“Pro-Life Journeys” now in paperback

Pro-Life Journeys is now available at Amazon.com in e-book and paperback formats. Later in January, the paperback will also be available from me directly at local events. And if you want to invite me to your event in or near southern New Hampshire, I’d be honored to hear from you!

I’m grateful to the blog’s Facebook followers for their encouraging messages. For those wondering how they can spread the news about Pro-Life Journeys, let me offer a few ideas. This is a self-published book, so I’m working without a net: no editor, no agent, no press representative. Let’s work together!

First and foremost, please read the book! Its Amazon page includes a short preview of the opening chapter via the “Look Inside” tab. For the e-book, you don’t need a Kindle device; you can download the free Kindle app to read the book on whatever device you use. A note for e-book fans: if you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you already have access to the book. Just click the KU button on the book’s Amazon page.

Like what you read? Let your friends know! Leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Do you have a podcast or other media outlet? Let me know if I can be of assistance as your guest. You can follow my site at ellenkolb.com, which includes links to more of my work outside of Leaven. Subscribe to that site’s newsletter for updates on book-related events and special sales.

The book’s final chapter – “The Journey Ahead” – is going to be at the heart of a speaking engagement I have later this week at a private venue. I’d love to share that chapter’s message of practical optimism with your group or class. If you’d like to contact me about your event, you can use the contact form at the bottom of the ellenkolb.com homepage.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out to me with encouraging words. Every blogger should have such readers!

Legislators to meet for Organization Day December 7

An excerpt from the newsletter I sent to subscribers today:

A year ago, I was standing in front of the U.S. Supreme Court with about 2000 other people, rallying as the Justices heard the arguments in the Dobbs case. I took the photo below that morning, as the bright sky seemed to express all our hopes.

Outside the U.S. Supreme Court the day of arguments in the Dobbs case, 12/1/21

Since then, New Hampshire has passed the Fetal Life Protection Act, then weakened it. The Dobbs decision has overturned Roe, but it didn’t recognize a right to life. 

Against that backdrop, New Hampshire legislators will meet next week for Organization Day, kicking off the 2023 legislative session. Winners of November’s state House and Senate election will take office on Wednesday, December 7, at 10:00 a.m. The day’s session is open to the public and should also be live-streamed. 

Today’s newsletter included a preview of the life-issue legislation coming to the State House in 2023. If you’re not already a subscriber, click on http://eepurl.com/hTBV09 and I’ll make sure you get this and future editions. The occasional email newsletters are a supplement to the blog.

Subscribe to the Leaven for the Loaf newsletter

Readers, I hope you’ll take a moment to find and click on the “subscribe to newsletter” button on this site. The Leaven for the Loaf newsletter is an occasional supplement to this blog, arriving in your email inbox once a month or so. Each edition is short and sweet (if I may say so myself) and provides news you can use, with links to take you to relevant information. Sometimes I share the best pro-life writing from other sources. The most recent edition mentions the upcoming election, of course, but it also previews what a concerned voter can do after the election.

I don’t sell or rent my mailing list – and believe me, I’ve been asked for it – so subscribing won’t burden you with spam. Unsubscribing is easy (but sad – so let me know how I can do better).

Current subscribers, take note: there’s a button in each edition that you can click to share the email with your contacts.

Many thanks to discerning readers, one and all!

A Fresh Look at Old News

A note for readers, especially those long-suffering souls who have followed this pro-life blog since it was a hatchling seven years ago: a couple of years ago, I promised you a sort of best-of anthology from the first five years of the blog. (If you’ve forgotten, I forgive you.) That project, like a child with a mind of her own, has gone off in another direction.

The longer I worked on the manuscript, with all of the necessary prefaces to the posts in order to provide updates, the more I realized that the updates are the real story.

And so, a new e-book is simmering away on the figurative front burner. I am reaching out to some of the people whose stories I’ve had the privilege to share, hoping to discover where they’re heading now. I’m re-visiting places and recurring events, ready to give them a fresh look. I’m taking a look at how the Granite State has moved in terms of public policy. (That might be a short chapter.)

There’s good news to go along with all the challenges we face in New Hampshire regarding respect for life. We have neighbors people doing inspiring work. I’m excited about catching up with everything.

The goal: when I’m done writing, and after the whole edit-illustrate-format cycle(s), I’ll have a short book worth sharing with you. Stay tuned.

