LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
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Current Headlines
• Senate Committee to Vote on Pro-Abortion Baucus Health Care Bill
• Obama Has Only Read "A Decent Part" of Pro-Abortion Health Care Bills
• Planned Parenthood Used Underage Girls in Clinical Trials on Abortion
• Third Woman Rushed From Planned Parenthood After Botched Abortion
• Polling Data Sparks National Protest Against Abortion in Health Care
• Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg Skips Red Mass Over Abortion
• Obama Vatican Ambassador Details Priorities, Omits Abortion
• Study Claims Botched Abortions Cost $250 Million Annually
• Canadian Parliament Begins Debate on Bill to Legalize Assisted Suicide
• Virginia Gov Candidate Deeds Attacks Pro-Life McDonnell on Abortion
• Ohio Poll Shows Majority Oppose Abortion, Concerned About Rationing
• Chicago City Council's Abortion Bubble Zone Draws ACLU Opposition
• Pro-Life Television Show "Facing Life Head-On" Wins Awards
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Senate Committee to Vote on Pro-Abortion Baucus Health Care Bill This Week
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- After rejecting pro-life amendments last week that would have ensured the Baucus health care bill does not fund abortions and to protect the conscience rights of medical professionals, the Senate Finance Committee plans to vote on the legislation later this week. The vote had been expected as early as Tuesday but the panel's chairman and the sponsor of the measure, pro-abortion Sen. Max Baucus, promised members of the committee that a vote would not occur until it received a financial analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office. The finance panel is the last of five Congressional committees -- two in the Senate and three in the House -- to approve different health care bills. Each of them, including the Kennedy measure in the Senate and the three versions of HR 3200 in the House, include massive abortion funding and mandates. Democrats control the Senate Finance Committee on a 13-10 vote and the Baucus bill is expected to mostly receive a party-line vote with a few exceptions. Senator Olympia Snowe, a pro-abortion Maine Republican, could join Democrats in voting for the Baucus measure. Pro-abortion Sens. Ron Wyden and John Rockefeller, of Oregon and West Virginia, have not endorsed the measure because they want the government-run health care option added to it. That would open the Baucus bill up to even more abortion funding. Full story at LifeNews.com
Obama Has Only Read "A Decent Part" of the Pro-Abortion Health Care Bills
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In recent weeks and months there has been some controversy about whether members of Congress will actually read the pro-abortion health care bills they are considering. Yesterday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs gave a telling answer about whether the president has read them. "I was just wondering, before the President signs it will he himself read it or rely on staff to read the text of the bill?" a reporter asked during Monday's press briefing. "Well, I think he's read a decent part of the legislation that's been bandied around right now," Gibbs responded. The comment comes after Gibbs joked about Obama reading the bill when he was asked a similar question in August. "I don't know what his vacation plans are currently," said Gibbs at the time. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Used Underage Girls in Clinical Trials Pushing Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new report from a Planned Parenthood watchdog group finds the abortion business used underage girls in at least 10 clinical trials over the last two decades to push abortion, birth control, and STD testing. The news comes at a time when Planned Parenthood is facing criticism for videos showing it ignoring potential statutory abuse cases. Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League and the head of its STOPP Planned Parenthood effort, released the details in a statement to LifeNews.com. Twenty-eight Planned Parenthood affiliates have been involved in 33 clinical trials, some of which received government funds, and 10 of them involved girls as young as 13 years of age. That number represents one-third of all clinical trials surveyed in the STOPP report. Two of the 33 trials ended in the 1990s, while the remaining 31 were conducted within the last seven years and some of them are ongoing. Full story at LifeNews.com
Third Woman Rushed From California Planned Parenthood After Botched Abortion
