LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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Current Headlines
• First Senate Vote on Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill Pushed to Late This Week
• Senate Vote on Pro-Abortion Obama Pick Hamilton Tues if Filibuster Stopped
• Speaker Pelosi Complains About Abortion Funding Ban Killing Health Care Bill
• Sarah Palin on Oprah: Not Focusing on 2012, Talks Daughter's Pregnancy
• Activists Sending Coat Hangers to Congress for Abortion in Health Care
• President Obama Cares More About Funding Abortions Than Health Care
• MSNBC Accuses Pro-Life Advocate of Lying About Abortion in Health Care
• The Population Control Movement Struggles to Stay Relevant
• British Govt Sues Itself to Hide Number of Abortions on Disabled Babies
• Britain Doctor Gets Six Years for Poisoning Ex-Lover to Cause Abortion
• McGill U. Student Govt Suspends Club Status of Campus Pro-Life Group
• New Jersey Student Stopped From Joining National Event Against Abortion
• Chicago Pro-Lifers Protest at Planned Parenthood, Bubble Zone Law Starts
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First Senate Vote on Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill Pushed Back to Late This Week
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The first vote on the Senate version of the government-run health care bill, which is expected to include massive abortion funding, has been pushed back to later in the week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will need 60 votes for his Motion to Proceed, which will begin the health care debate in the Senate.
The Motion to Proceed is needed to proceed with consideration of the Senate bill, which will be substituted for the House version as soon as the motion as approved.
Reid must start with the House bill for technical reasons since he has failed to craft a Senate bill yet.
Sen. Tom Harkin, an abortion advocate whose committee adopted one of two Senate health care bills that funds abortions and that Reid will merge into one final bill, which has yet to be unveiled, predicted Reid will get his 60 votes. However, instead of a Tuesday vote, Harkin said the motion would be pushed back to Thursday or Friday.
As a result, Harkin said senators will not begin considering amendments to the health care bill until lawmakers return from the Thanksgiving recess next week. When they do finally vote, they will likely consider an amendment similar to the Stupak amendment in the House that would de-fund virtually all abortions under the bill. Full story at LifeNews.com
Senate to Vote on Pro-Abortion Obama Pick Hamilton Tuesday if Filibuster Stopped
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Senate will hold a vote Tuesday on the nomination of pro-abortion federal judge David Hamilton to become an appeals court judge. But that won't happen if pro-life Sen. Jeff Sessions is successful in his filibuster of President Barack Obama's first judicial pick.
Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, will try to block the vote as a means of reminding Democrats they were wrong to block so many of President Bush's nominees. "I think I will support not going forward," Sessions told reporters.
He said today that, normally, senators do not filibuster judicial nominees but he said the "rule has changed" and pointed to how Democrats manipulated Senate rules to prevent votes on several of Bush's judges.
Hamilton has come under fire for turning back an informed consent law that would help women know the dangers of and alternatives to an abortion.
"I believe strongly that a judge takes that oath to be impartial to serve under the constitution and activism, as I define the phrase, is when a judge allows their personal view to override their commitment to the law," Sessions said. Hamilton's pro-abortion position presents an "extraordinary" circumstance, he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact your members of the Senate and express your opposition to Hamilton's nomination and support for the filibuster. You can find contact information for any senator at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Speaker Nancy Pelosi Complains About Abortion Funding Ban Killing Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a Friday speech, Speaker Nancy Pelosi revisited the abortion funding battle that took place in the House before debate on the government-run health care bill. She complained that pro-life advocates who want to stop abortion funding in health care really just want to defeat the legislation itself.
Pelosi claimed opponents of abortion funding were attempting to use the vote on the Stupak amendment as an excuse to defeat the government-run health care measure. "This is not a bill about abortion," Pelosi said. "This is legislation about health care and we have to keep it centered there."
"There are some who do not support health care reform who want to use this issue to eclipse all of the other wonderful things that are in our bill," she added.
Pelosi also responded to pro-abortion critics who complain she should have never allowed the Stupak amendment to receive a vote, something she did with the hopes of getting enough votes for the bill itself.
According to a Politico report, she said that Republicans had planned to introduce the Stupak amendment as a substitute "motion to recommit" which would have added the Stupak language to the bill and sent the measure back to committee -- which is something she didn't want to have happen.
