LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, October 2, 2009
| For news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com. |
Current Headlines
• Senate to Debate Pro-Abortion Health Care Reform Bill in Mid-October
• Pro-Life Democrat Meets Pelosi, May Not Get Vote to Stop Abortion $
• New Poll: Abortion Support Dropping 11 Percent, Obama a Reason
• Pew Poll: 42 Percent of Americans Don't Know Obama Pro-Abortion
• Senate Cmte Defeats Amendment to Stop Financial Incentive for Rationing
• More Than 200,000 Pro-Lifers to Join 2009 LifeChain Against Abortion
• Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity Grows as Teens Oppose Abortion
• Woman Under Fire for Twitter Update on Miscarriage, Abortion
• Pro-Life Groups Make Sure Intl Law Doesn't Promote Abortion
• Washington U Apologizes, Says St. Louis U Not Doing Abortion Training
• Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Player LaRoche Helps Down Syndrome Kids
Is your Right to Life group or pregnancy center looking for an affordable speaker? Need a speaker for a conference, convention, church presentation or on short notice? Consider LifeNews.com Editor Steven Ertelt. Email us for details.
Senate Expected to Debate Pro-Abortion Health Care Reform Bill in Mid-October
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Now that a Senate committee has rejected pro-life amendments to the Baucus heath care measure to remove the abortion funding found in it, the next battle for pro-life advocates and the next step in the Senate is a full floor debate on the pro-abortion health care bills in mid-October. As LifeNews.com reported on Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee defeated an amendment from Sen. Orrin Hatch on a 13-10 vote that would have stripped the Baucus bill of its abortion subsidies. The other health care bill in the Senate, the measure named for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, also contains provisions that would result in sweeping pro-abortion mandates and government subsidies for abortions. Majority Leader Harry Reid said after the committee votes yesterday that he expected the Senate to begin debating the government-run health care measures the week of October 12. The Senate had been expected to take a recess for the week of Columbus Day, but that will apparently be canceled. "I think with health care, which is really beginning to ferment, it wouldn't be right for us to be gone," he said, according to a Wall St. Journal report. Between now and then, lawmakers must meld together the Kennedy and Baucus measures into one piece of legislation that will undoubtedly contain abortion funding and possible pro-life concerns over rationing of medical care for seniors. When the full Senate debates the bill, Hatch and other pro-life senators are expected to bring up their amendments again and pro-life groups will be calling on millions of pro-life advocates to connect with their senators and urge them to support those amendments. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Democrat Meets Pelosi, May Not Get Vote to Stop Abortion in Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Congressman Bart Stupak is the top pro-life Democrat in the House and he met with pro-abortion House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday. Stupak is hoping for an amendment to stop the abortion funding in HR 3200, the House health care bill, but it appears he may not get it. The bill contains language called the Capps Amendment that opens the door to abortion funding but has been used by abortion advocates to deny that is the case. Stupak and dozens of other pro-life and moderate Democrats are not falling for the phony compromise and they want assurances they can have a vote on an amendment that would actually prevent abortion funding. Abortion advocates claim the Capps amendment makes it so there is no taxpayer abortion funding -- merely by saying that the "private funds" taxpayers pay into the government-run health care system are not federal funds after the government receives them and uses them to pay for abortions. "No one really believes that for a minute," Stupak told the Detroit Free Press. Stupak met with Pelosi yesterday and the talks apparently are continuing, but it appears he will not get the vote on the amendment he seeks. "The meeting was productive -- they had a good discussion," a Democratic staffer informed of the results of the meeting told CBN News reporter David Brody. "The Speaker and leadership want to listen to all members of their caucus. The bottom line is that the status quo is likely to prevail -- no federal money to be used to pay for abortion services, as stated in Capps amendment," the aide said. Full story at LifeNews.com
New Pew Poll Shows Abortion Support Dropping 11 Percent, Obama as Reason
