BE A WITNESS FOR LIFE

Dear Friends:

I hope this note finds you doing well. I am writing to you about the most recent revelations about Planned Parenthood and the transactions involving organs from aborted children, and to suggest a way in which we parents can give witness to the reality and humanity of unborn children.

We have an opportunity to illuminate the national conversation about the practice of abortion by highlighting the obvious reality and humanity of the children mutilated and killed on a regular basis in this country. The first step is to focus on common ground: I am willing to bet that most Americans, confronted with images of 20-week ultrasounds, would support a bill like HR36/S1553, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. This bill, which was introduced this past spring, would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The Senate version of the bill is still in committee. It’s a good place to start.

In order to build grassroots support for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and to raise awareness of the reality of abortion in America, I am building a media campaign featuring 20-week sonograms so that every American can see exactly who is getting crushed to death in this country.

I have some ultrasound images from friends and from my own pregnancy, but I need your help. I am asking you to share sonogram images from your 20-week doctor visits, and to reach out to friends to ask for theirs. These images will form the basis of a media campaign with the tagline “This is 20 weeks.”

Determining which sonogram is the 20-week image is simple if you remember your child’s due date. Use a calendar to count back 20 weeks from the official due date (not the birth date — many of our children were early or late!); the date stamp is usually on the top right portion of the sonogram printout. Take a picture of the image or scan it; email it to me at photos@ThisIs20Weeks.com. I will review each image and use Microsoft Paint to remove any identifying information such as patient’s name, doctor’s name, and hospital name. I will also remove any identifying metadata, such as GPS location, from the file.

I will use these images to create a photo album-style compilation of beautiful 20-week-old children to show the American public, both online at www.ThisIs20Weeks.com and in advertisements to be published in newspapers when suitable funding is available. I will be working with Amy Hill of the PA Catholic Conference to coordinate the media placements. No names will be used — simply the sonogram images themselves and the statement that the images were taken at 20 weeks.

It breaks my heart to live in a country that sanctions the killing of its own children. I think most Americans are sleepwalking through life, and with your help, I hope to wake them up. I thank you for your attention and your prayerful consideration of my request.

Respectfully,
Theresa O’Brien

Theresa O’Brien is the daughter-in-law of Rockland Right to Life Chairperson, Liz O’Brien