LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, November 19, 2009
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Current Headlines
• Reid's Senate Heath Care Bill Has No Stupak Amendment to Ban Abortion Funding
• CNN Poll: 61% Oppose Tax-Funded Abortions, 63% Oppose All or Most Abortions
• Pro-Abortion Leader Claims Pro-Life Democrats Will Oppose Stupak Next Time
• Woman's Lawsuit: She Yelled Stop, Practitioner Continued With Forced Abortion
• Catholic Bishops Vote to Reaffirm Food and Water for Coma, "Vegetative" Patients
• Pro-Life Democrats Group Says Nelson, Casey Still Support Abortion Funding Ban
• Catholic Bishops Discuss Helping Colleges Stick With Church's Pro-Life Teachings
• Baltimore City Council OKs Measure Targeting Pregnancy Centers on Abortion
• Louisiana Choose Life License Plate Raises Over $64K for Pregnancy Centers
• South Australia Parliament Rejects Measure to Allow Euthanasia, Pro-Lifers Happy
• Nebraska Group Releases 7,000 Petitions Against Embryonic Stem Cell Research
---> We still need your help in our battle against the pro-abortion web site RH Reality Check. The current traffic rank for LifeNews.com is 74,158 -- up from 77,138 when we first began our campaign. Their ranking of 69,716 has increased too, however, to 66,938. Please do what you can to spread the word about LifeNews.com so more pro-life people can be informed.
Reid's Senate Heath Care Bill Has No Stupak Amendment to Ban Abortion Funding
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has released the text of his new government-run health care bill to members of the Democratic Party. The new measure reportedly does not contain the Stupak amendment found in the House version that bans virtually all abortion funding.
The text of the legislation has not yet been made available to the public, but pro-life Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska said late Wednesday that it has language designed to prevent abortion funding. Whether or not that language will be verified by pro-life organizations as actually banning abortion funding under the public option or through the affordability credits is another story.
Nelson told The Hill, a magazine that covers Congress, that Reid assured him that his concerns about stopping taxpayer funding of abortions through the health care bill had been met. "What he said was, he thought the way in which he handled it would satisfy my concerns," Nelson said. Reid told him "it was a good faith effort to try to find a compromise."
Nelson emphasized that he had not yet seen the language and could not sign off on Reid's claims that abortion funding is truly prohibited, but he indicated the language would not be the same as the Stupak amendment added to the House bill on a lopsided bipartisan vote.
One Capital Hill source tells LifeNews.com that the reid bill reportedly contains the phony Capps amendment, a fake amendment opposed by all pro-life groups and the Catholic bishops that still leaves massive abortion funding in place.
To ensure the bill does not fund abortions, Sen. Orrin Hatch has said he will propose an amendment, although it will likely not have enough votes to pass. Full story at LifeNews.com
CNN Poll: 61% Oppose Tax-Funded Abortions, 63% Oppose All or Most Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As Congress remains embroiled in a massive debate over whether to force Americans to pay for abortions through the new government-run health care programs, a new CNN poll finds 61 percent oppose government funding abortions with public dollars.
The poll found six in ten Americans favor a ban on using federal funds for abortions, such as the Stupak amendment recently added to the health care bill in the House.
The new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released today shows 61 percent oppose taxpayer funding of abortions while just 37 percent are supportive.
The CNN poll goes further and finds that a majority of Americans, by a 51 to 45 percent margin, believe women should be required to use their own money to pay for abortions even if they have private health insurance and no government money is involved. They did not think health insurance should pay for abortions.
The poll also found 63 percent of Americans say abortion should be illegal in all cases or only in a few cases while just 36 percent say abortion should be legal in most cases or in all cases. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Abortion Leader Claims Pro-Life Democrats Will Oppose Stupak Next Time
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The House of Representatives will have one more chance to vote on a government-run health care bill and, when it does, the pro-abortion leader there says fewer pro-life Democrats will support the Stupak amendment that removes virtually all abortion funding from the bill.
The House recently voted for the health care bill, but not before adding the Stupak amendment on a lopsided bipartisan vote.
The attention now turns to the Senate, which is expected to approve a bill that contains massive abortion funding and no Stupak-type amendment cutting it off. That means the bills will go to a conference committee where lawmakers from both the House and Senate will merge the bills together into one final product.
