LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, September 10, 2009
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Current Headlines
• Obama Likely to Endorse Pro-Abortion Public Option in Health Care Speech
• Pro-Life Physician to Give GOP Response to Obama Health Care Speech
• Next Abortion-Health Care Battle Could Begin on Baucus Senate Bill Sept 21
• Sarah Palin Again Bashes Obama, Congress on Rationing in Health Care
• British Docs Let Premature Baby Born at 22 Weeks Die, NHS Blamed
• Planned Parenthood: Keep Abortion in Health Care, Force Taxpayer Funding
• Washington Says 28 People Have Requested Assisted Suicide Drugs So Far
• London School of Econ: Fewer Kids, More Abortions, Better Environment
• Washington Post Stumps for Pro-Abortion Deeds as Virginia Governor
• What Do Abortion Advocates Have Against Human Body, Unborn Children?
• Massachusetts' Coakley Wins Pro-Abortion Backing to Replace Kennedy
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Obama Expected to Endorse Pro-Abortion Public Option in Health Care Speech
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- When President Barack Obama gives a make-or-break speech on health care reform tonight, he is expected to endorse the public option. That is the government-run plan that is a major component of the health care restructuring bills in Congress that open the door to massive taxpayer funding of abortions. According to various previews of Obama's speech in media reports, Obama will endorse a government-run health care insurance plan but will stop short of demanding that Congress keep it in its final version of its bills. He is expected to repeat a similar strain to his Labor Day remarks in Cincinnati, where he told labor leaders, "I continue to believe that a public option within that basket of insurance choices will help improve quality and bring down costs." That, political observers say, gives Obama the wiggle room he needs to sign a bill that leaves that out of a measure he could sign and claim as a victory. It also helps him bow to the reality that passing legislation with a government option may not be possible in the Senate, where moderate Democrats are joining Republicans in opposing such a plan. Obama talked about his goal for the speech in an interview with Good Morning America on ABC. He has blasted pro-life groups saying they are lying about how the bills allow taxpayer-funded abortions and, there, he appeared to attack pro-life advocates who have been criticizing the abortion and rationing components of the bills. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: 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.
Pro-Life Physician to Give Republican Response to Obama Health Care Speech
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life physician who is a member of Congress from Louisiana has been tapped to give the Republican response to President Barack Obama's health care speech tonight. Rep. Charles Boustany is a cardiothoracic surgeon who has a perfect pro-life voting record in Congress. The official response will be aired on all three of the big television networks, and likely some of the cable networks, immediately following the speech as is done after the State of the Union. "As a doctor, I know we must lower costs and improve care, which we can accomplish by focusing on strengthening the doctor-patient relationship and working in a bipartisan way," Boustany said in a statement on Tuesday. "Health care is a kitchen table issue that affects all Americans, and I believe we need an honest discussion about how we come together to fix what's broken, while building on what works ," he added. Boustany is expected to criticize Obama for supporting the public option, the government-run health care system that the current bills in the House and Senate set up in a way that would open the door for massive taxpayer funding of abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
Next Abortion-Health Care Battle Could Begin on Baucus Senate Bill September 21
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- After President Barack Obama delivers his health care speech to Congress tonight, the next battle over health care "reform" and abortion funding could take place in two weeks. That's when a Senate committee is slated to debate an alternative bill Senator Max Baucus has proposed. The Baucus bill, which is already drawing fire for its fines for Americans who do not have health insurances, comes form a Montana Democrat who heads the Senate Finance Committee. Baucus has been heading up a six-member gorup of bipartisan lawmakers who have been attempting to fashion a bill outside the Kennedy bill and HR 3200 that could actually get enough support to make headway. The pro-abortion senator released an 18-page overview of his bill, which has not yet earned the backing of the "gang" of legislators. The measure does not include a government-run "public option" insurance plan and instead relies on state-run, consumer-owned cooperatives to set up an alternative to private-sector insurance in a health care exchange, or marketplace. Critics say the exchange will run in a similar fashion as the public option. A LifeNews.com analysis of the overview finds no mention of abortion or the code phrase "reproductive health." As one pro-life advocate familiar with the situation told LifeNews.com this afternoon, removal of the public option does not satisfy the concerns over abortion funding in health care. Full story at LifeNews.com
Sarah Palin Again Bashes Obama, Congress on Rationing in Health Care Bills
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has penned an opinion column running in the Wall St. Journal that again bashes Obama and Congress. She expands on her previous comments about "death panels" by saying that the bills wrongly endorse health care rationing. Palin acknowledges the criticism of her "death panels" description of the problem but says the thrust of the argument was right on point. "Establishment voices dismissed that phrase, but it rang true for many Americans," she writes. She said they "made themselves heard, and as a result Congress will likely reject a wrong-headed proposal to authorize end-of-life counseling in this cost-cutting context." "But the fact remains that the Democrats' proposals would still empower unelected bureaucrats to make decisions affecting life or death health-care matters. Such government overreaching is what we've come to expect from this administration," she writes. Full story at LifeNews.com
British Doctors Let Premature Baby Born at 22 Weeks Die, NHS Blamed for Death