Riverside, CA (LifeNews.com) -- A third woman in as many weeks was recently rushed to a local hospital from a southern California Planned Parenthood abortion center after an apparent botched abortion required urgent medical care. The latest incident occurred on Saturday morning and was photographed by local pro-life advocates. Two women were hospitalized in recent weeks from a Planned Parenthood center in Orange, California after alleged botched abortions. In this new incident, local pro-life advocates say a fire truck arrived at the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Riverside, California, followed by an ambulance with lights on and sirens blaring. Witnesses observed a female patient taken from the building on a gurney. She was loaded into the awaiting ambulance, which sped away without the use of lights or sirens. Operation Rescue president Troy Newman, who has been in contact with the pro-life advocates in southern California, says the woman's condition is unknown. Full story at LifeNews.com
Polling Data Sparks National Protest Against Tax-Funded Abortions in Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Several pro-life groups are sponsoring a new grassroots campaign called "I Am 71" to draw attention to the taxpayer-funding of abortions found in the various health care bills in Congress. The campaign is meant to highlight a Zogby poll showing 71 percent of Americans don't want tax-funded abortions. The 71 percent number comes from a poll conducted by Zogby International and The O'Leary Report in December 2008. The poll surveyed 2,481 American voters and had a margin-of-error of plus-or-minus two percentage points. It asked: "President-elect Obama has proposed a bill that would force many employers to provide health insurance to their employees. Do you believe that this bill should also require insurance plans to pay for abortions when the abortions are performed as a method of birth control?" A strong majority of Americans -- 71 percent -- said abortion coverage should not be included in such a bill, while only 20 percent said yes to abortion coverage. Seventy percent of Independent voters said no, as did a majority of Democratic voters, 53 percent. Even 53 percent of those who voted for President Obama just one month prior to the poll being conducted said no to abortion coverage. Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Catholic "Red Mass" is a tradition for members of the Supreme Court on the Sunday before they open their session every October. Six justices found a way to attend the event -- and Justice Clarence Thomas would have come if not for a wedding -- but not pro-abortion Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Red Mass has been celebrated since 1953 at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington. Named for the red vestments the celebrants wear, the service is meant to invoke guidance from God for the jurists to make good decisions. Ginsburg once attended the traditional event but quit going to it because of abortion. She once confessed to author Abigail Pogrebin in her mid-2000s book "Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish" that she no longer attends because she doesn't want to be reminded of how she supports abortion. "Before every session, there's a Red Mass," Ginsburg said. "And the justices get invitations from the cardinal to attend that. And a good number of the justices show up every year. I went one year, and I will never go again, because this sermon was outrageously anti-abortion." Full story at LifeNews.com| It's for young women and them only. |
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Obama Vatican Ambassador Details Priorities Before Pope Mtg, Omits Abortion
The Vatican (LifeNews.com) -- Miguel Diaz, the new Vatican ambassador for the administration of pro-abortion President Barack Obama, detailed his priorities in an interview shortly before meeting Pope Benedict XVI on Friday. Abortion and pro-life issues didn't make the list even though the Pope urged Diaz to promote the pro-life ethic. The Holy See, on Friday, accepted Diaz' letters of credence as U.S. ambassador. Afterwards, Diaz spoke with Vatican Radio prior to meeting with the leader of the Catholic Church. Diaz said he would promote policies "common to our interests with respect to the Holy See and the United States." They included rejection of religion as a means of violence, opposing terrorism, racial issues, and combating AIDS/HIV and human trafficking. Though those are also important issues, reducing or opposing abortions failed to make Diaz's list. Full story at LifeNews.com
Study Claims Botched Abortions Cost $250 Million Annually in Medical Costs
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- A new study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the former research arm of the Planned Parenthood abortion business, suggests failed abortions in nations in Africa and Latin America cost approximately $250 million in follow-up medical costs for women. The AGI study only surveys nations where abortions are illegal and does not provide any cost-comparisons for nations where abortions are legal. The study also fails to note that the illegal abortions are done by abortion centers and abortion practitioners that would continue injuring women in failed abortions were the abortions legalized. AGI indicates that 19 million women around the world each year have illegal abortions and it claims 5 million of those women suffer post-abortion complications, though it relies on disputed WHO figures for the estimate. Based on those figures, and estimates that the average woman who suffers from a botched abortion requires about $83-$94 in followup medical care, AGI says the complications ultimately cost $227–280 million each year. Full story at LifeNews.com
