News

Abortion and Critical Race Theory Presentation Recordings

On Monday, October 17, 2022, Jannique Stewart provided a fascinating presentation on Abortion and Critical Race Theory. Recordings of her presentation are available on our YouTube channel. See parts 1 and 2 below:

Job Opening: Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Critical Race Theory and Abortion Presentation

Register here: rtlswin.org/lunchandlearn/

2022 Posey County Baby Photo Contest

The 2022 Posey County Baby Photo Contest will be accepting entrants during the West Side Nut Club Festival on Franklin Street in Evansville, Indiana starting Monday, October 3, 2022 at booth 74. Early entries will be accepted on Sunday, October 2nd at Life Choices Parking Lot located at 2225 W. Indiana Street from 2-4 p.m.

1st Prize will receive his or her own Pro-Life Billboard! Prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

Find all information and entry rules please download the flyer below.

Designer Bingo

Indiana List of Legislators

Indiana List of Legislatrs

Since the turn of Roe v. Wade, there has been a special session called for the Indiana House and Senate set to take place in July, 2022. During this session they will discuss future actions that Indiana should take concerning pro-life issues.

Please contact your Legislator and ask that they do all that is possible to keep abortion out of Indiana. Ask them to protect pre-born babies from death by abortion, and their mothers from a destructive and regrettable decision.  

Below is a sample script for the emails – please call your legislator as well with the same messaging. 

I am a voter, a member of Indiana Right to Life of Southwest Indiana mobile advocacy team, and I live in your district. I’m asking you to use this summer’s special session to pass new pro-life laws in Indiana.  

Now that Roe vs. Wade is reversed, Indiana can pass legislation to fully protect unborn babies, and provide care and support for pregnant mothers. I believe that by addressing both of these issues, our state has a unique opportunity to prove that Indiana is a state that loves and values both the life of the mother and the baby.    

We simply cannot wait until the next legislative session to get this done – too many babies would die waiting for the state to take action.  

I want you to know this is very important to me.   Please respond to let me know you will support passage of new pro-life laws during this summer’s special session. My hope is that I can count on you to be a staunch supporter of life, and someone who will vote for a bill that protects all life to the greatest extent – both born and unborn – which would be that there’s only a life of the mother exception in any legislation that you vote to support. It is my firm belief that Indiana should continue demonstrating the strong value it puts on life without prejudice.

Thank you, and I look forward to your response.

Indiana State Senators

• Jim Tomes – District 49
  • Phone: 800-382-9467
  • Email: Senator.Tomes@iga.in.gov

Job Description: Peers Project Director

Primary Function:

Oversee the PEERS Project in participating schools and all feeder schools.  Supervise and support Area Coordinators.  Acts as a resource for Right to Life and the community at large in promoting the social, physical, mental and spiritual benefits of chastity and abstinence for all students during high school.

Report to:

Executive Director of Right to Life of Southwest

Download full job description below.

Pro-Life Resource for Children

Thanks to our friends at Focus on the Family, a great resource has now been created to age-appropriately talk to your child about life! The resource is called Valuing Life From the Start: Age-Specific Lessons for the Whole Family. Find this and other valuable life resources here.

What You Should Know About Girl Scout Cookies

What is the concern about funding Girl Scout Councils and GSUSA?

Girl Scouts approves girls partnering with Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers and activist organizations to earn Girl Scouts’ highest award, the Gold Award, “to make the world a better place.” Awarded projects include:
o A series of high school presentations in collaboration with NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) for “getting rid of abortion stigma and misconception” by “activists who have had abortions who were interested in sharing their stories.”
o A high school health fair which included Planned Parenthood among “the booths from various health organizations in order to educate students on what good health care is and to promote healthy habits for them to live long, happy lives.”
o “A Young Women’s Health Expo…to highlight research on reproductive health, “invited girls to “come meet your local health care centers.” The Expo featured abortion providers Planned Parenthood and Equality Health Center, who advertised abortion services and offered free condoms to those in attendance. The ACLU was another presenter “educating young [girls] and their rights to repro and economic justice.”

Download the entire article below.

Cemetery of the Innocents

Most Southwest Indiana residents who travel I-69 north through Vanderburgh County have seen one of the most visible depictions of the need to eradicate abortion, the Cemetery of the Innocents that sits on the Durchholz family farm.   Since the 90’s the Durchholz’s, extended family and friends have helped maintained this plot of sacred ground. 

Right to Life spoke with Angie (Durchholz) Lasher about the history and impact the Cemetery of the Innocents has had on the community.  The idea originated from Mike Fichter, former Vanderburgh County Right to Life’s Executive Director (Right to Life of Southwest Indiana’s predecessor) and Bill Butterfield were looking for a farm whose location would have the greatest visual impact. The Durchholz farm ground was the perfect spot and the family agreed.

