LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Saturday, December 5, 2009
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Current Headlines
• Vote on Nelson Amdt to Stop Abortion Funds in Senate Health Care Delayed
• Senator Harry Reid Challenged to Stand Up for Supposed Pro-Life Abortion View
• Fort Hood Shooter Faces More Charges, None for Killing Pregnant Soldier's Baby
• NARAL Runs TV Ad to Build Opposition to Nelson, Stupak Abortion Fund Amdts
• Post-Abortion Pain May be Driving Attacks on Pro-Life Stalwart Sarah Palin
• LeRoy Carhart: No Abortion Center in Kansas, Late-Term Abortions in Nebraska
• Abortion Center in Michigan Advertises Abortion Business as "Sacred Work"
• Social Justice Begins In The Womb, Book Shows Pro-Life is Pro-Human Rights
• Planned Parenthood's Arrogant War On Science: Not Knowing When Life Begins
• Duty and Disability: Story of Rom Houben Reminds Us Patients Deserve Respect
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Vote on Nelson Amendment to Stop Abortion Funds in Senate Health Care Delayed
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Senators have delayed a vote on the Nelson-Hatch amendment that would prohibit virtually all abortion funding currently contained in the Senate health care bill. If approved without the amendment, the bill could wind up forcing Americans to pay for hundreds of thousands of abortions.
The bipartisan amendment comes from Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah.
Yesterday, Senate leader Harry Reid had wanted to get to a vote on the Nelson amendment, but he delayed it after feeling pressured to move ahead. Nelson also indicated he wanted to run the language by pro-life groups to ensure it was successful in prohibiting abortion funding.
Today, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, a pro-abortion Illinois Democrat, said the vote on the Nelson amendment will not come until Monday at the earliest.
Durbin also said he and other pro-abortion Democrats are trying to work out a compromise on the abortion funding language -- although any compromise will likely result in Americans paying for abortions but the federal government hiding the funding using accounting schemes.
Durbin said there are "pretty serious conversations" taking place and that they hoped to resolve the abortion funding question so a vote on the government-run health care legislation could take place before Christmas. Full story at LifeNews.com
Senator Harry Reid Challenged to Stand Up for Supposed Pro-Life Abortion View
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Decades ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was once so pro-life that he co-sponsored a human life amendment in Congress that would have resulted in prohibiting abortions nationwide. Now, he is a shadow of his former pro-life self and won't even commit to stopping taxpayer funded abortions.
The watering down of his pro-life views has gotten him to the point that he hasn't earned a 100% pro-life voting record from the National Right to Life Committee in many years -- in fact he is 100% pro-abortion on three votes in 2009.
As the prime sponsor of the government-run health care bill in the Senate, Reid is poised to preside over the greatest expansion of federal funding of abortions in the nation's history.
Reid won't commit to supporting the Nelson-Hatch amendment to his health care bill that could receive a vote as early as this weekend or sometime next week. The amendment would remove the abortion funding Reid paves the way for through the public option and affordability credits in his legislation.
Still, that hasn't stopped Reid from telling constituents he's pro-life. "I oppose abortion except in the cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at risk," he told a Nevada resident in a recent letter. Full story at LifeNews.com
Fort Hood Shooter Faces More Charges, None for Killing Pregnant Soldier's Baby
Fort Hood, TX (LifeNews.com) -- Army officials have filed more charges against Nidal Malik Hasan, who stands accused of killing 12 soldiers and one civilian in last month's shooting. However, the charges do not include any for killing soldier Francheska Velez's unborn child, despite requests from pro-life groups.
Hasan was charged with 32 additional counts of premeditated attempted murder for the shooting of 30 military personnel and two civilians. Those charges are in addition to the 13 counts of murder he already faces, but they do not include charges that could be brought under the national Unborn Victims of Violence Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush.
That law provides added justice for pregnant women and their unborn children by allowing prosecutors to charge attackers for the killing of or injury to an unborn child in the commission of a crime against her mother.
Jill Stanek, a pro-life blogger and nurse, notice the omission and said the military need to bring the additional charge for the death of the baby. "The Army dishonors not only Velez's baby but Velez by ignoring his murder," she said. "And the Army ignores the law by doing so, namely the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, a federal law passed in 2004 that also codified the Uniform Code of Military Justice."
The charges should include "the charge of murder against Pvt. Francheska Velez's preborn baby, killed when she was killed," Stanek maintained. Full story at LifeNews.com
NARAL Runs TV Ad to Build Opposition to Nelson, Stupak Abortion Funding Amdts
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- NARAL has started a new television advertising campaign in a handful of states designed to build opposition to the Stupak and Nelson amendments to remove abortion funding from the Congressional health care bill. The NARAL ad specifically targets Rep. Bart Stupak and is airing in vote-critical states.
"Why would politicians like Bart Stupak introduce abortion into America's health care debate?" the ad's female narrator asks.
"Why are they trying to make it more difficult than ever before for women to buy insurance coverage for abortion in the new health care system — even if they use their own money?" the NARAL ad continues.
The ad reflects a more aggressive tone and strategy for abortion advocates, who have been on the offense ever since they lost the Stupak amendment vote in the House by a lopsided bipartisan majority. Full story at LifeNews.com
Post-Abortion Pain May be Driving Attacks on Pro-Life Stalwart Sarah Palin
by Janet Morana
It's been over a year since the election of 2008 and yet Sarah Palin cannot show up in the news without a barrage of vicious attacks from the media. Although she is no longer a candidate for vice president, the vitriol continues to spew over the release of her book, "Going Rogue: An American Life."
Many think the anti-Sarah sentiment stems from her solid pro-life position but I would like to explore reasons that go way beyond her feelings about abortion.
