Pro-Life Action League

(This is the 6th & final post in my Lenten series to educate people on some of the leading Pro-Life Organizations. Another purpose is to encourage financial support for them. Unlike Planned Parenthood, these groups are dependant on private donations alone. By supporting these groups we can help speed up the day when PP & their ilk no longer commit murder with our money.)

Pro-Life Action League may not be as familiar to many of my readers as some of the others in this series. I have mentioned them a few times here. I realize that they don't have the national or international name recognition the others do. But they have been around since 1980. Founder Joe Scheidler, has earned the wrath of the National Organization of Women who used RICO laws to try & silence him. (more later)

The League was founded in 1980 with the aim of saving unborn children through non-violent direct action. But its roots go much further back to the early 1970s. Joe & Ann Sheidler Ann got involved in what was then called the "anti-abortion" movement the day after the Roe v. Wade decision came down. Actually, they attended their first anti-abortion rally a few months before Roe v. Wade in October 1972. It was an Illinois Right to Life rally at the Civic Center, now called Daley Plaza, in downtown Chicago. Ironicly, given the recent events at Notre Dame, Joe had planned to spend the afternoon watching a Notre Dame football game on TV. Instead they went downtown with their three little boys, Eric, 6, Joe, 5 and Peter, 3.

I'll let Joe tell his tory of what happenned then: "During the rally a volunteer handed me a "Life and Death" brochure and I saw for the first time the photo of a garbage bag full of late-term aborted babies. I thought the face of the little baby on the top of the pile looked like Eric's baby picture. I was horrified.

But abortion wasn't legal in Illinois, or in most of the other states. I didn't yet feel an urgent need to get more involved. I had no idea that Roe v. Wade was wending its way through the judicial system. I had no idea we were on the verge of a national holocaust.

Roe v. Wade jolted me out of my complacency, and I began to look for a way to fight this injustice, some way to get involved. I went to the library and studied fetal development and learned about the different methods of abortion. I started going to pro-life meetings and spent long hours learning all about the abortion issue. I was dismayed by the indifference of the media, the complacency of my fellow citizens, the inaction of my fellow Christians.

Finally my boss at a public relations firm took me aside and told me he had noticed that all my attention was focused on abortion. Fortunately he was pro-life too. He suggested I might do well to turn all my energy to the abortion battle as a full-time vocation. He was right."

So, in March 1973 he started the Chicago Office for Pro-Life Publicity in an office in his basement. "I worked to publicize the truth about fetal development, putting to use my experience in journalism and public relations. I thought once people knew that the unborn baby was a human being they would rise up against abortion. How naïve I was."

He soon learned about how much resistance to the truth was out there. He couldn't even get newspapers to take ads that stated, "An unborn baby's heart is beating at 21 days"! Soon he discovered a small storefront space just a block from his house. He gathered about 30 deeply committed pro-life activists"—people who were going out to picket abortion clinics, writing letters to the editor and feeling as frustrated as I was about the need for more direct action. From that meeting we put together a small staff—Barbara Menes as office manager and secretary, Marian Masella, librarian and keeper of the files, my son Joe as mailing manager. My attorney father-in-law took care of the incorporation procedure and the Pro-Life Action League was in business."

On 24 May 1974 he launched a telephone hotline. In early 1981 they began publishing Action News, monthly newsletter. In 1980 the League launched national Days of Rescue. Over the years the League took on Ann Landers, the ACLU & abortion clinics in their efforts to defend life. Many of the things we now take as a normal part of the Pro-Life efforts had early roots in the work of the League. They did 1 of the 1st investigations into cover ups at abortion clinics. They helped to close several abortion clinics over the years as well. They have led several protests against activities by pro-abortion Catholics. "When the Human Life Amendment was introduced in Congress a new, radical group of renegade nuns formed the National Coalition of American Nuns to fight the amendment. The League petitioned the Holy Father to discipline the nuns." & naturally, they are supporting the Cardinal Newman Society petition protesting Obama's invite to Notre Dame. There is so much more about the history than I have room for here. They have links to the entire history of the League on their About page.

With all the success of the League, naturally the pro-abortion side looked for ways to silence Joe & the League. In June of 1986, NOW and 2 abortion clinics filed a complaint in Federal Court alleging violations of the Sherman-Clayton anti-trust laws against Joseph Scheidler, the Pro-Life Action League and several other defendants. In 1989 RICO charges were added. The battle went on for years, including several appeals to the Supreme Court. In 2003 the Supreme Court ruled that RICO could not be used. But NOW didn't give up. They went back to the 7th District Court. In 2006, in a unanamous ruling, The Supreme Court put an end to these efforts. But it wasn't until May of 2007 that Judge David H. Coar actually vacated the order (with some things needing correction in the wording). The League & Thomas More Society filed claims for reimbursment of expenses. Given how often the pro-aborts have done this, IMHO, yurn about is fair play.

The League has several key activities that it does: Abortion Clinic Presence, Public Protest, Confronting the Abortionists, Promoting and Defending Activism, Broadcasting the Pro-Life Message & Youth Outreach ( Generations for Life). You can follow the links for more on each of the activities.

The League is definitely an effort of love as well as a family affair. The Executive Director is Joe's wife Ann Scheidler. Their oldest son, Eric who went to that 1st rally, is the Communications Director. But while the family is actively involved, they don't do it alone. They are aided by a hard working staff & volunteers in all their efforts.

Joe has written a book on his methods of fighting abortion, CLOSED: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion. He has also produced many videos as well.

The League recently put out a new handbook, Sharing the Pro-Life Message, that I must once again say that I highly recommend. You can get 1 copy of it for free & they do have bulk rates for multiple copies.

While much of their work is focused in the Chicagoland area, they are having a national impact in their work. For example, they were involved in the 2005 fight to save Terri Schiavo.

As I come to the end of this post, I have to once again admit that I don't feel I have been able to do justice to my subject. There is way too much that they have done to fit into a single post. The Pro-Life movement owes much to their efforts.

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A FINAL WORD: While I have only looked at 6 organizations, & barely touched the surface, there are many other national, state & local organizations as well. The state & local groups also need your financial support & they can also use volunteer help. Please find out who is in your area & get involved. On behalf of all the unborn who's lives we are fighting for, MILLE GRAZIE.