Follow Survivors Camp 2011 Live from Your Computer Screen

Over 80 Survivors from across the United States will converge in California on Tuesday, July 6th for the 14th annual ProLife Training Camp:  motivated and ready to become effective voices for the preborn.

You may not be able to join us at camp this year, but you can join our young campers, staff, and world-renown activists from home by following along on our social networking sites!  From July 6th through July 16th, Survivors' staff and Survivors' Campers will post frequent updates, letting the world know what is happening at camp and how lives are being saved and changed forever.  Check in often to see photos from events that happened just moments before!  Read exciting first-hand accounts of pro-life activism, and consider joining us for an event in southern California!

This is a camp you don't have to miss because we're bringing it to you!  

Camp will come alive as you follow us on Facebook and Twitter -- see you in cyberspace!

Standing In Defence of the Voiceless,

Timmerie Millington

Survivor's Director of Communications

It's National Fertility Awareness Month!

This is a wonderful guest post by Louisa Millington . . .


While at the gym last week, it came to my attention that I had let June almost completely run its course without paying tribute to National Fertility Awareness Month.  I was shaken out of my blissful ignorance when I came across an episode of The View.  In observance of National Fertility Awareness Month, the ladies of The View were dedicating an hour to Surrogacy.  As I watched, and peddled, a question began to develop:  If the surrogate decides to abort, is it still her body, her choice?   As the question continued to brew in my head over the next few days, I happened upon a second occasion to consider the issue of surrogacy while sitting at a book store killing time, waiting for my daughter’s flight to arrive.  While I sat quietly reading, a pregnant Asian woman sat next to me, and within the course of thirty minutes she was joined by five other pregnant women.   I must admit my curiosity got the better of me, and I began to make conversation.   The woman next to me told me she, and the group of women with her, were all from China.  Now having just seen the surrogacy episode of The View, and then finding myself in the company of six pregnant women from China, it got me thinking.  My mind very quickly jumped to the thought that these women could be part of the Chinese “wombs for rent” industry.  While these two surrogacy experiences open up a whole range of questions, I did get the sense that I was being called to explore some of those questions.


I’ll start with my first question:  If a surrogate decides to abort, is it still her body, her choice?   The quick answer is, yes. If you are unfamiliar with surrogacy, it is fairly simple.   There are two basic types of surrogacy, traditional and gestational.   Traditional uses the host surrogate’s egg and either donor sperm or sperm from the intended father to impregnate the host; there is a genetic relationship to the surrogate in traditional surrogacy.  Gestational surrogacy uses either donor sperm and eggs or the sperm and eggs of the intended father and mother to impregnate the host surrogate; there is no genetic relationship to the surrogate in gestational surrogacy.   Most people that choose surrogacy, as opposed to IVF or adoption, do so out of a desire to have a genetic relationship with the child.  There are only six states in the United States that permit surrogacy contracts:  Arkansas, California, Illinois (gestational surrogacy only), Massachusetts, New Jersey (uncompensated surrogacy agreements only), and Washington (uncompensated surrogacy agreements only).   The remaining states have no surrogacy laws, mixed/ambiguous laws, or surrogacy is not legal.  Surrogacy contracts are typically legal contracts where portions of the contracts can be unenforceable, particularly any portion of a contract that would require a surrogate host to continue a pregnancy against her will.   A surrogate mother has the option at any time to continue or end the pregnancy and there is nothing the intended parents can do to change the fact that this is her exclusive right (even with a legal contract).

As I have perused the surrogacy message boards, I have learned that abortion is a hot topic in the surrogacy community.  It can become an issue when selective reduction comes in to play, when the potential for a “defective” child becomes an issue, when a surrogate or intended parents change their mind, or when intended parents become unable to pay their bill.  I’ve read stories of intended parents that have paid tens of thousands of dollars only to have their genetic property arbitrarily destroyed by a surrogate that changed her mind.   These parents weep over their lost child, their lost parenthood, while the surrogate mom exercises her right to privacy.  Imagine the dichotomy of positions.  While many, if not most, of these families are ardent supporters of women’s reproductive rights, these same families lament the loss of their “child”.  So whose property is that growing human?  Many try to sue for performance of contract; however the sad reality is, the child in the womb is chattel owned by the mother carrying him or her.  Many have tried to apply commerce laws, laws applying to the selling of goods and services, to the surrogacy contract; once again a woman’s right to privacy supersedes commerce law in this instance.   I am struck at this point by the offensive objectification of these children, pawns used by surrogates to improve their financial situation and by intended parents attempting to satisfy their desire to have a genetic relationship with a child. This thing, this child, that sees its net worth rising and falling based on human desire and the ability to perform.


