A prayer campaign is going on at Planned Parenthood abortuaries across the nation. The local effort is being headed up by Randy Jackson, an ICL Board Member. He’s organized a working coalition of groups to conduct a daily prayer meeting at Planned Parenthood’s Boise office.
For 40 days, folks will gather in front of the State Street abortion clinic from 7-8 pm. All pro-Lifers are welcome. The prayer vigils began this last Wednesday and will continue each night through Sunday, November 4th.

In addition to Youth for Revolution and ICL, the local prayer campaign is being supported by the Idaho Values Alliance and Generation Life.

“The concept is very simple,” said Jackson. “Christians gathering for one hour every night for 40 days to pray for the repentance and salvation of local abortion doctors and staff, to pray for healing and repentance of the men and women who have been through abortion, and to pray for lawmakers at all levels to pass bills to guarantee the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans, born and unborn.”

ICL will lead the prayer vigils each Tuesday evening.

Boise’s prayer effort is one of 40 prayer vigils going on around the country – in cities like Sacramento, Chicago, Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, Knoxville, Dallas and Seattle.

Please join us.

After getting caught at trying to slide one by local officials in Aurora, Illinois, Planned Parenthood took to federal court last week, demanding that a judge order the city to let it open its $7.5 million “super mill”. We predicted they would likely find sympathy from an institution which gave birth to the modern abortion industry. We were wrong.

At least for now.

A federal judge refused to intervene. But the folks at Planned Parenthood vowed yesterday to return to court.

Meanwhile, the city of Aurora continues its investigation into Planned Parenthood’s deceptive campaign to gain permits from the city to operate a huge abortion mill in this Chicago suburb. Until those issues are resolved, the city has suspended Planned Parenthood’s occupancy.

In a related issue, Planned Parenthood of Illinois is about to get slapped with a $7.5 million libel suit. Attorney Tom Brejcha of the Thomas More Society has announced that he will file suit today on behalf of several pro-Life citizens who have been waging a prayer effort against the Planned Parenthood facility. Planned Parenthood has repeatedly and publicly accused the protesters gathered in Aurora of being “advocates of violence”, and even having a history of “criminal activity”.

We keep watch over these important developments.

All of the so-called “front runners” missed the opportunity to address the GOP base on core cultural issues. A presidential forum called “Values Voter Debate” was held this week in Florida. It was moderated by WorldNetDaily’s Joseph Farah.

Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson all decided to skip the opportunity to talk about the most important issues facing America. No doubt their handlers determined that wading into tough issues like abortion, gay rights, embryonic stem cell research, parental authority in public schools, the threat posed by Planned Parenthood to our children’s welfare – these and many others were simply too hot to handle.

The absence of these “leaders” seems to only confirm what many of us have feared: These men are simply not prepared to lead America.

Joseph Farah wrote that the most disappointing truant was Fred Thompson. That seems right. There is the obvious fact that Thompson has skipped out on any forum in which he might be challenged by serious opponents. But the disappointment is deeper: For months there has been a lingering hope that Thompson might be the one to put it altogether – message, conviction, money and organization. His consistent timidity raises large doubts about his ability not just to campaign – but to govern.

That pessimistic view is only confirmed by statements Thompson made last week regarding the Terri Schiavo case. When asked if he thought the President and Congress were right to intervene on her behalf – Thompson said he needed more time to study the issue. He went on to suggest that it is generally a bad idea for the federal government to intervene in local matters.
His answers seem to betray a man who just doesn’t much care about the serious threats to humanity posed by the legal sanction of killing the most vulnerable among us.

It may well be time for the conservative movement to coalesce around a Duncan Hunter or Mike Huckabee – and do the hard work of making one of them a front-tier candidate.

In one of the more tragic developments under the new Democrat regime in Congress, pro-abort legislators are working to make sure that the national Children’s Health Insurance Program no longer covers preborn children. The House has already voted to specifically deny benefits, and yesterday, the Senate defeated a motion by Sen. Wayne Allard of Colorado to reassert coverage.

This program has been one of the more vital initiatives by President Bush to restore respect and protection for preborn children. In 2002, the President used his executive authority to allow states providing health insurance for low income children to include those in the womb.

In the 2003 session of the Idaho Legislature, Idaho Chooses Life waged a ferocious battle to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity to help women and babies with medical costs. We saw it as a very real way to offer help to women dealing with crisis pregnancies. The Abortion Lobby in Idaho, which sadly includes a substantial number of the medical community, recognized both the practical and legal implications of extending coverage to preborn children.

Unfortunately, we lost the fight on the House floor by a couple of votes.

