LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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Current Headlines
• Majority of Americans Disagree With Nobel Prize for Pro-Abortion Obama
• Director of 40 Days for Life Complains re Obama's Pro-Abortion Volunteer Site
• Pro-Life Students Speak Up for Unborn, Prevent Friends' Abortions
• Polling Data Shows Sarah Palin Trails Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney for 2012
• Pro-Abortion Group NARAL Attacks Pro-Life Democrat Stupak on Health Care
• Guttmacher Study Casts Doubt on Contraception Use Reducing Abortions
• Assisted Suicide Advocates Seek to Euthanize The Rule of Law in Connecticut
• Care Net Launches National Campaign to Find Pregnancy Center Volunteers
• New York Candidate Scozzafava Calls Cops on Reporter Asking About Abortion
• Missouri Voters Can Sign Petitions to Vote on Abortion, Stem Cells in 2010
• Catholic University of San Francisco Hosts Head of Pro-Abortion Amnesty Intl
• Arizona Judge Suggests Pro-Life Group Settle Case With Arizona State U
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Majority of Americans Disagree With Nobel Prize for Pro-Abortion Barack Obama
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new CNN poll finds the majority of Americans disagree with giving pro-abortion President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. The survey also finds Obama hasn't done anything to merit the prize, for which his name was placed into nomination, at the earliest, just days after he took over the White House. The poll found 56 percent disapprove of Obama getting the award while just 42 percent say they think he should have received it. Asked if "Obama has accomplished enough so far to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize," a large 67 percent of Americans say they don't think so compared with just 32 percent agree. Yet, regardless of whether Obama should have received it or merited the prestigious award, some 70 percent of Americans said they're proud that an American president won it. The CNN poll also had other bad news for Obama. Americans approve of Obama's job performance thus far by a 55-43 percent margin, but that 12 percent positive approval rating at 55 percent clip are the second lowest of his presidency. The poll also found, but a 51-48 percent margin, Americans say they disagree with Obama "on the issues that matter most to you." Full story at LifeNews.com
Director of 40 Days for Life Complains About Obama's Pro-Abortion Volunteer Site
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The director of the 40 Days for Life grassroots pro-life campaign is not happy about the new volunteerism web site, Serve.gov, that the Obama administration has put together that promotes pro-abortion groups. The web page contains a few links to pregnancy center but many to abortion businesses. Last week, Obama announced the web site and the organizational partnerships. When typing in the keyword "health" and selecting "Houston," one listing promoted Planned Parenthood and its call for volunteers to make sure women with abortion appointments are not harassed by the peaceful and prayerful people involved in the 40 Days for Life effort to help women. That is disappointing to David Bereit, the national campaign director. "While that web site does include information about some pro-life organizations, I was more than a bit miffed to learn that one of the posted 'volunteer opportunities' comes from the Houston-based Planned Parenthood operation that runs the abortion facility in College Station," he said. The recruitment post asks young people to do "public service" work for the abortion business and pleads, "We need your help with a very simple but honorable job." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Students Ignore Ridicule, Speak Up for Unborn, Prevent Friends' Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Hundreds of thousands of students from thousands of schools around the world refused to speak today to protest abortion. As they silently stood up for the unborn with red tape on their mouths or red armbands they helped prevent at least 22 abortions on their friends and their babies. The Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity, a project of Stand True ministries, has grown since its inception years ago to find pro-life people from around the world participating. Last year Stand True heard back from participants about 59 girls who canceled their abortions on the day of the event due to the efforts of the students and the number now stands at 22 with the event ongoing and only initial reports in so far. "By refusing to speak the students create a huge buzz and abortion will be the most talked about subject on campus," said Bryan Kemper, president of the group, shared with LifeNews.com. "This generation is fed up with the senseless violence of abortion as is determined to bring an end the abortion holocaust." Many home-schooled students will also participate in the event by visiting local malls and other public areas to distribute flyers. One homeschool student shared her story about overcoming scorn and ridicule to stand up for the pro-life perspective. "I am homeschooled but I go to the local community college for credits. I had the tape on my mouth and clothes and bracelets on and wore almost all red," Shell Vargo said. "My teachers were all kind of upset but I think they got over it. It was weird to have everyone looking at me and ridiculing me but it was worth it." Full story at LifeNews.com
