April 2025 Newsletter

Happy Easter!

A week and a half ago, we got to witness the most important event in the entirety of Christianity: the Resurrection. The Creator of all mankind allowed himself to be slaughtered for our sake, rising again a few days later in glory. It is the pinnacle of our faith, the height of love, the one true sacrifice. The Resurrection is the most magnificent thing to ever happen in history. And...it's kind of forgotten.
Truly, though, compared to Christmas, Easter is almost insignificant in terms of how much we celebrate it. Where's the jubilee? Where are the weeks of feasting and joy to celebrate God's glory? Well, you see, Christmas has one thing that Easter doesn't have: a universal point to the holiday that has nothing to do with religion. Your average secular person would say that Christmas is about giving, and everybody sort of just knows it. But because Easter is all about salvation, those who do not believe in salvation just ignore the holiday altogether.
Christians (or, most of them anyway) are alone in the great feast of Easter. The world doesn't join our outcry, but stands watching on the sidelines. Almost to the point where a Christian would no more tell their secular friends "Happy Easter," than a Jew say "Yontiff" to their Italian friend.
But, of course, we can always celebrate even if the world doesn't join in. We must never forget the glory, or the sacrifice, that brought about our salvation. We must remember that, a few days ago, our Eternal Protector died and rose for us.

Happy Easter!

-- Annabella Salvucci, newsletter editor

Featured Article: "Defunding the Abortion Goliath: the Unique Opportunity"

By Jeremiah Drake

Why Planned Parenthood Should be Defunded

According to Students for Life Action’s recent webcast, no organization is killing more babies in our country than Planned Parenthood.  Despite the presence of 19,000 federally qualified health center service sites that truly serve women, men, and children in a comprehensive manner, Planned Parenthood reports that its under 600 “clinics” have received approximately $700 million in government funding annually for the last two years.  While the Hyde and other amendments limit federal funding of elective abortions, The New York Times says that the abortion industry still receives several forms of federal reimbursement for committing abortions.

According to a report by the Family Research Council based on Planned Parenthood’s annual reports, the organization has performed 8,075,259 abortions and received over $11.723 billion in government funding between 1994 and 2022.  Additionally, Students for Life Action points out that there are other legal and moral concerns involving Planned Parenthood.  These concerns include evidence of illegal trafficking of fetal remains, failure to report sex crimes, Medicaid fraud, and violation of health and safety standards.

In 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee’s bipartisan Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives investigated accusations of Planned Parenthood illegally trafficking baby body parts.  The National Review states, “The panel was established…in the wake of the Center for Medical Progress’s undercover videos, which revealed evidence of extensive wrongdoing on the part of Planned Parenthood affiliates and associated organization. Since that time, the panel has issued 15 criminal and regulatory referrals to federal, state, and local authorities, advising further investigation into the practices of these organizations, as well as possible prosecution if additional evidence of illegal activity is found. ”

Additionally, the National Review mentions that there is some evidence that Planned Parenthood violated federal privacy laws meant to protect vulnerable women from exploitation.  This is only one example of Planned Parenthood failing to report sex crimes.  These articles from The Daily Signal and the National Review also report that Planned Parenthood has failed in this capacity.

The previously mentioned Select Investigative Panel also reported that, “The Charlotte Lozier Institute and Alliance Defending Freedom have documented that—based on 51 known external audits or other reviews of Planned Parenthood affiliates’ financial data and practices, and 61 federal audits of state family planning programs by HHS-OIG—Planned Parenthood affiliates have overbilled $132.4 million in Medicaid and other healthcare funding programs. These audit results are troubling, given their limitations in scope, detail, and timeframe; in fact, of 57 U.S. Planned Parenthood affiliates, only 19 have been audited.”  Planned Parenthood is currently facing a trial over Texas Medicaid fraud accusations.

