MEDIA ADVISORY, Dec. 31 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today, the Supreme Court of Montana issued a split decision in which it denied victory to Compassion & Choices on its quest for a right to "aid in dying" based on the Montana State Constitution. "Aid in dying" is more commonly known as physician-assisted suicide.
The Supreme Court instead focused on issues of statutory construction to determine that Montana state law has no public policy against "aid in dying" because the final death causing act lies in the patient's hands.
This holding ignores the practical realities of ensuring patient safety from over-eager heirs, new "best friends" and others who might benefit from the patient's death. For example, physicians who malpractice and who want to hide their mistakes can now say: "It was what the patient wanted." The evidence against the physician dies with the patient. If the patient has no family or other advocate, who will know?
A bright spot in the decision is that it does not give physicians the "right" to prescribe a lethal dose, but only suggests that circumstances may exist to give them a defense to prosecution for homicide.
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is hopeful that Montana's legislature will now take the lead to protect its citizens in the next legislative session.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Assisted-Suicide Lobby Group Does Not Get What it Wanted:
LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 1/1/10
LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, January 1, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Ben Nelson Attacks Pro-Lifers Again, Pledges No Vote if Abortion Deal Weakened
• Montana Supreme Court Makes State Third to Allow Unlimited Assisted Suicide
• U.S. Catholic Editor Defends Catholic Groups Backing Pro-Abortion Health Care
• Pro-Life Advocates: Montana Assisted Suicide Decision Could Have Been Worse
• Focus on the Family May Run Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad Featuring Tim Tebow's Mom
• Pregnancy Center in Arizona Severely Burned in Apparent Arson Attack
• Embryonic Stem Cell Researchers May Target Minorities for New Embryos
• Kansas Lawmaker Will Work Next Year to De-Fund Abortion, Planned Parenthood
• Utah Legislator Will Promote Bill Helping Women See Ultrasound Before Abortion
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Ben Nelson Attacks Pro-Lifers Again, Pledges No Vote if Abortion Deal Weakened
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Senator Ben Nelson is quickly digging himself into a hole from which he may never recover by continuing to attack pro-life advocates. In a new interview, he does that and also pledges to vote against the final health care bill if his already-compromised abortion language is watered down further.
Nelson brokered a deal with Senate Leader Harry Reid to include minor limits on abortion funding that don't truly ban taxpayer funding on abortion in exchange for becoming the 60th vote for the pro-abortion bill. Since he announced the deal, every major pro-life group and the nation's Catholic bishops have denounced the language as forcing taxpayer funding of abortions.
In comments yesterday to the McCook Daily Gazette, Nelson took issue with that characterization and said pro-life groups only oppose his language because they didn't write it.
He told the newspaper pro-life groups suffer from "pride of authorship" and are unwilling to support bills or amendments they didn't write but which achieve the goal of not setting up government-funded abortions.
Nelson also told the Gazette he will not vote for the final conference committee health care bill if members of the committee "start fooling with taxes and come up with a new tax scheme or the House scheme" or if it funds abortions or weakens his Senate language. "If they (the conference committee) try to weaken it in any way, I'm not going to be able to support the conference bill," he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Montana Supreme Court Makes State Third to Allow Unlimited Assisted Suicide
Helena, MT (LifeNews.com) -- The Montana Supreme Court has officially paved the way for the state to become the third to allow the practice of assisted suicide. The high court considered a case from a now-deceased terminally ill patient who wanted the right to kill himself with assistance from a physician.
The high court did not determine if the Montana constitution guarantees a right to assisted suicide but said nothing in state law or the precedent of the court prevented assisted suicide.
We find nothing in Montana Supreme Court precedent or Montana statutes indicating that physician aid in dying is against public policy, the high court said in its opinion.
The decision essentially has Montana joining Oregon and Washington as the only three states in the nation to allow assisted suicides. It declared assisted suicide as legal and could prevent doctors from almost any prosecution for engaging in them.
Montana law explicitly shields physicians from liability for acting in accordance with a patient s end-of life wishes, even if the physician must actively pull the plug on a patient s ventilator or withhold treatment that will keep him alive," the court said. However, assisted suicides in Montana will likely go further as the state doesn't have even basic limitations, restrictions or guidelines in place and the ruling could pave the way for the practice of euthanasia with little or no state oversight. Full story at LifeNews.com
U.S. Catholic Editor Defends Catholic Groups Backing Pro-Abortion Health Care
by Deal Hudson
Bryan Cones, the managing editor at U.S. Catholic, is upset that I used the word "fake" to describe Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Two weeks ago, I criticized those organizations for supporting the Senate health-care bill containing abortion funding.