Canadian Parliament Begins Debate on Bill C-384 to Legalize Assisted Suicide
Ottawa, Canada (LifeNews.com) -- The Canadian Parliament last week began debate on Bill C-384 that would legalize assisted suicide in Canada. On October 2, the measure, received its first hour of debate after Québécois MP Francine Lalonde won a higher number in the lottery for private members bills. Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has been one of the leaders in trying to defeat the bill and he provided LifeNews.com an update today on the situation. Since May, when Lalonde introduced the legislation, "many groups and individuals have helped the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition defeat C-384 by sending Stop Bill C-384 postcards, writing hand-written letters, or meeting with their member of Parliament," he said. Parliament has received about 10,000 postcards thus far, he confirmed to LifeNews.com. "We now need to inundate MPs with letters opposing Bill C-384," he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Virginia Governor Candidate Deeds Attacks Pro-Life McDonnell on Abortion Again
Richmond, VA (LifeNews.com) -- With pro-life Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell's lead in the polls remaining strong, pro-abortion candidate Creigh Deeds is attacking him again on the issue of abortion. As he has before, Deeds is relying on comments McDonnell made at a recent National Right to Life convention. The ad shows footage of McDonnell speaking to the annual NRLC convention last year. "These elections matter because elections determine who's got the power, and who's going to make the decisions," McDonnell told more than 1,000 pro-life advocates. "Whether or not they are pro-life or not will make an eternal difference in the statutes and in the legislatures all over this country." "Those policy makers with the votes determine whether or not you're going to have a pro-life state where protections are given to the unborn consistent with federal court decisions, or whether you are going to have a different kind of policy," the pro-life former Virginia attorney general explained. Full story at LifeNews.com
Ohio Poll Shows Majority Oppose Abortion, Concerned About Health Care Rationing
Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll shows a majority of Ohio residents oppose abortion and a sizable number are concerned about rationing in health care. Ohio Right to Life is the sponsor of the poll, which is the second installment of its Ohio Cultural Index, which measures Ohio attitudes on cultural issues. The pro-life group says the highly charged partisan political environment in Washington and Columbus over the last three months has taken a negative toll on how Ohioans view their culture. Ohio Right to Life found Ohioans are increasingly concerned about how bureaucratic health care decisions, public education, government policies and their own choices impact the quality of life for their families. The poll found 52% oppose abortion, 57% believe abortion has a negative effect on women who have them, and 55% oppose use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
Chicago City Council's Proposed Abortion Bubble Zone Draws ACLU Opposition
Chicago, IL (LifeNews.com) -- The Chicago City Council's proposal for an 8-foot bubble zone around abortion centers is such an infringement on the free speech rights of pro-life advocates that the ACLU is opposing it. The pro-abortion legal group is on the other side of the Planned Parenthood abortion business in a vote expected tomorrow.
The Chicago bubble zone would prohibit pro-life people from coming within eight feet of any person approaching an abortion business in the city. It imposes a $500 fine for simply trying to talk to a woman about abortion as she walks to the entrance of the abortion facility. While pro-life groups are strongly opposed to the measure and are asking members of the city council to vote against it, the ACLU of Illinoiss has issued a statement that makes clear that the Chicago Council "must honor the Constitution and tolerate the widest amount of free speech in public ways." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Television Show "Facing Life Head-On" Wins Telly and Accolade Awards
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The highly-regarded television show "Facing Life Head On" has earned two prestigious awards in television; the Telly and Accolade awards. This weekly, half-hour TV program, sponsored by Life Issues Institute and available to well over 100-million households, presents compelling pro-life messages. Now, it has achieved international acclaim from professionals in the field of television production. "We're truly honored by both of these prestigious awards," Brad Mattes, the host and producer of the show, told LifeNews.com. Full story at LifeNews.com
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