Pro-Life Information

The ICD Pro-Life Committee coordinates pro-life activities in our parish.  These activities range from prayer, education, provision of real alternatives to abortion, and promotion of public policies which protect the right to life. The committee meets on the third Thursday of each month.

Our next committee meeting is scheduled for January 20, 2022 at 7pm (meetings are in the Parish Hall, South).  All are welcome!

Upcoming (or past) events include

1) March 6th, 7am-7pm, was "ICD Day" as part of the 2021 spring '40 Days for Life' campaign at the Planned Parenthood clinic on Forest Park Ave. in St. Louis to pray for an end to abortion.  We had 52 people sign up, including our Feb 28th parish sign-up day!

2) April 13th ICD hosted the bi-monthly STL Archdiocesan Respect Life Apostolate meeting for parish pro-life coordinators.

3) April 14th was the 2021 Midwest March for Life in Jeff City.  In addition to pro-life legislators like Lt. Gov Mike Kehoe and Sen. Bob Onder, the featured speakers included Catherine Glenn Foster, CEO of Americans United for Life; Jeanne Mancini, President of National March for Life; Susan Klein, Exec Director & chief lobbyist of Missouri Citizens for Life; Bridget VanMeans, CEO of Thrive Nation; Brian Westbrook, Exec Director of Coalition for Life StL;  Reagan Barklage, Regional Dir of Students for Life America, and more!  It was a great day at the Capitol.

4) ICD pro-life billboard: ran from April 11th thru May 11th of 2021 off of I-64 westbound, just west of Hwy K (on the right).  We had 2 displays in the digital billboard, every minute of every day for 30 consecutive days!

5) Mother's Day baby bottle drive: the weekend of May 8th & 9th, 2021 at ICD, our pro-life committee honored our mother's with a baby bottle drive to benefit the Thrive Express Women's Healthcare pregnancy resource centers in St. Louis & St. Charles county.  Thrive had one of their mobile vans in our parking lot after all masses, which has on-board an ultrasound machine to provide immediate assistance to mother's in need.

6) ICD annual picnic: the pro-life committee had a booth at the 2021 church picnic the weekend of June 4th thru 6th.  We had great volunteer coverage for this big parish event!!

7) Celebrated our 'Declaration of Independence' of our rights to Life & Liberty on June 30th, 2021 at 7:00pm in the main church with another Patriotic Rosary, once again with music by our ICD Director of Music - Richard Buschard!  It was beautiful (even without lights...)

8) On July 10th, 2021 the ICD Pro-Life Committee and members of the ICD Youth Group jointly hosted a "Pilgrimage of Prayer" at the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Fairview Heights, Ill.  After the monthly pro-life mass and the weekly Rosary for the Unborn that morning, we had a caravan of people who joined in this important time of prayer -- directly where the unborn are at most risk!

9) September 20th, 2021 ICD "Roe v. Wade Movie Night" - is being re-scheduled for another date (still to be determined).  

10) October 3rd, 2021 was our annual "Life Chain" Sunday in O'Fallon 2:00pm-3:00pm: in front of the Grace Community Church on Mexico Rd to 'stand up' and pray for preserving the sanctity of Life.  Approximately 120 to 140 people participated in this prayer event!

11) Oct 16th, 2021 was our "ICD Day" for the Fall 2021 '40 Days for Life' campaign between 7:00am-7:00pm in front of the Planned Parenthood clinic on Forest Park Ave (just a few blocks from the St Louis Cathedral Basilica).

12) October 17th, 2021 was the STL Respect Life Annual Convention at the Ritz Carlton in Clayton.  Keynote speakers included Archbishop Naumann, along with Catherine Glenn Foster (CEO of Americans United for Life).

13) November 9th, 2021 was our most recent ICD Patriotic Rosary Prayers & music event, at 7:00pm in the Main church.  This one was specifically scheduled to remember and pray for our ICD vets, with Veterans Day coming on November 11th.   Once again, we were blessed with beautiful patriotic hymns performed and sung by our ICD Music Director, Mr. Richard Buschard!

14) February 1st, 2022 (started in July 2021), the ICD Pro-Life Committee is encouraging parishioners to join us in a once-a-month hour of Adoration at the ICD Chapel to pray for an increase in respect for all Life!  This will occur the 1st Tuesday of each month, from 11:00am-12:00pm

15) February 12th, 2022 will be our next ICD monthly Pro-Life mass in the Main church at 8:00am.  We are also having a weekly Rosary for the Unborn after every Saturday morning mass (8:30am), except for Christmas Day 2021 and New Year's Day 2022.

16) January 15, 2022 was the annual St. Louis Archdiocesan Roe v. Wade Memorial Mass at the Cathedral Basilica to pray for an end to abortion.  Mass began at 10:00am (celebrated by Archbishop Rozanski), and then followed with a rosary procession/walk to the Planned Parenthood clinic on Forest Park Ave.

17) January 19-27, 2022 will be the "9 Day Novena for Life" as recommended by the USCCB.  All ICD parishioners (individuals as well as their families) are encouraged to say these brief daily prayers & read the reflections to pray for greater respect for Life (www.usccb.org/resources/9-days-life-novena).  