Cones stresses his disagreement with me in a lively style: "If he wants to have a debate about whether I'm a Catholic, I say: Bring it, Deal."
You have to love that spirit, but Cones misses the point. I'm not interested in arguing over whether he is a Catholic, but whether it is "Catholic" to support health-care reform containing federal funding for abortion.
I argue that if the health-care bill contains federal funding for abortion -- no matter what's contained in the rest of the bill -- Catholics in the Congress must oppose it. To support such a bill constitutes direct cooperation with this serious moral evil (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2270; Evangelium Vitae 74).
Why? Because there is no doubt that federal funding would lead to an increase of 200,000 or more abortions each year. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Advocates: Montana Assisted Suicide Decision Could Have Been Worse
Helena, MT (LifeNews.com) -- Reaction is coming in form pro-life advocates responding to today's decision by the Montana Supreme Court that determined there is no right to assisted suicide but saying it is allowed under state law. The pro-life activists say the decision is definitely bad but could have been worse.
The Montana Supreme Court, today, released its long-awaited decision in the Baxter case on assisted suicide.
In a 5-2 decision, the Supreme Court vacated the lower court's decision that found a constitutionally-guaranteed right to physician assisted suicide, and, instead, found the practice legal on statutory grounds. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Jim Rice said that the majority badly misinterpreted our public policy. He said that assisting suicide has been explicitly and expressly prohibited by Montana law for the past 114 years.
Jeff Laszloffy of the Montana Family Foundation told LifeNews.com, "Definitely not what we wanted, but not as bad as it could have been."
"While we would have preferred an outright reversal of the lower court's decision, this ruling is a partial victory," he explained. "The fact that the Court did not find a constitutional right to physician assisted suicide is good for those of us opposed to this abhorrent practice."
The pro-family leader told LifeNews.com that the legislature should now get involved. Full story at LifeNews.com
Focus on the Family May Run Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad Featuring Tim Tebow's Mom
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- When football fans watch the Super Bowl next year, they may see a pro-life ad from Focus on the Family focusing on the mother of potential future NFL star Tim Tebow. Tebow is the Heisman Trophy winner and University of Florida star quarterback whose mother decided not to abort him in a crisis pregnancy.
The Super Bowl ad would be costly -- as a spot during the game and three 30-second commercials before it would reportedly run about $4 million -- but provides a unique exposure to a large national and international audience.
The ad, according to multiple sources, reportedly features the story of Tebow's birth.
Pam Tebow and her husband were Christian missionaries in the Philippines in 1985 and they prayed for "Timmy" before she became pregnant.
Unfortunately, Pam entered into a coma after she contracted amoebic dysentery, an infection of the intestine caused by a parasite found in a contaminated food or drink. The treatment for the medical condition would require strong medications that doctors told Pam had caused irreversible damage to Tim -- so they advised her to have an abortion.
Tebow refused the abortion and cited her Christian faith as the reason for her hope that her son would be born without the devastating disabilities physicians predicted. She ultimately spent the last two months of her pregnancy in bed and, eventually, gave birth to a health baby boy in August 1987. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pregnancy Center in Arizona Severely Burned in Apparent Arson Attack
Whiteriver, AZ (LifeNews.com) -- A pregnancy center in rural eastern Arizona that serves a predominantly native American population was severely burned in what appears to be an arson attack. The Living Hope Women's Center clinic has closed indefinitely as a result of a fire that gutted a portion of the building on December 20.
Dinah Monahan, the former executive director and current board president of the group of pregnancy centers that operate as Living Hope, says it appears to her the fire was deliberate.
The center maintains a Fatherhood Store and Mommy Store to help low-income residents earn the ability to purchases critically needed pregnancy and other items and Monahan says they were raided.
She told the White Mountain Independent newspaper that whoever started the fire vandalized televisions, VCRs and other equipment before setting the blaze in the back of the building.
The board president indicated that a local resident who lives next door to the clinic heard and saw people at the scene and chased them away from the clinic after the fire began. The neighbor was able to wrestle one person to the ground and the newspaper indicates the individual is now in police custody.