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- British doctors are coming under fire for letting an unborn child born just before 22 weeks of pregnancy die. The National health Service, the government-run health system that Congress may replicate in legislation in the United States, is blamed for guidelines disallowing treatment. Sarah Capewell begged physicians to save the life of her tiny son, whom she planned to name Jayden, but they said national guidelines preventing treatment on newborns born so early prevented them from caring for him. Capewell told the London Daily Mail newspaper that doctors refused to see her son, who lived almost two hours on his own without any medical support before dying. She said Jayden (pictured above right) was breathing on his own without any medical assistance and was moving his arms and legs, but medical staff refused to transfer him to a neonatal intensive care unit. The newspaper indicated Capewell said medical staff told her they would have been able to treat her son had he been born two days later. The Nuffield Council drew up the guidelines that are not mandatory but followed closely by doctors and medical workers. The guidelines are based on the belief that unborn children born so early in pregnancy have very little chance of surviving and that any medical care and treatment is futile and a waste of money and resources. Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion business but, when it comes to the health care debate and public policy, it rarely talks about abortion. Leading officials normally focus on the less controversial women's health care but one staffer is unusually frank in a new blog post. The pro-abortion group typically glosses over taxpayer-funding of abortions in its communications, even to its own members, on the health care debate. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards publicly says health care shouldn't leave out women's concerns, but she almost never says abortion should be included. Laurie Rubiner, the vice president of public policy and advocacy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is more frank in a blog posting from late last week that Richards emailed to her supporters today. "Abortion is a legal medical procedure in this country, and therefore Planned Parenthood believes it should be part of the health care system," she admits. She says it is wrong for pro-life advocates to "insist that, if there is a public option, there be a strict and total ban on abortion coverage," adding "this is ridiculous." Rubiner also admits that Planned Parenthood wants to eventually overturn the Hyde Amendment to prohibits taxpayer-funding of abortion in the Medicaid program. Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington Says 28 People Have Requested Assisted Suicide Drugs Since March
Olympia, WA (LifeNews.com) -- The first report from the state health department in Washington finds 28 people requested assisted suicide drugs since the new law allowing the practice went into effect in March. The new figures show 16 of the patients have since died, though she state won't say if they died from natural causes or using the barbiturates. The pro-euthanasia group that promoted the I-1000 ballot initiative making Washington the second state to legalize assisted suicide says it knows of 11 people who have killed themselves so far. The head of the group relied on an old pro-abortion slogan to say the assisted suicide law is working as well in Washington as it has in Oregon, the first state to advance it. "Deaths under the Death With Dignity Act have been safe, legal and rare," Robb Miller, executive director of Compassion & Choices of Washington, said at a press conference. Dan Kennedy, the director of Human Life, the statewide pro-life group, talked with LifeNews.com about the new statistics. "Those diagnosed as terminally ill in Washington State now have a target on their back, as a result of assisted suicide," he said. "Instead of providing loving care, effective pain management, and fulfillment at the end of life, Compassion & Choices plays on fears and depression." Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington Post Stumps for Pro-Abortion Creigh Deeds as Virginia Governor
by Dave Andrusko
Granted, commenting on this will make about as much difference as a wolf baying at the moon. But it deserves a few words nonetheless, not only because the subject is irritating as all get-out, but also because the Washington Post's coverage of Virginia governor's race is a prime example of one reason why newspapers are in such horrific shape. Did I expect something resembling balanced news coverage in the gubernatorial contest between pro-life Republican Bob McDonnell and pro-abortion Democrat R. Creigh Deeds? Only if I still believed in Santa Claus. Did I ever expect that the editorial page would (just for the sake of ending the monotony) give former Attorney General McDonnell a fair shake? Of course not. Defeating pro-life candidates is an institutional mission of the Post, an imperative they embrace with clarity and singlemindness. Did I ever, ever expect that most news stories would fail to read like pro-Deeds editorials? Of course not, although once upon a time they would have covered their tracks by labeling it "news analysis." Full story at LifeNews.com
What Do Abortion Advocates Have Against Human Body, Unborn Children?
by Maria Vitale
I recently learned of a pro-life group which was forced to shelve its life-like fetal models at a county fair because the images had been deemed "disgusting." Keep in mind that these models had not been manipulated in any way—they had not been dismembered, or covered with fake blood. They were simply representations of the human body at various stages of development. Unfortunately, the criticism of fetal models is nothing new. I recall hearing about pro-abortion parents at a private school raising a ruckus because the little baby dolls had dared to make an appearance in the classroom. Baby frogs and hamsters were ostensibly fine—it was the baby humans that caused offense.
And this puzzling philosophy is not limited to the cultural landscape of the U.S. Full story at LifeNews.com
Massachusetts' Coakley Wins Pro-Abortion Backing to Replace Ted Kennedy
Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) -- Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has won the support of the most well-funded pro-abortion political group in the country to replace the late pro-abortion Sen. Ted Kennedy. Emily's List , which only backs candidates who support taxpayer-funded abortions and partial-birth abortion, is in her camp. The endorsement is important because several candidate will likely throw their names in the hat for Kennedy's seat by the time the field is locked for the special election later this year. The endorsement from the pro-abortion group will give Coakley the financing and ground support she needs to break away from the pack. And it could ensure that the seat held by Kennedy, who was an abortion champion after flip-flopping from a pro-life position he held in the 1970s, will stay in pro-abortion hands. Full story at LifeNews.com
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