LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Monday, January 11, 2010
| For pro-life news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com. |
Current Headlines
• Barack Obama Begins Second Year of Presidency With Lowest Marks
• Susan B. Anthony List Launches Pro-Life Health Care Campaign in Midwest
• Adult Stem Cell Treatment Restores Sight to Blind Man, Seven Others
• Group Suspends Campaign, Pro-Life Dem Opposes Pro-Abortion Health Care
• Pro-Abortion Group Hoping to Raise 500K for Mass Candidate Coakley
• Scott Roeder May Use Manslaughter Defense in Trial of Shooting George Tiller
• South Korea Abortion Practitioners Stop Doing Abortions, Become Pro-Life
• Sweden Authorities Rule Sex-Selection Abortions No Illegal, Won't Stop It
• Mom Faces Woman Accused of Trying to Steal Her Unborn Child
• ACLJ Urges Supreme Court to Take Mass Pro-Life Free Speech Case
• Israel Chief Rabbis Criticized for Letter Urging Jews to Oppose Abortion
• Texas Governor Rick Perry to Headline Statewide Pro-Life Rally in Austin
• ATexas Governor Rick Perry to Headline Statewide Pro-Life Rally in Austin
--> If you like LifeNews.com go to http://shortyawards.com/StevenErtelt to vote for us for the Twitter Shorty Awards. You can nominate us for the politics, news and journalist categories and can vote once for LifeNews.com for each category (send three seperate tweets to do this). Please give us a hand: we trail three pro-abortion sites in politics and are competing with pro-abortion MSNC host Rachel Maddow in journalist. Thank you for your support.
Barack Obama Begins Second Year of Pro-Abortion Presidency With Lowest Marks
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- According to Gallup's first full data set for 2010, Barack Obama starts his second year in office with the highest disapproval rating of any President since Eisenhower. Obama begins 2010 with 44% of the public disapproving of the job he's doing as president. That's four points higher than the next closest president (Reagan), six points higher than Bill Clinton, and 17 points higher than Jimmy Carter.
Obama also begins his second year in office with the second worst job approval rating of any president in the last 56 years. Obama has been walking the public opinion tightrope represented by the 50% job approval line since about mid-November, with his rating wavering between 47% and 53%.
However, even when 47% of Americans approved of Obama's overall job performance (in early December), slightly fewer Americans (46%) disapproved. Obama has yet to see his job approval rating descend to the point that more Americans disapprove than approve, according to Obama. However other polling companies, such as Rasmussen, have shown that a majority of Americans are opposed to Obama's performance as president.
Obama's initial approval rating in his second year as president is among the lowest for elected presidents since Dwight Eisenhower. Only Ronald Reagan -- who, like Obama, took office during challenging economic times -- began his second year in office with a lower approval score (49%). However, Obama's disapproval rating is slightly higher than Reagan's was (44% vs. 40%).
Susan B. Anthony List Launches Pro-Life Health Care Campaign in Midwest
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Susan B. Anthony List is launching a Midwestern nine-city press tour next week to remind pro-life Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives of local pro-life opposition to government-funded abortion in health care reform.
The tour, called Women Speak Out: Abortion is NOT Health Care, coincides with a broad nationwide effort to mobilize pro-life activists next week. As part of that effort, the Susan B. Anthony List is sponsoring a $45,000 radio ad campaign in select Congressional districts , as well as over 125,000 patch-through calls connecting pro-life Americans with their local congressional district offices.
Former Colorado congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave is part of the tour.
She told LifeNews.com, "The health care fight is far from over, and pro-life Americans nationwide are speaking out to say that abortion is not health care. There are many principled pro-life Democrats in Congress who have already voted to defend women and unborn children. We are thankful for their leadership. Unfortunately their efforts were undermined in the Senate under the false premise of compromise. The Senate health care bill allows government-funded abortion, period. On behalf of millions of pro-life Americans, we urge pro-life Democrats in the House to stand firm, to respect the consciences of taxpayers and oppose health care reform legislation that funds abortion on-demand.
Adult Stem Cell Treatment Restores Sight to Partially Blind Man, Seven Others
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- A man who was partially blinded when ammonia was squirted in his eye during an attack 15 years ago has regained his sight after receiving a pioneering stem cell treatment. Russell Turnbull, 38, suffered massive damage to his right eye when he was caught in a scuffle after a night out in Newcastle in 1994.