Monahan indicated the fire did not burn the clinic to the ground but caused enough fire and smoke damage that the clinic facility is useless until it undergoes major repairs. Full story at LifeNews.com
Embryonic Stem Cell Researchers May Target Minorities for New Embryos
by Dr. David Prentice
Two recent papers–one published online by the New England Journal of Medicine and one just published in Nature Methods–analyzed the genetic ethnic diversity of some of the existing human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines. One group examined 47 hESC lines, while another checked 42 hESC lines; there were 9 lines that both groups checked, for a total of 80 different lines investigated, including some of the most-used hESC lines and some of the few newly-approved hESC lines.
Not surprisingly, they found that most of the hESC lines represent a limited genetic ethnic diversity, primarily from European and Middle Eastern, as well as some East Asian, descent. The University of Michigan group seems to think this is surprising, but in truth it is not surprising and has been noted for years.
Why is this lack of genetic diversity not surprising?
Thus far, the embryos destroyed for hESC lines are all taken from in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics. As many have pointed out for years regarding the hESC lines, the IVF technique is expensive, so the sample is self-selected for those who can afford the IVF practice. The sample is further restricted to those parents who are willing to sacrifice their so-called “leftover” embryos to science. They also found that more than one cell line came from the same embryo donors; again, common sense would have indicated that given the selection, this would be the case. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kansas Lawmaker Will Work Next Year to De-Fund Abortion, Planned Parenthood
Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) -- A Kansas state legislator says he will work in next year's legislative session to de-fund abortion and the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Sen. Tim Huelskamp announced yesterday that he will continue his previous efforts to cut off any state taxpayer funds the group receives.
The Republican told LifeNews.com that Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the United States and promotes abortion as a means of family planning and routinely uses taxpayer dollars to fund their operations.
Huelskamp led the effort to remove the funding in last year s legislative session. His measure passed the legislature, but was vetoed by Governor Parkinson.
This is the right thing to do, Huelskamp said. Organizations that perform abortions and fail to report sexual abuse of young girls should never receive taxpayer subsidies. This flies in the face of basic Kansas values.
Huelskamp also believes that cutting funding to groups like Planned Parenthood will help establish a responsible threshold for spending public dollars.
Planned Parenthood has received approximately $1.2 million over the last four years in Kansas, including a dramatic 23% spike in funding from 2008 to 2009 at the same time that revenues were sharply in decline. Full story at LifeNews.com
| Looking for a Pro-Life Speaker for 2010? |
| Looking for a pro-life speaker for your next banquet, conference or convention? LifeNews.com editor Steven Ertelt is a low-cost speaker who can entertain and educate your audience as well as help you with a fundraising pitch if necessary. He can also speak on any pro-life topic. For more information, email news@LifeNews.com. |
Utah Legislator Will Promote Bill Helping Women See Ultrasound Before Abortion
Salt Lake City, UT (LifeNews.com) -- A Utah state legislator will promote legislation in the next session to help women be able to see an ultrasound of their unborn child before an abortion. When used in pregnancy centers, ultrasounds are credited with helping more than 80 percent of women to reconsider a decision to have an abortion.
Knowing that statistic, Rep. Carl Wimmer says he is sponsoring a bill in the 2010 session that would update the state's informed consent laws on abortion.
While current law says women considering an abortion must be told of their right to view an ultrasound, Wimmer's law would says that, if an ultrasound is performed to diagnose the age of the baby, the mother must be shown the image if she wants.
The person doing the ultrasound must also provide a "detailed description" of the development of the unborn child to that point. "It's as if a pregnant couple is at the ultrasound, checking on their baby," Wimmer told the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper.
He says his bill is necessary because abortion centers don't want to lose business by persuading women not to have an abortion. "They're in the abortion market to make money. The more ultrasounds they show, the fewer abortions they're going to be able to do," he told the newspaper. Full story at LifeNews.com
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'These Are the Times That Try Men's Souls'
- New Year's Eve, December 31, 2009
Dear Friends of Life,
As the tumultuous year 2009 winds this evening to a close and the New Year of 2010 is upon us, I am reminded of the famous words of Thomas Paine, penned in December of 1776, as our nation struggled desperately for its Independence. His words could not be more applicable to our current situation if they had been written today.
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.
Yes, these are the times that try men's souls. Today, we are faced with a radically pro-abortion President and Congress, which are trying to force the tyranny of socialized medicine upon an unwilling nation and along with it, taxpayer-funded abortions.
When the fetters of oppressive government force men and women of conscience to fund the taking of innocent human life, the extinguishing of other liberties is not far behind.
But what is freedom without life?
The fight to restore life and freedom to pre-born Americans is adifficult one that Operation Rescue could not hope to engage in without the prayers and support of people like you.
