LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, August 27, 2009
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• Ted Kennedy's Passing Highlights Democrats Flip-Flopping on Abortion
• Pro-Life, Pro-Abortion Groups Take Divergent Stand on Kennedy Legacy
• Terri Schiavo's Brother Condemns Pro-Euthanasia Veterans Guide
• Health Care Bills Would Exacerbate Death Panels Already in Texas
• Study: Dangerous Abortion Drug Hasn't Expanded # of Abortion Outlets
• Pro-Life Group: 2010 Elections the Remedy for Abortion, Health Care
• Media Honors Late-Term Abortion Practitioner After George Tiller Death
• California's Carly Fiorina Urged to Take Pro-Life Stance on Abortion
• Illinois Pro-Life Pharmacists Win Injunction in Conscience Rights Lawsuit
• South Dakota Planned Parenthood to Follow Law Saying Abortion Kills Kids
• Slovakia President Signs Bill Into Law to Inform Women of Abortion's Risks
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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Ted Kennedy, the iconic Massachusetts senator, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port after a long battle with cancer. Elected first in 1962, the 77-year-old liberal lion reminds many political observers of the changes on abortion among many members of the Democratic Party. To anyone who follows abortion politics today, Kennedy is not only a reliable pro-abortion vote, but a forceful advocate of abortion. He repeatedly has voted against all attempts to stop taxpayer financing of abortions and opposed the ban on partial-birth abortions. Kennedy regularly receives 0 percent records from the National Right to Life Committee. Although his health prevented him from casting any votes on pro-life issues this session of Congress, Kennedy received a 14 percent rating from 2007-2008 from NRLC, agreeing with the pro-life group only on allowing states to provide health insurance coverage for unborn children in their SCHIP programs. Kennedy's abortion advocacy was so pervasive prior to his death that the Senate government-run health care bill that bears his name specifically allows abortion funding and mandates that Planned Parenthood abortion centers be included. But Kennedy's position wasn't always in line with abortion advocacy groups. Full story at LifeNews.comPro-Life, Pro-Abortion Groups Take Divergent Stand on Ted Kennedy's Legacy
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With former Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy taking a strongly pro-abortion stance throughout much of his career, the response to his passing from pro-life and pro-abortion groups is as expected. Kennedy was a hero or mistaken on abortion, depending on the point of view. Brian Burch, the head of the pro-life group CatholicVote.org, said Kennedy's legacy is "mixed" because of his abortion advocacy. "We applaud the late Senator for efforts to improve education, assist the poor, and for working to help the uninsured," he told LifeNews.com Wednesday. "Sadly, on the most seminal issue of our day, the plight of unborn children, Senator Kennedy’s legacy evokes deep sadness." Burch noted the Kennedy flip-flop on abortion that turned a highly-regarded lawmaker into a strong opponent. But, in a comment that is already drawing guffaws from pro-life advocates, Planned Parenthood praised Kennedy's pro-abortion record. "Ted Kennedy is survived by a legacy of providing a voice to those Americans who otherwise would not have been heard," its president Cecile Richards said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With former Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy taking a strongly pro-abortion stance throughout much of his career, the response to his passing from pro-life and pro-abortion groups is as expected. Kennedy was a hero or mistaken on abortion, depending on the point of view. Brian Burch, the head of the pro-life group CatholicVote.org, said Kennedy's legacy is "mixed" because of his abortion advocacy. "We applaud the late Senator for efforts to improve education, assist the poor, and for working to help the uninsured," he told LifeNews.com Wednesday. "Sadly, on the most seminal issue of our day, the plight of unborn children, Senator Kennedy’s legacy evokes deep sadness." Burch noted the Kennedy flip-flop on abortion that turned a highly-regarded lawmaker into a strong opponent. But, in a comment that is already drawing guffaws from pro-life advocates, Planned Parenthood praised Kennedy's pro-abortion record. "Ted Kennedy is survived by a legacy of providing a voice to those Americans who otherwise would not have been heard," its president Cecile Richards said. Full story at LifeNews.comTerri Schiavo's Brother Condemns Pro-Euthanasia Veterans End-of-Life Guide
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The brother of Terri Schiavo, the disabled woman whose former husband subjected her to a painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death, is speaking out against a guide the Obama administration is distributing to veterans that critics say promotes euthanasia and assisted suicide. The Department of Veterans Affairs is currently promoting a guide called "Your Life, Your Choices" that was first published in the Clinton administration. One section of the guide titled, "What Makes Your Life Worth Living?" asks veterans to check boxes such as "I am a severe financial burden on my family" and "My situation causes severe emotional burden for my family." Bobby Schindler, Terri's brother and a spokesman for the foundation the Schindler family established to help disabled people like her, told LifeNews.com the booklet is a disservice to military personnel as well as disabled, ill and elderly persons. “It is quite clear that the language used in Your Life, Your Choices is encouraging individuals to make life and death decisions based on a ‘quality of life’ judgment," he said. Instead, they should be made based on the "Constitutionally supported position that the value of all citizens is equal and each has a right to live." Schindler says the guide "encourages the idea that people with chronic health issues, disability or advanced age are ‘burdensome to society.’" Full story at LifeNews.comHealth Care "Reform" Bills Would Exacerbate Death Panels Already in Texas
Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) -- The government-run health care bills in Congress have come under criticism from those who say they would establish "death panels" or give doctors financial incentives to promote rationed health care or euthanasia. In Texas, where that is already happening, critics say the legislation would make it worse. Texas currently has a futile care law in place that allows medical facilities to give families just 10 days to find places to care for their loved ones when a medical center refuses treatment. The law only requires the hospital to provide the patient and family with 48 hours' notice before a hospital "ethics" committee meets and makes a decision on terminating life support. Then the 10-day futile care statute goes into effect. Robert W. Painter, an attorney in Houston at Painter Law Firm who received the pro-life attorney of the year award from Texas Right to Life, has written an editorial in the Washington Times focusing on how the government-run health care plan would exacerbate the situation in Texas. "The truth is, for many states, Mrs. Palin's assessment likely is dead-on," Painter writes. Painter explains that, under the Texas law, "the hospital and others involved are cloaked with complete criminal, civil and licensing immunity. In other words, even if the hospital's decision to pull life support was incorrect, it is immune from lawsuit or prosecution." 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.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The dangerous abortion drug RU 486 was supposed to greatly expand the number of places where abortions are done. But, a new study by the pro-abortion Allan Guttmacher Institute finds that hasn't happened as doctors outside abortion facilities have not decided to distribute the pills. When the abortion drug was approved in the waning days of the Clinton administration, abortion advocates hoped it would make abortion universally accessible. They wanted abortions more readily available than merely in Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses located predominantly in larger cities and other metropolitan areas. Their hope was to make it harder for pro-life advocates to provide women going to the centers with abortion alternatives and to drive up the abortion numbers by bringing abortions to suburban and rural parts of the country. The AGI study indicates that hasn't happened and, essentially, only doctors who were already doing abortions picked up the option to give out abortion drug. "Most mifepristone abortions were performed at or near facilities that also provided surgical abortion," it indicates. "Only five mifepristone-only providers of 10 or more abortions were located farther than 50 miles from any surgical provider of 400 or more abortions. Full story at LifeNews.comPro-Life Group: 2010 Elections the Remedy for Abortion, Health Care Battles
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life priest who heads a respected Catholic group says the 2010 elections are the cure for what ails the pro-life community when it comes to abortion and the health care battles. Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life is urging pro-life people to focus on the 2010 election battles now. Millions of pro-life Americans are working overtime to try to stop the government-run health care plan that includes abortion funding and rationing. Though he is not asking them to quit that battle, Pavone wants them to combine those efforts with a focus on supporting pro-life candidates in the 2010 elections. There is a good reason to do that. In both the House and Senate, the pro-life movement has lost votes on every single amendment to the health care bills to reduce abortion and rationing because of the addition of more abortion advocates in Congress last year when Barack Obama won the presidential election. “The reason for the mess we are in with the health care reform debate is the elections of 2008, and the way out of the mess will be the elections of 2010 and 2012," Pavone told LifeNews.com today. Full story at LifeNews.com
Mainstream Media Honors Late-Term Abortion Practitioner After George Tiller Death
by Colleen Raezler
To liberal media outlets, Warren Hern, one of the few late-term abortion providers in the country, has been worthy of praise as a doctor who boldly stands up for his beliefs in the face of intimidation - a lonely humanitarian braving violent death for the sake of his patients. That's the picture painted by TV and other media. What's missing from the portrait is Hern's belief that humans are "malignant ecotumors," his refusal to be called an abortionist, and his strident denunciations of the pro-life movement. Attention has turned to Hern in the wake of the May 31 murder of Kansas late-term abortionist (and Hern friend) George Tiller. Since then, Hern has appeared on MSNBC, CNN and NPR. Print media, including the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Boston Globe and The Chicago Tribune have cited him. Esquire magazine devoted 9,000 words to Hern in its current issue, which sparked his Aug. 12 appearance on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show and praise from Keith Olbermann. Full story at LifeNews.com
by Colleen Raezler
To liberal media outlets, Warren Hern, one of the few late-term abortion providers in the country, has been worthy of praise as a doctor who boldly stands up for his beliefs in the face of intimidation - a lonely humanitarian braving violent death for the sake of his patients. That's the picture painted by TV and other media. What's missing from the portrait is Hern's belief that humans are "malignant ecotumors," his refusal to be called an abortionist, and his strident denunciations of the pro-life movement. Attention has turned to Hern in the wake of the May 31 murder of Kansas late-term abortionist (and Hern friend) George Tiller. Since then, Hern has appeared on MSNBC, CNN and NPR. Print media, including the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Boston Globe and The Chicago Tribune have cited him. Esquire magazine devoted 9,000 words to Hern in its current issue, which sparked his Aug. 12 appearance on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show and praise from Keith Olbermann. Full story at LifeNews.com
Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Carly Fiorina is the former Hewlett Packard executive and spokeswoman for the John McCain presidential campaign who is considering a run for the U.S. Senate against pro-abortion stalwart Barbara Boxer. As she contemplates her candidacy, she is asked to established pro-life credentials. The question of where Fiorina stands on pro-life issues is a valid one and there is little evidence for voters to go on thus far. The pro-life community in California is excited about the prospects of defeating Boxer, whom polling numbers show is embattled and could face an uphill re-election contact. For the, though, the question is: Will Fiorina be different? Joshua Trevino, a consultant for Senate candidate Chuck DeVore, who is pro-life, asks the question in a new post on the RedState blog. He admits that Fiorina has called herself pro-life but hasn't expanded beyond that moniker. Full story at LifeNews.com
Springfield, IL (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life pharmacists in Illinois won a legal victory late last week when a court granted a temporary injunction preventing them from being forced to disseminate drugs that violate their moral and religious views. The case revolves around a mandate former Gov. Rod Blagojevich put in place. The governor's order makes them fill all prescriptions, including those for the morning after pill and, perhaps someday, drugs that directly cause abortions or are used in assisted suicides. On Friday, the circuit court in Springfield issued a preliminary injunction in the case of two pharmacy owners, Luke VanderBleek and Glenn Kosirog. Both men have been fighting to protect their conscience "The Attorney General's Office has repeatedly argued that the Health Care Right of Conscience Act does not apply to the practice of pharmacy-and they have repeatedly failed," said Francis J. Manion, ACLJ senior counsel. "While this is not a final decision on the merits of our lawsuit, the writing is on the wall," he told LifeNews.com. "Our clients are entitled to run their pharmacies according to the dictates of their moral and religious beliefs. This is what the law allows; this is what the court has affirmed." Full story at LifeNews.comSouth Dakota Planned Parenthood to Follow Law Telling Women Abortion Kills Kids
Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) -- The lone abortion business in South Dakota, run by Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls, says it will follow a new state law that requires it to inform women that an abortion will kill their unborn child. That provision is a portion of a new state law that a judge upheld last week. Judge Karen Schreier issued a rulingupholding the part of the law that calls on abortion facilities to inform women considering an abortion that "the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." Now, in response to Judge Schreier's ruling, Planned Parenthood has submitted a plan on how it will comply with the law at its abortion center. Department of Health spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the correction plan is under review and that the agency plans on enforcing the law now that the judge has upheld it. Planned Parenthood officials had refused to follow the law and came close to the state health department revoking its medical license as a result. Full story at LifeNews.com
Slovakia President Signs Bill Into Law to Inform Women of Abortion's Risks
Bratislava, Slovakia (LifeNews.com) -- The president of the eastern European nation of Slovakia has signed into law a bill that would inform women of the dangers of and alternatives to abortion. The measure would also require parental consent before a teen can get an abortion. The measure would also furnish women considering an abortion with information on the development of their unborn child. Similar legislation in dozens of states in the United States has proven effective in lowering the number of abortions. President Ivan Gašparovic signed the bill into law on Tuesday after the nation's parliament voted to approve it. Democratic Slovakia MP Ludmila Mušková, one of the sponsors of the measure, said women deserve to have a right to know about abortion's problems and options. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) -- The lone abortion business in South Dakota, run by Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls, says it will follow a new state law that requires it to inform women that an abortion will kill their unborn child. That provision is a portion of a new state law that a judge upheld last week. Judge Karen Schreier issued a rulingupholding the part of the law that calls on abortion facilities to inform women considering an abortion that "the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." Now, in response to Judge Schreier's ruling, Planned Parenthood has submitted a plan on how it will comply with the law at its abortion center. Department of Health spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the correction plan is under review and that the agency plans on enforcing the law now that the judge has upheld it. Planned Parenthood officials had refused to follow the law and came close to the state health department revoking its medical license as a result. Full story at LifeNews.comSlovakia President Signs Bill Into Law to Inform Women of Abortion's Risks
Bratislava, Slovakia (LifeNews.com) -- The president of the eastern European nation of Slovakia has signed into law a bill that would inform women of the dangers of and alternatives to abortion. The measure would also require parental consent before a teen can get an abortion. The measure would also furnish women considering an abortion with information on the development of their unborn child. Similar legislation in dozens of states in the United States has proven effective in lowering the number of abortions. President Ivan Gašparovic signed the bill into law on Tuesday after the nation's parliament voted to approve it. Democratic Slovakia MP Ludmila Mušková, one of the sponsors of the measure, said women deserve to have a right to know about abortion's problems and options. Full story at LifeNews.comEncourage Friends to Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
