LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
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• FactCheck Web Site: Obama Wrong, Abortion Funding in Health Care
• Time Magazine: Health Care Bills Include Taxpayer-Funded Abortions
• Obama Says Pro-Life Advocates Lying About Health Care, Abortion
• Senator Wants Hearings on Veterans Guide Promoting Euthanasia
• Poll: Pro-Abortion Senate Leader Harry Reid Trails GOP Challengers
• New Book Profiles Victims of Rationing in Govt-Run Health Care System
• American Psychiatric Assn Denies Abortion's Mental Health Risks
• New Abortion Center in NYC Targets Brits for Sex-Selection Abortions
• South Korea Seeks Prison for Stem Cell Research Fraud Hwang
• Australia Hospitals in Queensland Stop Abortions Amid Legal Debate
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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A nonpartisan web site that routinely serves as a watchdog for public officials, the media and political groups says President Barack Obama has it wrong. FactCheck.org says the current health care plans pending in Congress do authorize abortion funding, contrary to Obama's claims otherwise. "Despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plan," the web site concludes. At issue are concerns from pro-life groups that the government-run health care plans would include abortion funding and coverage. Obama has said they don't and gone as far as accusing pro-life groups of lying about the legislation. The FactCheck web site, run by staff at the University of Pennsylvania, says "it's true that House and Senate legislation would allow a new 'public' insurance plan to cover abortions." The House bill does so "despite" the addition of the Capps amendment that pro-abortion lawmakers say prohibits abortion funding. "Obama has said in the past that 'reproductive services' would be covered by his public plan, so it's likely that any new federal insurance plan would cover abortion unless Congress expressly prohibits that," FactCheck adds. Full story at LifeNews.comACTION: Contact members of the House and Senate and urge strong support for any amendment to exclude abortion and rationing from their health care bills. Ask them to oppose any health care bill that allows abortion funding or rationing. Call 202-224-3121 or go to http://www.House.gov and http://www.Senate.gov for specific contact information.Time Magazine Confirms Health Care Bills Include Taxpayer-Funded Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Time magazine joins theAssociated Press and the nonpartisan FactCheck web site in confirming that the health care bills in Congress allow taxpayer-funded abortions. The weekly publication takes Obama to task saying he "does not tell the whole story" on how the bills fund abortions. "The health-care reform proposed by House Democrats, if enacted, would in fact mark a significant change in the Federal Government's role in the financing of abortions," Time explains. Although the health care bills do not overturn the time-honored protections found in the Hyde amendment and federal laws (though they could be easily overturned by a Democratic-controlled Congress, Time explains how the health care bills set up a new scheme that would not be subjected to those provisions against abortion funding. The main House bill, HR 3200, "does find a way for the Federal Government to expand the coverage of abortion services through a government-run program ' the so-called public option ' without spending what it defines as federal dollars on abortion." Although awkwardly-worded, Time explains that "money collected from members dues" could be used to pay for abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Time magazine joins theAssociated Press and the nonpartisan FactCheck web site in confirming that the health care bills in Congress allow taxpayer-funded abortions. The weekly publication takes Obama to task saying he "does not tell the whole story" on how the bills fund abortions. "The health-care reform proposed by House Democrats, if enacted, would in fact mark a significant change in the Federal Government's role in the financing of abortions," Time explains. Although the health care bills do not overturn the time-honored protections found in the Hyde amendment and federal laws (though they could be easily overturned by a Democratic-controlled Congress, Time explains how the health care bills set up a new scheme that would not be subjected to those provisions against abortion funding. The main House bill, HR 3200, "does find a way for the Federal Government to expand the coverage of abortion services through a government-run program ' the so-called public option ' without spending what it defines as federal dollars on abortion." Although awkwardly-worded, Time explains that "money collected from members dues" could be used to pay for abortions. Full story at LifeNews.comObama Continues Saying Pro-Life Advocates Lying About Health Care, Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama continues saying he thinks pro-life advocates are lying about the abortion funding, coverage, and rationing components of the health care bills Congress is considering. Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address that pro-life advocates are making "phony claims" about the legislation. He said the discussion of the government-run health care plans should be an honest debate, not one dominated by willful misrepresentations and outright distortions, spread by the very folks who would benefit the most by keeping things exactly as they are." Obama said: "Some are also saying that coverage for abortions would be mandated under reform. Also false. When it comes to the current ban on using tax dollars for abortions, nothing will change under reform." Full story at LifeNews.comSenator Wants Hearings on Obama Admin Veterans Guide Promoting Euthanasia
