White House Says Obama Did Not Ask Sonia Sotomayor About Abortion Stance
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A White House official has told reporters that pro-abortion President Barack Obama did not ask Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about abortion during her pre-nomination interview. Although Sotomayor reportedly spent several hours interviewing with the president, abortion did not come up. “The president doesn't have a litmus test and that question was not one that he posed to her,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters, according to a CNS News report. Despite Gibbs' comments, pro-life advocates viewed Obama as having a clear litmus test on Supreme Court appointments. During a November, 2007 debate with Democratic primary candidates, Obama confirmed he would only back pro-abortion Supreme Court picks. "I would not appoint somebody who doesn't believe in the right to privacy," he said. Also, an unnamed White House official has confirmed to CNN that Obama's appointment of Sotomayor was done with the idea of influencing pro-abortion Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy is now considered the lynchpin on the high court vis-a-vis abortion and has voted to both uphold Roe but also to allow legislative limits, such as his opinion upholding the national ban on partial-birth abortions. "[Obama] was very struck, when he met with her, about how thoughtful she was as a judge," the White House source said. "He believed she had a precise approach to cases that would be effective in winning over Kennedy when possible." Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A White House official has told reporters that pro-abortion President Barack Obama did not ask Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about abortion during her pre-nomination interview. Although Sotomayor reportedly spent several hours interviewing with the president, abortion did not come up. “The president doesn't have a litmus test and that question was not one that he posed to her,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters, according to a CNS News report. Despite Gibbs' comments, pro-life advocates viewed Obama as having a clear litmus test on Supreme Court appointments. During a November, 2007 debate with Democratic primary candidates, Obama confirmed he would only back pro-abortion Supreme Court picks. "I would not appoint somebody who doesn't believe in the right to privacy," he said. Also, an unnamed White House official has confirmed to CNN that Obama's appointment of Sotomayor was done with the idea of influencing pro-abortion Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy is now considered the lynchpin on the high court vis-a-vis abortion and has voted to both uphold Roe but also to allow legislative limits, such as his opinion upholding the national ban on partial-birth abortions. "[Obama] was very struck, when he met with her, about how thoughtful she was as a judge," the White House source said. "He believed she had a precise approach to cases that would be effective in winning over Kennedy when possible." Full story at LifeNews.com Sotomayor Voted to OK Asylum for Spouses of Women in China Forced Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As advocates on both sides of the abortion debate look for any indication of how appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor will decide cases on abortion if she is elevated to the Supreme Court, another abortion case on which she issued a decision is coming into play. Sotomayor is known to have written a decision upholding the Mexico City Policy, the provision preventing taxpayer funding of groups that promote and perform abortions overseas and which President Barack Obama overturned. She also ruled in a case concerning pro-life protesters and overturned a lower court decision that went against them. Now, a third abortion case has surfaced from July 2007 in which Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion differing from the majority of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a political asylum case. "The majority clings to the notion that the persecution suffered is physically visited upon only one spouse, but this simply ignores the question of whom exactly the government was seeking to persecute when it acted," Judge Sonia Sotomayor wrote. "The termination of a wanted pregnancy under a coercive population control program can only be devastating to any couple, akin, no doubt, to the killing of a child," she wrote. "The harm is clearly directed at the couple who dared to continue an unauthorized pregnancy in hopes of enlarging the family unit." Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As advocates on both sides of the abortion debate look for any indication of how appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor will decide cases on abortion if she is elevated to the Supreme Court, another abortion case on which she issued a decision is coming into play. Sotomayor is known to have written a decision upholding the Mexico City Policy, the provision preventing taxpayer funding of groups that promote and perform abortions overseas and which President Barack Obama overturned. She also ruled in a case concerning pro-life protesters and overturned a lower court decision that went against them. Now, a third abortion case has surfaced from July 2007 in which Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion differing from the majority of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a political asylum case. "The majority clings to the notion that the persecution suffered is physically visited upon only one spouse, but this simply ignores the question of whom exactly the government was seeking to persecute when it acted," Judge Sonia Sotomayor wrote. "The termination of a wanted pregnancy under a coercive population control program can only be devastating to any couple, akin, no doubt, to the killing of a child," she wrote. "The harm is clearly directed at the couple who dared to continue an unauthorized pregnancy in hopes of enlarging the family unit." Full story at LifeNews.comPresident Obama Names Vatican Ambassador Who Backed Pro-Abortion Pols
