Welcome to The Vine, where every week I strive to bring you updates from around the pro-life community to help you keep up with the ever constant battle to save lives. If you aren’t plugged-in, it is my sincere hope that The Vine will allow you to get familiar with those on the front lines and find your place among them.

Today is the 27th day of the 40 Days For Life campaign and, so far, 281 babies have been saved from abortion. Story after story from the front lines proves that women who visit Planned Parenthood are in desperate need of knowing they have a choice other than abortion. As one campaign participant put it, “Women often just need to know that they are not alone.” Of course “pro-choice” advocates hate women actually being presented with choices, so it comes as no surprise that each year 40 Days For Life campaigns are threatened with being shut down; this year being no exception.  Life Site News reports Wilmington, Delaware is the latest example in which city officials claimed they would be ticketing the campaign for their lack of a supposed permit needed to exercise their First Amendment rights. No such permit was actually needed and once legal help was called in the city backed off.

It’s unfortunate that pro-lifers must call upon legal aid simply for helping to provide alternatives to abortion, but part of the fight for life must be had within the courts. One Alabama Supreme Court Justice, Tom Parker, seems to have become public enemy number one for the pro-abortion side. According to the New Republic, not only has Parker “figured out how to dismantle Roe v. Wade,” but his “writings fuel the biggest threat to abortion rights in a generation.” The post at New Republic is written to as an alarm bell to alert the left but it actually serves as a great example of how Parker is winning for the pro-life movement. In fact, one of his writings is described as “a kind of masterpiece of pro-life reasoning.” Says the New Republic:

Step by step, Parker lays out his evidence: laws that give inheritance rights to unborn children, laws that ban pregnant inmates from being executed, laws that give fetuses legal guardians for the purposes of protecting their interests, laws that allow parents to sue for damages if fetuses are injured or killed as the result of negligence or some other wrongful act. Several pages of the concurrence consist almost entirely of lists of statutes from around the country conferring fetal rights.

While laws around the country are giving rights to the unborn, in Tennessee voters will hopefully pass an amendment that tackles the pro-life issue from a different angle. Amendment 1 seeks to protect mothers and their unborn babies from the lack of safety regulations overseeing abortion clinics in Tennessee. Currently, almost half of abortion clinics in the state are not inspected and do not have licenses. What makes Amendment 1 unique and concerning to progressives, is that it “doesn’t impose a new law, so it cannot be challenged in federal court,” writes Sahil Kapur at Talking Points Memo. So worried are they over Amendment 1, Planned Parenthood has contributed almost all of the money being used to fight against it – $1.4 million of the total $1.5 million spent in the state.

Knowing they are losing the battle in court, pro-aborts have launched yet another campaign hoping to convince Americans that killing unborn children is ok. Following up their last effort to disassociate themselves from the word “abortion,” pro-aborts have done an about face and now seem to be embracing the word. Despite the fact that websites are filled with heartbreaking stories of mothers and fathers missing their aborted babies, pro-abortion supporters are seeking to redefine abortion as something that is not a big deal because, as one feminist at Slate argues, everyone has had one. Even Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards has gotten in on the action, recently admitting that killing her baby in abortion wasn’t a difficult decision. It isn’t a new tactic to try to normalize murder but with the release of Katha Pollit’s new book Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, pro-aborts seem to feel emboldened to declare that they love abortion and that abortion is great. Their detachment from the gravity of their decision to kill their babies isn’t one that will resonate with Americans, who continually do not support unlimited abortion rights. At some point, Americans may begin to wonder who these women are trying to convince – the public or themselves?

The Pro-Life Action League believes, in light of the pro-aborts’ newest effort to downplay the humanity of the unborn, that now is a pivotal time to show the victims of abortion. Theirs are the signs that even many in the pro-life community turn heads to avoid seeing. I personally couldn’t look at images of aborted babies for a long time but, having crossed that bridge, I understand it’s an important step to truly understanding for whom we are fighting.  I humbly present this week’s Branch for Life to the Pro-Life Action League for doing what I can’t imagine doing: Showing absolute truth to a country that will seemingly look at anything else. Each week we look forward to seeing zombie guts being splayed across the television screen, but as for babies that have been aborted – that we cannot bear to look at the evidence is telling. I don’t know how the Pro-Life Action League takes the heat, but I am grateful that they do.

Until next week, I pray blessings for you and for all committed to life in The Vine. Please feel free to email or tweet me with any stories you’d like to see covered or any organizations you’d like to see as the Branch For Life. And don’t forget to check out The Vine’s list on Twitter to stay up-to-date on current news in the pro-life movement!

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