In the early days of the Cemetery, 4,000 wooden crosses representing the number of daily abortions in the U.S. were used.  The crosses were placed each year after harvest and then gathered back up and stored until they would reappear later in the year.  The undertaking of this project called for a lot of extra help through the years from Mark Ikoff helping to make the grid for the crosses to be lined up, to John Lasher and Albert Sturgeon keeping the area mowed, to Chuck Wigger helping install the vinyl signs by the interstate and many more.

In 2009, the family decided to divide the crosses and donated 2,000 to a Gibson County farm owned by Sylvester and Pat Elpers, who would display the crosses on his property on Hwy 41 just south of the I-64 junction to have double the visual impact.  The Durchholz’s decided to have a more permanent installation and created 2,009 crosses using PVC pipe that fit over metal rods in the ground for each cross. 

Donations from the community helped to complete the project in a unique way.  For each donation, a certificate containing a baby’s name was spiritually adopted and inserted into a capped compartment of the cross; and, it remains there to this day.  A ceremony was held for the community with Father Chris Forler presiding to bless the field.  

Tending to the Cemetery for all of these years had become part of the fabric of the Durchholz family, but Lasher says there was one time she started to have doubts about keeping the project up and made it a matter of prayer asking God if it even made a difference.  Unbeknown to Lasher, a regular passerby of the Cemetery on his way from Louisville to Evansville, Wayne Carroll, a songwriter, was so moved by the Cemetery’s presence and message that he wrote a song called, “4,000 Crosses” about the experience. Carroll recorded the song and sent CD copies to Right to Life.  On her daughter’s 18^th birthday, Lasher received a package filled with CDs of Carroll’s song “4,000 Crosses” and the answer to her prayer!  God was using the Cemetery of the Innocents to make an impact in the hearts of people who saw it, and she now held it the proof in her hands. 

“The main thing I hope the Cemetery of the Innocents would accomplish is to help those who pass by start thinking about the babies and hopefully have their hearts soften,” says Lasher.  “This type of project affects the whole community and helps to educate in a five second window about the effects of abortion and will possibly start conversations that change hearts within the cars that pass by.”

Right to Life of Southwest Indiana and the entire region would like to thank Angie Lasher and the entire Durchholz family for standing (and maintaining, mowing and spraying for weeds) for life in a very public way.   

Covid-19 Vaccine Comparisons

The following document lists multiple Covid-19 vaccines by company and notes if aborted fetal cells have been used. Source: Children of God for Life Website.

The Left’s Destruction of America in Writing

Life is on the line this election. And here’s what we mean by that.

Per the two documents below, the first day of a Biden/Harris presidency ALL executive actions regarding life will be revoked according to the documents written by a coalition of pro-abortion groups. The plans are a chilling look at a possible future trajectory for our country that if realized, may seal the fate of America.

Sign up for 2021 March for Life to Indianapolis, IN – January 22

---

Reserve Your VOTE PRO-LIFE SIGN & Stand For Life in Your Own Front Yard

Governor Holcomb orders halt to elective and non-urgent invasive surgeries; abortion clinics included in new emergency orders

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Indiana Right to Life applauds Governor Eric Holcomb for including abortion clinics in new emergency orders related to the Covid-19 pandemic.  Governor Holcomb’s orders call for a halt to all elective and non-urgent surgical procedures in Indiana. 

“Governor Holcomb’s new orders make it clear that abortion clinics are not exempt from complying with the suspension of elective surgeries,” states Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter.  “In a time of crisis and severe medical equipment shortages, abortion clinics must not be allowed to use up precious medical supplies that Hoosiers need during the current health emergency.”

Indiana Right to Life will urge state and local authorities to monitor Indiana abortion clinics closely to ensure compliance with the orders.  

Governor Holcomb’s emergency orders go into effect tomorrow. 

Stopping Planned Parenthood during COVID-19 Pandemic

Your action is needed immediately in urging Governor Eric Holcomb to order all elective surgical abortions halted in Indiana as part of the state’s emergency response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
In spite of state and federal directives ordering the postponement of elective surgical procedures, Indiana’s surgical abortion centers are continuing to do a booming business. These surgical abortion clinics are using much-needed medical supplies such as masks, gowns, gloves, and blood suplies in a time of critical shortages. In addition, crowded waiting rooms and recovery rooms may offer prime conditions for the spread of the Coronavirus, placing all Hoosiers at risk.

Texas, Ohio and Louisiana have already taken action to suspend elective surgical abortions in those states.

Click on the link below to take action by contacting Governor Holcomb and urging him to stop Planned Parenthood during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The OB-GYNs Who Play Politics With Women’s Lives

---

Bill underscores the humanity of each aborted baby, requires abortion clinics to fully inform women considering drug-induced abortions

---

Safe Haven Baby Boxes to be Installed in Southwest Indiana – February 12, 2020

EVANSVILLE, IN (February 12, 2020) – Right to Life of Southwest Indiana (RTLSWIN) and the City of Evansville are partnering to install two Safe Haven Baby Boxes in efforts to raise awareness of Safe Haven Laws and save the lives of babies.  Indiana leads the United States with a total of 21 boxes located throughout the state.