PLW: School children surprise Bp. Hying with collection for pregnancy centers

About two months ago, we received a phone call from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Hales Corners. Bishop Hying was going to be saying Mass for the school at the parish, and the school children wanted to surprise Bishop Hying with a gift to thank him.

Bishop Hying’s pro-life convictions are well-known in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. When he was still rector of the St. Francis de Sales Seminary, Bishop Hying and several seminarians could often be found praying at Affiliated Medical Services on Saturdays. One Saturday at AMS inspired Bishop Hying to write this.

continue at Pro-Life Wisconsin

Wisconsin Personhood Amendment introduced

Legislation that would amend the Wisconsin Constitution to apply personhood rights to preborn children at all stages of development was introduced on Thursday. Assembly Joint Resolution (AJR) 77, authored by Representative Andre Jacque (R-Green Bay), extends the inalienable right to life found in the Wisconsin Constitution to all preborn children from the beginning of their lives. Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) is the lead author in the State Senate. An amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution requires passage in two successive legislatures followed by a simple majority vote of the people. Click here to read the amendment language, and click here to view PLW's legislative memo. Click here for a national story on the opposition’s reaction.

From a pro-life perspective, the Wisconsin Constitution contains a glaring error at its outset. In specifying the beneficiaries of its human rights, our state constitution leaves out the preborn. It applies rights to only those people who are "born." Representative Jacque is proposing a minimal but absolutely essential correction, a personhood amendment, to make the Wisconsin Constitution cover all people, every person, at any stage of development.

Assembly Joint Resolution 77 tracks the original constitutional language as closely as grammatically possible, only substituting the inclusive personhood definition for the word "born." That definition is as follows: As applied to the right to life, the terms "people" and "person” shall apply to every human being at any stage of development. Such a definition is indispensable to spreading the protective cover of Wisconsin’s constitution over all its citizens.

The amendment language reads as follows:

Article 1. Declaration of Rights. Equality; inherent rights. SECTION 1. All people are equally free and independet, and have certain inherent rights; among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; to secure these rights, governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. As applied to the right to life, the terms "people" and "person" shall apply to every human being at any stage of development.

Should Roe v. Wade be overturned someday and the abortion issue remanded to the states, an activist Wisconsin Supreme Court could (and very likely would) use the word “born” in our current state constitution to deny the right to life of the preborn by interpreting an independent right to abortion in that document. In so doing, the court could nullify any present or future pro-life laws in our state. The changing makeup of the Wisconsin Legislature could also jeopardize any pro-life laws in our state. Every two years our state election process determines the majority party in Madison. Legal protection of the preborn should not (and must not) be contingent upon which party controls the state legislature. The right to life should not be subject to the whims of a politicized supreme court or an ever-changing legislature. Only by enshrining the right to life in our state constitution will preborn children be afforded full and lasting legal protection. 

The introduction of the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment is a watershed moment in the history of the pro-life movement in our state. It seeks to end abortion in Wisconsin, not to regulate or restrict it. It seeks to end all violence toward preborn children in Wisconsin – surgical, chemical, experimental, etc. – at all stages of development. We have been working toward the introduction of such an amendment for the last five years, and we thank Representative Jacque for demonstrating the courage of his convictions in finally making it a reality.

We also thank the co-sponsors of the bill for their principled stand in supporting the amendment: Senator Grothman and Representatives Dan LeMahieu, Don Pridemore, David Craig, Jeremy Thiesfeldt, Evan Wynn, and Tom Larson.

The Wisconsin Personhood Amendment is not intended, or worded, as a challenge to Roe, or as an attempt to define personhood under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. It seeks only to bring into the Wisconsin Constitution a true definition of human life as endorsed by Wisconsin citizens speaking through the amendment process, thus making the highest law in our state cover all people, every person, at any stage of development. We recognize that its protections cannot be fully effective as long as Roe remains law, but we believe a proper definition of personhood should be in place should Wisconsin be freed from the effects of that noxious decision.

The Wisconsin Personhood Amendment has been endorsed by Wisconsin Family Action, Personhood USA, Pastor Walter Hoye of the Issues4Life Foundation, American Life League, and Charles E. Rice, Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Notre Dame. For more information on the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment, check out www.personhoodwisconsin.com.

Take Action!

Please CALL or EMAIL your state representative and state senator now and urge him or her to support AJR 77, the “Wisconsin Personhood Amendment.” 

