LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Saturday, November 14, 2009
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Current Headlines
• Planned Parenthood Organizing December 2 Pro-Abortion Funding Lobbying Day
• Pro-Life Group Asks Military to Charge Hasan for Killing Unborn Baby at Fort Hood
• Members of Congress Claim Back Alley Abortions Will Happen Without Tax Funds
• House Health Care Legislation Still Has End-of-Life, Assisted Suicide Problems
• Republican Party Drops Employee Insurance Plan Allowing Rare Abortion Coverage
• Planned Parenthood Director Who Quit Now Rejected by Episcopalian Church
• Abortion Practitioner Hodari in Michigan Selling All Abortion Centers, Divorcing
• Taxpayers Forced to Fund Security Cameras at LeRoy Carhart's Abortion Business
• Pro-Abortion Groups Threaten to Yank Election Funding for Pro-Stupak Lawmakers
• 2009 a Mixed Bag For Pro-Lifers on Bioethics Issues Like Cloning, Stem Cells
• Obama Administration Ignored Second Tip on Scott Roeder Harming George Tiller
• Nevada Abortion Advocates File Lawsuit to Stop Signatures for Personhood Amdt
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Planned Parenthood Organizing December 2 Pro-Abortion Funding Lobbying Day
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Top pro-abortion groups are planning a national lobbying day for December 2nd that will see thousands of angry abortion activists filling the halls of the House and Senate asking lawmakers to force Americans to pay for abortions under the government-run health care bills.Planned Parenthood is leading the call for the lobbying day and other pro-abortion groups are jumping on board.
Preparations for the lobbying day come as some pro-life leaders privately admit to LifeNews.com that they are concerned the cohesive pro-life lobbying campaign prior to the Stupak amendment has been fractured in a divide on strategy.
That could open the door for a revitalized pro-abortion movement -- angry and upset that the Stupak amendment to stop abortion funding received a strong bipartisan vote -- to push abortion funding and the health care bill through the Senate as well.
"Please join us to lobby the Senate for health care reform that ensures women's access to reproductive health care," Planned Parenthood said in initial message promoting the lobbying day.
Cecile Richards followed up the announcement late Friday afternoon with an email LifeNews.com obtained urging abortion advocates to attend. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Group Asks Military to Charge Hasan for Killing Unborn Baby at Fort Hood
Fort Hood, TX (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life legal group has asked the U.S. military to charge Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan with the unlawful killing of an unborn child in the shooting that recently took place at the Fort Hood military base. The initial 13 murder charges do not include one for the death of an unborn child, the fourteenth victim.
Hasan is suspected of killing 12 soldiers and one civilian in last Thursday's shooting and he was shot and wounded by two police officers at the base. Yesterday, military officials charged him in those deaths and U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey said additional charges may be filed -- which the Alliance Defense Fund hopes is the case.
ADF issued a letter Thursday to the Office of Staff Judge Advocate at Fort Hood, Texas, urging it to enforce the law by bringing the fourteenth charge. It wants Hasan to be held responsible for killing both Francheska Velez and her unborn child.
"All murder victims--born and pre-born--deserve equal justice," ADF senior legal counsel Steven Aden told LifeNews.com on Thursday. "Women who volunteer to protect our country deserve to know that the government will enforce the laws that protect their children."
The ADF letter urges enforcement of Article 119a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which makes it a crime for anyone "to cause the death...of a child, who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place" regardless of whether the killer intended to kill the child. Full story at LifeNews.com
Members of Congress Claim Back Alley Abortions Will Happen Without Tax Funds
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- To hear pro-abortion members of Congress tell the story last weekend, women will head to the back alleys to have abortions unless they can get taxpayer funding for their abortions. Those were the unfounded claims presented during the House debate on the Stupak amendment.
Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, said during the debate, "This amendment takes us one step back to those dark days of back-alley abortions" Jane Harmon, another California Democrat, added, "I am old enough to remember the days of back alley abortions. Some women I know had them. I cannot bear the idea that the 111th Congress would restore that horror."
Then, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, speaking on the Senate floor in the days after the Stupak amendment was adopted, also claimed it would force women to "return to back-alley providers."
Never mind that the Guttmacher Institute, the former Planned Parenthood research affiliate that still supports legalized abortion, indicates only 13 percent of women get their abortions paid for with insurance funds.