As we face a new year with faith and hope, we pray that you will consider making a generous end-of-the-year gift to Operation Rescue to keep us in the fray in defense of those who cannot defend themselves. This year has been financially difficult for us, and your gifts will help us to move forward into 2010 with the resources we need to press on to victory with our life-saving work. (Click to donate now.)
May you cherish and enjoy all the blessings of Life and Liberty in the coming year,
PS. Please click here now to donate easily online. God bless you!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 12/31/09
LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, December 31, 2009
| For pro-life news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com. |
Current Headlines
• Senator: Pro-Abortion Democrats Will Dominate Health Care Conference Cmte
• Ben Nelson to Run Television Ad Defending Health Care-Abortion Compromise
• Obama, Abortion, Supreme Court, Health Care Dominate Pro-Life News in 2009
• Planned Parenthood Found 2009 Difficult, Abortion Centers Closing Rapidly
• Pro-Abortion Health Care Could Cost Dems Control of House in 2010 Election
• Scientists: Embryonic Stem Cells Showing Little Progress 28 Years Later
• Hillary Clinton Barely Edges Sarah Palin as Most Admired Woman in Gallup Poll
• NARAL Bashed for 2009 Hall of Fame, Could Honor Late-Term Abortionist
• GOP Attorney Generals Threaten Suit Against Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
• California Pro-Life Group's Office Suffers Break-In, Opponents Suspected
• Arizona Pro-Life Advocate Named One of Decades Ten Most Influential
• New Zealand Right to Life: Family Planning Doesn't Justify Abortion Drug Use
--> LifeNews.com relies on your support to make pro-life news free and available to hundreds of thousands of people every week. You can send a donation to us at LifeNews.com, PO Box 270841, Fort Collins, CO 80527. You can send an online gift through PayPal to us at news@lifenews.com or on the left-hand side of http://www.LifeNews.com
Senator: Pro-Abortion Democrats Will Dominate Health Care Conference Committee
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Senator Charles Grassley is confirming the expectation that the conference committee that will meet to reconcile the differences in the congressional health care bills will be dominated by abortion advocates. If so, the Senate language funding abortions may emerge in the final legislation.
With the House and Senate approving divergent bills, a conference committee must meet to hammer out the final measure for each chamber to vote on before it can go to President Barack Obama.
The Senate measure current funds abortions and paves the way for forcing insurance companies to pay for abortions while the House measure has the Stupak amendment banning abortion funding.
Grassley said Wednesday during a press conference that Democrats named to the committee will likely "huddle secretly" in order to get the legislation written the way they want.
"I think that this will be one of those instances where, following along on the stimulus bill of last February, I will be a conferee but Democrats will huddle secretly and come to the conclusion of what they want to do and then announce it and, you know, it's a take it or leave it," he said, according to The Hill. "It will pretty much be partisan in conference," he added. Full story at LifeNews.com
Ben Nelson to Run Television Ad Defending Health Care-Abortion Compromise
Lincoln, NE (LifeNews.com) -- One day after a new poll showed him tanking with Nebraska voters because of his decision to compromise his long-held pro-life views and become the 60th vote for the pro-abortion health care bill, Sen. Ben Nelson will run a television commercial during a college football bowl game to defend his decision.
Nelson will make his case for supporting the Senate government-run health care bill that forces taxpayers to fund abortions and would allow the Obama administration to make insurance companies pay for abortions with taxpayers' premiums.
He will air a 30-second television spot during Wednesday night's Holiday Bowl game featuring the University of Nebraska showing him talking directly into the camera.
"With all the distortions about health care reform, I want you to hear directly from me," the Democratic senator says in the ad, according to the Lincoln Journal Star newspaper. Wearing a more casual open-necked shirt and sweater, Nelson will say during the Nebraska-University of Arizona football game: "I listened to you and took a common-sense approach to improve the bill." Full story at LifeNews.com
Obama, Abortion, Supreme Court, Health Care Dominate Pro-Life News in 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama, abortion, the Supreme Court and health care dominated pro-life news in 2009. As LifeNews.com looks back on the year -- the first with a new pro-abortion president -- we find the pro-life movement essentially on the defensive.
Thanks to a pro-abortion president and Congress, pro-life advocates spent most of their time attempting to hold back the opening of the floodgates ushering in an expansion of abortion and taxpayer financing of it.
With the health care debate continuing into the new year, those efforts will be forced to continue -- although the potential for pro-life gains in the 2010 elections provides significant hope for the future.
