LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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Current Headlines
• Senate Panel Opens Abortion Debate on Baucus Bill, Pro-Life Amendments Coming
• Media Analysis Says Pro-Life Group Right, Baucus Health Care Bill Funds Abortions
• Third New Poll Finds Americans Oppose Tax-Funded Abortions in Health Care
• Catholic Medical Association: No Health Care Bill Better Than Pro-Abortion One
• Senate Leader Reid Again Says Reconciliation Possible for Pro-Abortion Health Bill
• State Report Finds 60 Pro-Life Measures Enacted on Abortion, Bioethics in 2009
• Congressional Resolution Honors Slain Pro-Life Abortion Protestor Jim Pouillon
• Gallup Poll Shows Barack Obama's Approval Rating So Far Only Tops Bill Clinton's
• UK Doctor Ready to Challenge New Guidelines Allowing Some Assisted Suicides
• Arizona Pro-Life Groups, Legislators Seek to Protect Comprehensive Abortion Law
• Kansas Pro-Life Group: Focus on Planned Parenthood, Abortion Not Phill Kline
• Wisconsin Speaker Removes Lawmaker's Chairmanship Over Abortion Opposition
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Senate Panel Opens Abortion Debate on Baucus Bill, Pro-Life Amendments Coming
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Senate Finance Committee today started its debate on the new Baucus health care bill that contains massive abortion subsidies and mandates. During the opening statements, Sen. Chuck Grassley said the bill funds abortions and that it must be amended to make sure that is not the case. "On abortion, despite commitments made by the President and Secretary Sebelius, this bill does not follow the longstanding principle that federal funds should not be provided for elective abortions," he said. "Instead, federal funds would end up subsidizing elective abortions and plans that offer abortion coverage would be subsidized with those same federal funds," he added. Grassley's comments are the beginning of what will be the next battle over abortion and health care in Congress. Later this week, several amendments are expected from pro-life advocates on the committee. At least six pro-life amendments will be offered that address abortion funding, state laws and the conscience rights of pro-life medical professionals who do not want to be forced to perform or refer for abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact members of the Senate Finance Committee and urge them to support amendments to make sure abortion funding and coverage are specifically excluded from the Baucus bill. You can find members of the panel here. http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/committee.htm
Media Analysis Says Pro-Life Group Right, Baucus Health Care Bill Funds Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new media analysis is verifying the contention of a pro-life group that says the new Baucus health care bill funds abortions. As is the case with HR 3200 and the Kennedy bill in the Senate, National Right to Life says the Baucus bill also contains massive abortion subsidies and mandates. The Pulitzer-prize winning PolitiFact web site, operated by the St. Petersburg Times newspaper, is respected as a web site that looks into political claims. In a new analysis released on Monday, it verifies as true the National Right to Life take on the Baucus bill that it "contains provisions that would send massive federal subsidies directly to both private insurance plans and government-chartered cooperatives that pay for elective abortion." PolitiFact says the NRLC view of the bill "get[s] to the heart of the rhetoric on both sides of the debate." "According to Baucus' chairman's mark, which provides a blueprint for the plan... health plans in the exchange or co-op [would not be] prohibited from providing abortion coverage," the web site confirms. "In fact, every state exchange would have to provide one plan that covers abortion," the fact check continues. "The plan provides federal dollars -- through tax credits or cost-sharing credits -- to subsidize the cost of insurance for people with modest incomes," it says. "So clearly, you'd have federal subsidies going to plans that cover abortions." Full story at LifeNews.com
Third New Poll Finds Americans Oppose Tax-Funded Abortions in Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The third poll in the last two weeks has found that Americans strongly oppose taxpayer funding of abortions in any health care reform legislation. The new poll, commissioned for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, finds a high percentage of Americans oppose abortion funding. The poll also asks a significant question not found in other polling data on abortion and health care -- whether Americans oppose the use of private funds for abortions, which has been the defense from President Barack Obama and other abortion advocates of the abortion funding provisions. Conducted by International Communications Research from September 16-20, the telephone survey found widespread public opposition to including abortion in health care reform. The poll indicates 67 percent of those surveyed opposed requiring people to pay for abortion coverage through their taxes and 56 percent opposed making them do so through their insurance premiums. The survey also asked: "If the choice were up to you, would you want your own insurance policy to include abortion?" Sixty-eight percent of U.S. adults said 'No' and only 24 percent said 'Yes.' Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic Medical Association: No Health Care Bill Better Than Pro-Abortion One