Never mind that the Hyde amendment, prohibiting direct federal taxpayer funding for abortions through the Medicaid program, has been in place since the 1970s without any evidence of women resorting to self-administered abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
House Health Care Legislation Still Has End-of-Life, Assisted Suicide Problems
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Members of Congress may have added a measure to stop abortion funding in the House version of the government-run health care bill, but the legislation still presents troubles for pro-life advocates. As several pro-life groups noted after the vote, the Family Research Council says they remain.
When the House debated the health care bill, pro-life groups wanted a vote on the Stupak amendment to stop abortion funding but they also sought a vote on an amendments to remove the rationing and assisted suicide concerns.
Thanks to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats who led the House Rules Committee, they didn't get them.
As a result, as FRC president Tony Perkins tells LifeNews.com today, "H.R. 3962 promises to deliver the grim reaper to any patient signed up for the government health plan."
"In the final bill, Pelosi decided to strip the broader protective language that was adopted in the Energy and Commerce Committee, which means that H.R. 3962 will mandate the distribution of end-of-life materials about assisted suicide options in Oregon and Washington," he explained. Full story at LifeNews.com
Republican Party Drops Employee Insurance Plan Allowing Rare Abortion Coverage
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With members of its party unanimously opposing abortion funding in the government-run health care bill in the House, the national Republican Party has moved to drop an employee insurance plan that allows coverage of abortion.
The news web site Politico uncovered the aspect of the plan in a report issues late Thursday showing the Republican National Committee insurance plan paid for abortions.
Today, GOP chairman Michael Steele, himself a pro-life former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, said the Republican Party would remove the abortion coverage from its employee insurance plan, currently offered thorough Cigna.
"Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose," Steele said in a statement. "I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled."
RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho told Politico on Thursday that the current insurance policy has been in place since 1991 "and we are taking steps to address the issue." Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Director Who Quit Now Rejected by Episcopalian Church
Bryan, TX (LifeNews.com) -- The religious denominations that embrace abortion do so supposedly because they are tolerant and welcoming of people who disagree on issues like abortion. Yet, that is not proving to be the case for Abby Johnson, the former Planned parenthood director who quit after converting to the pro-life perspective.
Johnson, quit her position last month as the director of a local abortion business after seeing an ultrasound of an abortion procedure. Her October decision has drawn national attention, exposed how Planned Parenthood does abortions for significant profit, and saw the abortion business fail to silence her now that she has resigned.
Johnson now faces a battle of a different kind -- getting her local Episcolalian Church to accept her new status as a pro-life person.
"Now that I have taken this stand, some of the people there are not accepting of that," she told The Washington Times today.
"People have told me they disagree with my choice. One of the things I've been told is that as Episcopalians, we embrace our differences and disagreements. While I agree with that, I am not sure I can go to a place where I don't feel I am welcome," she said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortion Practitioner Hodari in Michigan Selling All Abortion Centers, Divorcing
Livonia, MI (LifeNews.com) -- There is more good news out of Michigan, as pro-life advocates say embattled abortion practitioner Albert Hodari has put more of his abortion centers up for sale. As LifeNews.com reported this week, Hodari, who has killed at least two women in botched abortions, put a for sale sign on his Flint, Michigan center.
No, the pro-life group Operation Rescue says Hodari's "going out of business" sale continues with for sale signs in front of three of his abortion centers in Livonia Southgate and Flint.
"It is believed that every commercial property Hodari owns is on the market, along with his collection of expensive classic cars," the group says.
Meanwhile, Hodari's wife Nancy filed for divorce yesterday and that may be contributing to his decision to liquidate his abortion business. Local pro-life advocate Judy Climer of Flint Right to Life confirmed this and Operation rescue explained more.
"The Hodari's have had a troubled marriage. Nancy filed for divorce in 2006, but dropped her effort to dissolve their marriage a few months later," it said. "Nancy identifies herself as an attorney, business owner, and fitness instructor. The Hodari's shared a sprawling mansion in an exclusive Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, neighborhood." Full story at LifeNews.com
Taxpayers Forced to Fund Security Cameras at LeRoy Carhart's Abortion Business
Bellevue, NE (LifeNews.com) -- Local taxpayers are now forced to pay for security cameras at an abortion center in this Omaha suburb. The abortion center is the one run by LeRoy Carhart, the embattled abortion practitioner who is under investigation by the state for shoddy medical practices and wants to open a late-term abortion center in Kansas.