Should that bill contain the Stupak amendment, pro-abortion Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat who leads abortion advocates, says she has enough votes to kill the bill or to support the bill if the Stupak language is removed. DeGette says that is because she has been able to convince some pro-life Democrats that the Stupak amendment goes further than the Hyde amendment by making it so women who want abortions won't be able to get their insurance policy to pay for them.
"I will say that I have spoken privately with several pro-life members about the Stupak amendment, and they acknowledged that the Stupak amendment goes far beyond where they thought it did," she told the web site TPM. "I think this bill still has a long way to go, and I will tell you that by the time the bill gets to the conference report, I think cooler heads will prevail," she added.
Her comments follow those of Stupak himself who said yesterday that he has anywhere from 10-30 members who would vote against the health care bill if the abortion funding ban is removed. Full story at LifeNews.com
Woman's Lawsuit: She Yelled Stop, Practitioner Continued With Forced Abortion
Flint, MI (LifeNews.com) -- Alberto Hodari owns six abortion centers in Michigan and LifeNews.com has delivered multiple reports on how he has three of them up for sale. A new lawsuit from a woman who says he forced her to have an abortion could explain why Hodari is quickly moving to divest himself of his abortion business.
Hodari, who has killed at least two women in botched abortions, put a for sale sign on his Flint, Michigan center last week and also on his facilities in Livonia and Southgate.
Today, Operation Rescue president Troy Newman provided LifeNews.com with more details of the lawsuit based on the records filed in court.
Bruce filed a suit against Hodari and his assistant, "Victor" on June 17 over an incident that took place at Hodari's Flint abortion center in April 2008. Bruce alleges that she went to Hodari's clinic seeking an abortion, but, before the abortion began, she changed her mind, decided against it and told Hodari. However, Hodari and his assistant forcibly restrained Bruce and held her down, according to her suit.
Bruce screamed "Stop, stop, I don't want this," but her mouth was covered to muffle her pleas while Hodari forced her to have the abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic Bishops Vote to Reaffirm Food and Water for Coma, "Vegetative" Patients
Baltimore, MD (LifeNews.com) -- The nation's Catholic bishops have agreed to strengthen the requirement that Catholic hospitals give food and water to comatose or patients in a so-called "vegetative" state. The move drew praise and support from the family of Terri Schiavo, whose former husband killed in her by removing her nutrition.
On an overwhelming vote, the bishops voted 219-4 to guide Catholic heath care facilities towards the moral responsibility to feed and hydrate such patients.
The bishops' Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Healthcare Services told caregivers at U.S. Catholic hospitals to use a presumption in favor of protecting human life.
The new rule incorporates a strong position maintaining that all patients in comatose or "vegetative" states receive food and water except those "close to inevitable death" from underlying conditions. The directives prohibit euthanasia and allow hospitals to follow Catholic pro-life teachings even if contrary to patient wishes.
The family of Terri Schiavo, through their Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, applauded the vote, saying it "affirmed the Catholic Church's two thousand year old teaching that all human life is sacred and deserving of our care, no matter its condition." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Democrats Group Says Nelson, Casey Still Support Abortion Funding Ban
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Several mainstream media web sites in the last 48 hours have suggested that Sens. Ben Nelson and Bob Casey, the only Democrats in the Senate to call themselves pro-life, are backing down on supporting a ban on taxpayer funding of abortions such as the Stupak amendment.
Today, a leader of a national organization for pro-life Democrats says their suggestions that Nelson and Casey will compromise are wrong.
As LifeNews.com noted on Tuesday, CNN claimed Nelson, a Nebraska lawmaker, "now says he would be satisfied with the less restrictive language approved by the Senate Finance Committee."
That report appeared to contradict a LifeNews.com story with a comment from Nelson saying, "I feel that something like the Stupak amendment should be included in the Senate version," and other language from his office saying he wants abortion funding banned.
Democrats for Life of America president Kristen Day emailed LifeNews.com today to say the CNN story is wrong. "The Senator's position has not changed. He is still committed to removing abortion funding from health care," she said. "He will be a big help in removing the abortion funding." Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic Bishops Discuss Helping Colleges Stick With Church's Pro-Life Teachings
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The nation's Catholic bishops are having their semi-annual meeting in Baltimore this week and one topic they are addressing has been prominent on the minds of pro-life Catholics. That's the relationship between Catholic colleges and universities and the church's pro-life teachings.