Tell your legislators to extend the inalienable right to life found in the Wisconsin Constitution to all preborn children at all stages of development.

If your legislator is a co-sponsor of AJR 77, please thank him!

To find out who your state legislators are, click here for PLW's website and scroll over the Legislative Affairs menu item at the top of the page. A drop down menu will appear. Click on the Speak Up icon and then scroll down the page and click on Who Are My Wisconsin Lawmakers? Type in your street address, city and zip code. The names and contact information of your state senator and state representative will appear.

Once you know who your state legislators are, go back to the Speak Up page and use the links listed under Email Your Government Officials to send your email to your state senator and state representative. That way PLW will receive a copy of your email which will enable us to monitor the activity of our grassroots advocacy campaigns.

If you prefer to leave a telephone message with your state legislator, call the toll-free State Legislative Hotline at (800) 362-9472. Or call the legislator’s office directly. Thank you!

Pro-Life Wisconsin

PLW: Milwaukee Police Department dispatcher berates pro-lifer for asking for assistance at Affiliated Medical Services

This evening, Milwaukee radio talk show host Mark Belling discussed the situation of the young girl held at Affiliated Medical Services last week against her will [Part 1 here and Part 2 here].

Belling obtained the audio of the phone call that Dan Miller (head of 40 Days for Life of Milwaukee and a witness) made to the Milwaukee Police Department, asking for police to investigate.

Listen to the audio of the MPD call here. You can hear the dispatcher berating Miller, supporting a mother’s “right” to force her daughter into the abortion facility, and completely ignoring the sexual abuse that occurred, resulting in the alleged pregnancy.

As Belling pointed out on his show, dispatchers are not supposed to judge the right or wrong of a situation; that’s what police officers are for.

Anne Schwartz, public relations manager for the Milwaukee Police Department, told Belling the MPD supported the decision the dispatcher made to ignore the volatile situation and not send out an officer.

Pro-lifers’ relationship with the MPD is somewhat precarious, given the arrest of James Marcou earlier this year and the ongoing federal lawsuit against the MPD

Pro-Life Wisconsin

Consider sponsoring "Mary's Ultrasound" billboard

If you remember last year, this billboard was seen through different cities in Wisconsin.  If you are interested in bringing the billboard to your area, contact Virginia.  Pricing is different for each area but if we can get enough people together on this we can bring the message to the whole state!

Mississippi fails to pass Personhood amendment

In a highly anticipated race last night, Mississippi’s Amendment 26 failed to garner sufficient votes to extend the definition of ‘person’ to every human being from the moment of fertilization. Voters rejected the amendment by a margin of 58 to 42 percent.

“Personhood USA understands that changing a culture - and changing a country - will not happen with one election, and so it is not unexpected. We thank the over one quarter of a million Mississippians who voted for Amendment 26,” said Keith Mason, president of Personhood USA, after the vote.

Personhood Mississippi had hoped that their efforts would work to erode the 38 year death grip that Roe v. Wade has held on human life in the womb through legalized abortion.

“Personhood is the key to all human rights,” Mason had said prior to the vote.

To put the amendment on last night’s ballot, Personhood Mississippi was required to collect and certify 89,285 signatures from registered voters. They exceeded that requirement by over 40,000 signatures.

A legal memorandum on the Mississippi Personhood Amendment prepared by Liberty Counsel stated that the term “fertilization” was used in the Amendment instead of the more familiar term “conception” to avoid “confusion and varying interpretations by some in the scientific, medical, and/or bioethics fields.”

The initiative was controversial even among pro-life leaders, some of whom were skeptical that the amendment would do any good for the pro-life cause, saying that it was not the right legislative vehicle to end abortion.

continue at LifeSiteNews

Don't be that disappointed.  42% voted for this thing!  I hope you do understand how significant that is.  Half the pro-life bureaucracy opposes Personhood and it still despite all their efforts (not to mention the abortion community's push) got 42%.  That tells me Personhood really can be passed.  It is not just a pipe dream anymore, it is the movement that could define this country for the next 100 years. 

Tomorrow's special election in La Crosse - don't forget to vote

Pro-life David Drewes

A Wisconsin State Assembly special election will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, November 8, in the 95th Assembly District (AD). The 95th AD comprises the City of La Crosse.

The Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund political action committee (PAC) has proudly endorsed David Drewes (R) in the 95th AD special election.

