{"id":176660,"date":"2017-12-29T09:11:09","date_gmt":"2017-12-29T14:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=176660"},"modified":"2017-12-21T18:11:50","modified_gmt":"2017-12-21T23:11:50","slug":"the-top-pro-life-stories-that-moved-the-world-in-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-top-pro-life-stories-that-moved-the-world-in-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"The top pro-life stories of 2017 that moved and inspired us"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2017 was another big year in the pro-life movement. While Planned Parenthood remains funded by the federal government, with the inauguration of President Donald Trump came big wins for preborn people. Pro-lifers watched and prayed with families fighting for their children’s lives and fought back when facing resistance. With stories that made us cry and stories that made us cheer, these are the top pro-life stories of 2017.<\/p>\n

The life and death of Charlie Gard<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Charlie Gard<\/p><\/div>\n

The biggest pro-life story of 2017 is the life of Charlie Gard. Little Charlie from the UK was placed on life support after becoming ill just a few months after birth. After being diagnosed with a rare mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, Charlie’s parents found a doctor in the United States willing to help with an experimental treatment, but Great Ormond Street Hospital refused to allow the family to take Charlie out of the country for treatment and told parents they planned to withdraw Charlie’s life support.<\/p>\n

Even after his parents raised millions of dollars to pay for their son’s expensive travel needs, the hospital refused to budge. After a legal battle that lasted months, the courts sided with the hospital. In a last-ditch effort, everyone from the Vatican to President Trump reached out to offer help to Charlie’s parents and another hospital offered insight into how the experimental treatment could help Charlie. Great Ormond Street Hospital finally agreed to let the US doctor examine Charlie, but it was too late. Charlie Gard died<\/a> at 11 months old after his life support was removed. In his short life, Charlie inspired the world to come together to celebrate life regardless of the circumstances and to support his parents in their fight to save him.<\/p>\n

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Pro-lifers attend the Women’s March of 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Women’s March in Washington, D.C., took place on January 21, 2017, a day after the inauguration of President Trump. Meant to be a rallying cry for American women, the event was sponsored in part by pro-abortion groups including Planned Parenthood, NARAL, the National Organization for Women, and the Center for Reproductive Rights, and therefore, pro-life women were excluded<\/a> from attending.<\/p>\n

Pro-life women, however, refused to be ignored, sending hundreds of women to the march in support of women everywhere and in support of pro-life policies that help women facing crisis pregnancies. Groups including Students for Life, Feminists for Life, And Then There Were None, and New Wave Feminists attended the march, and despite some moments of tension with pro-abortion women, they received a lot of unexpected support from other attendees.<\/p>\n

Pro-life women know that abortion is not empowering and that women and children deserve better.<\/p>\n

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HHS defines human life as beginning at conception<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In their strategic plan for 2018-2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services changed the previous wording in three sections of the plan to declare that human life begins at conception and ends at natural death. HHS vowed to serve and protect “Americans at every stage of life, beginning at conception.” They also stated:<\/p>\n

While we may refer to the people we serve as beneficiaries, enrollees, patients, or consumers, our ultimate goal is to improve healthcare outcomes for all people,\u00a0including the unborn<\/strong>, across healthcare settings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The changes were welcomed by the pro-life community but pro-abortion groups were not so accepting of the change. This slight alteration of words signifies that the current US government knows that life is valuable and worth protecting at all stages.<\/p>\n

Pro-lifers speak out after Iceland announces eradication of Down syndrome<\/strong><\/p>\n

In August 2017, CBS featured a report on Iceland<\/a> and their announcement that they are 100% free of Down syndrome. The news sparked outrage across the Down syndrome and pro-life communities because Iceland was not celebrating a cure for Down syndrome but rather the deaths of those who have it.<\/p>\n

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Iceland isn’t actually eliminating Down Syndrome. They’re just killing everybody that has it. Big difference. #Downsyndrome<\/a> #abortion<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/gAONIzqRXW<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Patricia Heaton (@PatriciaHeaton) August 15, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n