1. Health Care: The health care debate has become the central focus of the pro-life movement during the latter half of 2009 and for good reason. If the abortion language in the final bill is anything like what is currently in the Senate version of the legislation, the result would be the greatest expansion of taxpayer funding of abortions since the 1970s when the Hyde Amendment was adopted. The Senate bill not only would allow the forcing of taxpayers to pay for abortions but would let the Obama administration force insurance plans to pay for them as well.
The end result? With Hyde getting credit for stopping more than 100,000 abortions annually, the health care bill could result in a 10% or greater increase in abortions -- all financed with government money. This doesn't even touch on the rationing, promotion of assisted suicide, and lack of conscience protection for medical professionals found in the bill.
2. Barack Obama promoting abortion: The influence of the president of the United States on abortion policy can never be underestimated, despite some who still think the president doesn't have any impact.
LifeNews.com has the most comprehensive chronicle of Obama's pro-abortion actions, but the most consequential ones include his overturning of the Mexico City Policy and allowing tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to flow to abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood and Marie Stopes International that not only do abortions by lobby pro-life nations to overturn or water down their laws. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Found 2009 Difficult With Abortion Centers Closing Rapidly
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion business in the United States, doing 305,310 abortions in its own facilities or just under one-third of all American abortions. But the billion-dollar abortion giant faced a tough year in 2009 as it saw abortion centers close at a higher rate than normal.
Jim Sedlak, the director of STOPP International, a watchdog group, told LifeNews.com today that he's seen Planned Parenthood centers close over the year but never as fast as in 2009.
"STOPP has been fighting for 25 years to close down Planned Parenthood abortion facilities. During that time, we have seen the number of Planned Parenthood non-express clinics fall from a high of 938 in 1995 to 797 today," he explained. "More significantly, 2009 saw the rate of Planned Parenthood closings go from one a month to over two a month," he said.
"Although the organization reported record income ($1.04 billion) and a record number of babies killed in its own facilities, there have been a number of signs that Planned Parenthood is beginning to feel the relentless pressure from those of us who will not stand by and watch it take our money and kill our children," he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Abortion Health Care Could Cost Democrats Control of House in 2010 Election
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With less than 48 hours before the 2010 calendar year begins and jut 11 months until the 2010 Congressional elections, prognosticators are already firing off predictions on what will happen.
Most handicappers suggest Republicans will pick up seats in Congress because of the pro-abortion health care bill and Americans' disapproval of the Obama presidency.
But Reuters writer James Pethokoukis suggests it could cost Democrats control of the House entirely.
Pethokoukis points to modern history as a predictor of things to come. "American politics has a regular ebb and flow. In 13 of the past 15 midterm elections going back to 1950, the party in control of the White House has lost an average of 22 seats in the House. In 10 of the past 15 midterms the party running the Senate has lost an average of three seats," he said.
More recent political results show a change coming with pro-life Republicans winning gubernatorial races in the off-year elections in Virginia, replacing a pro-abortion Democrat, and in New Jersey. Full story at LifeNews.com
Scientists: Embryonic Stem Cell Research Showing Little Progress 28 Years Later
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In the 28 years that scientists have been toying with embryonic stem cells in animals and humans, not one human patient has even been treated. Despite President Barack Obama forcing taxpayers to fund the research, that destroys human life, scientists don't expect that to change anytime soon.
In a new interview with NPR, Len Zon, a stem cell researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston, admits that any hope of treating patients with embryonic stem cells is not forthcoming.
"I think that's still a ways off," Zon said. "Although there are some studies that the FDA is considering, I think we still have to figure out how to make these cells in a more efficient and effective way, and I think that's going to take awhile," he said.
Part of the effectiveness problem revolves around the fact that embryonic stem cells, when inserted as treatments in animals, still form tumors and prompt rejection issues from the immune system.
Zon told NPR that he holds out more hope for the new development called direct reprogramming. That's the process discovered by Japanese researcher Shinya that reverts adult stem cells to an embryonic-like state and avoids having to kill unborn children to obtain the cells. But even this process has yet to treat patients with the induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) it creates. Full story at LifeNews.com
Hillary Clinton Barely Edges Sarah Palin as Most Admired Woman in Gallup Poll
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-abortion Secretary of State Hillary Clinton barely edged pro-life former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a new Gallup poll asking respondents to name the woman they most admired. Clinton continued her placement atop the list but barely beat Palin 16 to 15 percent.
