LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Saturday, November 21, 2009
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Current Headlines
• Key Pro-Life Democrat Backs Debate, But Not Pro-Abortion Senate Health Care Bill
• President Obama Again Attacks Stupak Amdt, Backs Pro-Abortion Senate Bill
• Catholic Bishops: Pro-Abortion Senate Health Care Bill "Worst We've Seen Yet"
• Senate Health Care Bill Raises Taxes on Special Needs Children, Their Families
• Christian Leaders Release Manhattan Declaration for Pro-Life, Conscience Rights
• Controversial Human Cloning Company Applies Again for Embryonic Stem Cell Trial
• China Arrests Attorney for Forced Abortion Opponent After Obama Visit, Hearing
• Document on Problems With In-Vitro Fertilization Gets Catholic Bishops Okay
• Half of Women Using Prescription Drugs That Harm Unborn Children Get Abortion
• Illinois Parental Notification Law on Abortion Blocked Again by Court Decision
• University of Nebraska Regents Defeat Effort to Limit Embryonic Stem Cell Research
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Key Pro-Life Democrat Backs Debate, But Not Pro-Abortion Senate Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A key pro-life Democrat, who is seen by political observers as one of the Democrats who would help defeat the pro-abortion Senate health care bill, says he will vote tomorrow for the Motion to Proceed -- allowing the Senate to debate the bill that contains massive abortion funding.
However, Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, says not to interpret his vote to begin debate as him supporting the bill itself. That is especially the case if an amendment Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch plans to offer to yank the abortion funding is not added to the bill.
"Throughout my Senate career I have consistently rejected efforts to obstruct," he said in a statement. "That's what the vote on the motion to proceed is all about. It is not for or against the new Senate health care bill released Wednesday. It is only to begin debate and an opportunity to make improvements. If you don't like a bill why block your own opportunity to amend it?" he added.
"This weekend, I will vote for the motion to proceed to bring that debate onto the Senate floor. The Senate should start trying to fix a health care system that costs too much and delivers too little for Nebraskans," Nelson continued.
Nelson also said he worried that voting to oppose the Motion to Proceed would prompt Reid to use the controversial reconciliation process that allows him to push a bill under a 50-vote process without any amendments to stop abortion funding. The pro-life Democrat also promised to oppose the bill and oppose efforts to stop the filibuster if the abortion funding remains. Full story at LifeNews.com
President Obama Again Attacks Stupak Amdt, Backs Pro-Abortion Senate Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- During an interview with Fox News, President Barack Obama again condemned the Stupak amendment added to the House health care bill to stop abortion funding. Meanwhile, the Obama administration says the president supports the new Senate health care bill that contains massive abortion subsidies.
Before it voted for its version of the government-run health care bill, the House added the Stupak amendment on a lopsided bipartisan vote to prevent abortion funding in the public option and affordability credits.
The new comments are the second time Obama has said he either wants the Stupak amendment removed from the bill or Obama is making what even left-leaning mainstream media factcheck sites are calling a false argument by saying the Stupak amendment goes too far in preventing women from getting abortions paid for under their own insurance plans.
"There is a balance to be achieved that is consistent with the Hyde Amendment," Obama said.
"I believe in the basic idea that federal dollars shouldn't pay for abortions. But I also think we shouldn't restrict women's choices, so I think there's some negotiations going on, not just on the Democratic side, but I think among people of good will on both sides, to see if we can arrive at something that meets that criteria," he continued. "And I'm confident we can do that." Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic Bishops: Pro-Abortion Senate Health Care Bill "Worst We've Seen Yet"
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life spokesman for the nation's Catholic bishops doesn't mince words today an interview about the new Harry Reid health care bill in the Senate that contains massive abortion funding.
The bishops have taken a consistent pro-life stance against using government money for abortions and they say this bill is no exception when it comes to that problem.
Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the bishops' conference Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, told the Associated Press today that the Senate bill "is actually the worst bill we've seen so far on the life issues." Doerflinger called it "completely unacceptable," adding that "to say this reflects current law is ridiculous."
