Posted by Eric Scheidler on Monday, May 20th, 2013
Students from Christian Liberty Academy reach out to abortion-bound mothers at Planned Parenthood Aurora [Photo by Eric Scheidler]
It was a beautiful morning for this past Saturday's monthly protest at the Planned Parenthood mega-center in Aurora, Illinois. The Pro-Life Action League has hosted a protest there every month for the past five years and more since the "Abortion Fortress" opened in 2007.
Among the dozens of stalwart pro-lifers sacrificing time from their weekends to fight abortion was a large group of teens from Christian Liberty Academy, whose youthful zeal for the cause of life has become a regular feature of these monthly protests.
Several months ago, a Planned Parenthood client aggressively swerved his car at one of the CLA students and is now facing aggravated assault charges, as reported in today's Chicago Sun-Times. The unfortunate incident did nothing to diminish the determination and activism of these dedicated pro-life students.
On the picket line at Planned Parenthood Aurora [Photo by Eric Scheidler]
Response from passersby seemed more pronounced than usual, especially from those showing their support, possibly because of the prominence of abortion in the news during the Kermit Gosnell trial and subsequent guilty verdict.
At the conclusion of the protest, I offered prayers of thanksgiving to God for giving each of us the grace not only to recognize the evil of abortion for what it is, but to come out on the street and actively do something about it—as we've been doing for more than five years in Aurora.
This moving ecumenical service offers prayers for children in the womb, mothers, fathers, abortion workers and our whole nation in union with the suffering of Christ in His Passion.
As we celebrate the Easter season, check out some pictures from these services from across the country. If you attended a Way of the Cross on Good Friday and don't see pictures here, e-mail them to us and we'll add them to the slideshow! (Take the slideshow into fullscreen mode and click "Show Info" to see the location of each photo):
Posted by Eric Scheidler on Monday, March 18th, 2013
The massive Planned Parenthood abortuary in Aurora, Illinois, was the scene of a dynamic, multi-faceted protest Saturday morning. It was my privilege to coordinate the monthly picket of the facility at the corner of New York Street and Oakhurst Avenue, dedicated this month to the conversion of abortion workers. The League has invited pro-lifers across the country to dedicate special prayers and fasting for this intention.
Meanwhile, in front of the Planned Parenthood facility two busloads of students from Christian Liberty Academy under the direction of David Berquist fanned out with beautiful LIFE signs and offered goodie bags to Planned Parenthood clients, including baby booties and information on the nearby Waterleaf Women's Center.
Among the students was the courageous Hannah M., who was threatened by a speeding motorist at last month's protest. The motorist—a Planned Parenthood client—has been charged with aggravated assault.
As the CLA students and regular sidewalk counseling team reached out to Planned Parenthood clients, a large group with the Knights of Columbus Council 1369 from Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Naperville prayed a Rosary for Life.
All told, about sixty pro-lifers were on the scene Saturday, braving chilly winds to share the pro-life message, offer help to Planned Parenthood clients and keep the abortion issue before the public eye.
On a bleak Friday afternoon, our savior Jesus Christ was crucified at Golgotha, "the place of the skull." Today, we have our own Golgotha: the abortion clinic, where two thousand years after the Crucifixion, His image is violently destroyed, again and again, by abortion.
That's why, for the last five years, the Pro-Life Action League has marked Good Friday with a pro-life "Way of the Cross for Victims of Abortion" at our local Planned Parenthood.
We've found this activity to be such a blessing, one of our favorite pro-life activities of the year. So this year we're calling on pro-lifers like you nationwide to join us in hosting a "Way of the Cross for Victims of Abortion" at your local abortion facility.
And, we're providing you with all the tools you need to make it happen in your area, including an ecumenical prayer service book, templates to promote your event through e-mail and in churches, advice on practical considerations and more!
Though the devotion of the Stations of the Cross has Catholic roots, the service we conduct is completely ecumenical. People of every denomination join us every year and there is no material in the book that would be offensive to non-Catholics to pray. Please feel free to join or host a Way of the Cross no matter what your denomination. [Continue reading . . . »]
Posted by Matt Yonke on Monday, February 25th, 2013
When Planned Parenthood opened the largest abortion facility in the country back in 2007, we Aurorans learned that hard way that abortion isn't just a political issue on the national or state level.
In 2007, abortion became a local issue here, with packed City Council meetings that led to a fraud investigation, two lawsuits and continued controversy in our community. The people in City Hall serving as Aldermen and mayor are of momentous importance.
With the right people in office—supporters of both the sanctity of life and the rule of law—Planned Parenthood would never have opened.
With that in mind, I want to share with you what we've learned about the positions of the candidates in tomorrow's municipal election on abortion and Planned Parenthood. [Continue reading . . . »]
Posted by Matt Yonke on Monday, February 18th, 2013
A crowd of over 50 pro-lifers gathered on a cold, windy winter morning last Saturday to protest Planned Parenthood's "Abortion Fortress" in Aurora, Illinois as they have every third Saturday for over five years now.