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Catholic Medical Association has released a new analysis of the health care debate in Congress and concludes that no health care bill is better than one containing abortion funding. The analysis comes at a time when President Barack Obama is relying on left-wing Catholic groups to build support for the bills. CMA says there is a "crisis, not only in health-care financing and delivery, but in the health-care reform process itself." There is an "opportunity and obligation" to improve the health care system, but CMA says there must be an "ethical" response. "But there also exists a real danger that misguided legislation could make our current problems even worse. This is a critical time for Catholics to work together to formulate solutions based upon authentic moral, social, and economic principles," the group says in a new statement released yesterday. One of the key problems the Catholic Medical Association notes is that the various health care legislation in Congress leaves it up to the Obama administration to set abortion funding policy. Full story at LifeNews.com
Senate Leader Reid Again Says Reconciliation Possible for Pro-Abortion Health Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With the health care bills in Congress having the potential to increase the number of abortions by one-third, making sure they are amended to prevent abortion funding is crucial. If the amendments fail, stopping the bills with a filibuster is a second option, but Senate Democrats may take that away. As he has threatened before, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says abortion advocates may use a process called reconciliation to railroad the pro-abortion health care bill thorough the chamber. Reconciliation makes it so the minority does not have the filibuster as a tool to make it so 60 voters are needed to end debate and allow a vote on a bill. Reid doesn't seem to mind that the process is supposed to be used in emergency purpose for budget bills and other important financial matters. "If we can't work this out to do something within the committee structure, then we'll be forced to do the reconciliation," Reid said today, adding that he views that as a "last resort." Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new report of pro-life activity in state legislatures found lawmakers nationwide enacted 60 pro-life measures on abortion and bioethics issues during the 2009 legislative session. They ranged from a comprehensive bill in Arizona to Louisiana providing $1.5 million to pregnancy centers. Americans United for Life released their 2009 State Legislative Session Report and said it confirms that the majority of states continue to successfully pursue and implement a life-affirming legislative agenda. "Clearly, we are making progress at the state level -- law by law and state by state -- to protect and defend life," AUL president Charmaine Yoest told LifeNews.com. "We are encouraged by the progress that has been made in 2009 and enthusiastically look forward to working with pro-life legislators to advance pro-life legislation and policies in 2010." According to the report, state legislatures considered 300 abortion-related measures, the vast majority of them life-affirming, and virtually every state considered at least one pro-life measure. Full story at LifeNews.com| Right to Life plays Defense excellently. ChoiceKills.com is Offense |
 Abortion is protected by the seeming fairness of "A woman's right to choose." Choice has become both the facilitator and accomplice to the murders. Choice is now the opposition. Accuse it of involvement in the killing of millions. Remove its disguise of fairness. Reveal its true character till everyone knows Choicekills. |
Congressional Resolution Honors Slain Pro-Life Abortion Protestor Jim Pouillon
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Two pro-life members of Congress from Michigan have jointly introduced a bipartisan resolution honoring slain pro-life advocate James Pouillon. He is the 63-year-old man who was shot repeatedly and killed in recent weeks while standing outside a local high school protesting abortion. Pouillon was holding up a sign promoting the pro-life ethic when local resident Harlan Drake allegedly shot him multiple times from his vehicle. Drake, according to local police, didn't like that Pouillon would expose the high school students to pictures of babies who had been victimized by abortion. Reps. Dave Camp, a Republican, and Dale Kildee, a Democrat, are sponsoring the resolution. "Jim was a fixture in the Owosso community and many knew him for his public displays opposing abortion," the pair write today in their letter to colleagues seeking sponsors for the measure. "As the House of Representatives has made clear many times before, the use of deadly force is never an appropriate response to a difference in beliefs." Full story at LifeNews.com
Gallup Poll Shows Barack Obama's Approval Rating So Far Only Tops Bill Clinton's