The money to pay for abortions comes from the premiums taxpayers pay to the federal government. The phony Capps amendment added to the bill makes it so the funds are segregated but the government eventually uses those taxpayer dollars, through the public option and affordability credits, to pay for abortions.
Other leading pro-life groups like Americans United for Life, National Right to Life, the Family Research Council and Susan B. Anthony List have come to the same conclusion about the abortion funding in the Senate bill. Full story at LifeNews.com
Senate Health Care Bill Raises Taxes on Special Needs Children, Their Families
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The statistics are scary when it comes to the percentage of unborn children born with special needs who become victims of abortion. One fiscal conservative group says the task for parents raising such children is made more difficult by extra taxes found in Harry Reid's new Senate health care bill.
The measure has already been condemned by pro-life groups and the Catholic bishops for its abortion funding and this latest analysis won't make it any more endearing.
Ryan Ellis of Americans for Tax Reform notes that the bill contains 18 separate tax increases -- one of them targeting parents of disabled children.
"One of them caps the amount that can be deferred in Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) at $2500 per year (a similar provision was included in the Pelosi-Obama health bill)," Ellis notes.
"There is currently no limit to how much can be saved, though all monies must be used by the end of the year. Employers may put a cap in place for their employees, but this would put a cap in federal tax law for the first time. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), 30 million American families use an FSA," he explained.
"There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly-cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children," he said today. "There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Full story at LifeNews.com
Christian Leaders Release Manhattan Declaration for Pro-Life, Conscience Rights
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A list of 149 Christian and pro-family leaders, reading like a who's who of the pro-life movement, have signed onto the Manhattan Declaration, a new statement declaring that pro-life advocates deserve conscience rights when it comes to abortion, bioethics and other issues.
Dr. Robert George, Dr. Timothy George, and Chuck Colson joined other pro-life advocates and prominent Christian clergy, ministry leaders and scholars in announcing the new declaration at a press conference today.
The 4,700-word declaration issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not-under any circumstance-abandon their Christian consciences when it comes to pro-life issues.
The Manhattan Declaration says today's pro-life movement "claim[s] the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire's sanctioning of infanticide."
"Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good," it says. "In this declaration we affirm: the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life." Full story at LifeNews.com
Controversial Human Cloning Company Applies Again for Embryonic Stem Cell Trial
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Advanced Cell Technology is at it again. The human cloning company that thrives on overstated press releases that capture the media's attention and temporarily drive up its stock prices is announcing yet another attempt at launching a trial with patients receiving injections of embryonic stem cells.
Never mind that embryonic stem cell research has yet to conquer animal testing. There, the cells face immune system rejection issues that scientists have yet to figure out how to overcome and they also still have problems of causing tumors after injected as a supposed treatment. Those results are much different from those seen in ethical adult stem cells that can be obtained without destroying days-old unborn children.
Still, ACT presses on and announced that people suffering from a form of incurable blindness could soon become the first patients in the world to benefit from an operation involving embryonic stem cells.
ACT scientists yesterday applied for a licence from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to carry out a clinical trial on patients suffering from macular degeneration and they expert the trial to begin early next year. Full story at LifeNews.com
China Arrests Attorney for Forced Abortion Opponent After Obama Visit, Hearing
Beijing, China (LifeNews.com) -- A Chinese human rights lawyer who is one of the attorneys for forced abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng, was arrested shortly after President Barack Obama departed China. Jiang Tianyong testified before a Congressional panel on November 10 sponsored by pro-life Rep. Chris Smith.
Tianyong, of Beijing Global Law Firm, had requested a meeting with President Obama with other human rights lawyers during Obama's visit this week, but was turned down. Smith's office informed LifeNews.com late Friday that, after Obama left the country, Tianyong's wife was beaten and he was hauled off by Chinese officials.