Now, what about those six women from China? Once again I was faced with dueling challenges; China’s forced subjugation of women with respect to their ability to have more than one child and the burgeoning womb for rent industry in China.  As I researched, I came across many articles about the Chinese government cracking down on the womb for rent industry, and stories of the Chinese government strapping teenage women to tables as they insert needles into their bellies to begin the abortion process, a situation not unfamiliar to many Chinese women that have been subjected to forced abortions (even when the little ones were intended to remain within their genetic families).  I doubt many of you are asking why Chinese women would be used for surrogates, in case you are, the answer is cheap labor.  The cost of surrogacy with a Chinese or Indian woman ranges from $12,000 to $30,000 compared to the cost of a US surrogate which costs upward of $70,000.  While continuing my research I also learned that many military wives are becoming surrogates in order to supplement pay, particularly those whose husbands are being deployed for long periods of time.  Women, how far have we come to sink so low?  Women of all skin color are selling their fertility to improve their financial situations, allowing themselves to be used as a tool to satisfy their desires and the desires of others.

Dare I risk broaching another surrogacy question? What about the risks of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)?  In order to achieve pregnancy IVF is perfomed.  Drugs are given to an egg donor to hyper stimulate ovary production.   A woman’s pelvic area swells to about twice its normal size and if you think PMS is bad during normal ovulation can you imagine being in the presence of woman whose ovaries have been hyper stimulated, or can you imagine being that woman?  Most women produce only one egg per cycle. Egg donors will produce anywhere from 5-35 eggs.  Did I mention the possible association between IVF and breast and ovarian cancer. Do your own research, check with the National Institute of Health.


In the final analysis, I would say BUYER AND SELLER BEWARE.  There is an overwhelming amount of using and abusing of the human person involved in designing a baby that is genetically related to the intended parents.  In addition to the utilization of the child, it deprives the child of his or her filial relationship with his or her parents and their extended family, it creates a disruption in both the societal role and the obligation of parenting, it creates a disruption to the institution of marriage (the historical purpose of marriage is unity and the pro-creation and raising of children), and creates disorder in the fabric of society.


It’s National Fertility Awareness month.  Be aware of those that are seeking, without success to achieve pregnancy, and be of support in word and in deed. Be knowledgeable of ethical resources for achieving pregnancy such as Natural Family Planning www.NFP.com and NaPro Technology www.NaProTechnology.com. Both have been hugely successful in helping couples struggling with infertility to achieve pregnancy. Not all infertile couples will be open to discussing such an intimate topic, so perhaps providing the couple with written information will be the least intrusive route to take. Most of all, be an informed voice of support and sanity.


Louisa Millington

Louisa Millington is a proud mom of four children and has been married to her husband Tim for 21 years.  She has spent her adult life in service to Life & Dignity issues.  In 1994, with her husband and a small group of people from the Lake Arrowhead area, Louisa opened Veronica's Maternity Home.  Hundreds of children have been born out of Veronica's Home and hundreds of women have changed their lives through the housing, education, life training, and love provided by Veronica's Home.  In 1996 Louisa began to work with the Respect Life Office of the Diocese of San Bernardino and since then has been fortunate to work on legislative issues and projects on a local, state and national level.  She considers herself blessed to have had so many opportunities to serve and equally blessed by the friends and acquaintances she has made along the way.

Surrounded By Abortion Day to Day

Abortion is hardly a speck on most people’s radar. It’s no big deal and not my business, right?   But abortion is constantly surrounding us in our every day life: through our conversations, where we are at a given moment, and who we are with.  So here is an example of two consecutive days where my life was surrounded by abortion that was outside of my work and blog.