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A senator says he wants Congress to hold hearings on a new Obama administration document that some say promotes euthanasia. The Department of Veterans Affairs have revived a guide called "Your Life, Your Choices" that was first published during the Clinton administration. Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care brought back a 52-page end-of-life planning document that was suspended during virtually all of the Bush administration. It was promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes but, as Jim Towey writes in the Wall St. Journal, "the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues and suspended its use." Under Obama, the VA has now resuscitated the guide, written by Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center and who advocated for physician-assisted suicide in the 1996 case of Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court. A worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be "not worth living."Now, Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter, a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, says the document raises "a lot of questions" and he is calling for immediate hearings on it. Full story at LifeNews.com
Carson City, NV (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll shows that the pro-abortion leader of the Democratic Party in the U.S. Senate is trailing two potential Republican candidates who may challenge him next year. Harry Reid, who has become the number one election focus of a pro-life women's group, is in serious jeopardy for 2010. A new Mason-Dixon Polling & Research poll conducted last week shows Reid trails Republican Danny Tarkanian by double digits. Tarkanian, the former University of Nevada-Las Vegas basketball star and son of the school’s longtime basketball coach, runs ahead of Reid 47 percent to 38 percent, with 13 percent undecided. Another potential Reid challenger, state GOP chair Sue Lowden, also leads Reid with 45 percent to 40 percent, and 15 percent undecided. The poll also found that Reid’s favorable ratings are very low for a candidate seeking re-election as 37 percent view him favorably compared with 50 percent who view the four-term senator unfavorably. Reid had a 34-47 percent disapproval rating in July -- showing he has made no improvement in his standing with the people of Nevada. Full story at LifeNews.comNew Book Profiles Victims of Rationing in Government-Run Health Care Systems
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As members of Congress debate a government-run health care plan that pro-life advocates say could result in rationing, a new book profiles the victims of similar systems in other nations. The book, Lives: 100 Victims of Government Health Care, tells the 100 personal stories of victims. Amy Ridenour, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, and Ryan Balis, a National Center policy analyst, tell agonizing, real-life stories of victims. The people hail from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and elsewhere and they struggled to access government health services and sometimes died stuck on long government waiting lists. "Some 16 years after Washington last attempted to nationalize health care, some politicians in Washington are at it again," co-author Amy Ridenour said in a statement LifeNews.com received. "But if Americans choose to adopt a public health care system, as the stories in this book attest, they will soon regret the decision." Shattered Lives puts a face on frustrated citizens fed up with having surgeries repeatedly canceled, medicines denied, and patients herded like animals onto gigantic government waiting lists. Full story at LifeNews.com
American Psychiatric Association Continues Denying Abortion's Mental Health Risks
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Ignoring both peer-reviewed studies showing such risks and the direct evidence of millions of women who suffer from an abortion they now regret, the American Psychiatric Association continued denying any abortion-adverse mental health risk at its annual convention. The APA came under national condemnation in August for releasing a report claiming abortion causes no mental health issues for women. The report was criticized as ignoring evidence presented by some members. APA members met in San Francisco, California at its recent annual meeting and heard from a past APA president, Nada Stotland. "Abortion does not cause psychiatric damage, but the claim that it does is a prime strategy of the anti-abortion movement, which has convinced many people in the US," Stotland said. "So if it wasn't a psychiatric issue before, it certainly is now, and we psychiatrists have an obligation to know about it." Sotland's comments ignore a study conducted last November featuring numerous controls and a national data set that found a link between abortion and psychiatric disorders. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact the American Psychiatric Association at apa@psych.org or 1-888-35-PSYCH and ask it to acknowledge that abortion hurts women.