The Allard amendment failed 49-50. We presume that Sen. Craig was absent for the vote – which prevented the amendment from narrow passage (with Vice President Cheney casting the deciding vote).

LifeNews.com reports that President Bush is likely to veto the Democrat legislation, in part because their new rules for the Children’s Health Insurance Program will allow for federal tax funding of abortions in states (17) where pregnant women are eligible for elective abortions. We pray so. It is more than ironic that a program designed to provide health care for children would be used instead to kill them.

It is just plain evil.

CBS News – that bulwark of the Left – has issued a poll showing Rudy Giuliani retains a lead among GOP voters despite the entry of Fred Thompson. They claim he is backed by 27% of Republican Primary voters. They put Thompson at 22%.

Behind Thompson is John McCain at 18% and Mitt Romney fairly stagnant at 14%.

This is in contrast to another poll, done almost simultaneously, by Rasmussen. He shows Thompson leading the race at 26%, with Giuliani trailing at 22%. Romney’s support parallels the CBS numbers.

What is interesting about these contrasting numbers is the suspicion that CBS is actually trying to prop-up the pro-abort Giuliani. In a detailed memo put on their website yesterday, CBS explores the apparent softening of Giuliani’s support among Republican primary voters. The outlet suggests that Rudy might face growing problems because of his limited government experience.

CBS then goes on to argue that, while the poll found almost half of Giuliani supporters believed he was “pro-Life”, his pro-choice politics may prove to be his “secret weapon” before the smoke clears:

“However, even if more Republicans become aware of his position on abortion,
Giuliani may still win the nomination. By a 2-to-1 margin, Republican
primary voters said they could vote for a less conservative candidate if they
believed that candidate would win in a general election, where Giuliani’s
moderate views on social issues could allow him to win support from independent
voters.”

This little paragraph of “analysis” is loaded with sleight-of-hand.

First of all, the poll tested the question of “conservative” as opposed to specifying a pro-choice candidate. Thus they deceived not just people answering the questions – but are trying to use this “poll” to create public opinion. That can be seen most clearly in their closing assumption that independent voters are “socially liberally”.

Returns from the last two presidential elections, as well as more honest polling data, demonstrate that “Independent” voters are fairly conservative in their social values – especially on the question of abortion.

Wish as they might, manipulate as they will – CBS is very unlikely to succeed in its campaign to transform the Republican Party into a liberal bastion on the issues that matter most.

On this day of remembrance, we would like to thank those proud men and women in service to America who have faithfully and successfully defended us in the years since the horrific attack on America. Through the sacrifice of the military and law enforcement, this nation has been spared from another attack.

We pray for the families of those who mourn today for loved ones lost.

And we pray for the Lord’s wisdom to descend upon the nation’s policy makers as they shape – or undermine – America’s future security. May
they be guided to look to Him with all humility.

In the past several weeks, legal troubles have mounted for Planned Parenthood:

• Illinois Planned Parenthood has been scheming for over a year to build a new “super mill” in a suburb of Chicago. Permitting was moving forward as Planned Parenthood hid its involvement and the intentions from city officials. Now the City of Aurora has hired a new investigator to review the entire process and determine whether Planned Parenthood engaged in illegal acts to obtain city permits.

• Planned Parenthood of Nebraska has been sued for medical malpractice by a 40 year old woman who underwent an abortion at their facility in Lincoln. The woman lost 80 percent of her blood volume and needed an emergency hysterectomy to save her life.

• Planned Parenthood of San Diego now faces two lawsuits. One is filed alleging wrongful death in the case of a 21 year old attorney who died following an abortion at the facility. A month later, another woman filed suit because Planned Parenthood failed to tell her she had cervical cancer – despite having obtained a Pap smear at their offices. The woman didn’t find out about her cancer for over a year, by which time it had progressed to stage 3. To make matters worse, Planned Parenthood officials in San Diego refused to provide the woman with copies of her own medical files.

• Police in Hartford, Connecticut have confirmed that the Planned Parenthood affiliate there performed an abortion on a 15 year old girl who was the victim of kidnapping and sexual abuse. The girl apparently ran away from home to live with a 41 year old predator. After getting her pregnant, the man took her to Planned Parenthood. Despite a state law requiring Planned Parenthood to report the abortion as a case of possible abuse – no evidence exists that they ever did.

The man in question is being prosecuted. But it is unclear whether any action will be taken against Planned Parenthood.

We recently reviewed polling data produced by the Elliot Institute which found that abortion-on-demand was a relatively unimportant matter for the vast majority of American women. Their priorities were domestic violence, more time with their families and improved educational opportunities.

A national poll conducted by The Polling Company last month found similar attitudes. Of even more immediate interest – this survey documents a substantial difference of opinion and values between the Democrat heir, Hillary Clinton, and a majority of women voters in the country.