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The latest Gallup polling data shows the approval rating for pro-abortion President Barack Obama at this point in his presidency is lower than that of any recent president except Bill Clinton. Gallup's most recent weekly ratings has just 52 percent of the American public saying they approve of the job Obama is doing. At the same time, the average approval rating of presidents to this point since President Franklin D. Roosevelt is 55 percent. Former President George W. Bush had a 76 percent approval rating in September of the first year of his term while his father had a 70 percent approval rating. President Ronald Reagan was tied at 52 percent while Carter (57 percent) Richard Nixon (59 percent), John F. Kennedy (79 percent), and Dwight Eisenhower (61 percent) all had higher ratings than Obama. Only Bill Clinton had a lower mark at this point in his first year, with just 50 percent of Americans saying they approved of the job he was doing. Full story at LifeNews.com
UK Doctor Ready to Challenge New Guidelines Allowing Some Assisted Suicides
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- A doctor in England is ready to become the first to challenge the new guidelines issued by a top British prosecutor that essentially allow assisted suicide. Keir Starmer QC, the director of public prosecutions, has gone beyond a court ruling and decriminalized some assisted suicides. The British Parliament has refused to approve a bill that would directly legalized assisted suicide in the UK, but a prosecutor has opened up the country to suicide on his own. The prosecutor's guidelines follow a decision by the House of Lords allowing Debbie Purdy the right to know if her husband would be prosecuted if he took her to Switzerland to kill herself. Now, former GP Dr. Michael Irwin said he "wanted his day in court" to challenge the new guidelines -- especially to become the first "martyr" toward the cause of full legalization of assisted suicide. He wants to know if Starmer will make good on his guidelines. According to This is London, he admits helping to take terminally ill Raymond Cutkelvin to a suicide clinic in Switzerland and paying for his death. Irwin and Cutkelvin's partner, Alan Cutkelvin-Rees were questioned by local police on their return and are out on bail. Full story at LifeNews.com
Arizona Pro-Life Groups, Legislators Seek to Protect Comprehensive Abortion Law
Phoenix, AZ (LifeNews.com) -- Two Arizona legislators together with pro-life physicians and organizations filed motions Tuesday through their attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund to support an Arizona abortion law. They want to intervene to protect the laws limiting abortions that Planned Parenthood wants to overturn. Last week, Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a slate of new pro-life laws that Gov. Jan Brewer signed in July. The measures ban partial-birth abortions, protect health care providers and give women information about abortion's problems. "Everyone deserves full and accurate information before undergoing any medical procedure," ADF senior legal counsel Steven Aden told LifeNews.com. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kansas Pro-Life Group: Focus on Planned Parenthood, Abortion Not Phill Kline
Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) -- A Kansas pro-life group says the media's focus in a case surrounding possible illegal late-term abortions at a local Planned Parenthood should be on the abortion business. Instead, the media has been focusing on a former Attorney General Phill Kline and a staffer who faces ethics charges. Stanton Hazlett, the disciplinary administrator for the Board for Discipline of Attorneys, says he has ethics complaints against Kline he is prepared to release in the next 30 to 45 days. The complaints center on Kline's investigation of the Overland Park-based Planned Parenthood, which is alleged to have done illegal late-term abortions and falsified medical papers related to them. On Monday, Hazlett released a complaint against Kline's former assistant attorney general Stephen Maxwell. It claims Maxwell misled a judge and grand jury in the investigations. Full story at LifeNews.com
Wisconsin Speaker Removes Lawmaker's Chairmanship Over Abortion Opposition
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- A long-time state representative has lost his position as the head of a committee in the Wisconsin Assembly because he deviated from the Democratic party-line position against an amendment to stop late-term abortions from being done in the University of Wisconsin health system. In June, the Assembly Democratic leadership used a procedural maneuver to kill an amendment to the state budget that would have prevented UW entities from performing late-term abortions. The amendment, authored by Rep. Dan LeMahieu, was strongly supported by Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL) and pro-life groups but the leadership asked the Assembly to vote on a procedural maneuver that all members knew would result in killing the LeMahieu amendment. The procedural vote prevailed by a one vote margin with all Republicans voting against it along with Independent Jeff Wood and Democrats Peggy Krusick and Bob Ziegelbauer. Now, WRTL legislative director Susan Armacost informs LifeNews.com that Ziegelbauer is paying the price. Full story at LifeNews.com
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