LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Monday, December 14, 2009
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Current Headlines
• Obama Calls Democrats for Meeting as Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill Implodes
• Barack Obama Gives Himself a B+ Grade, Pro-Life Leader Says F More Accurate
• Senate Panel Approves Obama's Pro-Abortion EEOC Nominee, Chai Feldblum
• Woman Comatose Month After Botched Abortion Gets $1.9 Million Settlement
• Planned Parenthood Calls Video "False" Showing it Lying to Women on Abortion
• Abortion Survivor Shares Story of Beating Death at 24 Weeks Into Pregnancy
• African-Americans and Abortion: Navigating the Mine-Field of the Black Woman's Womb
• Pro-Abortion Republican Group Backs Candidates in Delaware, New Hampshire
• Northern Ireland Health Department Loses Case Over Abortion Guidelines
• Connecticut Report Shows Abortions Increasing, State Reporting a Problem
• Nebraska Pro-Life Groups: Don't Distort Our Embryonic Stem Cell Research Stance
• Austin's Travis County Renews Contracts Sending Tax Money to Abortion Centers
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Obama Calls Democrats for Meeting as Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill Implodes
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama is calling on Senate Democrats to come to the White House for a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the imploding fortunes of the pro-abortion health care bill. The meeting comes one day after Obama had scheduled a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
It also comes as some Democrats are seen as falling away from supporting the bill.
Sen. Joe Lieberman has renewed his pledge to filibuster the legislation over the inclusion of the public option. Sen. Ben Nelson has said he will oppose the bill as well because of the abortion funding contained in it.
And other Democrats are sounding negative themes and members such as Blanch Lincoln, Mary Landrieu, and even Jim Webb of Virginia, are seen as potential no votes.
The meeting also comes as reports have surfaced showing the White House supposedly telling Reid to cut a political deal with Lieberman to salvage his vote.
Rebutting the reports, a top presidential aide, Dan Pfeiffer, said, "The White House is not pushing (Senate Majority Leader Harry) Reid in any direction, we are working hand in hand with the Senate leadership to work through the various issues and pass health reform as soon as possible." Full story at LifeNews.com
Barack Obama Gives Himself a B+ Grade, Pro-Life Leader Says F More Accurate
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama gives himself a B+ grade for his overall performance as president, but a pro-life leader says he deserves an F for his aggressive abortion promotion. Obama wasted little time after taking over the White House in sending tax dollars for abortions.
During an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Sunday night, Obama claimed he had made significant progress on economic and international fronts.
Obama said he would give himself "a good solid B-plus" grade for his first year in office.
He said the only thing that would keep him from giving himself a higher grade is that some parts of his agenda -- including the passage of a pro-abortion government-run health care bill -- remains incomplete.
Wendy Wright, the president of Concerned Women for America, told LifeNews.com she has a different grade in mind when it comes to Obama's performance.
"To grade someone, you must first know what is the standard," she said. "When it comes to abortion there is a clear consensus among Americans, which Obama reflected in his campaign rhetoric, that we want to reduce abortions to the point that no woman feels she needs one," Wright said.
"Regrettably, Obama's performance would fall in the failing category," Wright told LifeNews.com. Full story at LifeNews.com
Senate Panel Approves Obama's Pro-Abortion EEOC Nominee, Chai Feldblum
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- On Thursday, the Senate HELP Committee approved the nomination from President Barack Obama of a pro-abortion activist to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Senators met in a secretive closed-session meeting without the normal opportunity for media coverage and oversight.
The panel met in executive session that was held off the Senate floor in between votes, instead of in its normal committee meeting room.
In a press statement about the ad hoc meeting, pro-abortion committee chairman Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, said the closed meeting was held "to accommodate members' schedules."
The nomination of pro-abortion Georgetown University law professor Chai Feldblum to serve on the EEOC now heads to the full Senate and, if confirmed Feldblum would serve on the EEOC for five years and could decide cases that related to pressuring women employees to have abortions or pressuring pro-life advocates to allow abortions in insurance policies.
Feldblum isn't known by most Americans, but she worked for the pro-abortion Human Rights Campaign Fund and, from 1986-1987 and has been a legislative counsel for the pro-abortion ACLU. She also clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, the infamous judge who handed down the Roe v. Wade decision that has allowed more than 51 million abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Woman Comatose Month After Botched Abortion Gets $1.9 Million Settlement
Englewood, NJ (LifeNews.com) -- An abortion business in New Jersey has settled a $1.9 million lawsuit out of court filed by a woman who was comatose for one month following a botched abortion. Metropolitan Medical Associates, based in Englewood, New Jersey and a center that does thousands of abortions annually, was responsible.