Sunday night I sat in the car with my mom on our way to El Torito for dinner when I looked to my right and saw Family Planning Associates (FPA) abortion clinic. As we drove by I thought about times when I’ve sidewalk counseled there and once saw a police officer bring an inmate from the local jail to the clinic for an abortion.

As we continued down this beautiful street with pretty green trees covered in lights, I commented to my mom about how sad it is to be so close in proximity to where we live our daily lives and there’s an abortion clinic right next to us. Just a block down the way from FPA my mom mentioned that there’s a Planned Parenthood on the corner next door to a strip club, and she recalled a time when she prayed outside of that Planned Parenthood with Father Pavone when one of my siblings was just a baby in a pack on her back...  Moments later we pulled up to El Torito and walked in to have dinner.

As I looked at this beautiful little area that was masked by pretty trees, clean cut buildings, and bright lights I felt uncomfortable knowing what takes place in those buildings within eye site. I could have sat there during my entire dinner heartbroken just thinking about it all, but if I did what good would that have done?

Southern California Surrounded by abortion clinics.

The next morning I was hurrying to finish some work before going to Disneyland with my family when it was brought to my attention that a friend on Facebook had checked in at Planned Parenthood and said “accidents happen”.   I was so angry but continued to read the comment where people said things like “You’re not keeping it!” or called the baby “cheese”.   Oh, I was so upset I didn’t know if I should scream or cry.   After a moment I understood it was a joke.   For the next couple hours I was highly disturbed by the “joke” and recalled all those times over the years when I would walk up on a group of friends who quickly quieted when spotting me.   Later when I inquired I’m told someone made an abortion joke and didn't want to offend me ‘cause I’m pro-life'.

Hours later I was in the car on my way to Disneyland and heard a song called Lucy by SKILLET and some of the main words of the song were "hey Lucy I remember your name".  When the song ended the radio host said the song was about a young man and his girlfriend in high school who got pregnant and made a choice to abort.  In the song the vocalist sings about how he would do things differently if he had the chance.   My heart ached for this couple and their regret in the name of ‘choice’.   Moments later I looked to my left and there was a Planned Parenthood clinic off the freeway where in 2009, within ten days of each other, two women were taken from the clinic by ambulance after an abortion.

Abortion surrounds our every day life whether we know it or not. There are abortions within our own families that we are surprised to find out about or will never know of, friends you never thought would have abortions. All of us are missing people from our lives in the name of ‘choice’.

Now I ask you, what kind of impact does abortion have on you and your every day life?

Standing In Defence of the Voiceless,

Timmerie Millington

Unplanned Chapter 7 'The Code of Conduct'

It saddens me that those who work for abortion clinics are often fearful for their safety and sometimes have threats on their life. During this chapter Abby writes about the peaceful presence outside of the Planned Parenthood she worked at in Texas. Despite the peaceful presence instituted by the efforts of Coalition for Life there was a big deal made about the safely of clinic workers and the rhetoric enforced when speaking about sidewalk counselors.

The transportation of some abortionists would be such a dramatic and big deal that they would: park at a secret location, were picked up away from the secret parking place by clinic staff, then driven with a sheet covering them in the back seat, and run in a side security entrance -- before dawn-- with the sheet covering their head. Why are such drastic measures made to disguise and protect some abortionists? If abortion is legal what is there to fear? Clearly some of these abortionists are doing things illegally and/or fear for their life because of the type of work they do. Why would you take a job that brings such fear and dramatic precautions to your life? This I cannot understand.

Planned Parenthood has taught their employees rhetoric for years and Abby shares that she was trained to call peaceful sidewalk counselors "anti-choice extremists" that would harass anyone going into Planned Parenthood to take away their “right to choose”. Pro-life advocates don't need fancy rhetoric that depicts the other side as something they aren't. This reminds me that we have truth and evidence on our side, but that's not all... We want women to be confident in their choices and not weep from effect of post abortion syndrome for years to come. We want the children in the womb to be looked at with dignity and not torn apart after being called a 'blog of tissue’. Stand with women today!

Happy International Women's Day! I stand for respecting women both inside and outside of the womb!
 (Repost this on Facebook and Twitter today!)

