FROM LIFENEWS.COM: TODAY'S PRO-LIFE HEADLINES (Wednesday)

President Obama Claims He Doesn't Want Abortion Funding in Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a Tuesday night interview, President Barack Obama claimed he does not want abortion funding in the final health care bill Congress may send him. The issues of taxpayer-funding of abortions and mandates on abortion coverage are unifying pro-life groups in a massive effort to amend or halt the legislation. In recent days, top Obama administration officials have taking divergent positions on abortion mandates and funding. Obama's top budget chief said he would not rule out abortion funding, but his press secretary said abortion funding would be left up to a panel of unnamed "medical experts" to decide. Attempting to put the issue to bed, Obama told CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric that he would "rather not wade into" the issue of abortion funding in health care and that he is "not trying to micro-manage what benefits are covered." "I'm pro-choice, but I think we also have the tradition in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government-funded health care," he said. "My main focus is making sure that people have options of high quality care at the lowest possible price." Obama's claims to the contrary are not likely to halt pro-life efforts to make sure any government-run health care bill has specific abortion exclusions that prevent taxpayer funding and insurance coverage mandates. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact members of the House and Senate and urge strong support for any amendment to exclude abortion from their health care bills. Call 202-224-3121 or go tohttp://www.House.gov and http://www.Senate.gov for specific contact information.

Lawmaker: 40 Democrats Oppose Health Care Bill Without Abortion Ban
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The leading pro-life Democrat in the House of Representatives says a total of 40 Democratic lawmakers would vote to oppose a health care bill on the House floor unless it explicitly included language banning taxpayer-funded abortion and insurance mandates on abortion. Rep. Bart Stupak, a Michigan congressman, has been one of the leaders in making the government-run health bill the House is considering abortion free. This afternoon, Stupak said he is "optimistic" that the House Energy and Commerce Committee will adopt pro-life amendments to the health care bill that would make it abortion free. The panel could vote as soon as Thursday on the amendments. Should the committee reject the amendments, Stupak tells CBS News that he thinks three dozen Democrats will walk and repeatedly vote against the bill or rules for debate on it. "I think if they do not have [the pro-life amendments] in there and President Obama says we are going to have a bill with nothing in there on abortion, I think it is going to backfire," he said. "I think we bring down the rule and it will be explicitly discussed in the health care plan one way or another." Stupak said he is confident he will have "a minimum of thirty nine" Democrats who will join him in opposing the bill. Full story at LifeNews.com

Medical professionals are on the frontlines of the battle on life issues. From abortion to assisted suicide, we are challenged in the workplace to defend our beliefs and risk our employment. The National Association of Pro-life Nurses has been here for nurses since the beginning. Join with us to protect those voices.

Planned Parenthood Denies Health Care Bills Would Include Abortion Mandate
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Officials with the nations largest abortion business are taking a duplicitous stance on abortion and health care in what is shaping up as a monumental debate in Congress. In private emails to activists, Planned Parenthood is demanding that abortion be included in any health care restructuring bill. Yet, in a new interview, a top Planned Parenthood staffer denied that abortion would be included. Laurie Rubiner, vice president for public policy and advocacy at Planned Parenthood talked with the political news web site Politco about the bills Congress is considering. “Abortion is not mandated any more than any other service or procedure in health reform. It would be left to the insurance companies to decide whether or not they want to offer it, which is the same as under current law,” she claims. That is a completely different message than Planned Parenthood is telling its members and supporters in emergency emails saying they must respond to "outrageous attacks on health care reform by anti-choice groups." Richards contradicts Rubiner by saying that abortion must be a mandate in the health care restructuring bill. She urged her supporters to tell members of Congress that abortion "must be covered in any health care reform legislation." Full story at LifeNews.com




More Democrats Tell Nancy Pelosi They Don't Want Abortion in Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A second group of Democrats have sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying they don't want any abortion funding or mandates in the health care bill the House is considering. Pelosi received a first letter signed by 20 pro-life Democrats several weeks ago. The new letter comes from Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, a formerly pro-life lawmaker who is now working with abortion advocates on a fake pro-life billthat gives money to Planned Parenthood. Three other Democratic lawmakers who sometimes vote pro-life also signed their names to the letter, including Dale Kildee of Michigan, Jim Langevin of Rhode Island and Artur Davis of Alabama. "As health care reform legislation moves quickly through the three House committees and is considered by the full chamber over the next several weeks, we are increasingly concerned about potential roadblocks around the issue of abortion," the lawmakers tell Pelosi. They say they "want to make sure that disagreements over this often-contentious issue don't threaten the success of the final health care reform package." Full story at LifeNews.com

More Republican Senators Announce Opposition to, Support for Sonia Sotomayor
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- More Republican senators have announced their opposition to or support for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. She is the appeals court judge whom pro-life advocates are concerned will promote abortion in the same manner as pro-abortion Justice Davis Souter, whom she would replace. Souter is retiring and Sotomayor is President Barack Obama's first nominee for the high court, which currently has at least a 5-4 pro-abortion majority. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a pro-life Republican from South Carolina is the latest to say he will vote for her confirmation. He said he would back Sotomayor because "elections matter," and he believes a president is entitled to have their judicial nominees confirmed. With Graham on board, five Republicans will join all, or almost all, Democrats in backing Sotomayor. That makes it so her confirmation is almost a virtual certainty. As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to vote next Tuesday on her bid, pro-life Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the number two Republican on the panel, became the first GOP lawmaker on the committee to say he would oppose her. "I remain unconvinced that Judge Sotomayor believes judges should set aside biases, including those based on race and gender, and render the law impartially and neutrally," Kyl said. Full story at LifeNews.com