Newark resident Rasheedah Dinkins had an abortion in January 2007 at the Metropolitan Medical Associates abortion business that went horribly wrong.
Dinkins, who is now 22, became severely ill following the abortion and was transferred to Newark Beth Israel Medical Center where she needed blood transfusions and had her uterus removed. She also suffered a stroke due to the serious blood loss and had one of her lungs collapse.
"I was laying in my bed and I got the cold shakes," Dinkins told AP in March 2007 about her ordeal. "My body kept going numb. After that, I don't remember anything." "I think it's horrible what I had to go through," she said at the time.
Dinkins said her mother and hospital officials told her she died en route to the medical facility from the abortion center but medical personnel were able to revive her. She told AP she regards her decision to have an abortion as a bad one, saying "I probably wouldn't have made this choice." Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Calls Video "False" Showing it Lying to Women on Abortion
Appleton, WI (LifeNews.com) -- Officials with the Planned Parenthood abortion business in Wisconsin are calling "false and inflammatory" a video showing its staffers lying to women about abortion. The video shows an abortion practitioner and staff making erroneous statements about fetal development and abortion's risks.
As LifeNews.com reported last week, Live Action released the footage of an undercover video it took showing the false statements to two women considering an abortion.
A counselor on the tape says, "A fetus is what's in the uterus right now. That is not a baby. A baby is what's born at 40 weeks."
"Much safer than having a baby. You know women die having babies," the abortion practitioner continues.
Teri Huyck, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, told the Appleton Post-Crescent newspaper the video was an attack that was misleading.
"The fact is Planned Parenthood's standard is to provide honest, medically accurate information," she said. "That is what the physician in this case did, in addition to accurately answering safety questions from a patient that had indicated she wanted to terminate her pregnancy." Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortion Survivor Shares Story of Beating Death at 24 Weeks Into Pregnancy
Melissa Ohden's 19 month old daughter, Olivia, was not supposed to have a chance at life because of abortion. Not because Melissa ever considered aborting her, but because Melissa, herself, was aborted at approximately 24 weeks of gestation and survived.
Abortion attempt survivors, in and of themselves, are rare in our society. Having an abortion attempt survivor become a mother, herself, and speak out against the intergenerational impact of abortion, is certainly even more of a rarity. But by all appearances, Melissa is up for the challenge that faces her in her ministry.
"It's my calling," states Melissa. "This is who I am; I wouldn't change a thing."
Although adoption was an intrinsic part of her family and life, Melissa didn't learn that she was the survivor of a failed saline infusion abortion attempt until she was in the 8th grade. Finding out the painful reality of how she entered the world truly changed her life and the lives of all of those around her forever, and understandably, it hasn't always been easy.
"Ashamed, guilty, and embarrassed," is how Melissa describes the predominant feelings she had for many years after finding out about surviving the abortion attempt. Full story at LifeNews.com
African-Americans and Abortion: Navigating the Mine-Field of the Black Woman's Womb
by Malaka Grant
When I was growing up in Ghana in the home of a Black radical (my mother) and a regular dude (my dad), I was taught by my mother and other radicals of her ilk that "civilization was carried on the womb of the black woman", that her children were "kings and queens", that her "feet were shod with truth and beauty."
You get the picture; and anyone who was born between 1968-81 and raised in a home of "Black consciousness" knows what I'm talking about. For a short stretch of time, it was a good and honorable thing to raise a Black family with two parents, some kids, maybe even a dog.
There was a time, and not too long ago, that if a Black man wanted to have sex with a Black woman, by God he was going to have to marry her. We had that much respect for ourselves, our bodies and the concept of family.
I turned the page of this Black book and suddenly being "Black" in the new century means a life style of promiscuity, immaturity and irresponsibility. If you turn on BET, it's like our women have fought for exclusive rights to exhibit whoredom. Sex is pervasive in our community, and generally when people have gratuitous and unprotected sex, they make a baby. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Abortion Republican Group Backs Candidates in Delaware, New Hampshire
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-abortion Republican organization announced Monday that it has made donations to two candidates for Congress in Delaware and New Hampshire. With almost all Republicans in Congress taking a pro-life stance, the Republican Majority for Choice PAC has relatively few candidates to support.