In 2021, Americans United for Life issued an extensive report titled Unsafe, stating that, “…more than twenty- four hundred abortion facility health and safety violations [have been] reported in just the last twelve years (2008–2020), implicating well over 300 abortion businesses in hazardous, unclean abortions, in addition to the colossal toll abortion has extracted in human lives and the physical and emotional suffering of survivors. Unsafe’s 50-state investigation exposes abortion businesses that have been operating without a license, utilizing unlicensed, unqualified, or untrained abortionists and staff, repeatedly fined for filthy conditions, and dangerously mishandling narcotics and other drugs.”  This New York Times article also mentions that Planned Parenthood is providing substandard care in filthy “clinics”.

The Unique Opportunity

Since the GOP has a federal government trifecta, there is a real opportunity to finally make the decades-long dream of defunding Planned Parenthood a reality, says Kristan Hawkins (CEO of Pro Life Generation).  While a three fifths supermajority of 60 votes is necessary in order to pass a bill in the Senate, only a simple majority in both chambers is necessary when using a tool called budget reconciliation.  Obtaining the required 60 votes in the Senate was unachievable earlier this year with the current 54 Republican Senators even when attempting to pass a bill solely to protect children born alive after failed abortions.  From now until the end of May, Republican lawmakers could unite to take advantage of the unique opportunity of budget reconciliation to defund Planned Parenthood.

Unfortunately, many GOP lawmakers who have always claimed to be pro-life have not been supporting life-protecting legislation.  For example, North Carolina’s self-proclaimed “pro life” House Speaker Destin Hall would not even allow a hearing on the Human Life Protection Act, despite posing for a picture with SFLAction’s staff only two months earlier.

In order to overcome this obstacle, constituents must urge their legislators to use budget reconciliation to defund Planned Parenthood and its affiliates, telling their legislators that they will hold them accountable in the primary elections if they do not.

Visit studentsforlifeaction.org/tellcongress to write an email to your Representative and Senators.  Unfortunately, this link does not allow for the personalization of messages, which research shows is often more effective.  Clicking here to look up your federal legislators will allow you to access their websites, enabling you to send them personalized messages, visit one of their offices, or call them.

In the words of Abbey Johnson, former Planned Parenthood director and now a pro-life advocate, “Call [your federal lawmakers] every day, call five times a day!”  Please spread the word to your friends, families, and communities.

Prayers

A Prayer for Eastertide

O God, who gladdens us with the yearly celebration of Our Lord's Resurrection, grant, in Thy mercy, that through the feast which we solemnize in time, we may be worthy to attain to eternal joys. Through the same Christ Our Lord, Amen.

Pro Life Quotes:

“Love and sacrifice are closely linked, like the sun and the light. We cannot love without suffering and we cannot suffer without love.” —St. Gianna Molla

“Reproductive rights’ has long been a euphemism for destroying human life in the womb… A phrase that sounds like empowerment is a really only code for the subjugation of pre-born children." —Lila Rose

News:

An Abortion Pill Can Hurt More Than the Baby...

Recently, The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) conducted a report trying to find how many women who took the abortion pill got hurt as a result. The FDA's number was 0.5%, but after searching over 800,000 women, the EPPC found that about 11% of women were harmed by the pill. Most of these cases brought upon life-threatening issues within 45 days, often requiring hospitalization.
The EPPC have been requesting that the FDA update their data for years now, but safeguards were laxed during the Biden Administration.

Source: https://www.lifenews.com/2025/04/29/abortion-pills-injure-11-of-women-who-take-them/

Upcoming Events:

May 6th, 5:00 PM – monthly rosary
May 13th, 7:00 PM – Apologetics Night
May 19th, 6:30 PM EST – group meeting

Submit Content:

This newsletter relies heavily on the contributions of group members. There are a number of items we are looking for:

1. Creative content: We have implemented a segment of the newsletter dedicated to the topically relevant artistic contributions of group members, regardless of medium. If you have anything to share, please send it in. We'll accept most mediums, including (pictures of) paintings, graphic design pieces, songs, videos, poems, etc.
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3. Quotes & Literary Passages: We are also looking for any topically relevant quotes or literary passages to fill a segment of the newsletter. Anything from a simple sentence spoken by a saint to a paragraph from a book can be accepted.

If you want to submit anything from the above categories, or you simply want to provide feedback or suggestions, please email us at hscstudentsforlife@gmail.com and we will get in touch with you shortly.