As legal counsel to Chen, who has helped draw international attention to the brutality of the one-child policy and the forced abortion and sterilization campaign used to enforce it, Tianyong testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. He testified on these and other abuses of the family planning policy, which marks its 30th anniversary this year.
Smith will join Chinese human rights activist Harry Wu, 18-year political prisoner Wei Jingsheng, Tiananmen Square survivor Yang Jianli, and Michael Horowitz of the Hudson institute for a press conference on Monday to discuss the situation. Full story at LifeNews.com
Document on Problems With In-Vitro Fertilization Gets Catholic Bishops Okay
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The nation's Catholic bishops approved a 15-page document on reproductive technologies this week called Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology. The new paper says pro-life Catholics need to be mindful of the ethical problems associated with technologies like in-vitro fertilization.
The document says the Catholic Church shares the pain of couples who have problems bearing children because of infertility, genetics or other issues.
However, it warns that some reproductive technologies, which also include human cloning and embryonic stem cell research, "are not morally legitimate ways to solve those problems" because the violate the human dignity of unborn children.
"Children have a right to be conceived by the act that expresses and embodies their parents' self-giving love; morally responsible medicine can assist this act but should never substitute for it," the new document reads. Instead, parents who face birthing issues need to remember the "full human dignity of the child." Full story at LifeNews.com
Half of Women Using Prescription Drugs That Harm Unborn Children Get Abortion
Montreal, Canada (LifeNews.com) -- New research out of Canada shows that half of women who use prescription drugs that harm their unborn children ultimately wind up having an abortion. The statistics is so high that the lead author of the new study says the numbers left him shocked and surprised.
Anick Berard of the University of Montreal headed the new study that examined data from the Quebec Pregnancy Registry on 109,344 women between the ages of 15 and 45.
They study found 6,871 pregnant women consumed one of 11 prescription drugs known to be harmful to their unborn child during either the first, second or third trimester of pregnancy. Of those women, 3,229, or nearly 47 percent, had an abortion, 6 percent miscarried and 8.2 percent of the women gave birth to who a baby with major congenital malformations resulting from the use of the harmful drugs.
"I never expected such results and I was extremely surprised," Berard said in a statement about the new research. Full story at LifeNews.com
Illinois Parental Notification Law on Abortion Blocked Again by Court Decision
Springfield, IL (LifeNews.com) -- The on again, off again nature of the Illinois parental notification law reads like the script of a soap opera because the status of the relationship between the law and the courts changes so frequently. In the latest turn of events, a circuit court judge decided to uphold a restraining order.
That order prevents enforcement of the law -- meant to allow parents to know 48 hours in advance when their minor daughter is considering an abortion so they can help her find positive alternatives -- from going into effect until at least January.
Judge Dan Riley says he's waiting for briefs from both sides before determining whether the law should stand. Lorie Chaiten represented the American Civil Liberties Union in court in its attempt to overturn the law while Thomas More Society attorneys presented a motion to vacate the temporary restraining order.
Earlier this month, Judge Riley blocked enforcement of the parental notification law on abortion just hours after a state board approved letting it go into effect. Full story at LifeNews.com
University of Nebraska Regents Defeat Effort to Limit Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Lincoln, NE (LifeNews.com) -- The University of Nebraska board of regents today defeated an effort to limit the embryonic stem cell research activity that takes place there because it involves the destruction of unborn human life. The current school policy is to engage in research allowed by the federal government, which includes ESCR.
The eight-member Board of Regents voted 4-4, which defeated the resolution that would have limited research to older embryonic stem cell lines and focused on adult stem cell research, the only kind to ever help patients.
Regent Jim McClurg of Lincoln cast the deciding vote against the resolution. He had the endorsement of Nebraska Right to Life when he was elected to the board in 2006 but appeared to have turned on the pro-life group today.
NU President J.B. Milliken addressed the regents and urged a no vote while Dr. John Safranek, a Nebraska physician, said the research is wrong because it destroys human life. Full story at LifeNews.com
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