She also didn't want pro-life Republican lawmakers to control the abortion and health care debate, calling it "very destructive" and something that could have defeated the entire bill. Full story at LifeNews.com
Sarah Palin on Oprah: Not Focusing on 2012, Discusses Daughter's Pregnancy
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Sarah Palin's much-ballyhooed appearance on Oprah finally took place on Monday. During her visit with the popular talk show host, Palin said she is not focusing on 2012 and she talked about the handling of her daughter's pregnancy during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Although she did not rule out a potential presidential bid against pro-abortion President Barack Obama, Palin gave the typical answer that gets off the topic while leaving the door ajar. Palin said a presidential run is "not on my radar screen right now."
"I am dealing with so many issues that are important to me," she said. "What I am seeing every day is that you don't need a title to be important."
Palin was criticized earlier this year for leaving her post as the governor of Alaska but she says she did so because she had no plans on running for re-election and wanted to not be limited as a "lame duck" governor.
The pro-life luminary, who recently drew thousands of supporters to a Wisconsin Right to Life event, said she wasn't to blame for the defeat of presidential hopeful John McCain and she wouldn't have been the reason he won either. "I wasn't to blame for losing the race, just like I wouldn't have gotten credit for winning the race," Palin said. The loss came because "our ticket represented what was perceived as the status quo." Full story at LifeNews.com
Activists Sending Coat Hangers to Congress for Abortion Funding in Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Borrowing a page from the playbook of pro-abortion members of Congress who recently used the myth of illegal back alley abortions to oppose the Stupak amendment, grassroots pro-abortion activists are sending coat hangers to Congress to urge taxpayer funding of abortion in the health care bills.
The pro-abortion activist group CREDO has a new campaign it has begun to send a message and coat hangers to the 20 typically pro-abortion Democratic members of Congress who voted for the Stupak amendment.
"Sign this petition and send a coat hanger to the 20 formerly pro-choice Democrats -- all men -- who voted to pass the Stupak Amendment," the group's web site says.
With a background image of a coat hanger displayed across the screen, CREDO adds that it is urging "Congressional leadership to do everything they can to ensure the health care bill that comes out of committee does not take us back to an era of coat hangers and back alley abortions." Full story at LifeNews.com
President Barack Obama Cares More About Funding Abortions Than Health Care
by Deal Hudson
Two days after the Stupak-Pitts Amendment passed, President Barack Obama made a statement that appeared to accept a ban on abortion funding in health care reform.
"I laid out a very simple principle, which is, this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill, and we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions." (Obama to ABC News, 11/10/09)
However, most people did not notice what he said next, perhaps because it was couched in language so cryptic and coded that they assumed it also affirmed the amendment.
"There needs to be some more work before we get to the point where we're not changing the status quo on abortion," Obama added. "And that's the goal." (Emphasis added.)
The innocent and guileless listener would assume the "status quo" was the ban of federal funding on abortion as represented by the Hyde Amendment. Not so, it turns out. Full story at LifeNews.com
MSNBC Accuses Pro-Life Advocate of Lying About Abortion Funding in Health Care
by Colleen Raezler
MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan has a habit of shouting down conservative guests, but he demonstrated a new low when he accused Cathy Ruse, senior fellow at the Family Research Council, of 'lying' about abortion in the health care debate during a Nov. 10 discussion with her and Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL.
"Cathy, you can't, just coming on television and lying is not journalism nor is it actually beneficial to the country," he told her.
Ratigan didn't stop there. Throughout the six minute segment, he told Ruse that if she would "come inside the domain of the facts, it makes for a more productive conversation."
He called her assertion that the Stupak amendment does not block women from access to abortion coverage through private insurance companies "nonsense," and stated that "it's more beneficial" for Americans "if the debate is had inside the domain of reality." Ratigan implored Ruse to "operate in the factual reality" and told her he was "going to ask her to go away" if she just wanted "to talk" instead of answering his questions. Full story at LifeNews.com
The Overpopulation-Population Control Movement Struggles to Stay Relevant
by Colin Mason
Like aging sixties radicals seeking to relive their glory days, the fear mongers at the Optimum Population Trust (OPT) are still trying to scare us with the specter of overpopulation. The trouble is, the world has moved on, even if they haven't.
The latest move by the British group—a major move to push contraception as the solution to global warming—has received a less than warm welcome from the global community.
This couldn't have been what OPT expected when it tried to capitalize on the obsession of leftist politicians with global warming. But their press release, put out in September of this year, struck many as more than a little self-serving. Perhaps it was that it hailed contraception as, of all things, "the latest in green technology."