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama has nominated an ambassador to the Vatican, but the potential diplomat has supported pro-abortion politicians, including Obama himself. Obama has nominated Catholic college professor Miguel Diaz, who reportedly is pro-life but has compromised his views by backing Obama and others. Diaz is a theology professor at St. John's University and the College of Saint Benedict in Collegeville, Minnesota. The nomination will likely cause heartburn for pro-life advocates because Diaz served as a member of Obama's Catholic advisory board during his presidential campaign. That someone like Diaz can claim to follow the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church and assist an abortion advocate in becoming president won't go unnoticed as the Senate confirmation process takes place. Obama isn't alone in earning Diaz's support, as he also endorsed pro-abortion Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius and her nomination to become Obama's health secretary. Meanwhile, Diaz is a member of the speakers bureau for the fake pro-life Catholic organization Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a pro-Obama front group that was repeatedly criticized during the presidential election for deceiving voters on Obama's pro-abortion position. Full story at LifeNews.comPoll Shows Initial Support for Sonia Sotomayor, First Republican Will Vote No
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Gallup has released the first poll concerning the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, who has a relatively unknown abortion position, to replace retiring pro-abortion Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. President Barack Obama, who is pro-abortion, nominated the appeals court judge earlier this week. Asked to rate Obama's choice, Americans gave him generally supportive ratings with about 47% rating the nomination as "excellent" or "good," 20% rating it "only fair," and 13% rating it "poor." Another 20 percent of Americans had no opinion yet on the Sotomayor nomination. The results are based on a one-night poll conducted Tuesday, the same day Obama officially announced Sotomayor as his choice to replace the retiring Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. In other news, pro-life Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is the first Senate Republican to indicate he will oppose Sotomayor's nomination. KCMO radio talk show host Chris Stigall, in an interview with Roberts, noted how Republicans appear to be scared to oppose Sotomayor. "Well, I'm a Marine and nothing much scares me, I do not plan to vote for her," he said, according to a Politico report. Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Gallup has released the first poll concerning the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, who has a relatively unknown abortion position, to replace retiring pro-abortion Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. President Barack Obama, who is pro-abortion, nominated the appeals court judge earlier this week. Asked to rate Obama's choice, Americans gave him generally supportive ratings with about 47% rating the nomination as "excellent" or "good," 20% rating it "only fair," and 13% rating it "poor." Another 20 percent of Americans had no opinion yet on the Sotomayor nomination. The results are based on a one-night poll conducted Tuesday, the same day Obama officially announced Sotomayor as his choice to replace the retiring Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. In other news, pro-life Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is the first Senate Republican to indicate he will oppose Sotomayor's nomination. KCMO radio talk show host Chris Stigall, in an interview with Roberts, noted how Republicans appear to be scared to oppose Sotomayor. "Well, I'm a Marine and nothing much scares me, I do not plan to vote for her," he said, according to a Politico report. Full story at LifeNews.comPro-Abortion Religious Activist Blasts Obama's Abortion "Common Ground" Call
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Not everyone on the pro-abortion side of the debate is supportive of President Barack Obama's supposed call for common ground on the issue of abortion. Reverend Carlton Veazey, the head of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, called the call "troubling." Even though Obama has crafted a staunchly pro-abortion record as president, for abortion advocates like Veazey, there can never been common ground on abortion because it should be an unfettered right. "My experience of 13 years in the pro-choice movement is that 'common ground' has become another term for compromise on reproductive choice," he wrote in an editorial at a pro-abortion blog. "In other words, achieving common ground will be accomplished by diminishing the ability of women to make decisions about abortion, whatever the personal cost. That's unacceptable." "It's unacceptable for even one woman to suffer in order for opponents of abortion to be appeased," he claimed. Veazey wrote that "calming controversy and tempering anger over an issue that has become political" was not worth backing down from the position that abortion should be legal throughout pregnancy for any reason. Full story at LifeNews.comVatican Newspaper Gives Obama 2012 Campaign Msg With Pro-Life Compromise
