damage to both synthetic and  are expected, particularly if you're wearing them on a daily basis.
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# Speakers
## Personhood Alliance Speaker's Bureau
The Personhood Alliance Speaker’s Bureau includes leaders in the personhood movement with professional speaking experience who deliver challenging messages to educate, inspire, and activate. Our speakers can deliver powerful presentations on a variety of topics to diverse audiences. Scroll down to see our Speaker’s Bureau members and  to request a speaker for your meeting, group, or conference.
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## Sarah Quale
Sarah Quale is the president emeritus of Personhood Alliance Education, founder of Educe® online learning, and author of the Foundations online pro-life curriculum. She is an award-winning curriculum and instructional designer who, for over 20 years, has developed engaging learning experiences in corporate, academic, and ministerial environments. Sarah speaks on a wide variety of topics related to human life and human dignity, from abortion and human trafficking to medical ethics and emerging biotechnologies. As a personhood advocate, she specializes in exposing roots, connecting the dots, and distilling complex information into clear calls to action. Sarah has a unique voice that comes from a place of redemption and compassion and a strong desire to help others understand our current battle as a clash of worldviews—a war over the definition of truth, morality, and the nature of God Himself.
## Matt Sande
Matt Sande is the vice president of the Personhood Alliance and also serves as the Director of Legislative Affairs for Pro-Life Wisconsin. Public policy and politics are his passion. A 1991 political science graduate from the University of Notre Dame and a former legislative aide in both the Wisconsin State Assembly and State Senate, Matt has directly participated in the political process for over 15 years. Matt’s expertise is in state personhood amendments and other personhood legislation, such as Life at Conception acts and removing taxpayer funding for abortion. He effectively educates grassroots pro-lifers on how to influence their state legislators on personhood, conscience rights, reproductive technology, embryo-destructive research, and end-of-life issues.
## Pastor Keith Pavlansky
Pastor Keith Pavlansky is President of Personhood North Carolina and pastor of Faith Fellowship Church in Yadkinville, NC. Pastor Keith leads the Safe Cities and Counties effort in his state, and in 2019, Yadkin County, NC, became the first Safe County in the nation. Pastor Keith’s enthusiasm is contagious. He motivates church and community leaders to advance Safe Cities and Counties in their local jurisdictions. He speaks with passion and experience on how to move through each phase of the initiative, what challenges to prepare for, and how to succeed in making your own town or county Safe for pre-born children.
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# Press Releases
## Breaking news from the Personhood Alliance
Click a link below to read recent press releases.  for the latest news and commentary on the personhood movement.
# Personhood Alliance announces official position on vaccine ethics
#### October 13, 2020
**Contact:** Les Riley, interim president, Personhood Alliance, les@personhood.org
The national board of directors of the Personhood Alliance announced today its . This announcement comes at a critical time, as vaccine development and other treatments for COVID-19 race forward and as new laws make it more difficult to claim moral and religious exemptions for vaccines that are produced or tested using the remains of aborted human beings.
“The production and testing of vaccines using the remains of human beings who were intentionally killed is wholly unethical and must be consistently opposed,” says Sarah Quale, president of Personhood Alliance Education and chair of the vaccine ethics committee that created the organization’s official position. The committee consisted of representatives from eight different state affiliate organizations, both Catholic and evangelical, who worked for 2 months to recommend a position to the Personhood Alliance’s national board of directors. The board of directors unanimously approved the committee’s recommendation, which was also physician-reviewed.
“The Personhood Alliance affirms the inalienable right to life of pre-born human beings and thus, their right not to be trafficked, commodified, and experimented on,” says Quale. “Many vaccines are still produced and tested using the remains of aborted human beings, and new aborted fetal cell lines are currently in development to replace the lines used in the past.  were produced and/or tested unethically, including 6 out of 8 of those chosen for Operation Warp Speed—President Trump’s program to fast-track a COVID-19 vaccine. Unfortunately, even the COVID-19 antibody treatment the President received was tested using humanized mice, which were created with the kidney cells of an aborted child.”
“We need to be consistent in our opposition to these therapies,” says Quale, “And we need to stand up and demand that ethical alternatives be produced, tested, and brought to market by pharmaceutical companies and public officials.”
Les Riley, interim president of the Personhood Alliance, adds: “Even though some pharmaceutical companies are beginning to seek out ethical alternatives, we have a lot of work to do to in raising the red flag and helping people understand the importance of publicly opposing unethically derived and unethically tested therapies.”
