Senate Bill 5274 Hearing on February 2

Senate Bill 5274, which attacks pregnancy centers, is scheduled for a public hearing on Wednesday, February 2, at 8:00 a.m.  Please make every effort to attend the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee hearing at the John A. Cherberg Bldg. Senate Hearing Rm 4. It is asked that those planning to attend arrive around 7:00 a.m.

8:00 a.m. (arrive at 7:00 a.m.) - Wednesday, February 2
Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee
Senate Hearing Room 4 - John A. Cherberg Bldg
Olympia

At the hearing room there will be sign in sheets. Please add your name on the sign in sheet and indicate your opposition (even if you do not plan to testify before the committee).

"Among other provisions, SB5274 creates significant liability for non-profit, faith-based pregnancy centers that receive no tax dollars and provide free services.  Those who propose to shut down pregnancy centers are doing it simply because the centers do not offer abortion services."

If you are unable to attend the hearing, please call your legislators on the Legislative toll-free Hotline: 1-800-562-6000.

Additional information can be found at Human Life of Washington and Protect Women WA.

Adapted from a letter sent by Val Stevens
January 29, 2011

Washington State March for Life Photos

Thank you to Jim Anderson, Terry Boyle, Jeff Moore, and Mary Schofield for sharing their March for Life photos with the Gospel of Life Institute.

The slideshow can also be viewed here.

January 25, 2011

State of Washington Hearing Scheduled on Bill to Shut Down Pregnancy Centers

The abortion lobby in Washington State is attempting once again to close Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) in Washington state. They have introduced House Bill l366 and Senate Bill 5274 in order to make it nearly impossible for CPCs to continue in business. They are hoping to sue and tie up centers in expensive lawsuits that they cannot afford to fight.

ACTION ITEMS:

1.  Attend a hearing on Monday, January 24, at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room B. If you plan to attend the hearing, please arrive by 11 a.m.

2.  Call or email your legislators and ask them to oppose HB1366 and SB 5274.  Contact information for members of the House of Representatives (pdf).

Additional infortmation can be found at Abortion in Washington and Human Life of Washington.

January 20, 2011

Washington State March for Life Draws Thousands

Photo © Gospel of Life Institute

On Tuesday, January 18, 2011, approximately 9,000 pro-life advocates participated in the 33rd annual Washington State March for Life in Olympia. The morning began with two standing-room-only Masses for Life being celebrated at St. Michael's Catholic Church. The first Mass began at 9:30 a.m. in the gym and was celebrated by Bishop Joseph Tyson, the Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Seattle.  Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, the Seattle Archdiocese's newly appointed Archbishop, concelebrated the 10:00 a.m. Mass with approximately two dozen priests from the Archdiocese. During his sermon, Archbishop Sartain stated, "What is frequently referred to as ‘a matter of choice’ is a matter of life and death. It’s a matter of right and wrong. It’s a matter of accepting our destiny and the destiny of every human person as coming from the very hands of God and leading back to the very hands of God."

After the Masses, participants proceeded to the Capitol steps to witness to the fact that all life is sacred from conception until natural death.

Col. John Lundberg lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. Archbishop Sartain opened the March for Life with a prayer.  Fourteen pro-life legislators spoke.  Rep. Matt Shea (Spokane Valley), Rep. John Ahern (Spokane), and Sen. Val Stevens (Arlington) shared that they will file pro-life legislation this session. Aileen Carrell, the Vice President and emcee of the Washington State March for Life, encouraged everyone to visit and/or contact their legislators to let them know that we want to see an end to abortion in Washington. Abbot Tryphon, an Orthodox Christian monk, said the closing prayer.

Let us continue to pray that our voices will be heard and that the murdering of thousands of unborn babies each year in Washington state ends.

January 19, 2011

Washington: Gregoire Funds Planned Parenthood, Cuts Kids Health Care

by Steven Ertelt

Olympia, WA, 1/13/11 4:22 PM (Lifenews.com) Washington Governor Christine Gregoire has decided to re-affirm taxpayer funding for the “Take Charge” free birth control program that sends taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood.

State tax dollars flow to the abortion giant despite previous information showing it engaging in fraudulent actions by overcharging the state government.

The Abortion in Washington blog reported yesterday that Gregoire has decided to continue funding the program, in a move that it says confirms again “that the Washington State Governor’s Mansion is little more than the Olympia office of Planned Parenthood.”  Read more...

ACTION ITEMS:

1. Complain to Governor Gregoire

2. Share this information with your legislator if they are pro-life. (A blank next to a Representative's or Senator's name means that the individual is pro-abortion.)

Gerri Duzenak
January 19, 2011

Pink and Blue Crosses

Some day, unless we repent, history will mark January 22, 1973 as a landmark date in the downfall of the United States. It was the day when our Supreme Court made a decision that contradicted the very premise of our foundation as a country. In other words, it was the day when the nine wisest citizens, so-called, rejected the cornerstone of our Constitution. The Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776, reads:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Here the signers are going to give the primary reasons for America to become independent from England. This is our ‘raison d’être’, our reason to exist.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Notice how belief in God and the rights derived from natural law are assumed as ‘self-evident’, which means that they are “known to be true by understanding its meaning without proof.” The rights derived from ‘Nature and Nature’s God’ are unalienable, or ‘not to be separated, given away, or taken away’ from the individual person. The rights to ‘Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness’ cannot be given away or taken away, yet that is what the Supreme Court tragically did on that day for the 52 million unborn who have since suffered the consequence. Read more...

Fr. Ed White
January 18, 2011

 

Washington State March for Life

You are cordially invited to attend 10:00 a.m. Mass celebrated by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Olympia on Tuesday, January 18, 2011. After Mass, everyone will proceed by foot or carpool to the state capitol for the 33rd Annual March for Life (limited transportation will be provided to and from the Capitol). All are welcome to return to St. Michael's after the March for a complimentary lunch, which will be served by the Knights of Columbus. Please invite family and friends to join you in letting our state representatives know that all life is sacred from conception until natural death.

Additional information about the Mass can be found on the flyer.

Please see our spotlight page for bus information.

January 5, 2011

Pro-Life Events

For information on upcoming pro-life events in Washington, please see the Events page of our website.