For example, 64% of women voters interviewed said they were “less likely” to vote for a candidate who opposed the national ban on Partial Birth Abortions. Sen. Clinton has voted against this measure on four separate occasions. An even higher percentage (68%) of women said they were less likely to support a presidential candidate who supports tax-funding of abortions. This, too, is an area where Clinton is considerably more radicalized than the women she seeks to speak for in national affairs.

Sen. Clinton has twice opposed legislation to make it a crime to take a teenage girl across state lines in order to avoid parental consent laws. A whopping 73% of women interviewed said they would be less likely to support a presidential candidate who would undermine parental authority in this way.

This data strongly suggests that a majority of women voters are up for grabs in the coming presidential election. It reminds us of the fact that President Bush won two narrow national elections largely on the basis of his strong appeal to pro-Life voters. Which brings us to the key question of the day: Why is the pro-abort Rudy Giuliani leading in most national polls?

Obviously one key factor is early name recognition, as well as a friendly national media which has spent some three decades trying to undermine the Republican Party’s commitment to pro-Life values. We are constantly told that conservative values are held by only the “fringe”. Yet another poll contradicts this propaganda:

FRC reports that Fabrizio McLaughlin Associates has just completed a study of likely Republican voters. They found that 51% of Republican voters hold very strong moral values – which will likely determine voting behavior as the presidential race matures. In fact, social conservatives are the single largest constituency of the Republican Party. This strongly suggests that Rudy Giuliani will not maintain his present lead, and that increases the odds that Republicans just might defeat Hillary Clinton next year.

We ran a story a week ago about lobbying efforts in England to obtain government sanction for a “research” effort using animal-human hybrids. Specifically, medical researchers wanted permission to cross humans with cows. The resulting life forms, claimed the researchers, would be perfect for various experiments on disease treatments.

Unbelievably, the government there has approved the project, after nearly a year of lobbying by the scientific community and their benefactors in the pharmaceutical industry.

The leading advocate is Professor Ian Wilmut, who headed the team which cloned Dolly the sheep.

A board member of this organization showed us a condom-dressed-up-as-a-lollipop, complete with a nice little bow. She obtained it at the Idaho Planned Parenthood booth during the latest run of the Idaho Western Fair.

The group was distributing them to kids cruising their site.

Our friend complained to the folks running the Fair, explaining that the lollipop-condoms were both suggestive and inappropriate for children. The response? A dead-pan imitation of a Planned Parenthood spokesman: “But that is their target audience”.

No moral dilemmas here, just blind support for the radical agenda of Planned Parenthood. Now we have local government officials providing a venue so Idaho’s largest abortion mill can more easily corrupt Treasure Valley teens and pre-teens with their “easy sex” message.

Had the matter been pressed further, there’s little doubt that Fair officials would have cited Planned Parenthood’s right to “free speech”. Funny how that works, though. What would these foolish people say if we were to distribute pictures of those babies who paid the ultimate price for the easy sex culture created by Planned Parenthood? Screams of protest, no doubt.

So the Idaho Western Fair, one of the last places where families and kids should be able to enjoy wholesome fun, is now a hunting ground for the folks at Planned Parenthood. Their distribution of lollipop-condoms both trivializes sex and blesses promiscuity as a “natural” part of the childhood experience. Such corruption of children was once considered a serious criminal enterprise; now it has the protection of the local Fair Board.

To add insult to the insanity of the Fair Board – it is probable that Congress provided the money to manufacture the illicit trinkets in the first place.

Sen. Larry Craig announced over the weekend that he intends to leave the Senate at the end of this month.

Certainly there are those who rejoice at the news. Others think that he has done “the right thing” – and that some sort of justice has been done. And then there are those who may well be reflecting, with more than a sense of heaviness, on their own roles in pushing Sen. Craig unceremoniously out the door.

Perhaps the staff over at the Statesman are among those. The publication has suddenly turned soft on Sen. Craig in an attempt to wash its hands of the drying mud it slung throughout the last week. Editors have begun to spin their PR effort, hoping to persuade Idahoans that it behaved with scruple and utmost regard for the truth. That will be a very hard sell.

Craig’s resignation is something of a tsunami wave in Idaho’s political world, and it will take years before the full consequences are appreciated.

For the time being, let us offer our public thanks and appreciation to Senator Craig for his pro-Life commitment and a record of supporting every congressional measure before him which could advance protections for America’s preborn citizens. That is quite a long list.

We pray for Sen. Craig and his family: that they might receive the Lord’s strength and healing. And we pray for Governor Otter as he considers his duty to name a worthy successor to this crucial leadership post.