LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thurssday, November 5, 2009
| For news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com. |
Current Headlines
• House Will Vote on Pro-Abortion Health Care Reform Bill on Saturday Evening
• Pro-Life Champion Chris Smith Criticizes Fake Abortion Funding Compromise
• Pro-Life Advocates Excited by Defeat of Abortion Backers in Virginia, New Jersey
• Pro-Life Democrat Leading Abortion Funding Fight Heads Home After Family Death
• Planned Parenthood Attempting to Silence Ex-Director Who Quit Abortion Business
• Dallas, Texas to See Opening of New 24-Week Late-Term Abortion Business
• Surgeon General Koop Letter Against Abortion Funding Closes Harry Reid's Office
• The View Hosts Fail to Grasp the Real Immorality of Planned Parenthood, Abortion
• Illinois Parental Notification Law Blocked Shortly After State Board Approves It
• Lines That Divide Film Continues Asking Tough Questions About Bioethics Research
• New Report Says UN Development Goals Push Pro-Abortion Population Control
Follow LifeNews.com on Twitter here. Become a fan of LifeNews.com on Facebook here.
Become a fan of LifeNews.com on MySpace here.
House Will Vote on Pro-Abortion Health Care Reform Bill on Saturday Evening
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The House of Representatives will finally cast its first votes on the pro-abortion health care reform bill this weekend. After a fluid process that saw dates repeatedly pushed back, the first chance pro-life advocates will have to stop the abortion funding bill will come Saturday night. That means pro-life advocates need to continue turning out phone calls and emails to lawmakers every day until all of the votes have ben cast. Two steps remain before lawmakers will actually take a vote on the pro-abortion health care bill itself, HR 3962. First, the House must vote on the Manager's Amendment, which is an amendment to make changes to the bill, and it does not include any limits on abortion funding. Secondly, the House must vote on the Rule for debate and pro-life advocates are expected to vigorously oppose the Rule because it contains a fake amendment that does not actually stop abortion funding under either the public option or the affordability credits. House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise M. Slaughter said Wednesday that the Rule will include the Ellsworth amendment that LifeNews.com has reported on, which pro-life groups such as National Right to Life and leading pro-life Congressman Chris Smith have condemned. The rules committee will meet 24 hours before the Saturday debate and it is expected to approve the Rule for debate on a party-line vote. Then, the House vote is expected at 6 p.m. Saturday after what is likely to be a fierce day of debating with pro-life lawmakers underscoring how HR 3926 would become the largest expansion of abortion funding since Roe v. Wade. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact your member of the House immediately and urge a no vote on the Rule and HR 3962 because the health care bill contains massive abortion funding. Get contact information at http://www.House.gov.
Pro-Life Champion Chris Smith Criticizes Fake Abortion Funding Compromise
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Congressman Chris Smith, the leading pro-life lawmaker in the House of Representatives, is criticizing a potential "compromise" that supporters say would remove abortion funding from the health care reform bill but would actually allow that to continue. As LifeNews.com reported on Tuesday, normally pro-life Rep. Brad Esllworth is working with abortion advocates on language they are billing as a compromise. The goal is to secure more votes from pro-life Democrats to approve the pro-abortion health care bill. In an email to LifeNews.com today, Smith calls the "back-room deals and horse-trading" a move by pro-abortion Democratic leaders "desperate to win over pro-life Democrats who are opposed to abortion provisions in the health care reform legislation" and "nothing more than legislative gimmicks that will do nothing to prohibit federal support and the expansion of abortion coverage in America." "The new language does nothing to change the fact that the public option will be authorized to pay for abortion," the head of the bipartisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus said. "If they truly want to keep abortion out of the health care bill, they must accept the Stupak-Pitts amendment that says clearly and plainly that there can be no funding for abortion and no government subsidies for plans that cover abortion." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Advocates Excited by Defeat of Abortion Backers in Virginia, New Jersey