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey and first lady Michelle Obama finish third and fourth, with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Queen Elizabeth II, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and poet Maya Angelou -- all regulars on the list -- joined by newcomers German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Elin Woods in the top 10.
The poll asked for people to name their first and second choice of women living today that they admired and Winfrey received 8 percent, Obama 7 percent and Rice and Queen Elizabeth 2 percent each.
Hillary Clinton has now been named Most Admired Woman 14 times since 1993, spanning her career as first lady, New York senator, and now secretary of state. The three times she has not finished first during this time, she earned second place (to Laura Bush in 2001 and to Mother Teresa in 1995 and 1996). Full story at LifeNews.com
NARAL Bashed for 2009 Hall of Fame Award, Could Honor Late-Term Abortionist
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The top pro-abortion group NARAL is holding an end-of-the-year award voting process for its members. The award vote gives them a chance to vote on their favorite abortion advocate and the pro-life advocate or legislation they despise the most.
The Hall of Fame 2009 candidates include MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow, whose abortion advocacy knows no limits.
The Baltimore City Council, which recently passed a measure targeting pregnancy centers, can also receive an award as can a group of pro-abortion lawmakers who worked to force taxpayers to fund abortions in the nation's capital.
But one pro-life group tells LifeNews.com that the nomination of late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart for the NARAL Hall of Fame takes the cake.
Carhart is the Omaha, Nebraska-based abortion practitioner who has attempted to step into the shoes of late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller of Kansas, who was shot and killed earlier this year. Full story at LifeNews.com
GOP Attorney Generals Threaten Lawsuit Against Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Thirteen Republican attorney generals are threatening a lawsuit against the pro-abortion health care bill. Although the suit would not challenge its abortion funding component, it could help pro-life advocates by overturning the bill if it becomes law. The officials provided a letter to the Associated Press threatening the lawsuit over the Medicare funding provisions in the deal Sen. Ben Nelson secured with Senate leader Harry Reid to become the 60th vote for the bill. The deal also included abortion funding. "We believe this provision is constitutionally flawed," South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and the 12 other attorneys general wrote in the letter sent to Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. As chief legal officers of our states we are contemplating a legal challenge to this provision and we ask you to take action to render this challenge unnecessary by striking that provision," they ask. The letter was signed by top prosecutors in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington state. A conference committee begins meeting next year to work out a compromise between House and Senate versions of the bill and they will decide whether to keep this provision and abortion funding in the final bill.
California Pro-Life Group's Office Suffers Break-In, Opponents Suspected
Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- While the pro-life advocates at the Capitol Resource Institute pro-family group in California spent this past Christmas weekend with family and friends, their opponents appear to have broken into their office. Tim LeFever, the head of the group, shares the update with LifeNews.com. "Despite extensive security precautions, Capitol Resource Institute's Sacramento office was broken into over the holiday weekend. While staff was away with family, some took the opportunity to vandalize and take things of value. Unfortunately, it does not appear that this was a random entry in search of electronics and cash. Those responsible for this act apparently spent time poring through files and other things with little street value," he explained. "CRI is not too worried that our opponents may have gained a glimpse of our strategy; we are pretty up front about what we do and why we do it. But we take this as another sad reminder of the dynamics of the battle we are in. Opponents of our family friendly agenda have not limited their opposition to conventional education or activism. Our web site has been hacked, our signs and literature destroyed, and our staff has received threats of violence. It is a tribute to the determination of the staff and supporters of CRI, and the importance of this work, that CRI has not backed down. Each attack has been met with a renewed commitment to push on."
| Looking for a Pro-Life Speaker for 2010? |
| Looking for a pro-life speaker for your next banquet, conference or convention? LifeNews.com editor Steven Ertelt is a low-cost speaker who can entertain and educate your audience as well as help you with a fundraising pitch if necessary. He can also speak on any pro-life topic. For more information, email news@LifeNews.com. |
Arizona Pro-Life Advocate Named One of Decades Ten Most Influential Residents
Phoenix, AZ (LifeNews.com) -- The Arizona Capitol Times has named Center for Arizona Policy president Cathi Herrod one of the Decade's Ten Most Influential Arizonans. The pro-life advocate is being recognized in a distinguished list that includes Senator John McCain, former Governor Janet Napolitano, and ASU President Michael Crow. "As leader of the social conservative Center for Arizona Policy," the article states, "Herrod has successfully shaped state policy on some of the most divisive issues of the last decade. Whether it was her efforts to restrict abortion or the successful ballot measure in 2008 defining marriage between a man and a woman, Herrod has tirelessly led the fight." The Center for Arizona Policy has been leading the fight with other pro-life groups in the state of Arizona for years to stop abortions and protect the rights of pro-life advocates.