Among them was a group from Christian Liberty Academy (CLA) in nearby Arlington Heights, Illinois. The group of students has taken to coming out on third Saturdays to protest, pray and offer help to abortion-bound moms through sidewalk counseling.
Several of the young ladies from this group even spoke at the TeenSpeak teen pro-life conference earlier this month about their sidewalk counseling ministry. The talk was inspiring for many of the students present. [Continue reading . . . »]
Posted by Matt Yonke on Monday, February 11th, 2013
On Saturday, February 9, I was pleased to join a group of nearly 70 pro-lifers to kick off the Spring 40 Days for Life campaign in Aurora, Illinois outside the Planned Parenthood mega-center.
I had worked with Karen and Kathleen from Holy Cross parish in Batavia, Illinois as they discerned whether or not taking on the campaign was the right thing for them to do, so it was extra special to be able to address the crowd as the effort kicked off.
Before the Rally even started, God gave an incredible blessing. A couple stopped on their way out of the Planned Parenthood and told our sidewalk counselors that they had decided not to go through with the abortion. Though the 40 Days Campaign hadn't even started yet, God was already doing wondrous things!
Karen and Kathleen opened the Rally and Deacon Jim Newhouse of Ss. Peter and Paul parish in Virgil, Illinois gave an opening prayer. Next came a wonderful pro-life song from Catholic singer-songwriter Karl Miles called "Where are the Warriors?", which you can listen to above. [Continue reading . . . »]
Posted by Matt Yonke on Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
The Pro-Life Action League is proud to announce our 10th annual "Empty Manger" Christmas Caroling day Saturday, December 22.
Each year, the League brings the light of Christmas to the darkness of the abortion facility by singing the songs of Christmas right outside their doors.
Join us this year for two tours, one in Chicago and one in DuPage county to make your Advent a pro-life one. [Continue reading . . . »]
Posted by Matt Yonke on Monday, November 19th, 2012
Eric Scheidler addresses pro-lifers at the picket of Albany abortion facility in Chicago [Photo by John Jansen]
It's been said that "All politics is local." The same is true of pro-life activism.
If we want abortion to end, we have to fight it where it happens: in our own local communities, in season and out of season.
On Saturday, November 17, the Pro-Life Action League sponsored two concurrent protests: one outside of Albany Medical-Surgical Center, a late-term abortion facility on Chicago's Northwest Side, and one outside of Planned Parenthood's "Abortion Fortress" in Aurora, Illinois.
Huge Crowd Packs Sidewalks around Late Term Abortion Mill
November 17 was a fitting day to protest abortion in Chicago, as it was the third anniversary of the enactment of a "Bubble Zone" outside Chicago abortion clinics–an unjust law that has been used to harass pro-life activists since Day One. [Continue reading . . . »]
Abortion proponents and their friends in the mainstream media are going ballistic over a comment yesterday by Richard Mourdock, a Republican running for senate in Indiana. In explaining his pro-life position during a candidate's debate, Mourdock said, "Life is a gift from God and I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
Immediately after the debate, Mourdock's Democrat opponent, Joe Donnelly, tried to construe Mourdock's remark as some kind of endorsement of rape, as if Mourdock meant that the violent act—rather than the child's life—was intended by God.
That spin—which Mourdock rightly called "sick and twisted"—has been seized upon by Planned Parenthood and the Democratic party to attack Mourdock and, by extension, all pro-life candidates as extremists.
Who are the real extremists?
Far from being labeled an extremist, Mourdock is to be commended for upholding the humanity of children conceived in rape. God's words to the prophet Jeremiah belong to these children, too, as they do to all of us: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." Of course God knows and loves these children, innocently conceived in violence. [Continue reading . . . »]
The massive Planned Parenthood abortuary in Aurora, Illinois, was the scene of a dynamic, multi-faceted protest Saturday morning. It was my privilege to coordinate the monthly picket of the facility at the corner of New York Street and Oakhurst Avenue, dedicated this month to the conversion of abortion workers. The League has invited pro-lifers across the country to dedicate 
As the CLA students and regular sidewalk counseling team reached out to Planned Parenthood clients, a large group with the 
When Planned Parenthood opened the largest abortion facility in the country back in 2007, we Aurorans learned that hard way that abortion isn't just a political issue on the national or state level.
A crowd of over 50 pro-lifers gathered on a cold, windy winter morning last Saturday to protest Planned Parenthood's "Abortion Fortress" in Aurora, Illinois as they have every third Saturday for over five years now.
The Pro-Life Action League is proud to announce our 10th annual "Empty Manger" Christmas Caroling day Saturday, December 22.