“The pro-life movement should be in unity here,” says Riley, “Yet there are conflicting reports and varying opinions as to whether our principles should apply during a pandemic and with a leader who is regarded nationally as a champion for life. Beyond that, we need to also be vigilant in our own states, when bills are put forward that limit moral and religious exemptions, threaten our right to refuse unethical medical treatments, and violate our bodily integrity and parental rights.”
The Personhood Alliance’s official position on vaccine ethics can be found on its website .
The Personhood Alliance is a confederation of 26 independent pro-life organizations who pursue  as the essential strategy for restoring legal protections to every human being—from biological beginning to natural death, without exception—and who endeavor to uphold the Biblical worldview in 21st-century politics and culture by honoring God’s design for life, marriage, family, sexuality, and gender.
# Personhood Alliance responds to dismissals of COVID vaccine-abortion link
#### December 16, 2020
In recent days, several Christian publications and conservative media outlets, including  and its contributing editor , have dismissed the connection between abortion and the COVID-19 vaccines being fast-tracked by Operation Warp Speed. Some have even gone so far as to say that Christians who reject unethical vaccines  and are acting to “unnecessarily jeopardize their health.” Others claim that choosing not to receive the vaccine is .
The Personhood Alliance reiterates —that any vaccine designed, produced, and/or tested with an aborted fetal cell line is unethical and therefore, should be opposed. The organization asks that pro-life Christians seriously consider this position as they choose whether or not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Sarah Quale, president of Personhood Alliance Education, notes: “By promoting so-called ‘scientific benefits’ gained from children who were intentionally killed, regardless of when their deaths occurred, we continue to align ourselves with the evil of abortion. This includes harvesting aborted fetal cell lines in the past and in the present, which we know is currently happening for future vaccine production. By ignoring this, we help perpetuate and further legitimize the connection between abortion, biomedical science, and human trafficking.”
The Personhood Alliance warns that any effort to commodify aborted human beings in the design, production, and testing of vaccines will continue indefinitely unless and until Christians demand biomedical science be separated from the killing and trafficking of innocent human beings. “There remains an ethical dilemma here,” says Quale, “whether we want to ignore it for the sake of COVID-19 or not. Currently, there *are* ethical alternatives available for producing *and* testing COVID-19 vaccines. Why wouldn’t we use the time we have right now to demand a fully ethical vaccine be brought to market instead?”
Les Riley, interim president of the Personhood Alliance, adds: “Personhood formed a committee that spent months wrestling with these ethical issues—Doctors, bioethicists, researchers, pastors, and apologists. Based on direct evidence, they reported that , including the Pfizer vaccine. The two remaining ones will likely also be tested unethically.”
“This fact is not disputed by others who are arguing in support of these vaccines,” says Riley. “We are all citing the same research and using the same data. However, they are coming to a completely different moral conclusion, based on a Utilitarian ethic. What we are sure of is this: Producing and testing vaccines using the broken little bodies of aborted children should never be considered a ‘scientific benefit.’ We are continuing to dehumanize these babies, and it is repugnant.”
“This is why the pro-life movement as a whole is having such a difficult time ending abortion,” urges Riley. “Because we compromise. Because we allow exceptions; whether that be in abortion law or in trafficking the body parts of abortion’s victims. We pull the rug out from under our own feet, undermine our own principles, and dismiss the value God places on each and every life He creates. Talk about harming our own ability to effectively witness and share the Gospel!”
President of Personhood Alliance affiliate , Dr. Matthew Clark—who is also a pastor and holds a Masters in Public Health from Harvard, with a specific focus on pediatrics, allergy, and immunology—lends his expertise: “Let’s not allow sophistry to cloud the obvious issue. Baby-murder was the source of cells used to test most of the currently available COVID vaccines. Every Biblically-minded Christian should reflect deeply on this fact. To ignore or minimize this fact is to be pro-death, not pro-life.”
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The Personhood Alliance is a confederation of 28 independent pro-life organizations who pursue  as the essential strategy for restoring legal protections to every human being—from biological beginning to natural death, without exception—and who endeavor to uphold the Biblical worldview in 21st-century politics and culture by honoring God’s design for life, marriage, family, sexuality, and gender.
# President of Personhood Tennessee speaks out after FBI raid
#### Oct 11, 2022
**Contact:** Les Riley – president, Personhood Alliance, les@personhood.org
Paul Vaughn, president of Personhood Tennessee, an affiliate of the Personhood Alliance, was  who showed up unannounced at 7:00 a.m. banging on his front door, threatening his wife and children. His alleged crime—singing hymns, reading scripture, and praying with other peaceful pro-life Christians at an abortion clinic.