New Zealand Right to Life: Family Planning Doesn't Justify Abortion Drug Use
Wellington, New Zealand (LifeNews.com) -- The following update comes from New Zealand Right to Life: "The New Zealand Family Planning Association on 8 December issued a statement in defense of the use of the lethal drug, Mifegyne, RU 486 for the killing of unborn children in the first 9 weeks of pregnancy. The Association, an ardent advocate for a culture of death sought to refute recent press releases of Right to Life and other pro-life organizations. Family Planning claims that medical abortions are safe. Medical abortions are unsafe for unborn children who are the weakest and most de fenceless members of the human family. It is always wrong to kill the innocent. Right to Life believes that Family Planning have a complete disregard for the human rights of unborn children and for the protection of their lives. Family Planning claims that medical abortions are safe for women and that there have been worldwide, only 12 reported maternal deaths. This figure is questioned. There is believed to be substantial underreporting as doctors are very reluctant to indicate on a death certificate that the death of the mother was the result of having an abortion. Why is Family Planning in complete denial of the physical and psychological damage inflicted on women as a result of having an abortion?"
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Speaker Pelosi Apparently Out of Touch with Women, Says Fr. Pavone
STATEN ISLAND, NY, Dec. 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, the Catholic Church's largest pro-life ministry, commented today on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's statement that because God gives humans free will, women should be able to exercise free will with regard to abortion.
"I would think someone in Speaker Pelosi's position would realize that women do not get abortions because of freedom of choice; they get them precisely because they feel they have no freedom and no choice. Moreover, I doubt the Speaker would argue that because God grants us free will that the government should allow us to choose whether to pay taxes," said Fr. Pavone.
"It's time to listen to the voices of those who have had abortions, like the women in the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. The pro-life movement is not about taking away their freedom. It's about taking away their despair," Fr. Pavone concluded.
Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro- life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.
Judie Brown: "The pluripotency pickle: the story of a lie"
Judie Brown
December 30, 2009
Pickle — a difficult situation; a sour solution
Several years ago, in one her most important scientific papers, Professor Dianne Irving discussed the nature of the pluripotent stem cell, which when taken from the human embryo, can itself become a human embryo. In her analysis, entitled Stem Cells That Become Embryos: Implications for the NIH Guidelines on Stem Cell Research, the NIH Stem Cell Report, Informed Consent, and Patient Safety in Clinical Trials. Analysis: Parts I and II, she wrote, http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_39anlystemcel1.html
The purpose of this scientific analysis is to demonstrate empirically, scientifically, and beyond any shadow of a doubt, that indeed, once separated from the whole intact human embryo, human embryonic and fetal "pluripotent" stem cells can become new living human embryos themselves, new living human beings — as we already know happens even naturally in monozygotic twinning.
Baltimore Law Aims to Undermine Charitable Work of Pregnancy Resource Centers, Say Pro-life Activists
Image via Wikipedia
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer
City Hall, Baltimore, Md.
NARAL's 'Hall of Fame' Reveals Their Shame
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- NARAL thinks that late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart deserves an award for barely keeping his failing abortion business running in spite of Operation Rescue's "Keep it Closed" campaign. The militant abortion group has nominated Carhart for their 2009 "Hall of Fame."
But Operation Rescue says that the aging feminist group had to do some serious "spin doctoring" to find anything but shame in Carhart's seedy abortion operation, which is currently under investigation by the Attorney General's office and the State Department of Health.
"It is hard to believe that even radical abortion proponents would do anything but slink away in shame from Carhart and his disreputable and shoddy abortion business," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "It is shameful that NARAL would endanger women by misleading them about Carhart to advance their political agenda. If they truly cared about women, they should be warning women to stay away from him."
Events generated by Operation Rescue's campaign prompted several of Carhart's own employees to come forward to tell The Omaha World-Herald of illegal practices and dangerous conditions at Carhart's Bellevue, Nebraska, abortion clinic, including allegations that drugs were missing and surgical instruments were filthy. Three of these women have submitted sworn affidavits detailing their allegations to the Nebraska Attorney General.
NARAL also neglected to mention other shame-worthy Carhart news:
· Carhart was forced to abandon announced plans for a late-term abortion clinic in Kansas when he was unable to secure facilities or support.