Or perhaps it was the OPT funded the very study by the London School of Economics that it later hyped in its press release. Then there was the study itself, which made the rather strange claim that, "considered purely as a method of reducing future CO2 emissions, family planning is more cost-effective than leading low-carbon technologies." Full story at LifeNews.com
British Government Sues Itself to Hide Number of Abortions on Disabled Babies
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- In a bizarre move that will cost British taxpayers thousands of dollars, the government has sued itself in order to hide the number of abortions done on babies with very mild physical disabilities. The pro-life movement in England has been trying to force the government to reveal the number of those abortions. Last month, the Information Tribunal issued a landmark Freedom of Information Act ruling upholding a previous ruling by the Information Commissioner in favor of the Pro-Life Alliance's bid to disclose the abortion figures.
Now, the Department of Health is taking the Information Tribunal to court in an attempt to prevent the publication of stats on babies who are aborted, such as those who merely have a cleft palate.
Julia Millington of the Pro-Life Alliance told the London Telegraph last week, "It is a reprehensible waste of public money and court time to continue a fruitless battle to hide this information."
"A country, committed to transparency and openness, accepts and expects that the same principles apply to abortion as to other areas of healthcare practice. These statistics should be made public," she said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Britain Doctor Gets Six Years in Prison for Poisoning Ex-Lover to Cause Abortion
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- A British doctor who was found guilty of attempting to poison a former lover in a bid to cause her to have an abortion has been informed he will spend six years in prison. Edward Erin, a hospital consultant, attempted to poison Bella Prowse and force her to have an abortion without her knowledge.
Erin attempted to poison Prowse on three separate occasions in early February 2008, officials say.
They indicate he used the drugs methotrexate and diclofenac in the abortion bid and tried to administer them once at her home by putting the drugs in a tea he made for her.
In October, Erin, 44, of Kensington and a married father of two, was convicted as a jury found him guilty of two charges of attempting to poison Prowse in two of the three instances but did not convict him of attempting to cause an abortion without her consent.
During sentencing, according to the BBC, Judge Richard Hone called Erin "a liar, a cheat and a predator" and said he engaged in actions that "betrayed his profession and his family." Full story at LifeNews.com
McGill University Student Govt Suspends Club Status of Campus Pro-Life Group
Montreal, Canada (LifeNews.com) -- The McGill University student government is the latest to suspend official club status to a pro-life student organization on campus. The SSMU Council voted 16 to 7 in favor of suspending the status of the Choose Life club in the latest evidence of discrimination against pro-life students.
The Students Society of McGill University debated two resolutions considered two different motions -- one that would have revoked the club's status, that was defeated 11-12, and another to suspend it.
The motions come from student government members who claim the pro-life student group put forward false information on the risks and dangers associated with an abortion and wrongly exposed students to graphic images of babies who have been victimized by abortions and unborn children during fetal development. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Express your disagreement to the SSMU Council at http://ssmu.mcgill.ca
New Jersey Student Stopped From Joining National Pro-Life Event Against Abortion
Camden, NJ (LifeNews.com) -- A New Jersey student who was prevented from participating in a national event along with hundreds of thousands of her peers now has legal representation from a pro-life law group. The Alliance Defense Fund has come to the defense of the unnamed Camden student.
Attorneys with ADF filed a lawsuit Friday on behalf of a student against the Bridgeton Board of Education after officials at Bridgeton High School prohibited her from expressing her pro-life views.
The student hoped to participate in the 6th annual Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity, which took place this past October.
The student was prohibited from participating in the Stand True Ministries-sponsored event by distributing pro-life literature during non-instructional times. She also wanted to wear a red armband with the word "LIFE" written on it, but school officials told the student that nothing "religious" is allowed in public schools. Full story at LifeNews.com
Chicago Pro-Lifers to Protest at Planned Parenthood as Bubble Zone Law Starts
Chicago, IL (LifeNews.com) -- Local pro-life advocates in Chicago are undeterred by the stat of a new bubble zone law that threatens to rob them for their free speech rights outside abortion centers. The city council approved the new law last month that pro-life groups say targets those who provide women alternatives outside abortion centers.
The law establishes a 50-foot buffer outside the entrances of abortion centers and, within that zone, no one can come within an 8-foot zone to distribute literature, counsel or display a sign.
The law, which goes into effect Tuesday, subjects pro-life advocates to a $500 fine for merely talking to women considering abortion outside an abortion facility.
But, the Pro-Life Action League is not taking the new law lying down and plans a press conference and protest in front of the Planned Parenthood on 1200 N LaSalle on Tuesday morning. Full story at LifeNews.com
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