Sarah Palin Helps Pro-Life Group raise Funds for Television Ads Against Abortion
by Martha Schieber
September 23, 2010
Kansas City, MO (LifeNews.com) — Hours before appearing before the Vitae Foundation Pro-Life Benefit Dinner on September 13, former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was running around Kansas City so she could fax a parental consent form to the Alaska DMV in order that her 16-year-old daughter, Willow, could get her driver’s test.
“You know, they (minors) can’t take an aspirin at school without parental consent, yet girls could go out…and get an abortion without parental consent and notification. That’s how messed up things are right now,” Gov. Palin told the 1,345 people gathered at Kansas City’s Convention Center for Vitae’s Annual Pro-Life Dinner.
“We have an opportunity to right some of these things and that’s what we’re doing here tonight, to talk about what we can do to start embracing that culture of life in America that is so absolutely necessary,” the former Alaska Governor stated.
Gov. Palin came to Kansas City to speak for the Vitae Foundation, a national non-profit organization that uses resources of education, marketing psychology and mass communication to reach out to women experiencing unplanned pregnancies and help them find abortion alternatives.
“The masters of the media are defining our culture. We have to remember that we too have to get out there and be salt and the light to the world,” Palin stated. “We have to be aggressive but peaceful with our message. If the culture has rejected those values, then shouldn’t we help change the culture by changing hearts and minds? That is what we have set out to do!”
Palin echoed Vitae’s President Carl Landwehr when he told the crowd that the pendulum of the culture is swinging our way and 51 percent of Americans are identifying themselves with being pro-life.
“What a turnaround! Back when Roe v. Wade was handed down, we were told to get over it and move on,” Palin noted. “But that’s not what happened. And just how did this cultural shift come about? It’s because of the good work of organizations like this Foundation.”
Becoming intensely personal, the mother of five shared her own personal story of being told she was carrying a special needs child at the age of 43.
“I understand what a woman goes through when she is confronted with a pregnancy in less than ideal circumstances. I understand and empathize,” Palin shared. “I thank God for that because (this has) so reaffirmed and strengthened my unwavering support for life at every stage.”
Looking back at the day she was told there was something different about Trig’s ultrasound, “I was scared to death. In my research I learned that 85 to 90 percent of Down Syndrome babies are aborted,” Palin explained. She then spent all those months of pregnancy in prayer, because she wasn’t ready to face people with this truth.
Hanging on to that seed of faith, she knew that just “talking the talk” wasn’t sufficient. In a pivotal moment, she told the crowd it was like hearing a whisper from the Holy Spirit: “Are you with me? Are you going to walk the walk?”
“I understand that choosing life may not always be the easy path, but it is always the right path,” Palin stated. “God does see a way where we would think there is no way. And He does not make mistakes. We may say, ‘Oops,’ but He doesn’t.”
Even though it took her months to be able to put her “arms” around the idea of a special needs child, as soon as they actually put him in her arms, she said, “I could see his perfection.”
It wasn’t long after the birth of Trig that Palin had to deal with her teenage daughter, Bristol, becoming pregnant. “Bristol is an ideal example of how a person in less than ideal circumstances puts her faith in God. Now Bristol is out there talking to teens about abstinence and telling people, ‘Just don’t do what I did’.”
“Bristol is doing what you are doing here, infiltrating pop culture to say that there are other choices out there. They’ve bought into the idea that they aren’t capable of obtaining an education and pursuing a career and still giving life to their child. It’s your organization that plants that seed of faith, that seed of hope that they can choose life. She added that if motherhood is not an option, then adoption is a beautiful choice,” Palin noted.
The former governor said she was thankful for pro-life groups like Vitae “that spread the message that allows that seed of hope and faith to grow within those women who are faced with a pregnancy in less than ideal circumstances. You affirm the value of the child. You remind us that every child has purpose and value and a destiny.”
“Everyone belongs in the circle of protection,” Palin urged. “We must support the people on the front lines at the Pregnancy Resource Centers.”
Anne Carmichael, Vitae’s Vice President, told the crowd that at least 83 babies had been saved in Vitae’s winter billboard campaign earlier this year. Vitae ads helped direct women to five pregnancy help centers in the Greater Kansas City area. For more information about the work of Vitae Foundation, go to www.vitaecaringfoundation.org.
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