The problem came to a head earlier this year when Notre Dame invited pro-abortion President Barack Obama to give its commencement speech and gave him an honorary degree.
That directly violated the admonition from the bishops to not give platforms to abortion advocates or honor them.
USCCB president Cardinal George delivered an opening speech to his colleagues that underscored the importance of Catholic college's keeping with pro-life principles.
He said the bishops have recently begun discussions on how we might strengthen our relationship to Catholic universities, to media claiming to be a voice in the church, and to organizations that direct various works under Catholic auspices." Full story at LifeNews.com
Baltimore City Council OKs Measure Targeting Pregnancy Centers on Abortion
Baltimore, MD (LifeNews.com) -- The Baltimore City Council has signed off on a local ordinance that attacks pregnancy centers by making them post signs saying they do not do abortions or provide contraception. The proposal contains no stipulations for abortion centers saying they don't provide alternatives.
City Council Bill 09-0406 would fine pregnancy centers $150 per day if they do not comply with the city ordinance. An amendment that would have required abortion centers to post disclaimers was not approved.
Members of the city council approved the measure 12-3 on a second reading vote Monday night and there is one final vote before it goes to the mayor. City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake sponsored the ordinance and told WBAL-TV that she is supposedly "not interested in harassment" and not favoring "an aura of burden on these centers."
Local residents Anthony and Annunziata Kurek are disappointed the city council approved the measure and they said there was no proof presented during the hearings showing pregnancy centers misleading women. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact the Baltimore City Council at http://www.baltimorecitycouncil.com/members.htm and members of the Montgomery County Council at this web site.
Louisiana Choose Life License Plate Raises Over $64K for Pregnancy Centers
Baton Rouge, LA (LifeNews.com) -- The Choose Life license plates in Louisiana have proved to be a boon to the work of pregnancy centers that provide tangible pregnancy help and abortion alternatives to women. The fund that receives the proceeds from the sales of the plates has donated tens of thousands of dollars to 20 different centers. On Wednesday, Louisiana's Choose Life License Plate Fund disbursed $64,421.20 equally to 20 agencies actively assisting women and babies in need. The plate's fund has now disbursed over $100,000 to qualifying agencies since its inception in 1999.
Two legal battles, which were decided in the Choose Life plate's favor, stalled production from 2000-2002 and from 2003-2006, but the plates have been on sale ever since.
Benjamin Clapper, the director of the Louisiana Right to Life education committee, told LifeNews.com he's elated at being able to make the announcement. Full story at LifeNews.com
South Australia Parliament Rejects Measure to Allow Euthanasia, Pro-Lifers Happy
Adelaide, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- The South Australia parliament has rejected a measure to legalize euthanasia and the move is drawing praise from pro-life advocates. The upper house of the South Australian parliament voted to oppose legislation put forward by Greens MP Mark Parnell.
The British pro-life group Society for the Protection of Unborn Children has been following the debate and working with its Australian colleagues.
Anthony Ozimic, SPUC Pro-Life's communications manager and an expatriate Australian, told LifeNews.com he is delighted by the results of the vote. "Those seeking to develop civilized values which respect the sanctity of human life should be encouraged by this vote," he said. "In spite of all the money, media support and propaganda of the euthanasia lobby, many politicians recognize the dangers to public safety in introducing such legislation."
"This victory for civilized values joins the recent defeat of a similar bill in Tasmania, as well as the repeated votes by the British House of Lords against assisted suicide," he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Nebraska Group Releases 7,000 Petitions Against Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Lincoln, NE (LifeNews.com) -- A Nebraska group delivered almost 7,000 petitions from state residents opposing the expansion of embryonic stem cell research. The Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research delivered the petitions to University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
Some 6,873 people signed the "No Expansion of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research at the University of Nebraska" petition urging the University of Nebraska Board of Regents to block expansion of human embryonic stem cell research at the college.
Chip Maxwell, executive director of the group, informed LifeNews.com today that five of eight regents are on record opposing embryonic stem cell research because it involves the destruction of human life. The petition reflects the majority that put those regents in office and the petition with signatures will be on file with the regents at Varner Hall, he said.
The coalition will also deliver to the regents a letter from 255 Nebraska physicians, researchers and medical professionals urging the regents to block expansion of human embryonic stem cell research at the college. Full story at LifeNews.com
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