For those of you who live in the City of La Crosse, tomorrow's special election is too important to miss. Plan to exercise your right to vote tomorrow, November 8, and encourage your family and friends to do the same. Vote for life, and may God bless Wisconsin!

Pro-Life Wisconsin

Strongly worded statements

A friend sent this to me regarding USCCB actions on some issues that have come up lately, which I got a good laugh out of. 

Abortion-on-demand: strongly worded statement

Obamacare with taxpayer funded abortion-on-demand: strongly worded statement

Contraception coverage mandate: strongly worded statement

Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: strongly worded statement

Obama speaks at Notre Dame: strongly worded statement

Refusal to defend DOMA: strongly worded statement

Persecution of individuals and businesses that don’t succumb to the homosexual agenda: strongly worded statement

Take away our grant money: LAWSUIT!

On the other hand, what else can they do?

HT SK

Wauwatosa pro-life conference challenges, encourages post-abortion caregivers

WAUWATOSA — Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan., challenged and encouraged post-abortion caregivers to see those who seek their help “as the Lord sees them – beyond their weakness – and to call them to wholeness.”

He made his remarks during an Oct. 28 keynote address at the 13th annual Healing Vision Conference, at the Radisson Hotel in Wauwatosa. Organizers characterized the four-day event, Oct. 26-29, as “a think tank conference of academics, medical professionals, mental health experts and caregivers gathered to share resources and research, and (to) network.”

Archbishop Naumann, 62, employed personal stories and biblical passages as he urged his audience to help clients, “pained and in anger” after undergoing or being otherwise involved in abortions, to:

• experience God’s mercy and be able to forgive themselves;
• “be empowered to forgive others” who might have been instrumental in their abortions;
• realize that God is able to turn “terrible tragedy” into “good in their lives – a great grace.”

The archbishop recalled a young couple, parishioners when he was a newly ordained priest in his native St. Louis more than 35 years ago. The couple’s toddler son was killed after darting into the path of a delivery truck and Fr. Naumann witnessed at close hand the parents’ “profound grief.” Sadly, there was also guilt, something women who experience abortions also often feel.

continue at MilCat

The face of "choice": Young girl forced into abortion facility in Milwaukee

Earlier today, we posted a comment on our PLW Facebook page asking for prayers for a young girl dragged into Affiliated Medical Services against her will.

The awesome folks at LifeSiteNews saw the post and wrote an article, below.

Pro-life sidewalk counselors outside a Milwaukee abortion clinic Thursday morning say that a preteen girl asking pro-lifers for help was forced into the clinic by escorts and a guardian, and that police have responded saying that they could do nothing.

Tobey Neuberger, a sidewalk counselor from Cedarburgh, said the incident occurred just before 10 a.m. outside Affiliated Medical Services, where she and two other female pro-life counselors gave a “very young” African-American girl literature as she entered the clinic, and told her that she could get more information at a pro-life center across the street. Witnesses said the girl looked anywhere between 11 and 14 years old.

Neuberger says she and her companions were “just incredulous” as they watched the girl come back out and ask for help from the counselors, only to be physically blocked by the escort staff.

Read the rest here.

Please keep this dear girl, a child herself, in your prayers tonight. +JMJ+

Campos-Duffy: Mom of eight explains why she shouldn’t have any kids

Brave or foolish? My six kids and I leave our home and visit the House.

In her excellent blog, “Why I never should have had eight children”, Leila Miller gives a spot on depiction of both the scorn and the sainting mothers of big families face from a culture that is utterly confused by why any sane woman in an age of readily available birth control would put herself through such a needless ordeal.

There are the nosey environmentalists who disapprovingly count my carbon footprints as they spill out of my minivan at the mall. And how many times have well-intentioned friends asked me if I think it’s “fair” on the children I already have to have another baby? And yet, how many times have my husband and I looked at each other across the room, six pleading, whining, crying children between us, and wondered how we got here, what have we done, and what would social services think if they walked in at that moment.

continue at Catholic Vote

Sean Duffy's seat is up for re-election in 2012. 