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Tuesday night provided a shot in the arm for the pro-life movement following the disheartening loss last year that resulted in the election of pro-abortion President Barack Obama. With victories in New Jersey and Virginia, pro-life candidates dispatched their pro-abortion opponents. In Virginia, pro-life former Attorney general Bob McDonnell defeated pro-abortion candidate Creigh Deeds by a landslide 59-41 percent margin. Virginians elected by overwhelming majorities the pro-life slate consisting of McDonnell and Bill Bolling for lieutenant governor and Ken Cuccinelli for attorney general. All three candidates were endorsed by the Virginia Society for Human Life PAC, which also saw significant pro-life gains in the membership of the House of Delegates and the reelection of many pro-life incumbents. "Today is a great day for unborn children and their mothers, as well as the vulnerable of all ages throughout the Commonwealth," VSHL director Olivia Gans told LifeNews.com. "We look forward to working with all three of these stalwart pro-life leaders, as well as pro-life members of the State Senate and House of Delegates, to enact laws that will safeguard the right to life of unborn children." In New Jersey, the New Jersey Right to Life and National Right to Life PACs, along with pro-life leaders like Rep. Chris Smith were behind Chris Christie as he took on pro-abortion incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine. Marie Tasy, the head of New Jersey Right to Life, told LifeNews.com she is excited by the election of what is the state's first pro-life governor since Roe v. Wade. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Democrat Leading Abortion Funding Fight Heads Home After Family Death
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The main pro-life Democrat who has been leading the charge against abortion funding in the House health care bill has returned home to Michigan because of a death in the family. Rep. Bart Stupak's mother-in-law, Elaine Olsen, died suddenly on Sunday. As a result, the long-time pro-life lawmaker is back home in his district and is not expected to be in Washington the rest of the week as the lead-up to crucial votes on the health care bill continues. Stupak is important because he has been leading the coalition of 40 pro-life Democrats who are threatening to join Republicans to vote against the health care bill due to the massive abortion funding it contains. His congressional office released a statement confirming that, "Due to his absence, Congressman Stupak has had to cancel scheduled activities in Washington, DC this week." His absence is already affecting the abortion debate as one pro-life lawmaker told Fox News, "Yeah. Big time," when asked if Stupak's leaving Washington would negatively affect the fight to stop abortion funding. But, Stupak released a statement later in the day saying that he is still participating in discussions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Attempting to Silence Ex-Director Who Quit Abortion Business
Bryan, TX (LifeNews.com) -- Planned Parenthood is attempting to silence a former abortion center director who quit working for the abortion business after seeing an ultrasound of an abortion procedure. Officials with the group are pushing a request for a restraining order on Abby Johnson and a pro-life group that helped her conversion. Johnson had been the director of the Planned Parenthood center in this southeast Texas city that is home to Texas A&M University. She turned in her resignation on October 6 after years of a local pro-life group helping her see the problem with abortion. After the ultrasound, she decided to leave. "I just thought I can't do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that's it," she said. Now, Planned Parenthood officials have hit both Johnson and the Coalition for Life with restraining orders requiring them not to disclose information about the abortions done at its facility. They don't want Johnson to release any records or confidential information from her eight-year stint at the Planned Parenthood abortion business, even though she has already told media outlets she will not do so. Full story at LifeNews.com
Dallas, TX (LifeNews.com) -- The residents of Dallas, Texas were ecstatic when the Aaron Women's Health Center late-term abortion business closed in June 2008. Now, local pro-life advocates inform LifeNews.com that the Southwestern Women's Surgery Center will be the new late-term abortion center in town when it opens its doors. Aaron's was the last late-term abortion center in Dallas but that will change when Southwestern begins doing abortions on babies up to 24 weeks into pregnancy. Karen Garnett, Executive Director of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee, shared the disappointing news. "While we were aware that plans were in the works for a possible new facility affiliated with Fairmount after Aaron's' closure, we have been praying that this would not be an additional facility," she said. "We are calling on people of faith from all over Dallas and the surrounding suburbs to join with us in a renewed, massive prayer and public witness effort against this grave evil in our community," she added. Full story at LifeNews.com
Surgeon General Koop Letter Against Abortion Funding Closes Harry Reid's Office
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a bizarre chain of events that appears to put Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's staff in a bad light, Reid's office was closed for 45 minutes as Capitol Hill police scanned a letter that ended up coming from pro-life former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. Capitol Police temporarily shut down Reid's office on Wednesday after his staffers alerted them to what they thought was a suspicious letter. The letter raised eyebrows in Reid's office because it was hand-delivered without a stamp and with Koop's name listed in the upper left-hand corner without an address. Roll Cal magazine, which covers Congress, reached Koop at his home Wednesday afternoon and he confirmed he sent the letter. Koop said he wrote a few "beautifully typed" pages about his views on the government-run health care bills pending in Congress. That the letter would cause Reid's staff to create a panic is "nonsense," he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
