laws, to name just three infractions of many.
PP got its PR ducks in a row before announcing news of the investigation, obviously alerting Washington Post pro-abort go-to reporter Sarah Kliff and readying Democrat pro-abort Congressman Henry Waxman’s protest letter for simultaneous release with its own press statement. Note the timing…

I spoke with Charmaine Yoest, president of AUL, and asked what to expect next. She said PP could take one of four actions: 1) provide only undamaging, incomplete information; 2) provide massive amounts of material that would take years to wade through and hope no one finds any ugly details; 3) stonewall – ask for more time; 4) provide accurate information.

#3, stonewalling appears unlikely, because it would make the organization look like it has something to hide. In fact PP wrote in its statement it “is responding to the request in a timely manner.”

#2, providing TMI, would also seem unlikely, because even if handing over needles in a haystack to the government, PP would still be handing them over.

#1 or #2 are most likely. Planned Parenthood is legally obligated to respond to Stearns’ subpoenas.

Then what?

Stearns’ staff will investigate PP’s paperwork and issue a public report. They can put all of PP’s submitted information in the report, making it public. If they find a smoking gun or guns, they can follow up with hearings.

Examining subpoenaed documents is precisely how Solyndra was exposed – by this same committee. From ABC News, September 13:

The emails were uncovered by investigators for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which will hold hearings on the Solyndra loan Wednesday. The Republican-led House has been investigating the Obama administration’s green energy loan program for months…. Last week, the FBI raided the factory….

Finding damaging information PP’s top-notch attorneys may attempt to hide will depend on how good Stearns’ staff is.  I asked Charmaine if Stearns can ask outside organizations that are PP-savvy to examine PP’s documents, such as AUL or American Life League’s STOPP. She said it is totally legal and acceptable for a congressional committee to request investigatory help from outside experts.

I hope Congressman Stearns does so. I think he will. He was brave going into this, knowing the other side would malign him with both barrels. I expect he will want to do all he can to find as much evidence as possible of PP’s wrong-doing.