What is something that stood out to you about this chapter? A lesson learned or something interesting?

Order Abby’s book and join this discussion: www.UnplannedTheBook.com

Checkout my reflection from:

Chapter 1, ‘The Ultrasound’

Chapter 2, 'The Volunteer Fair'

Chapter 3, 'The Power of a Secret'

Chapter 4, 'The Cause'
Chapter 5, 'The Bond of Compassion'
Chapter 6, '40 Days and 40 Nights' 

Standing In Defence of the Voiceless,

Timmerie Millington

Reflection on Abby Johnson's Book 'Unplanned'

Over the last few months I've been reading Abby Johnson's book Unplanned where Abby shares about her experience of working at Planned Parenthood then converting to the pro-life side two years ago, after watching an ultrasound guided abortion.  Please join with me in reflecting upon Unplanned by commenting and sharing your thoughts about the book.

Read my reflections on chapters 1-6 and stay tuned tomorrow for chapter 7's reflection:

Chapter 1, ‘The Ultrasound’

Chapter 2, 'The Volunteer Fair'

Chapter 3, 'The Power of a Secret'

Chapter 4, 'The Cause'
Chapter 5, 'The Bond of Compassion'
Chapter 6, '40 Days and 40 Nights'

Order Abby’s book and join this discussion: www.UnplannedTheBook.com

Standing In Defence of the Voiceless,

Timmerie Millington

Unplanned Chapter 5 'The Bond of Compassion'

Did you know that according to Guttmacher Institute two-thirds of women who have abortions are Christian? I must begin by saying that after reading a couple pages into this chapter I put the book down out of pure frustration and sorrow. . .

Abby Johnson finds herself pregnant for the second time, but this time she is coming out of a marriage with the baby's father. Because at this point she had been with Planned Parenthood for a little over a year it was easier for her to accept the idea of abortion. Abortion became an every day norm for Abby, even though she really was not a large supporter of abortion and she grew up Christian. After finding she was pregnant, Abby says in Unplanned, her mind went right away to thoughts of, “If I have this child.”

While working at Planned Parenthood Abby felt accepted, cared for, and not judged by others when she was going through difficult times. The decision to abort her second ‘pregnancy’ came easy, but the actual process wasn’t. She took RU-486 (a pill that causes one to miscarry), within a day she found herself in extraordinary pain, bleeding, completely alone, and too embarrassed to go to the doctor because she decided to abort her child. Abby was alone and sick for several weeks.

It breaks my heart to think about women who have an abortion and then turn to abortion time and time again. I’m angered by this mentality, but I understand the mentality behind having an abortion for some. This is a norm not only for those who work within the industry but for society as a whole. Even over the last three months I’ve counseled two women who have seriously considered an abortion. These were women who were pro-life, Catholic, and never would have thought about having an abortion before finding themselves in their current situation. One, found herself in a crisis pregnancy outside of wedlock; she quickly started thinking of it as pregnancy and not a child (please pray for her as she has chosen to keep her baby through difficult situations). The second woman was in extreme pain with a condition called Hyperemesis and when the pain continued she stopped saying baby and began to call her baby ‘it’ or ‘thing’. She began to prepare herself for an abortion, and kept telling herself, and me, that she did not have any emotional attachment to ‘it’ (I believe she may have had the abortion, although I’m not positive). By dehumanizing the baby growing within her, and using terms such as it, thing, or referring to her baby as a pregnancy, she was able to detach herself from an act that she believed to be wrong as she considered ending the life of her unborn child.

Please pray for all women who are pregnant and considering an abortion. Pray for consistency of personal morality and personal behavior.

"My story -- my decision to abort my second pregnancy even though I told myself I was a champion for decreasing the number of abortions -- illustrates the complexity, the confusion, and frankly, the disconnect between behavior and values that permeates our culture.” -- Abby Johnson shares in her book Unplanned.

Order Abby’s book and join this discussion: www.UnplannedTheBook.com

Checkout my reflection from:

Chapter 1, ‘The Ultrasound’

Chapter 2, 'The Volunteer Fair'

Chapter 3, 'The Power of a Secret'

Chapter 4, 'The Cause'

Standing In Defence of the Voiceless,

Timmerie Millington