Greenville WI parish dedicates memorial for babies lost to miscarriage

Sept 11, 2011, the St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish, in Greenville, WI dedicated their Miscarriage Memorial. The Memorial lists the names and dates of children who have died before birth, and provides families a place to remember and mourn. There are also plots available to bury the remains of infants who are lost later in pregnancy. By providing this burial location for children who die before birth, we acknowledge that they are not medical waste, but human beings deserving of dignity and respect. As Catholics we believe that all people are deserving of life from conception to natural death, and this Memorial affirms this belief.

details at Pro-Life Wisconsin

WOW: Ron Paul describes witnessing late-term abortion in hard-hitting pro-life ad

HT LifeSite

Wisconsin Personhood campaign starts in Green Bay, amendment to be introduced this month

“We are excited to announce the launch of a multi-media effort, spreading the personhood message across Wisconsin,” said Virginia Zignego, Communications Director. “The personhood movement has tremendous grassroots support in Wisconsin and throughout the country, and we are excited to be able to spread that message even further.”

A billboard located on Highway 41, south of Green Bay, features people at different stages of development, along with the tagline, “You, Me, Everybody… We’re all just grown-up embryos.” The billboard directs viewers to PersonhoodWisconsin.com, a website launched to promote the personhood movement here in Wisconsin.

To view the billboard, click here. The billboard will move to a different Green Bay location every three months.

“With the recent news that abortions in Wisconsin declined in 2010, we hope this billboard will raise even greater awareness of the humanity of the preborn person and emphasize that, at one point, all of us were just embryos,” said Zignego.

Wisconsin State Representative Andre Jacque (R-Green Bay) plans to introduce an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution that would apply personhood rights to preborn children at all stages of development. The amendment is currently in drafting and will be formally introduced in October, Respect Life Month.

“The proposed amendment extends the inalienable right to life found in the Wisconsin Constitution to all preborn children,” said Matt Sande, Director of Legislation. “It seeks to bring into the Wisconsin Constitution a true definition of human life, thus making the highest law in our state cover all people, every person, at any stage of development. We are excited to begin educating the public and the legislature on the necessity of legal personhood. Only by enshrining the right to life in our state constitution will preborn children be afforded full and lasting legal protection.”

The billboard is a collaborative effort between Pro-Life Wisconsin, 40 Days for Life of Green Bay, Personhood USA and Youth Defence, Ireland’s most active pro-life group.

 Pro-Life Wisconsin

Still unclear if Catholic institutions in this state will support the effort or oppose it.  We know Wisconsin Right to Life will actively oppose the measure.

Let's pray folks.  Game on.

Bp. Morlino to lead 40 Days prayer vigil Oct 18th at PP Madison

40 Days Midpoint Vigil with Bishop Robert Morlino
Tuesday, October 18 at 6:00 p.m.

As a firm supporter of 40 Days for Life, Bishop Robert Morlino will offer us some spiritual encouragement and lead us in prayer during our candlelight midpoint vigil at the vigil site on the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood (3706 Orin Road Madison, WI 53704). On Tuesday, we will be halfway through our 40 Days for Life campaign. Now is the time to refuel spiritually for the second half of the campaign. Join us and Bishop Morlino in prayer.

“40 Days for Prayer to Keep Abortion Safe & Legal.”

We’ve written in the past about Forty4Forty, an effort by NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin to raise money during 40 Days for Life, whereby abortion supporters make a monetary pledge.

In the windows of Affiliated Medical Services, where 40 Days for Life is observed in Milwaukee, we noticed something different this year — a new poster.

That’s right — “40 Days for Prayer to Keep Abortion Safe & Legal.” Faith Aloud sells the poster and an assortment of buttons for $45. The list of daily prayers are on Faith Aloud’s website. Sounds like prayers so that an aging movement doesn’t die off to me.

What does this mean? Pro-aborts have recognized that because of prayer, women choose life. Through prayer, hearts and minds are changed. Thank you to everyone who stands with us in praying for an end to abortion!

Pro-Life Wisconsin

You know what they say about imitation.... 

Let's face it, the abortion industry's real prayer is to keep abortion safe, legal, and profitable.

Life Chain, who knew?

Life Chain in Wauwatosa

Discombobulation.  That's the best word to describe the chaos of my mind.  So I admit I did not hear about this Life Chain effort until Sunday during the homily at Blessed Sacrament in La Crosse.  Wow, great pro-life homily, by the deacon there btw.  We had a baptism so we would not be able to attend, but when we were headed back through La Crosse, I was impressed with the turnout, probably 100-200 people lining the streets!  I guess there were several similar rallies throughout the state.  Great to see such good numbers.