by Deal Hudson
The 2012 Obama campaign message to Catholics has already been written. Here it is, conveniently laid out by the official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, and its editor, Giovanni Maria Vian: "[President Obama] is not a pro-abortion president." -- Giovanni Maria Vian, in an interview with a Vatican analyst from the Italian daily Il Riformista / "The president invited Americans of every faith and ideological conviction to 'work in common effort' to reduce the number of abortions." -- L'Osservatore Romano, on President Obama's May 13, 2009, speech at the University of Notre Dame
For President Obama's Catholic outreach effort, this is a dream come true. Obama's Catholic advisers have received a virtual Vatican imprimatur on his abortion reduction message to Catholics. The Obama campaign, the Democratic National Committee, Catholics United, and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good will trumpet this message loudly and in unison. Full story at LifeNews.com
Medical Professionals Deserve Conscience Rights on Abortion, Bioethics Practices
by Wesley J. Smith
We live in a culturally diverse society in which people vary greatly in their moral beliefs about the importance of human life. These profound differences are most bitterly expressed in the medical context, particularly with regard to issues such as abortion, physician-assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell research, and other life and death policies and procedures. Some of these practices - specifically abortion and assisted suicide - contravene explicit provisions of the Hippocratic Oath (at least as it has been understood traditionally). Yet today, physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals whose moral beliefs prevent them from participating in these legal but ethically controversial acts, find themselves under increasing pressure to either violate their consciences or be driven out of their careers. Until recently, dissenting medical professionals have been protected by so-called "conscience clauses" that permit them to opt out of performing abortions or participating in assisted suicide (where it is legal) without professional consequence. But in recent years, legislative proposals have been filed that would require all professionals participate in such life-terminating procedures if asked by a patient, or be complicit in them by referring the requesting patient to another doctor who will do the deed. Full story at LifeNews.com Al Pacino May Star in Movie Glorifying Assisted Suicide Advocate Jack Kevorkian
Hollywood, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Actor Al Pacino is reportedly in current negotiations to star in a new HBO Films movie glorifying the life of assisted suicide crusader Jack Kevorkian. The retired pathologist became the scourge of the nation when he embarked on a campaign claiming to kill more than 125 people in assisted suicides. Kevorkian took advantage of the state of Michigan not having a direct assisted suicide ban and never served a day in jail until he went further by killing a patient. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film will "trace his rise as he builds his infamous 'Mercy Machine,' conducts his first assisted suicide, and starts a media frenzy with his epic legal battles." Adam Mazer is the author of the script, which is loosely based on "Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Assisted Suicide Machine and the Battle to Legalize Euthanasia" by Neal Nicol, an acolyte of Kevorkian's. Full story at LifeNews.com
Hollywood, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Actor Al Pacino is reportedly in current negotiations to star in a new HBO Films movie glorifying the life of assisted suicide crusader Jack Kevorkian. The retired pathologist became the scourge of the nation when he embarked on a campaign claiming to kill more than 125 people in assisted suicides. Kevorkian took advantage of the state of Michigan not having a direct assisted suicide ban and never served a day in jail until he went further by killing a patient. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film will "trace his rise as he builds his infamous 'Mercy Machine,' conducts his first assisted suicide, and starts a media frenzy with his epic legal battles." Adam Mazer is the author of the script, which is loosely based on "Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Assisted Suicide Machine and the Battle to Legalize Euthanasia" by Neal Nicol, an acolyte of Kevorkian's. Full story at LifeNews.comCatholic Pro-Life Group: Pro-Abortion Commencement Scandals Up in 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life organization that serves as a watchdog for Catholic colleges and universities says the number of commencement scandals involving pro-abortion graduation speakers and honorees rose in 2009. The Cardinal Newman Society says 11 Catholic colleges joined the University of Notre Dame in violating