Polling Data Shows Sarah Palin Trails Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney for 2012
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Rasmussen Reports has released more details of its recent poll showing pro-life former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin trailing former governors Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination in 2012. The eventual GOP nominee will likely take on pro-abortion President Barack Obama. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's forthcoming autobiography has been at the top of the Amazon book charts for weeks and she still resonates with pro-life advocates. But the new Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveying finds Palin losing handily in face-to-face match-ups with her two likeliest challengers for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Although all of the candidates will compete together, the results of the one-on-one matchups show Palin is vulnerable. Among likely Republican primary voters, Palin now trails pro-life former Arkansas governor-turned-Fox-TV-host Mike Huckabee by 20 points -- 55% to 35%. When matched up against Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who ran as a pro-life candidate in 2008, Palin loses by 15 -- 52% to 37%. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Pro-Abortion Group NARAL Attacks Pro-Life Democrat Bart Stupak on Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Abortion advocates normally reserve their ammunition for attacks on pro-life Republicans and groups. They rarely focus their sights on pro-life Democrats, but they're now going after Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan because he is pressing for a vote to make sure the House health care bill doesn't fund abortions. Stupak is leading the battle in Congress on HR 3200 and against the Capps Amendment that pro-abortion lawmakers added to deceive the public into thinking abortions will not be funded. Because of his stalwart stance, NARAL has produced a new video attacking him that its president Nancy Keenan mailed to pro-abortion activists today. She accused Stupak of "carrying the right wing's water on this issue." "Stupak is ready to jeopardize the entire health-care reform bill to stand between women and their doctors," Keenan claims. Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new study by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute continues the claim that expanded use of contraception and birth control reduces abortions worldwide. Mainstream media outlets and writers like Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic are using the report to say pro-life advocates should push for contraception. Sullivan became the latest in a long line of commentators to criticize the pro-life movement for not being more contraceptive-friendly. But, Dr. Michael New, a University of Alabama political science professor, writes at National Review Online that Guttmacher's own study shows how contraception doesn't reduce the abortion numbers. "The link between abortion rates and access to contraception is not as clear as the Guttmacher report might indicate. Furthermore, Guttmacher's own research suggests that there is little reason to believe that contraception subsidies would do much to affect abortion rates," he explains. New says "there exists no consensus on the correlation between the availability of contraception and the incidence of abortion." "In fact, in 2003, Guttmacher released an article in 'International Family Planning Perspectives' that showed simultaneous increases in both contraceptive use and abortion rates in the United States, Cuba, Denmark, Netherlands, Singapore, and South Korea," New points out. Full story at LifeNews.comAssisted Suicide Advocates Seek to Euthanize The Rule of Law in Connecticut
by Wesley J. Smith
When is suicide, not really suicide? When assisted suicide advocates decide that promoting their agenda requires the deconstruction of accurate and descriptive language. It is one thing when ideological activists try to redefine terms to win a political debate. It is quite another when a judge does it by judicial fiat. But that is precisely what may happen in Connecticut. After advocates failed to legalize assisted suicide in the last legislative session, two Connecticut physicians -- aided by the assisted suicide advocacy group Compassion and Choices (formerly Hemlock Society) -- filed a lawsuit requesting a court order unilaterally changing the definition of suicide. When a doctor lethally prescribes an overdose of drugs to a terminally ill patient for the purpose of self killing, the lawsuit claims, it should not be legally considered a suicide, but rather, "aid in dying." Full story at LifeNews.com
Care Net Launches National Campaign to Find Pregnancy Center Volunteers
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With the economy causing more women to require the services of pregnancy centers, the burdens on centers are increasing. As a result, they are finding they need an increase in the number of volunteers and the national affiliate group Care Net is launching a new campaign to make that happen. This fall, Care Net, a national network of more than 1,170 pregnancy centers, is launching the "Inspire Life" campaign. This is a new web- based effort to counter the changing political climate by energizing the pro-life movement and raising up more volunteers for local pregnancy centers. Care Net president Melinda Delahoyde says the effort is also a recognition of how polling data shows Americans are increasingly pro-life and she wants to get recent pro-life converts involved in helping women find abortion alternatives. "Something exciting is happening in America when, despite the political changes in Washington, more people are now identifying themselves as 'pro-life,'" she told LifeNews.com. "The problem is that not everyone knows how they can get involved. The goal of the Inspire Life campaign is to point individuals to the compassionate, outreach work of pregnancy centers." Full story at LifeNews.com