The police department in Bellevue has announced that the city now pays nearly $1,000 to maintain security cameras at Carhart's dilapidated abortion facility.
Operation Rescue, which informed LifeNews.com today of the setup, is upset that is taken directly from the taxpayer coffers to spy on peaceful pro-life supporters who help women outside find positive abortion alternatives.
"It is outrageous, at a time when Congress is in an uproar fighting abortion lobby efforts to use tax money to bail out failing abortion clinics, that the City of Bellevue would arbitrarily decide to force taxpayers to subsidize Carhart's abortion business," OR president Troy Newman said. "If Carhart wants extra security, he should have to pay for it himself, just like everybody else," Newman added.
Bellevue police Chief John W. Stacey attempted to justify the $970 per month tax-funded camera system by telling local pro-life advocates it was "handy" to have it at the center in case there is an altercation. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: make your views known on the use of taxpayer funds to pay for security cameras at the abortion center by contacting Chief of Police John W. Stacey at (402) 293-3105 or john.stacey@bellevue.net
Pro-Abortion Groups Threaten to Yank Election Funding for Pro-Stupak Lawmakers
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Members of Congress voted to protect the pocketbooks of taxpayers from having the government use them as a funding source for abortions. But for the pro-abortion lawmakers who supported the Stupak amendment to the health care bill, their own pocketbooks may be in jeopardy.
That's because leading pro-abortion groups Planned Parenthood and NARAL are threatening to revoke campaign funding for two pro-abortion lawmakers who backed the amendment. Reps. Ciro Rodriguez and Harry Teague, Democrats from Texas and New Mexico, have received campaign financing from the abortion advocacy groups.
But NARAL political director Elizabeth Shipp is upset and tells The Hill that they will pay a price if they don't shape up the next time the House votes on the bill, which may or may not include the amendment.
"We have reached out to these members and will inform them that there will be consequences for not standing with us on this vote," Shipp said. Full story at LifeNews.com
2009 a Mixed Bag For Pro-Lifers on Bioethics Issues Like Cloning, Stem Cells
by Wesley J. Smith
Each year, the CBC asks me to predict what will happen in bioethics/biotechnology in the coming year. In November 2008, I saw a "dark year" coming, caused by what I perceived to be a "cultural earthquake" caused by the election of President Obama and the legalization of assisted suicide in Washington State. Indeed, I worried that "the people now in power have views that are inimical to the sanctity and equality of human life."
I still believe that is true. But I underestimated the resiliency and determination of those who oppose the development of what is sometimes called a culture of death. Thus, the year didn't go nearly as badly as I feared. Full story at LifeNews.com
Obama Administration Ignored Second Tip on Scott Roeder Harming George Tiller
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- The Obama administration has already come under fire for ignoring one tip about Scott Roeder, the alleged shooter of late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller. Now, new reports indicate the FBI also ignored a letter sent by Roeder relatives warning he may engage in a violent action.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation says it received a letter more than a month before Tiller was shot and killed warning that he would harm an abortion practitioner.
FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton confirmed to the Associated Press that Mark Archer, who is fighting with his wife for custody over a child that Roeder fathered, sent a letter detailing his concerns. Patton says the agency found no credible threat at the time.
This is the second time the Obama administration has faced questions about not doing more to stop the shooting. Full story at LifeNews.com
Nevada Abortion Advocates File Lawsuit to Stop Signatures for Personhood Amdt
Carson City, NV (LifeNews.com) -- Abortion advocates in Nevada have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop pro-life advocates who want to gather signatures to put a personhood measure on the ballot. Richard Ziser, a longtime pro-life activist in Nevada is launching a signature drive to get the measure on the 2010 and 2012 statewide election ballots.
The ACLU and Planned Parenthood filed lawsuits on Thursday claiming the measure misleads state voters by misrepresenting the outcome if it is approved.
"It utterly fails not only to mention it will ban all abortions-- even in the case of rape and incest-- that it will prevent much fertility treatment and birth control," Lee Rowland of the ACLU of Nevada told the Reno newspaper.
Rowland told the paper the measure "conflicts with a prior vote of the Nevada electorate and it conflicts with the U.S. Supreme Court" and that "voters need to understand what a monumental change they would be making should they vote for this initiative."
Ziser's measure would add one sentence to the state constitution saying "In the great state of Nevada, the term 'person' applies to every human being." The pro-abortion groups say the five-paragraph description of the measure does not say that the end result would ban abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
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