About Operation Rescue®
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Operation Rescue is now headquartered in a former abortion clinic that it bought and closed in 2006. From there, Operation Rescue launches its innovative new strategies across the nation, exposing and closing abortion clinics through peaceful, legal means. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to stop abortion and ultimately restore legal personhood to the pre-born in obedience to biblical mandates.
Bishops criticize Senate version of healthcare bill on abortion, conscience rights and coverage of immigrants
"Required to pay for other people's abortions"
When Congress reconvenes early next year to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of pending federal healthcare legislation, U.S. bishops say they want the final measure to be more like the House bill than the one adopted by the Senate on Christmas Eve.
The day after the Senate voted 60-40 along party lines to end debate on the Reid Amendment, which incorporated a so-called compromise on federal abortion funding into the Senate bill, three bishops signed a letter to legislators calling the Senate bill "deficient" and in need of "essential changes."
In a Dec. 22 news release by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chair of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities; Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, chair of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; and Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, chair of the Committee on Migration, cited specific defects in the Senate bill.
According to the bishops, the Senate measure "violates the longstanding federal policy against the use of federal funds for elective abortions and health plans that include such abortions -- a policy upheld in all health programs covered by the Hyde Amendment as well as in the Children's Health Insurance Program, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program -- and now in the House-passed 'Affordable Health Care for America Act.'"
"They said that the health care bill passed by the House of Representatives 'keeps in place the longstanding and widely supported federal policy against government funding of elective abortions and plans that include elective abortions' and 'ensures that where federal funds are involved, people are not required to pay for other people's abortions,'" said the USCCB news release. "The Senate bill does not maintain this commitment."
Under provisions of the Senate version, "federal funds will help subsidize, and in some cases a federal agency will facilitate and promote, health plans that cover elective abortions," the bishops said. "All purchasers of such plans will be required to pay for other people's abortions in a very direct and explicit way, through a separate premium payment designed solely to pay for abortion. There is no provision for individuals to opt out of this abortion payment in federally subsidized plans, so people will be required by law to pay for other people's abortions."
The Senate bill "also continues to fall short of the House-passed bill in preventing governmental discrimination against health care providers that decline involvement in abortion," the bishops said, and "includes no conscience protection allowing Catholic and other institutions to provide and purchase health coverage consistent with their moral and religious convictions on other procedures."
The bishops also faulted the legislation for its failure to include immigrants, calling on Congress to pass a bill that covers "all immigrants, regardless of status" and allowing them "to be able purchase a health insurance plan with their own money," said the USCCB release.
Sitting senators get six times as much money from pro-abortion forces than from pro-lifers
Follow the money
(The following is an excerpt from a Dec. 9 item published on OpenSecrets.org, the website of the Center for Responsive Politics. OpenSecrets.org describes itself as "the nation's premier independent website tracking the influence of money on U.S. politics, and how that money affects policy and citizens' lives." The article appeared after senators killed language in their version of healthcare legislation that would have been nearly identical to the Stupak Amendment adopted by the House.)
"Senators Backed By Pro-Choice Interests Block New Abortion Restrictions"
Published by Michael Beckel on December 9, 2009
As the U.S. Senate weighs contentious changes to federal abortion policy, the Center for Responsive Politics has also found that pro-choice interests have given sitting senators roughly six times as much as pro-life interests have contributed to them.
Overall, individuals and political action committees classified by the Center as part of the abortion rights lobby have contributed about $3.4 million to current senators since 1989. By contrast, individuals and PACs classified by the Center as part of the anti-abortion lobby have contributed just $559,000 to current senators during the same period…
Unlike other policy areas where donations may hold some sway in influencing lawmakers, supporters and opponents of abortion rights typically donate money to politicians who already agree with them on the issue.
After supporters of abortion rights suffered a setback during the House's health care reform debate, they defeated an attempt to add new restrictions regarding abortion to the Senate's health insurance reform bill Tuesday.
By a 54-45 vote, senators tabled an amendment offered by Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.)… and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). The Center for Responsive Politics has found that senators who voted in favor of tabling the amendment received an average of nearly $60,000 from abortion rights supporters and an average of just $80 from anti-abortion interests over the past 20 years.
Senators who voted against tabling the Nelson-Hatch amendment, meanwhile, received an average of $12,300 from pro-life interests and an average of $3,700 from pro-choice interests over the past 20 years, CRP found.
To read the entire article, Click Here.