As you look back in history to the late 1960s and 1970s, you see a wave of feminist ideals being sold to women, including the notion that they needed to delay motherhood to get ahead in their careers. Many women bought into this belief that giving birth and career advancement didn't mix. So what happened?
Many women chose the birth control route, delaying marriage and childbirth well into their thirties and even forties. Their biological clocks ticked away and they sacrificed the most fertile time in their lives for career advancement and what they thought would be true happiness. Full story at LifeNews.com
LeRoy Carhart: No Abortion Center in Kansas But Late-Term Abortions in Nebraska
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- Earlier this week, pro-life advocates celebrated the fact that late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart missed his own self-imposed deadline for opening a new abortion business in Kansas to replace the one shut down in the wake of the George Tiller shooting. Now, Carhart has confirmed that is the case.
The pro-life group Operation Rescue has been closely following Carhart's plans and one of its volunteers was able to get Carhart himself to comment on the situation.
"We're actually working out of the Nebraska clinic right now," he said. "I'm thinking we may not go ahead and develop that down there." "We had made arrangements - had made an offer, but I think we are probably not going to go through with that. We've talked to the seller and I think we are just going to stay in Nebraska for now," Carhart said.
Carhart first announced that he would be opening a new abortion business to replace Tiller's on the day after Tiller was shot and killed while attending church. The Tiller family eventually decided to close his abortion center making it so Carhart would have to open his own instead of running Tiller's.
Carhart changed his story several times, telling the media that he would open his own late-term abortion clinic in Wichita and later saying his new clinic would be in a community within 25 miles of Wichita. Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortion Center in Michigan Advertises Abortion Business as "Sacred Work"
Detroit, MI (LifeNews.com) -- An abortion center in Michigan is drawing guffaws from pro-life advocates for a new series of video advertisements touting its abortions as "sacred work." The ads from Northland Family Planning Centers of Michigan follow comments this week from a pro-abortion religious leader saying abortion is a "God-given right."
The new video with the comment is part of a series of videos highlighting their abortion services and states, "We believe in the goodness of our work."
The spokesperson in the ad points to a sign hanging in the abortion facility that reads, "We do sacred work that honors women and the circle of life and death. When you come here bring only love."
Matthew Archbold of the Creative Minority Report blog noticed the new ads and said they say they want abortion to be a "normal experience." "Sadly, that is true as there have been over 45 million abortions since its legalization as the video points out," he says.
But the Northland representative goes further and says abortion is also "a sign of strength courage and responsibility to thoughtfully consider whether or not to bring new life into the world." Full story at LifeNews.com
Social Justice Begins In The Womb, New Book Shows Pro-Life is Pro-Human Rights
by Bryan Kemper
Social justice is all the rage right now. So many different social justice organizations are popping up everywhere, it is hard to keep track. I am not saying this in a negative way; I think it is awesome that people want to take action and do something to love those in need.
I want to point out two things I have noticed two things about this social justice trend. The first is most social justice organizations we see leave out the plight of the children in the womb who are facing death everyday.
For too many people, the social justice timeline begins at birth—when it should start at the beginning of life. So many groups want to save children's lives but don't include the children who are being killed every day by abortion. Many other people buy the cool T-shirt, proclaiming their stance on an issue, and then their action ends.
I think it is great that so many kids want to buy a T-shirt to help spread an important message and support a cause. I only wish it would go further than just a cool T-shirt. It is easy just to wear a shirt with a message; the hard part is living out that message. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood's Arrogant War On Science: Not Knowing When Life Begins
by David Schmidt
While science cannot answer questions of morality or ethics, it can tell us many facts about the world we live in. Stubbornly, abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood have a hard time accepting basic scientific facts that don't square with their ideology.
I was reminded of this as I read over a statement from earlier this year (you can view it here) by Tony Thornton, the President of Planned Parenthood in Lubbock, Texas. He said: "Whenever the fetus reaches the stage of viability and is actually born. Then, that's when I believe life begins."
Notice how nuanced and scientifically inaccurate this statement is. Let me break it down: He says that being born isn't enough to be living, you must all reach "viability". This means that if you are a 20 week old fetus with under-developed lungs and a life-expectancy of hours, you aren't living according to Thornton.
Second, he says if you reach "viability", which based on current medical technology starts at 21.5 weeks, but are not yet born then you are not living. Full story at LifeNews.com.
Duty and Disability: Story of Rom Houben Reminds Us All Patients Deserve Respect
by Christopher O. Tollefsen
Having spent 20 years wrongly diagnosed as in a persistent vegetative state, Rom Houben reminds us that disabled persons are capable of many more substantive opportunities for human fulfillment than we are initially inclined to believe. But is bodily life just as such worth preserving? Can care-givers rightly remove hydration and nutrition?
The recently reported story of Rom Houben is both frightening and inspiring. Houben, wrongly diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state over 20 years ago, has recently learned to communicate with the aid of a speech therapist. Few things could seem more terrifying than the prospect of being in such a state, but going unrecognized for so long.
The Daily Mail reports that "Houben, trapped in his paralyzed body after a car crash, described his real-life nightmare as he screamed to doctors that he could hear them—but could make no sound. 'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,' said Mr. Houben." His new method of communication has enabled him to pursue aspects of his well-being that were unavailable to him before. He is currently at work on a book.
Houben's story resonates with those who are convinced that some or even many allegedly persistent vegetative state (PVS) patients are in reality misdiagnosed, and are either currently conscious or capable of a fuller recovery than is often asserted to be possible. The family of Terri Shiavo, for example, believed that she was responsive to their efforts at communication and, indeed, to their personal presence, in a way incompatible with the standard description of PVS as a state of "complete unawareness." Full story at LifeNews.com
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