Associated Press Falsely Claims 90 Percent of Insurance Plans Cover Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Associated Press is getting dogged from pro-life advocates who say the news service recently misreported that 90 percent of private insurance plans pay for abortions. However, the figure is likely the other way around and AP may have relied on a faulty pro-abortion study for its figures. In a Tuesday news story titled, "Abortion is latest controversy in health overhaul," AP asserted that "nearly 90 percent of employer-based private insurance plans routinely cover abortion." Writing at the Weekly Standard, John McCormack says the statistic is simply "not true." He points to April testimony from Obama HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who told members of the Senate that "Most private plans do not cover abortion services except in limited instances." He also notes that AP could have looked to coverage from Congressional Quarterly, which reported as recently as July 15 that, "Most people with employer-sponsored insurance also must pay for abortions out of their own pocket." CQ cited Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, the insurance industry’s trade association, who said, "Most insurers offer plans that include this coverage, but most employers choose not to offer it as part of their benefits package." Full story at LifeNews.com

Pro-Life Group: So-Called Common Ground Bill in Congress Will Increase Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Though a formerly pro-life Democrat says his common ground bill will lead to a reduction in abortions, a top pro-life group says the so-called common ground measure will increase them. Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio is behind the disputed measure that will result in more Planned Parenthood funding. Ryan claims the bill, which has the backing of leading pro-abortion organizations like NARAL, is a common ground measure that will reduce abortions. But the main component of the legislation is a dramatic increase in the amount of taxpayer dollars that flow from the federal government through the Title X family planning program to the nation's biggest abortion business. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said Ryan's measure to "reduce the need for abortion" would merely "increase the amount of money given by the taxpayers to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood." "You don't reduce something by subsidizing it," Perkins told LifeNews.com. "The Ryan bill reminds me of an old saying from the Vietnam era: 'We will pacify the village by destroying it.' You can't say you'll 'reduce the need' for abortion by underwriting its costs," he explained. "When someone offers to pay your way with no strings attached, you'll take the trip. The same principle applies here." Full story at LifeNews.com

Nation's Catholic Bishops, Vatican Official: Don't Fund Abortions in Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The nation's Catholic bishops and a top pro-life official at the Vatican have the same message for President Barack Obama and Congress. They support efforts for better health care but don't want to see legislation approved that allows abortion funding and mandates. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently sent a letter to members of Congress with the message. Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York wrote the July 17 letter, which was released to the public today, urging Congress to "bring genuine life-affirming reform to the nation's health care system." The letter called for a "truly universal health policy with respect for human life and dignity." "We have in the past and we always must insist that health care reform excludes abortion coverage or any other provisions that threaten the sanctity of life," Bishop Murphy wrote on behalf of his colleagues. "No health care reform plan should compel us or others to pay for the destruction of human life, whether through government funding or mandatory coverage of abortion," the letter continued. "Any such action would be morally wrong." Full story at LifeNews.com

Abortion and Racism "Evil Twins," Martin Luther King Jr's. Niece Says
by Alveda C. King
Let me begin by telling you that two of 50 million children taken away by abortionists since 1973 were mine. I can still see them in my mind's eye. Like many black women, I once believed the doctor who told me my babies were no more than "a blob of tissue." I wanted to believe it. Eventually, I realized I was wrong, that I was a secondary victim of abortion. I repented and found healing through God. Today, I work in the civil rights movement of our century -- the right of every one of every race to live. I am asking you to join me. Let me tell you why. Abortion and racism are evil twins, born of the same lie. Where racism now hides its face in public, abortion is accomplishing the goals of which racism only once dreamed. Together, abortionists are destroying humanity at large and the black community in particular. Abortion has taken a gruesome toll on the black community, killing more than AIDS and crime combined. Some 14 million black babies have been aborted since the 1973 US Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in all stages in all 50 states. That's equal to one-third of the number of blacks living today. Full story at LifeNews.com




New York Hospital Sued for Trying to Force Nurse to Help With Late-Term Abortion
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- A New York City hospital is the subject of a lawsuit after allegations that it attempted to force a nurse to participate in a late-term abortion. Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit yesterday against Mount Sinai Hospital on behalf of a Catholic nurse who says she told the hospital about her objections. Since 2004, officials at Mount Sinai Hospital knew that Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo had deeply-felt pro-life views and would not consent to assisting in an abortion. That didn't stop hospital officials from threatening her with disciplinary measures if she did not honor a last-minute summons to assist in a scheduled late-term abortion. Despite the fact that the patient was not in crisis at the time of the surgery, the hospital insisted on her participation in the procedure on the grounds that it was an “emergency." Federal laws prohibit hospitals that receive federal funds from forcing employees to participate in abortion procedures under any circumstances but that apparently didn't stop Mount Sinai Hospital from asking Cenzon-DeCarlo to join in the abortion of the 22-week-old unborn child. Full story at LifeNews.com

Maryland Agencies Asked to Allow Abortion Protest After Pro-Lifers Strip-Searched
Bel Air, MD (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life legal group has written to a handful of state and local agencies in Maryland asking that the First Amendment rights of pro-life protesters be respected. The letter comes after pro-life women were shackled and strip searched after peacefully protesting abortion in the city of Bel Air. The incident involves a group of pro-life advocates who, in August 2008, were arrested without warning by Hartford County State Police during their multi-city protest featuring abortion signs. At least a dozen police officers arrived in more than seven marked vehicles and then arrested, jailed, shackled, and strip searched them. As LifeNews.com reported last month, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett refused to grant motions by the defendants -- Harford County, the town of Bel Air, and seven police officials -- to dismiss the lawsuit pro-life legal groups filed. Now, the pro-life advocates are heading back to Bel Air to protest again and they want assurances their rights will be protected. Full story at LifeNews.com

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