I was also at Game 1 on Saturday when the Brewers took on the Diamondbacks.  I have never been to a playoff game before but wow, it was electric in Miller Park!  If you watched, Ryan Braun's throw out at home in the first inning was just crazy.  It was as loud as a football game with half as many people there!  What was strange is that once I was in the stadium I could not call out or upload any pictures, but I could send text based messages.  Someone told me the towers are US Cellular and unless you have 4G it blocks data intense signals.

Oh so the point of the story was I sat next to a really nice young couple.  I don't remember how it came up but I mentioned I had three children and they were amazed.  After wowing them with (only) three children, they mentioned that they had just got a new puppy and how much that had changed their lives.  I told them actually we eat puppies since we cant afford groceries(kidding!!).  It does remind me that there can definitely be a fear out there for good married couples to have kids, especially "alot" (greater than two) of kids.  My advice is simply to recklessly abandon yourself to the Providence of God.  Sometimes the screw-ups in parenting will actually end up spinning the parents in the right direction.

WAOW9: Walking for life in Wausau

The nationwide movement 40 Days for Life kicked off Wednesday. The group's Wausau-based chapter will be walking and praying outside the Family Planning and Health Services location on Third Avenue until November.

Cathy Stephan spent an hour on Wednesday afternoon walking along the sidewalk, praying the rosary. "It's more a prayer vigil, it's not a protest," she said.

According to the group's website, 40 Days for Life is committed to finding peaceful ways to end abortion. Stephan said the local group believes the same. "We're catholic so we pray rosaries and we're asking God to help save the lives of unborn children who might be at risk today from abortion."

Stephan said she and other members of the group will walk for hours, back and forth in front of Family Planning for the next 40 days. People in cities across the United States will also be doing the same. 

continue at WAOW

Esenburg: Why WRTL cannot be charged

What I was concerned with is whether WRTL could be said to have given out these gift cards (or, if you prefer, offered the gift cards) to an elector or any other person as an inducement to get an elector to vote or refrain from voting.

The problem that I see with application of the statute to WRTL is that the gift cards were offered or given not as an inducement to vote but as an inducement for people to get others to apply for absentee ballots. Even if we can characterize the latter as trying to get people to vote, this is a huge distinction. Here's why.

Tom wants to read the statute to say that it is unlawful to offer a thing of value to a person in order to induce that person to persuade another to vote. This is not what the law says. In fact, if we were read the statute in the way that Mr. Foley wants, it would apply to any compensated "get out the vote" effort. If a political party or a candidate or even the League of Women Voters pays people to encourage or facilitate voting, they will have violated the statute. Not only is that a nonsensical reading of the statute (the law can be an ass but it usually isn't), it is a reading that would place it in dire constitutional jeopardy. The freedom of association involves, I think, the right to organize to get out the vote including paying the organizers.

the whole thing at Shark and Shepard

Bishop Hying to give invocation at Pro-Life Wisconsin's Annual Auction Dinner

Bishop Donald J. Hying, the auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, will give the opening invocation at Pro-Life Wisconsin's Annual Auction Dinner on Saturday, October 22. The dinner will be held at Olympia Hotel and Resort in Oconomowoc. Bishop Hying will be in attendance the whole evening.

Silent auction and hors d'eouvres begin at 5pm and dinner begins at 7pm. Join us!

Click here to register online or to print off a registration form.

Walter Hoye will be the guest speaker. Hoye is the founder and president of the Issues4life Foundation and a core member of the National Black Pro-Life Coalition. Hoye, a strong personhood advocate, was jailed for defending his constitutional rights to sidewalk counsel outside abortion facilties. Hoye brought a constitutional challenge to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, widely regarded as the most liberal appeals court in the nation, which recently sided with him in ruling that the City of Oakland’s “bubble zone” ordinance “unconstitutionally suppresses speech based on the content of its message.”

40 Days for Life La Crosse kick-off rally

The La Crosse area 40 Days for Life campaign will run from September 28-November 5. We will be praying outside of Gundersen-Lutheran Hospital on the corner of South St. and 7th Ave. S. Gunderson Lutheran performs abortions.

To sign up for vigil times or for more information, visit our website or contact Elizabeth Garibaldi at (608) 769-4014 or email lizzdemos@yahoo.com or Marie Allen at (608) 784-5189 or marie.v.allen@charter.net

A Kick-off Rally will be held on Sunday, September 25th from 12:30-2:00pm at the Southside Community Center (1300 S. 6th St., La Crosse).