The View Hosts Fail to Grasp the Real Immorality of Planned Parenthood, Abortion
by Colleen Raezler
Profits, not the killing of unborn children, are the "real immorality" of abortion, according to "View" panelist Joy Behar. Behar expressed her unique view of morality during the Nov. 3 "Hot Topics" discussion about Abby Johnson, a Texas Planned Parenthood director who resigned from her post last month after seeing an abortion on an ultrasound. Johnson explained to the local Texas CBS affiliate that Planned Parenthood had been pressuring her to focus on abortion, not pregnancy prevention because abortions brought in more money than family planning services. ABC's "View" host Barbara Walters brought up Johnson's story, calling it "controversial" and Behar quickly denounced Planned Parenthood for making money off abortions. She called it "gross" and "obnoxious" before she stated, "I don't see abortions as a profit-making industry. I think that is the real immorality of it." Full story at LifeNews.com
Illinois Parental Notification Law Blocked Shortly After State Board Approves It
Springfield, IL (LifeNews.com) -- A state judge blocked enforcement of a parental notification law on abortion just hours after a state board approved letting it go into effect. The law would allow parents the right to know when their teenager daughter is considering having an abortion and give them 48 hours to help her find alternatives. Parents in Illinois have waited for 15 years for a law to go into effect and, earlier Wednesday, a vote from the Illinois' Medical Disciplinary Board made it appear that would happen. The Illinois legislature approved the law in the 1990s, but it has been held up in court waiting for the Illinois Supreme Court to issue the rules guiding the law's implementation. After the court did its job, state officials blocked enforcement of the law with a 90-day grace period for abortion centers to became aware of it -- even though similar laws have been on the books in other states for decades. The board met in Chicago on Wednesday and decided not to extend the grace period further that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation put in place. However, Wednesday afternoon, Judge Dan Riley ruled in favor of the pro-abortion American Civil Liberties Union, which convinced him to issue an injunction with its claims that it violates the state constitution -- even though abortion was not legal when the constitution was put in place. Full story at LifeNews.com
Lines That Divide Film Continues Asking Tough Questions About Bioethics Research
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Most pro-life advocates can easily articulate the pro-life perspective when it comes to the issue of abortion. But when complex bioethics questions like embryonic stem cell research and human cloning arise, the ability to shape a sound argument escapes even some long-time pro-life activists. That's where the film Lines That Divide comes in to play. Lines that Divide, produced by Biola University Chair of Cinema and Media Arts, Jack Hafer, looks into the scientific basics of stem cell research and the political issues surrounding it while asking significant questions such as if the end justifies the means. The critically-needed film has already produced rave reviews. "Lines That Divide is a much-needed tool for equipping concerned citizens with a comprehensive view of the science and ethics shaping the stem cell debate today," says Chuck Colson of Prison fellowship. Full story at LifeNews.com
New Report Says UN Development Goals Push Pro-Abortion Population Control
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- A new paper investigating the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDG) asserts that the project could do more harm than good. The paper finds the sweeping global development project generally views the poor as "a problem to be solved rather than partners in achieving their own development and success." It explains that world leaders set forth the MDGs with high hopes in 2001, but now at the midpoint for achieving them, they have become susceptible to politicization and influence by special interests. In "The Millennium Development Goals in light of Catholic Social Teaching" authors Brian Scarnecchia and Terrence McKeegan say that one major problem is that implementation of the 8 goals along with their 20 targets and 56 indicators has tended to be top-down, expert-driven and technological. This approach is championed by the UN's chief economic advisor on the goals, Columbia University professor/technocrat Jeffrey Sachs but, the authors say, it fails to take account of the two bedrock principles of moral human development, solidarity and subsidiarity. Full story at LifeNews.com
Encourage Friends to Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