the guidelines of the nation's Catholic bishops. The pro-life group says the figures mark a "troubling reversal" of the recent decrease of Catholic commencement scandals form the seven that took place in 2008, which itself was down from 24 in 2006. "It is a very sad development, to see so many Catholic colleges and universities joining Notre Dame in their disrespect for Catholic morality and for the U.S. bishops," CNS president Patrick Reilly told LifeNews.com. "The bishops" policy against such honors and platforms is crystal clear and is only the bare minimum expected of Catholic institutions," he said. The 2009 commencement scandals occurred despite the unprecedented public opposition of 83 U.S. bishops to the University of Notre Dame's honor for pro-abortion President Barack Obama at commencement. None publicly supported Notre Dame's action. Full story at LifeNews.com International Activists Push Abortion at UN With So-Called Maternal Health Rights
New York, NY (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- Abortion rights advocates at the United Nations (UN) are pursuing a new approach, one that avoids mention of abortion, promotes a right to maternal health, and seeks to enforce "reproductive rights"norms among UN member States. The reason for the shift seems to be an increased confidence among activists and UN officials that they have secured or are close to securing a new international right to abortion. According to statements by Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others, their confidence has been boosted by winning legal cases, most notably in Colombia where the 2006 constitutional court’s decision to liberalize abortion was based upon the activist's interpretation of UN treaties. By creating a new "right" to maternal health over the next several years, advocates can consolidate gains while avoiding scrutiny by opponents. Then, once they are confident the new right is established, they can assert the claim that abortion is part of the new international obligation. Full story at LifeNews.comUniversity of Wisconsin Staff May Have to Participate in Late-Term Abortion Care
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- University of Wisconsin health officials have responded to a series of ads Wisconsin Right to Life is running about how UW will be doing late-term abortions at the Madison Surgery Center. In an email to employees, UW officials say they may be forced to participate in the abortions or follow-up care. The Wisconsin Right to Life ads have been exposing information contained in internal emails between various UW officials regarding the late-term abortion plan at the Madison Surgery Center. The emails were obtained through an open records request. Now, Wisconsin Right to Life has obtained an email sent yesterday by Pete Christman, UWMF Executive Director to various UW officials regarding Wisconsin Right to Life's most recent ads appearing in the Wisconsin State Journal. "Christman's email yesterday to his squeamish colleagues attempts to quell their discomfort but instead, he has reinforced the facts that we have been bringing to the publics attention," Wisconsin Right to Life legislative director Susan Armacost told LifeNews.com. Full story at LifeNews.com
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- University of Wisconsin health officials have responded to a series of ads Wisconsin Right to Life is running about how UW will be doing late-term abortions at the Madison Surgery Center. In an email to employees, UW officials say they may be forced to participate in the abortions or follow-up care. The Wisconsin Right to Life ads have been exposing information contained in internal emails between various UW officials regarding the late-term abortion plan at the Madison Surgery Center. The emails were obtained through an open records request. Now, Wisconsin Right to Life has obtained an email sent yesterday by Pete Christman, UWMF Executive Director to various UW officials regarding Wisconsin Right to Life's most recent ads appearing in the Wisconsin State Journal. "Christman's email yesterday to his squeamish colleagues attempts to quell their discomfort but instead, he has reinforced the facts that we have been bringing to the publics attention," Wisconsin Right to Life legislative director Susan Armacost told LifeNews.com. Full story at LifeNews.com UN Committee Claims Nicaragua's Pro-Life Laws on Abortion Violate Torture Treaty
New York, NY (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- The United Nations (UN) committee charged with monitoring compliance with the Convention Against Torture has declared that Nicaragua's full protection of fetal life violates the country's obligations under the Convention. This is the first time this committee has reviewed Nicaragua since that government outlawed abortion for any reason three years ago. The torture committee is the fourth UN committee to pressure Nicaragua with respect to its laws protecting unborn life, joining the committees charged with monitoring the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Critics are increasingly concerned with what they view as the politicization of the treaty monitoring system by committees charged with oversight. Neither the Convention Against Torture nor any other UN treaty mentions abortion, and it was not contemplated when such treaties were negotiated and ratified that countries were committing themselves to altering domestic legislation on abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