Reviewing 2018, Welcoming 2019

A New Year’s toast: to life! Thank you to the readers who have sustained Leaven for the Loaf, and thank you to everyone whose pro-life work has kept me inspired and challenged all along the way. Join me now as I pack away some artifacts of the year just ended.

The Posts

It’s a mixed bag of topics for the most-viewed posts of 2018.

1. CareNet: John Oliver Gets It Wrong About Pregnancy Centers. When a late-night TV personality used his platform to criticize pro-life pregnancy care centers, CareNet’s CEO wasted no time setting him straight, with a video offering a positive response to a hostile report.
2. Gallery: New Hampshire March for Life 2018. Speaker Jennifer Christie of Save the 1 shared her powerful story.
3. Gosnell: Film Review. In the hands of an inept screenwriter or the wrong director, this true-crime story could have gone badly awry.  The makers of Gosnell got it right. The film will be coming to on-demand video and DVD in early 2019.
4. But Wait, There’s More. This was a brief report on an ill-advised bill that would have nullified New Hampshire’s parental notification law. The House later killed the bill.
5. Trust Women, You Say? Start Here. Coverage of January’s hearing on a bill, HB 1707, that would have established comprehensive informed consent requirements for abortion.
6. A Genteel Rant on Party Unity. In which I’m reminded (yet again) that political-party-linked activism is not always helpful in building a culture of life.
7. Abortion Statistics: “Inexpedient to Legislate.” “Two hundred [N.H.] legislators voted like people who are afraid of evidence-based public health policy and afraid of political retribution from abortion providers.” Another statistics bill has been introduced for 2019.
8. Slamming Shut a Doorway to Assisted Suicide. A state senator let slip that her proposed study committee on end-of-life issues was actually a path to an assisted suicide law. Her fellow senators took her at her word and killed her bill. A similar bill is on the way for the coming legislative session.
9. Why I’m Voting No on Question 2. A ballot question about adding a “privacy” amendment to the state constitution passed, not long after I posted this cautionary message. Time will tell if my concerns had merit.
10. “Do Not Accept Anything As The Truth If It Lacks Love.” Wise words from St. Teresa Benedicta.

The Events

I reported from the state and national Marches for Life in 2018, and I plan to do the same in 2019. On January 12, less than two weeks from now, you can attend any portion of the day-long program of events that accompany the march in Concord. The March for Life in Washington will be held the following Friday, January 18.

2018 brought two more 40 Days for Life campaigns. The next one is coming up in a little over a month, and you’ll be hearing more from me about that in the coming days.

I went to St. Louis, Missouri for the third annual Pro-Life Women’s Conference last June. The first PLWC in 2016 was organized by Abby Johnson and the team at And Then There Were None. Since then, the conference has grown to include a diverse group of speakers and attendees guaranteed to broaden the horizons of anyone working in the pro-life movement. For just one example, read the message from one of this year’s featured speakers, Savannah Marten: “We find the tables we need to be sitting at.”

The next Pro-Life Women’s Conference is scheduled for June 2019 in New Orleans. I’m already saving my pennies for it. Check out the event’s web site; you might want to make the trip, too.

Best Short Video: “Desperate Measures”

For media in 2018, the Gosnell film is in a class by itself. For short video, I was glad to find and share “Desperate Measures” by Sidewalk Advocates for Life.  Featuring former abortion workers who are now committed pro-lifers, the video is a direct response to recent sit-ins and “rescues” at abortion facilities. The message is don’t do it – and here’s the better way to carry out peaceful pro-life witness. 

Looking Ahead

I’ll be back at the State House to report on 2019 legislation including buffer zone repeal, abortion statistics, and death penalty repeal. I’ll venture to claim that since 2012, no other New Hampshire blog has covered life-issue bills in Concord to the extent attempted by this little enterprise called Leaven for the Loaf. I aim to keep it going.

When my travels lead me to inspirational people and places, you’ll hear about them.

Over a year ago, I had intended to publish an anthology of Leaven posts – and I’m glad I didn’t! The manuscript was not ready for prime time. In 2019, on a much more modest scale than first envisioned, the anthology will be ready.

As longtime readers will have noticed, Facebook and Twitter became significant extensions of the blog in 2018, especially during coverage of marches and conferences. If you’re not following those social media feeds yet, I invite you to do so.

The New Year is here. Let’s make the most of it.