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Blog from President and CEO Mike Fichter: A Christmas Message for 2011
December 21, 2011
Remember back in the days before people pepper-sprayed other customers vying for Black Friday doorbusters, and when Cyber Monday could have been the title for a Star Trek episode? Those were the days when the Sears catalogue was the basis for the Christmas wish lists of kids everywhere, myself included. I still remember the thrill each Christmas season when the catalogue would magically arrive at our home (or at least it seemed so), and for weeks to follow I would thumb through the pages and dream of what might lie beneath the tree on Christmas morning.
Those were the days before megastores and the internet, days when the Sears catalogue was the only place to see the latest and greatest in toys and apparel. Where else could you find Gumby, G.I. Joe, Lincoln Logs and those crazy electric football games, all in one place?
Those were simpler days – days when Christmas wishes meant something more, days when families watched Charlie Brown’s Christmas and the smell of Tollhouse cookies filled the air, days when Christmas Eve church services brought entire communities together to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Nowadays, Charlie Brown competes with over 200 channels on satellite TV. Baking cookies has become inconvenient and, in some circles, politically incorrect. And more and more churches are eliminating Christmas Eve services in deference to social gatherings deemed more relevant in this age of entertainment. I don’t think I’ll ever understand that one.
Times are changing. But I still believe in Christmas wishes because I still believe in Christmas. Not the Christmas that has become the great American escape from reality, but the Christmas in which the God of the universe turned the world upside down by sending His son, His only son, on a mission that no one else could accomplish.
Over two thousand years ago, on that one dark night in the census-choked town of Bethlehem, a baby boy was born who would change the world forever. Ahead of Him lay three nails, a crown of thorns, and a broken heart. But for this one night – this one holy night – the angels sang, the shepherds bowed, a star pierced the blackest of nights, and His mother held Him tightly to her own beating heart.
It happened. It really happened. And all of the Black Friday ads combined cannot cover the glory of the God who took on flesh as He grew in His mother’s womb before entering the world with a birth that still sets church bells to ringing around the world.
May you and your family enjoy a blessed Christmas.
Press advisory: exclusive interview with 180 film’s Ray Comfort posted online, will air on statewide radio
November 11, 2011
Indiana Right to Life is pleased to announce the online posting of an exclusive interview with Ray Comfort, the producer of the film 180 that has garnered over 1.4 million views on YouTube since its debut in late September. The interview is featured in a special edition of Protecting Life: Real Talk, Real Issues, a 30-minute weekly newstalk program produced by Indiana Right to Life in conjunction with Allen County Right to Life in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The online version is now posted at Indiana Right to Life’s podcast site.
In addition to the online posting, the interview is slated for broadcast across Indiana this weekend on these stations: Fort Wayne market: WQSW-LP 100.5 Saturdays @ 1:00 pm WLDE FM 101.7 Sundays @ 5:30 am WAJI FM 95.1 Sundays @ 5:30 am WFCV AM 1090 Saturdays @ 10:00 am REDEEMER RADIO Sundays @ 1:00 pm Indianapolis market: 89.1 FM Wednesdays @ 10:00 am and 4:00 pm Saturdays @ 7:00 pm Bloomington market: 1370 AM & 95.9 FM Saturdays @ 5:30 am Sundays @ 6:30 am
Comfort’s 180 project is a 33-minute pro-life video which documents the responses of young adults to questions about their stance on abortion, but also includes discussions on Adolf Hitler. Comfort is also the founder and CEO of Living Waters Publications and co-hosts, along with Kirk Cameron, the award-winning television show “The Way of the Master”. He is the author over 60 books.
Press Advisory: EMILY’s List backing of Indianapolis mayoral candidate raises potential for radical abortion policies
November 3, 2011
Indiana Right to Life today is raising concerns that the financial backing of Indianapolis mayoral candidate Melina Kennedy by the national pro-abortion organization EMILY’s List raises the likelihood that a Kennedy administration will adopt radical abortion policies that might include public funding for abortion and the promotion of abortion in the Indianapolis school system.
EMILY’s List is a Washington, D.C., based political organization that supports abortion for the full nine months of pregnancy without restriction. According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, EMILY’s List is one of Kennedy’s top financial supporters, funneling $10,000 in cash to her campaign.
Indianapolis is the state hub for Indiana’s abortion business with abortions currently being done in three abortion clinics and at Wishard hospital.
“If the city of Indianapolis adopts abortion policies backed by EMILY’s List, it will likely lead to a dramatic rise in the Indianapolis abortion rate and the flow of city tax dollars into the hands of abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood,” states Indiana Right to Life President and CEO. “Melina Kennedy should be forthright with Indianapolis voters and explain exactly how the big support she is raking in from EMILY’s List will impact her abortion policy. If she is willing to align herself with the nation’s most aggressively political abortion organization, the voters deserve to know why.”
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Press advisory: statement on today’s hearing in the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
October 20, 2011
Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter issued this statement this morning regarding today’s hearing in the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on Indiana’s law that ends state-directed funding for Planned Parenthood:
“Indiana Right to Life is confident that Indiana will prevail in defending the state’s right to remove all state-directed funding from Indiana’s largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood’s refusal to separate its abortion operations from its other activities only serves to underscore that today’s hearing in federal court is all about abortion and whether taxpayers should be forced to subsidize businesses that make millions of dollars from doing them.”
Press advisory: chemical abortions surge according to latest Indiana abortion statisitics
September 16, 2011
Indiana Right to Life is raising new concerns over the alarming growth of chemical abortions in Indiana in the wake of the latest posting of abortion statistics by the Indiana State Department of Health. According to the ISDH’s Indiana Induced Termination of Pregnancy Report 2008, which represents the most recent official abortion statistics available for Indiana, chemical abortions increased by over 16% from 2007 to 2008, confirming fears that Planned Parenthood is more aggressively marketing chemical abortions in preparation for an expansion of the procedure to multiple areas of Indiana.
The 2008 stats also reveal a slight overall increase of abortions by .3% from 2007 to 2008, largely due to an increase in abortions done in Marion and Monroe counties in Indiana. Not surprisingly, Planned Parenthood is the sole abortion provider in Monroe County and does the majority of abortions done in Marion County.
“Abortions are on the rise in Indiana and Planned Parenthood is the reason why,” states Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter. “These latest statistics underscore why Indiana should not send one dime of our public funds to Planned Parenthood.”
The 2008 Indiana statistics also reveal abortion’s devastating impact on the Indiana’s black community with a disproportionately high percentage of abortions, 29.8%, done on black women.
“The trends here are clear to see. Abortions are rising in the areas where Planned Parenthood dominates the market, chemical abortions are expanding, and the black community remains a target of Indiana’s abortion business,” notes Fichter.
In spite of the negative trends, Indiana Right to Life is applauding an abortion rate reduction of over 7% in Fort Wayne as well as slight reductions in Lake and St. Joseph counties.