18) January 20, 2022 is the annual USCCB National Prayer Vigil, being live-streamed from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC on the eve of the annual March for Life (www.usccb.org/national-prayer-events-for-life).  This event will begin with a Chaplet of Divine Mercy, then mass from the Basilica, and then holy hours from D.C. and across the country (throughout the night).

19) January 20-22, 2022 you can catch a ride with the Missouri Life caravan to Washington D.C. for the annual National March for Life in our country's capitol!  For registration and bus information, go to www.missourilifecaravan.org.

20) January 21st at 5:30pm, you can join the ICD "March & Rosary for Life" in front of the ICD Chapel.

21) March 8, 2022 will be the Missouri Right to Life's "Pro-Life Action Day".  You can join thousands at the state capitol in Jefferson City to encourage our state legislators to pass pro-life legislation!

22) March 19, 2022 will be the annual "March to the Arch", sponsored by the St. Louis Coalition for Life.  Details will be forthcoming.

Actions to take on current (2021) legislation

1) American Rescue Act (aka $1.9 trillion COVID Relief) - passed by the Democrat majorities in the U.S. House & Senate as of March 6th and signed into law by Pres. Biden on March 11th, this legislation includes billions in taxpayer funds for abortions in the U.S. and around the world; this legislation did NOT include the Hyde Amendment that would otherwise restrict tax dollars from paying for abortions.

2) 'HR 5 Equality Act' - passed in the U.S. House, but rejected in the U.S. Senate.  Subsequently, it was added into the $1.2T "Bi-partisan Instrastructure" bill (calling it 'Digital Equity'), which then passed by Congress and is going to Pres. Biden to become law.  So now we have $3.1 trillion in new federal government spending approved so far this year, in addition to the annual $4 trillion federal budget, that once again has NO Hyde Amendment nor other restrictions on the use of taxpayer dollars for abortions (here are more reasons why this is really bad legislation  The Equality Act | USCCB )

3) 'Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act' - was introduced in the U.S. House on March 25, 2021 by the majority to "reverse the Hyde Amendment", which currently prohibits use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortion.  This change would be required in all Medicare & Medicaid coverages, including for indigenous people, for refugees, people in prisons, as well as "immigrants in detention".  Please contact your legislators in Congress to OPPOSE this expansion of abortion.

4) "Women's Health Protection Act" (S.1975/HR3755) was introduced by Congressional Democrats in the U.S. House & U.S. Senate to prohibit state and local governments from enacting multiple types of abortion restrictions, and would invalidate nearly every state law that places limits on abortion.  Please contact your legislators in Congress to OPPOSE these bills!

5) The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) heard arguments on Dec 1, 2021 in the Mississippi case "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health".  While the case is a challenge to Mississippi's new 2021 law that established "viability" of the unborn child outside of the mother's womb at 15 weeks (v. the current court established 22 to 24 weeks), the case is also an opportunity for SCOTUS to re-consider the Roe v. Wade & Casey court decisions.  SCOTUS is expected to release their decision at the end of June 2022; PLEASE be praying for our Justices to GIVE LIFE A CHANCE!

6) The Missouri Catholic Conference issued this news report: “the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday, Dec 16th (2021) lifted restrictions on the abortion drug, mifepristone, allowing the drugs to be prescribed online and sent by mail. The FDA announced that it was removing the "in-person dispensing requirement" that had required mifepristone to be dispensed only in certain health care facilities. 

Archbishop William Lori, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, criticized the move, stating that the decision would continue the taking of unborn lives while doing little for the well-being of women in need. "Far from the accompaniment that women in crisis pregnancies deserve, this decision would leave women alone in the midst of trauma, often without any medical attention or follow up care".

The abortion lobby, facing the possibility that Roe v. Wade could disappear, has now created a brand-new frontier for the abortion industry…‘no test, on-line chemical abortion drugs delivered straight to the doorsteps of vulnerable young women’, aka “abortion by mail”.  As of Dec 16th, the President’s FDA now allows these dangerous abortion pills to be shipped through the mail.  It’s another reminder that elections have serious consequences.  The current President, who is a Catholic, has the power to immediately overturn this decision by the FDA (which reports to Health & Human Services, which is represented on the President’s Cabinet). 

Everyone is encouraged to email the White House right away (www.whitehouse.gov/contact/) to insist that the President overturn this horrific decision by his FDA, consistent with his Catholic heritage.

Nov 3rd, 2020 General Elections

Results in Missouri: state House now 114 Pro-life reps v. 49 pro-abortion reps; state Senate now 24 Pro-life v. 10 pro-abortion!  State-wide pro-life office holders re-elected (Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Sec. of State, and Treasurer)

USCCB on Abortion and Catholic Social Teaching

Archbishop Naumann - Priorities at the Polls

2020 Party Platform Comparisons

From Saint John Paul II (1988, Christifideles Laici)

“Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights – for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture – is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination”.

From Saint John Paul II (1998, The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae, 18)

Today, when the inviolable rights of the human person are proclaimed and the value of life publicly affirmed, the most basic human right, "the right to life, is being denied or trampled upon, especially at the more significant moments of existence: the moment of birth and the moment of death".