New York Candidate Scozzafava Calls Cops on Reporter Asking About Abortion
Albany, NY (LifeNews.com) -- The New York special election for Congress has been heating up as pro-life advocates support a third-party candidate who is taking on a pro-abortion Democrat and pro-abortion Republican Dede Scozzafava. Now, news has surfaced that Scozzafava called the cops on a reporter asking her about abortion. Weekly Standard reporter John McCormack tells of how he questioned Scozzafava after a political dinner last night. "I spotted Scozzafava later as she was walking to the parking lot, and asked her, 'Assemblywoman, do you believe that the health-care bill should exclude coverage for abortion?'" McCormack recounts. "She didn't reply. I asked her twice more. Silence," he wrote. "After she got into her car, I went to my car and fired up my laptop to report the evening's events," McCormack said. "Minutes later a police car drove into the parking lot with its lights flashing. Officer Grolman informed me that she was called because 'there was a little bit of an uncomfortable situation' and then took down my name, date of birth, and address. Full story at LifeNews.com
Missouri Voters Can Sign Petitions to Vote on Abortion, Stem Cell Research in 2010
Jefferson City, MO (LifeNews.com) -- With approval from the Missouri Secretary of State's office this week, pro-life advocates who are supporting ballot measures on abortion and stem cell research can move ahead to gather signatures. They need signatures from enough state residents to be able to get the amendments on the 2010 ballot. The first initiative, called the Missouri Taxpayer Protection Amendment, is submitted by a pro-life group named Missouri Roundtable For Life. The amendment would stop the state from using taxpayer dollars to finance abortion and human cloning. It "protects Missourian's hard-earned tax dollars" from being used for abortions not medically necessary to save the life of the mother, abortion services, human cloning and other controversial human research." The second petition, filed by Gregory Thompson, would change the constitutional definition of "person" to be "from the beginning of biological development." The personhood amendment would likely challenge Roe v. Wade and make abortion and bioethics practices like human cloning and embryonic stem cell research illegal. It would almost certainly be challenged by abortion advocates in court. Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic University of San Francisco Hosts Head of Pro-Abortion Amnesty International
San Francisco, CA (LifeNews.com) -- The University of San Francisco, a Catholic educational institution, will host an event with the head of Amnesty International, even though the human rights group changed its position in 2007 to support abortions. The move is coming under fire from a pro-life group that monitors Catholic colleges. On October 27, the Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Research at the Jesuit university will host a book signing and panel discussion featuring Irene Khan. She has been the secretary general of Amnesty International and it was under Khan's leadership that the organization changed its official position on abortion from neutrality to support for abortion. Patrick Reilly, the president of the Cardinal Newman Society, condemned the decision. "The Catholic Church has made it abundantly clear that the decision of Amnesty International to support abortion is a direct betrayal of its own mission in service of human rights," he told LifeNews.com today. "How sad it is that USF is degrading its Catholic identity by giving a platform to the head of this once-admirable, but now morally compromised organization." Full story at LifeNews.com
Arizona Judge Suggests Pro-Life Group Settle Case With Arizona State University
Tucson, AZ (LifeNews.com) -- An Arizona judge has suggested that a pro-life student group settle its free speech case with Arizona State University. The case, ASU Students for Life v. Crow, deals extensively with the rights a university has to place insurance limits on off-campus groups. Members of the ASU Students for Life attempted in December 2005 to reserve several speech zones on campus to display a pro-life exhibit, according to the Alliance Defense Fund, which has been defending ASU Students for Life. ASU granted the group only one zone and required the group to show proof of insurance, an order not found in written policy. For a subsequent event in April 2006, ASU Students for Life was again required to obtain insurance even though this event only involved sitting at a table on campus and passing out literature. ASU Students for Life argues ASU officials discriminated against it and ASU attorneys say the university has implemented and then modified a written policy that loosens the requirements since the incident. Full story at LifeNews.com
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