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Pew Research Center poll released today shows support for legal abortions has dropped 11 percent from 2008-2009. The poll joins a handful of others from earlier this year confirming there is a growing shift towards the pro-life perspective, perhaps exacerbated by President Barack Obama's pro-abortion record. The findings by the nonpartisan Pew center show Americans taking a pro-abortion position by a 54-40 percentage point margin in 2007 and 2008. Now, two surveys of 5,500 adults found 47 percent support legal abortions with 44 percent opposed. The old 14 percent advantage for the pro-abortion side has dropped to three percent -- very near the margin of error. "Now ... there have been modest increases in the numbers who favor reducing abortions or making them harder to obtain," the polling firm said. "The pattern of changes suggests that the election of a pro-choice Democrat for president may be a contributing factor." One of the largest declines in support for legal abortion has occurred among white, non-Hispanic Catholics who attend Mass at least weekly. Substantial change has also occurred among Democratic men (with support for legal abortion down nine points) but not among Democratic women. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pew Poll Finds 42 Percent of Americans Don't Know Barack Obama Pro-Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Looking further into the new Pew Research center poll on abortion, the survey reveals that a substantial percentage of Americans don't know that President Barack Obama has a strong pro-abortion position and record. The poll found 42 percent of Americans are unaware. The poll finds that four-in-ten Americans are unaware of Obama's position on abortion, although pro-life advocates are most well-informed -- which is a testimony to the work of pro-life organizations. On the other hand, independent voters and abortion advocates are less informed that Obama has been stridently pro-abortion. While just 25 percent of conservative Republicans and 36 percent of moderate Republicans don't know Obama is pro-abortion, 42 percent of independents and 51 percent of conservative and moderate Democrats don't know. Some 32 percent of liberal Democrats know Obama backs abortion. Pew asked a follow-up question to those who know Obama's position to determine whether the particular groups believed Obama would go too far in promoting abortion, not far enough or whether he is handling abortion about right. Four of the five groups have at least twice as many who said they worried Obama would go too far in promoting abortion as those who said he would not go far enough. Full story at LifeNews.com
 Medical professionals are on the frontlines of battle in life issues. From abortion to assisted suicide and euthanasia and all issues in between 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 of this battle. Join with us in our efforts to protect those voices at www.nursesforlife.org |
Senate Committee Defeats Amendment to Stop Financial Incentive for Rationing
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Members of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday not only turned back an amendment to stop abortion funding, but they defeated an amendment to stop rationing as well. They rejected, on a party-line vote, an amendment to eliminate the rationing components of the Baucus health care bill. Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, brought the amendment out of a concern, shared by pro-life groups, that one provision of the measure penalizes Medicare doctors who provide higher levels of medical treatment to senior citizens. Kyl and Senator Pat Roberts, a pro-life Kansas Republican, sponsored the change. The amendment would have removed a provision that establishes that, for at least five years, Medicare physicians who authorize treatments for their patients that wind up in the top 10% of per capita cost for a year will lose 5% of their total Medicare reimbursements for that year. Pro-life advocates say the provision means that all doctors treating older people will constantly be driven to try to order the least expensive tests and treatments for fear that they will be caught in that top 10%. "Last night's vote in the Senate Finance Committee should put America's senior citizens on alert," medical ethics attorney Burke Balch of National Right to Life, told LifeNews.com today. "If death spiral provision actually becomes law, their Medicare providers will start a race to the bottom to avoid being captured in the top ten percent." Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Young and old, black and white, women and men -- more than 200,000 Americans of all backgrounds and religious faiths will unite with a common set of signs and a unified message this weekend. They will join their friends and family in neighborhoods large and small for the 2009 LifeChain. The chains see dozens of people in every town standing on street corners on the first Sunday afternoon in October at 2:00 p.m. in every locale with similar signs opposing abortion. "Well over 1450 cities and towns have now confirmed their LifeChains and National Life Chain Sunday 2009 is 'reporting for duty,'" national organizer Royce Dunn emailed LifeNews.com today. Dunn believes the event is one that has been blessed by God to reach millions of Americans with the consistent message that Abortion Kills Children and Abortion Hurts Women. Full story at LifeNews.com
| Choicekills.com can change discussion from Defense to Offense |
 A woman's right to choose has succeeded in in forcing us to defend the right to life. Accusing Choice of being a killer TURNS THE TABLES and forces our opponents to defend against the reality that Choice facilitates abortion. Not an easy task. http://www.ChoiceKills.com |
Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity Grows as Teens Prepare to Oppose Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- More and more teenagers and college students are preparing for the next Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity, where the ubiquitous red tape will be present again. Students from all 50 states and other countries will "speak up" for unborn children who can't speak for themselves. The sixth annual day will take place on Tuesday, October 20, with Bryan Kemper, the head of sponsoring organization Stand True, telling LifeNews.com that over 2,200 campuses in 21 countries have students registered to participate. "The Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity is on its sixth year and there are tens of thousands of people on thousands of campuses around the world," he said. "Hearts are being changed, babies are being saved, and women are being spared the trauma of post-abortive pain. People are coming together in unity to promote a culture of life." Kemper says the impact is huge on the next generation of leaders by exposing them to the message that abortion hurts women and kills unborn children. Full story at LifeNews.com
Woman Under Fire for Twitter Update on Miscarriage, Wanting an Abortion
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- A woman in Wisconsin is generating national attention for herself because she recently sent an update on the popular web site Twitter saying she was in the middle of a miscarriage. The woman said she was happy about having the miscarriage because she could not obtain an abortion. Penelope Trunk, the 43-year-old writer of the aptly named "Brazen Careerist'' blog sent this recent Twitter message: "I'm in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage." She followed it up with the profanity-laden, "Thank goodness, because there's a ****-up 3-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin." Trunk has admitted in an interview on CNN that she is the mother of two children and once had a miscarriage that made her "sad" -- making it so the tweet has some semblance of reality. She also had two abortions. "I got two abortions to preserve my career. To keep my options open. To keep my aspirations within reach," she said in a follow-up tweet. "I bought into the idea that kids undermine your ability to build an amazing career. And here I am, with the amazing career." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Groups Join Coalition to Make Sure Intl Law Doesn't Promote US Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- An unlikely coalition of policy groups has formed around a case of juvenile justice now being considered by the US Supreme Court. The coalition includes national security groups, libertarians and pro-life and pro-family social conservatives. The case involves two individuals sentenced to life in prison for crimes they committed as juveniles. In the state of Florida, Joe Harris Sullivan was convicted of raping an elderly woman when he was 13 years old, while Terrance Jamar Graham was found to have violated his probation by committing armed robbery when he was 17. For these crimes and for a high degree of recidivism, both were sentenced to life in prison. They appealed and lost and have now petitioned the Supreme Court. A part of their claim to have their sentences changed and what has brought the unusual coalition together is based on the petitioners assertions of new international norms which are said to prohibit life sentences without parole for acts committed while under the age of majority. Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington University Apologizes, Says St. Louis U Not Doing Abortion Training
St. Louis, MO (LifeNews.com) -- Washington University officials have apologized to officials at St. Louis University for claiming the Catholic school jointly participated in an abortion training project. The project has Washington University joining forces with Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Planned Parenthood of St. Louis to train students in abortions. LifeNews.com exposed the program last month when it carried an opinion column from Joe Oertwerth, the director of the Missouri Family Policy Council. Oertwerth explained how the Family Planning Fellowship Program has the stated goal is to "develop tomorrow's leaders in reproductive health." Fellows in the program are trained to become "expert" in all methods of first and second trimester abortions. "The program website states that fellows will participate in abortions at the Reproductive Health Services clinic operated by Planned Parenthood of St. Louis," he wrote then. "The website also explains that Washington University is collaborating with St. Louis University 'to accomplish the goals of the Family Planning Fellowship.'" Now, Washington University officials are saying they were wrong to state that St. Louis University participated in the program. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Player Andy LaRoche Helps Down Syndrome Children
When I visited the official site of the Pittsburgh Pirates' baseball club, I heard an announcer on a web site video proclaiming, "What a day for Andy LaRoche!" The caption underneath the video talked about how the player had scored his second homerun of the day. But I had not come to the website looking for baseball stats. I had come searching for more information about how a gifted athlete had reached out to children with special needs. I had been alerted to LaRoche's generosity by Kurt Kondrich, a Pennsylvanian who is the proud father of Chloe, a little girl with Down syndrome who had captured LaRoche's heart. A recent edition of the Pirates Insider Magazine describes how LaRoche had invited Chloe and her brother Nolan to PNC Park for a day of practice hits and hanging out with Pirates players. According to the magazine, LaRoche has set a goal of making a difference in the lives of Down syndrome children, and invitations to the ball park are one way to make that happen. Full story at LifeNews.com
Encourage Friends to Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
