Archive for the ‘Legal and Political’ Category

Today was stalwart activist Randy Means' court date for his wrongful arrest for "disturbing the peace" at Planned Parenthood. You can read all about how he was arrested for merely preaching the gospel to Planned Parenthood employees in my previous post on the story.

Today Randy and attorney Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center, Chicago, appeared before the judge to plead "not guilty" and set a date for trial. The date was set for Monday, June 22 at 1 p.m. [Continue reading . . . »]

Monday, March 30, more than 30 people came out to protest HB2354 in front of the district office of State Representative Kay Hatcher.

Leading the protest were local pro-lifers Dan Wurtz and Julie Van Domelen of Holy Cross Church in Batavia. Dan and Julie had arranged a meeting with Rep. Hatcher to deliver the hundreds of petition signatures against HB2354 from her district. They used that time to bring a peaceful, prayerful protest against HB2354 and Rep. Hatcher's stand in support of it. Dan had this to say about the meeting:

Mrs. Hatcher was honest and to the point. While expressing reservations on HB-2354 she did say, "If you were to categorize me it would be Pro-Choice." I sensed genuine conflict on the bill, but didn't think that it alone would influence her vote.

[Continue reading . . . »]

One of the central issues in the fight against HB2354 is the impact it could have on our kids by way of the mandatory sex-ed it would impose on all Illinois public schools.

With that in mind, who's running for school board in your area? Do you know the candidates? Do you know where they stand on comprehensive sex-ed and other issues that effect Illinois families?

What can you do?

If you do know, post what you know about the candidates at the Stop Illinois FOCA website so others can benefit. If you don't know, find out and report back with the information. I've turned off comments on this post so we can consolidate everyone's knowledge in one place at the Stop Illinois FOCA site.

• To find out who's running, can check with your local board of elections or election commission.
• Call candidates in your area and ask them their position on sex-ed, their position on parental involvement in sex-ed curriculum and any other issues you think would be important to Illinois families.
• Post your findings at the Stop Illinois FOCA website.

Together, we can be informed voters and impact Illinois for the good of families.

Last night, the third mayoral debate occurred at the Wesley United Methodist Church. Audience participants were provided the opportunity to submit questions to be asked of the candidates. The final question of the night was:

"In what ways does your faith form your opinion of Planned Parenthood?"

Summarizing the candidates responses, in the order they answered the question:

Richard Irvin: "… Planned Parenthood is bad for Aurora. … It's an issue of how that organization … came into our city using deceptive practices."

Stephanie Kifowit: "… as a family we are anti-abortion … I also believe … I cannot take a stand that I'm going to say I'm against something that is, of course, right now legal in the state."

Tom Weisner: "If faith informed my actions in this case I might very well be violating my oath of office … There was no legal basis for me … to withhold the permit. I do take an oath to uphold the laws governing our city."

[Continue reading . . . »]

A coalition of pro-life groups from across Illinois have united in an effort to stop HB2354, the Illinois version of the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA).

This pernicious piece of legislation would:

• Nullify the state’s parental notice law.
• Require taxpayers to pay for thousands of abortions.
• Mandate comprehensive sex-ed for our children.

…And more.

Check out the coalition's website: StopIllinoisFOCA.com where you can:

• Learn more about HB2354
• Contact your State Rep about HB2354
• Sign a petition opposing HB2354

We need to act NOW to make sure this vile bill doesn't get one step further.

Related Links

• StopIllinoisFOCA.com
• Stop Illinois FOCA Facebook Group
• Full Text of the Bill

Stalwart pro-lifer Randy Means was arrested at Planned Parenthood Aurora Saturday Morning. Randy was standing on a public sidewalk, talking to the Planned Parenthood employees as they entered the building.

Randy stayed on public property, did nothing intimidating and made no threats to the staff. He merely reminded the employees that they would have to account before God for their involvement in the death of His precious unborn children, and that no one knows when that day will be. As Our Lord said, no one knows the day or the hour of judgment, it could this very day.

Nevertheless, Planned Parenthood employees called Aurora Police and claimed to have been "disturbed" by Randy and the sign depicting an aborted baby, which Randy has been faithfully holding outside the clinic for nearly two years. For this and nothing else, Randy was hauled off to jail on a charge of disorderly conduct. [Continue reading . . . »]

Planned Parenthood is holding a so-called "Community Forum on Reproductive Justice" at the Eola Community Center (Map) in Aurora on Wednesday, February 11.

The meeting is one of a series taking place around the state as part of an effort to drum up support for Illinois House Bill 5615, now being called the Reproductive Justice and Access Act (RJAA), and Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood will be there to protest.

Join us at 5:30 p.m. to let Planned Parenthood know that this community does not support them or their political agenda. [Continue reading . . . »]

Two recent articles in the Aurora Beacon News have spotlighted resistance to the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) by Fox Valley Catholics. While FOCA is a grave concern for all pro-life Americans, the threat posed by this bill to the Catholic health care system makes the issue particularly troubling for Catholics.

[Continue reading . . . »]

In today's Aurora Beacon, Andre Sales wrote an article entitled Something is missing at council meetings. In this article, on the front page, Andre shares his admiration for pro-lifer John Thorne.

The article points out that John Thorne has consistently appeared before the city council since FVFAPP learned about Planned Parenthood and began addressing the council.

Thank you John Thorne for your perseverance and dedication to the cause of life. May all of us show the same perseverance in our prayers and efforts to bring life back to Aurora.

God Bless,
Roger

UPDATE: Eric Scheidler's response to Ms. Sherman's column was published in today's Beacon.

In this morning's Beacon News, columnist Deena Sherman offered some thoughts in the "Common Sense" column about putting aside disrespect and hate in the abortion debate.

Sherman is right to call for civility, but her article  makes no advances towards any such thing. In a column ostensibly about Eric Scheidler's libel case against Planned Parenthood, Ms. Sherman addresses everything from Nazism to Mahatma Gandhi.

Everything, that is, except whether whether Steve Trombley lied about Eric and Aurora's pro-life community. "That's not the question I'm asking.", Ms. Sherman said. But she never even answers the question she claims to be asking! [Continue reading . . . »]