In a Monday filing with the FEC, according to Congressional Quarterly, the group gave $5,000 to Rep. Michael Castle, a Delaware congressman.
Castle is hoping to capture a victory in the race for the Delaware Senate seat vacated by Vice President Joe Biden and currently held by Democrat Ted Kaufman, who is not running for the seat in 2010.
Castle is seen as having a slight advantage in the race, which, if he wins, would ironically allow pro-life Republican leaders more votes in the Senate to take on abortion and the pro-abortion health care bill. Full story at LifeNews.com
Northern Ireland Health Department Loses Case Over Abortion Guidelines
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Northern Ireland health department has lost its case in court today after pro-life groups challenged its abortion rules. The abortion guidelines the health department released in March drew a challenge from the British pro-life group SPUC.
The organization says the guidelines, which explain the rare circumstances when abortions can be legally done, could be used to legalize abortion through the back door.
The new document says abortions can be done for two reasons: to "preserve the life of the woman" or if a physician determines continuing the pregnancy will impose "a risk of real and serious adverse effect on her physical or mental health which is either long-term or permanent."
Northern Ireland, unlike the rest of Great Britain, does not allow abortions and makes them available only when the life of the mother is at risk. SPUC wants the guidelines declared unlawful and for them to not be used.
Lord Justice Girvan rejected the health department's request that he change his order so only two sections on the abortion counseling be reconsidered. Full story at LifeNews.com
Connecticut Report Shows Abortions Increasing, State Reporting a Problem
Hartford, CT (LifeNews.com) -- A new report drafted by the Connecticut Catholic Conference shows the number of abortions and abortion rates increasing in the northeastern state. The report has the abortion rate increasing in Connecticut even as national numbers show abortions on the decline.
This is the second annual report issued by the Connecticut Catholic Conference and it shows the abortion rate in the state has grown by 15.5 percent between 2000 and 2007. The abortion rate rose from 18 abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age in 2000 to 20.79 abortions in 2007.
The Catholic pro-life group says it had to compile the report in part because of problems with the Connecticut Department of Public Health compiling accurate abortion figures.
The CCC says the state is not compiling the age of the woman having the abortion and the age of the unborn baby at the time of the abortion as required by state law. That raises concerns about abortion centers requiring other state laws on abortion, such as counseling requirements for minors. The report indicates the state health department is looking into the problem. Full story at LifeNews.com
Nebraska Pro-Life Groups: Don't Distort Our Embryonic Stem Cell Research Stance
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents failed to limit expansion of embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR) at NU. Why won't we opponents of ESCR get over it and move on? Why were state senators contacting us within hours of the regents' vote?
Because the public record now says we supported expansion of ESCR.
Regent Jim McClurg cast the decisive vote based on misrepresentations of Legislative Bill 606 and the position of our groups in supporting it. McClurg declared that he would not support a resolution to limit ESCR because LB 606 "created a platform" for expansion of ESCR supported by all parties to the negotiation.
McClurg was repeating a false mantra started by supporters of ESCR after the 2008 election produced a 5-3 majority on the Board of Regents against ESCR. The mantra: Why should the regents bother with this when the Legislature and the governor gave a green light to expansion of ESCR in LB 606, and opponents of ESCR agreed to it?
What nonsense. There's no way our groups, the governor — who got the sole endorsement of Nebraska Right to Life in 2006 — and 30-some state senators on our side would have supported LB 606 if it had contained even a hint of support for expanded ESCR, never mind a "platform." Full story at LifeNews.com
Austin's Travis County Renews Contracts Sending Tax Money to Abortion Centers
by Jim Welsh
Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) -- Officials in Travis County, the location of Austin, Texas, voted last week to renew two contracts that ultimately send $450,000 to directly pay for abortions. The county has paid for abortions in prior budgets and pro-life advocates hoped to stop it this time around, but were unsuccessful.
About 200 people, the largest crowd ever, attended the hearing as the board of Central Health approved agreements to continue paying for abortions.
Clarke Heidrick, an attorney on the board, said he thought abortion was wrong but said the county supported sending the money to the abortion businesses to help it provide family planning services.
The Travis County Healthcare District (TCHD) Board of Managers considered proposed contracts totaling $450,000 for approximately 1,000 abortions a year with Austin Women's Health Center (also known as Brookside Women's Medical Center and Whole Woman's Health of Austin and added Planned Parenthood has a third option. Full story at LifeNews.com
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