Although the local police did not arrest him or find him guilty of any offense, Paul was indicted by the FBI with charges that carry up to 11 years in federal prison.
Last night, Paul spoke out on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight show about the ordeal, as well as what he and his family now face. The twenty minute segment is worth watching in its entirety, and serves as a warning to all Americans who cherish their constitutional right to peacefully advocate for the right to life and the personhood of all humans, born and pre-born.
Watch the full interview .
Paul Vaughn has pleaded Not Guilty to all charges against him and will be defended by the Thomas More Society, which is also defending Pennsylvania pro-life activist Mark Houck, who was similarly arrested by the FBI in front of his family.
If you would like to contribute to Paul’s legal defense, to his family fund, and to his pro-life ministry in Tennessee, please visit Paul’s  campaign.
To learn more about Personhood Tennessee click .
To join Paul Vaughn and the more than 20 state affiliates of the Personhood Alliance click .
~~~The Personhood Alliance is a confederation of independent pro-life organizations who pursue  as the essential strategy for restoring legal protections to every human being—from biological beginning to natural death, without exception—and who endeavor to uphold the Biblical worldview in 21st-century politics and culture by honoring God’s design for life, marriage, family, sexuality, and gender.
# President of Personhood Tennessee arrested by FBI
#### Oct 6, 2022
The president of Personhood Tennessee, an affiliate of the Personhood Alliance, was arrested by the FBI yesterday while at home with his family in an early morning raid. At around 7 am, four FBI agents approached Paul Vaughn’s home with guns drawn, and began banging on the door so hard it made the old farmhouse shake.
Paul, a father of 11, had been present at a peaceful pro-life “rescue” that took place over a year ago in March of 2021 in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. He is now being charged with violating the  Act.
Paul was never arrested by the local police at the time of the incident. Instead of sitting-in, he had been recording the protest and working to mediate between the pro-life rescuers and the police to ensure everyone’s safety. No one was hurt and no property was damaged as a result of the pro-life “rescue.”
A rescue is a peaceful form of protest that involves non-violent pro-life protesters engaging in America’s long standing tradition of opposing injustice with peaceful civil disobedience. The event of March 2021 involved several pro-life activists sitting in a hallway outside of an abortion clinic in Tennessee singing Christian hymns, reading scripture and praying. For this, the FBI is charging the protesters with violations of the FACE Act, which carry sentences of more than 10 years in prison. Paul is also being charged with conspiracy to violate the FACE Act.
Paul’s arrest, with guns drawn and in front of his children, coincided with President Biden’s press conference marking 100 days since the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson case. At that press conference, President Biden announced new guidances from the Department of Education to try to force universities in places like Texas and Tennessee to violate state laws that now protect the right to life of the pre-born. President Biden also announced seven figure tax payer grants to pro-abortion organizations. One of the largest recipients of these grants was Planned Parenthood’s research arm, The Guttmacher Institute.
Yesterday’s arrest of Paul Vaughn appears to be timed to coincide with the President’s press conference as he met with the “Reproductive Rights Taskforce.” Les Riley, president of the Personhood Alliance stated, “What Paul’s arrest shows is that President Biden, the Justice Department and the FBI will use the government to fund their political and ideological allies—like Planned Parenthood, while using law enforcement to persecute and harass their political opponents—like non-violent pro-life activists.”
Gualberto Garcia Jones, general counsel for the Personhood Alliance, commented “The Personhood Alliance stands with Paul Vaughn and the non-violent protesters who are being persecuted by the government simply because of their opinions and in violation of the United States Constitution. After the Dobbs decision and the overturning of the so-called right to abortion, it is time for the US Supreme Court to strike down the FACE Act as an example of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination that infringes on the right of pro-life Americans to engage in peaceful protests.”
The FBI has yet to make a single arrest after dozens of pro-life pregnancy resource centers have been attacked, vandalized and even burned down.
Paul’s arrest comes just a week after the FBI in Pennsylvania arrested another pro-lifer, Mark Houck in an early morning raid intended to terrorize pro-lifers and their families.
Please prayerfully considering donating to our  campaign to help Paul and his family with legal fees.
 the Personhood Alliance
 Personhood Tennessee
~~~The Personhood Alliance is a confederation of independent pro-life organizations who pursue  as the essential strategy for restoring legal protections to every human being—from biological beginning to natural death, without exception—and who endeavor to uphold the Biblical worldview in 21st-century politics and culture by honoring God’s design for life, marriage, family, sexuality, and gender. Visit our  to find your state affiliate or to apply to become one.