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Ignoring both peer-reviewed studies showing such risks and the direct evidence of millions of women who suffer from an abortion they now regret, the American Psychiatric Association continued denying any abortion-adverse mental health risk at its annual convention. The APA came under national condemnation in August for releasing a report claiming abortion causes no mental health issues for women. The report was criticized as ignoring evidence presented by some members. APA members met in San Francisco, California at its recent annual meeting and heard from a past APA president, Nada Stotland. "Abortion does not cause psychiatric damage, but the claim that it does is a prime strategy of the anti-abortion movement, which has convinced many people in the US," Stotland said. "So if it wasn't a psychiatric issue before, it certainly is now, and we psychiatrists have an obligation to know about it." Sotland's comments ignore a study conducted last November featuring numerous controls and a national data set that found a link between abortion and psychiatric disorders. Full story at LifeNews.comACTION: Contact the American Psychiatric Association at apa@psych.org or 1-888-35-PSYCH and ask it to acknowledge that abortion hurts women.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new abortion business in Manhattan is appealing to residents of Britain who want a sex-selection abortion. The abortion center uses pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which is banned in England, to determine the sex of the unborn baby and allows couples to have an abortion if they want a child of another gender. The PGD process is normally used to screen for genetic diseases but it can also reveal the sex of a baby during pregnancy. Jeffrey Steinberg opened his New York clinic in January and he tells the London Times that half of the people who go there for a potential sex-selection abortion are from the UK. In an interview he expressed some reservations about his practice but appeared more interested in the financial windfall it presents him. "Britain is far more conservative than it used to be. They were the innovators but now they've got handcuffs on," he told the newspaper. "From a business standpoint, it's the best thing going. From a medical standpoint, it's a travesty." Full story at LifeNews.comSouth Korea Seeks Prison Term for Stem Cell Research Fraud Hwang Woo-suk
Seoul, South Korea (LifeNews.com) -- South Korea officials told a court on Monday that they want disgraced embryonic stem cell research scientist Hwang Woo-suk to face four years for allegedly engaging in fraud. Hwang became an international embarrassment after he admitted to faking supposed advances in the science that involves the destruction of human life. In the studies his team conducted, Hwang claimed to have created the first cloned human embryo and claimed to have created patient-matched embryonic stem cells that would overcome immune system rejection issues. Those would have been big advances since embryonic stem cells have yet to help a single human patient and have encountered numerous problems when used in animals. Hwang and some of his top colleagues were indicted in May 2006 by South Korean prosecutors and charged with fraud, embezzlement and violating bioethics rules. He faces potential jail time as a result of allegations of widespread embezzlement of $2.8 million in public research funds. Full story at LifeNews.comAustralia Hospitals in Queensland Stop Doing Abortions as Legal Debate Continues
Brisbane, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- Hospitals in the Australian state of Queensland are stopping doing abortions as doctors react to resistance from the state government to modify its abortion law. Although Premier Anna Bligh has tried to assure physicians, they are concerned that the state government will not officially legalize abortion. Although abortions are allowed, abortion remains technically illegal and doctors who want to do abortions are concerned they may face prosecution. They want the state to change its old law prohibiting abortions to make sure they don't face jail time should public sentiment change and the government enforce the law someday. The state cabinet has agreed to amend section 282 of the Queensland Criminal Code to allow abortions and the dissemination of the dangerous abortion drug RU 486, which has killed 13 women worldwide and injured tens of thousands more. However, doctors say that isn't enough and public hospitals in Rockhampton and Mackay have reportedly joined Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in suspending abortions. The Australian says Cairns Base Hospital is also reviewing whether or not to stop doing abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Brisbane, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- Hospitals in the Australian state of Queensland are stopping doing abortions as doctors react to resistance from the state government to modify its abortion law. Although Premier Anna Bligh has tried to assure physicians, they are concerned that the state government will not officially legalize abortion. Although abortions are allowed, abortion remains technically illegal and doctors who want to do abortions are concerned they may face prosecution. They want the state to change its old law prohibiting abortions to make sure they don't face jail time should public sentiment change and the government enforce the law someday. The state cabinet has agreed to amend section 282 of the Queensland Criminal Code to allow abortions and the dissemination of the dangerous abortion drug RU 486, which has killed 13 women worldwide and injured tens of thousands more. However, doctors say that isn't enough and public hospitals in Rockhampton and Mackay have reportedly joined Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in suspending abortions. The Australian says Cairns Base Hospital is also reviewing whether or not to stop doing abortions. Full story at LifeNews.comEncourage Friends to Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