On the bus home, Turnbull had tried to intervene in a fight between two men but was injured when one of them began squirting passengers with ammonia, according to the London Guardian. The chemical severely scarred Turnbull's cornea, the clear membrane that covers the front of the eye, and destroyed stem cells that usually help keep the cornea healthy.
"I was in unbearable pain. It burned my eye shut," Turnbull told the Guardian. "I was in hospital for two weeks and eventually I was able to open the eye again. It was like looking through scratched perspex."
Turnbull was left with "limbal stem cell deficiency" (LSCD), a condition that seriously impairs sight, and was in pain every time he blinked or saw bright lights. In an experimental treatment devised by doctors at the North East England Stem Cell Institute in Newcastle, stem cells were taken from Turnbull's healthy eye and grown on a layer of amniotic tissue, which is routinely used as a burn dressing.
The NHS banks amniotic sacs donated by women who have had a Caesarean section. When the cells had covered the membrane, a piece the size of a postage stamp was transplanted onto Turnbull's damaged eye. Two months later the membrane had broken down, leaving his damaged eye with a fresh supply of healthy stem cells, which repaired the cornea. Eye tests six months after surgery showed that Turnbull's vision was nearly as good as it had been before the attack.
Group Suspends Campaign, Pro-Life Democrat Opposes Pro-Abortion Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Center for Bio-Ethical has announced the suspension of its plans to operate anti- abortion billboard trucks in the Mississippi congressional district of Rep. Gene Taylor. This decision was made in response to continued assurances from Rep. Taylor's office concerning his opposition to public funding for abortion and to passage of any government takeover of health care.
This past week, the group received a statement from Brian Martin of the Office of Rep. Gene Taylor: "... [Rep. Taylor] voted for the Stupak Amendment and then voted against the House health care bill. There is absolutely nothing in his 20-year record that would suggest that it is remotely possible that he would vote for any funding for abortions, direct or indirect, and all of his statements since at least last summer have made it very clear that he will not vote for any new health care program even if it does not have any abortion funding."
CBR told LifeNews.com, "On the strength of these unambiguous pledges and Rep. Taylor's strong record of opposition to abortion and socialized medicine, our organization thanks him for placing the well-being of Gulf Coast voters ahead of partisan loyalties."
 Help Focus Thank Pregnancy Centers - Each day, pregnancy centers help moms choose life for their babies -- and now, you can say thank you! Visit BeAVoice.net to help Focus on the Family thank pregnancy centers for serving women and saving lives. Tell your friends! |
Pro-Abortion Group Hoping to Raise 500K for Massachusetts Candidate Coakley
Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) -- In a scathing new email to its members, outgoing Emily's List president Ellen Malcolm is hoping to raise $500,000 for pro-abortion Massachusetts special Senate election candidate Martha Coakley. Malcolm notes the changing polls showing good news for her Republican challenger Scott Brown and the ability of the race to shape the debate over the pro-abortion health care bill.
"Martha Coakley is being inundated with GOP and far right-wing attacks -- and it's working. Polls are tightening in the Massachusetts Senate race, thanks to blatant lies about Martha's record and a GOP giddy at the prospect of taking over Senator Edward M. Kennedy's seat. Health care -- and the opportunity to elect the state's first woman senator -- is on the line," she said. "We must act now. With the election just 10 days away, we don't have a moment to waste," Malcolm continues.
"Republicans are pulling out all the stops -- lies and distortions, massive independent expenditures, fundraising advantages -- and counting on a very low turnout in the January 19 special election to take this seat. Like sharks circling, GOP interest groups are quickly going on television to attack Martha.The Club for Growth and Chamber of Commerce are contacting stations to place their ads."
Closing out the attack-filled email, Malcolm says, "The GOP sees an opportunity to break Democrats' 60-seat majority -- a prospect that would be disastrous for the issues we care about -- and they will stop at nothing to win."
Scott Roeder May Use Manslaughter Defense in Trial of Shooting George Tiller
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- The man accused of killing late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller can try to build a case that the slaying was voluntary manslaughter because he sincerely believed it was necessary to save unborn babies, a Kansas judge ruled Friday.
Roeder, 51, of Kansas City is charged with one count of first-degree murder in Tiller's death. He also faces two counts of aggravated assault for allegedly threatening two ushers at Tiller's church who tried to stop him during the May 31 altercation. Roeder has pleaded not guilty and his trial begins Monday.
Roeder faces life imprisonment if convicted of first-degree murder. A voluntary manslaughter conviction could bring a prison term closer to five years. Voluntary manslaughter is defined in Kansas law as ''an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force.''
Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert ruled that defense attorneys can present evidence to support such a conviction. He said he will consider everything Roeder's lawyers present at trial before deciding whether to tell jurors if they can consider a conviction on a lesser offense.
The judge warned defense attorneys they faced ''a substantial uphill battle'' in showing Roeder had a sincere belief that the use of deadly force was necessary in the defense of others. ''This will not become a trial on the bigger issue of abortion. It will be limited to Mr. Roeder's beliefs,'' Wilbert said.
South Korea Abortion Practitioners Stop Doing Abortions, Become Pro-Life
Seoul, South Korea (LifeNews.com) -- A group of abortion practitioners in South Korea have stopped doing abortions and they have banded together to form a new pro-life group for physicians. According to the New York Times, Dr. Choi Anna and Dr. Shim Sang-duk did 30 abortions per month at the Ion Women s Clinic.
We sold our soul for money, Dr. Choi said. Abortion was an easy way to make money.
In a country where abortion is widepsread, the two doctors are hoping to force South Korea s first serious public discussion of the ethics of abortion. In November, they and dozens of other obstetricians held a news conference to ask for forgiveness for having performed illegal abortions.
The group they formed, Gynob, has called on other doctors to declare whether they have done abortions. In December, they set up another organization, Pro-Life Doctors, which tries to discourage women from having abortions and runs a hot line to report clinics that do them.
Gynob s morality-based campaign is unusual for South Korea, where abortion carries little of the emotional or religious significance that it does in many Western countries.
But it is gaining attention here in no small part because it is coinciding with a very public reassessment of abortion by the government, which is looking for ways to reverse a decline in South Korea s birth rate. Until now, abortion had never really become a hot issue here, said Hahm In-hee, a professor of family sociology at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. The society considers it a family issue, and there is a strong taboo against discussing a family matter in public, she said.
Sweden Authorities Rule Sex-Selection Abortions No Illegal, Won't Stop It
Stockholm, Sweden (LifeNews.com) -- Swedish health authorities have ruled that gender-based abortion is not illegal according to current law and can not therefore be stopped, according to a report by Sveriges Television. In February a woman from Eskilstuna in southern Sweden had twice had abortions after finding out the gender of the child.
The woman, who already had two daughters, requested an amniocentesis in order to allay concerns about possible chromosome abnormalities. At the same time, she also asked to know the baby's gender. Doctors at Mälaren Hospital expressed concern and asked Sweden s National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) to draw up guidelines on how to handle requests in the future in which they "feel pressured to examine the unborn child s gender" without having a medically compelling reason to do so.
The board has now responded that such requests and thus abortions can not be refused and that it is not possible to deny a woman an abortion up to the 18th week of pregnancy, even if the unborn child's gender is the basis for the request. The National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden issued the same ruling in May.
Norway has a ban in place that prohibits identifying the gender of their unborn child before 12 weeks of pregnancy. Both Norway and Denmark will not allow an abortion after 12 weeks, but in Sweden the limit is 18 weeks so many women simply cross the border if the gender of their unborn child is supposedly the wrong one.
Mom Faces Woman Accused of Trying to Steal Her Unborn Child
Upper Marlboro, MD (LifeNews.com) -- A woman who survived an attempt to cut her unborn baby from her womb came face-to-face with her alleged attacker last week in a Maryland courtroom. Teka Adams attended a preliminary hearing, where a judge found probable cause to proceed with attempted murder and other charges against Veronica Deramous.
Authorities say Deramous, 40, met the 29-year-old expecting mother at a homeless shelter and lured her to her Suitland, Maryland, apartment by promising to give her baby clothes. Police say Deramous held Adams hostage for several days, finally using knives and box cutters to try to cut the baby out Dec. 5.
Adams escaped the next day and delivered her baby, naming her Miracle Sky. Adams brought her baby -- dressed in a pink outfit with matching mittens, booties and a hat -- to the courtroom.
The mother did not testify but made eye contact when Deramous was brought in and looked shaken after seeing her. Afterward, Adams' father, Gregory Burnette, told reporters that seeing Deramous in the courtroom was difficult for the whole family.
"Teka's my youngest daughter, so I felt she was trying to take MY baby," he said, holding back tears. "It's unbelievable. I can't make sense of it all." Burnette said his daughter often can't sleep at night because she is still reliving the attack. "She's doing much better physically than emotionally," Burnette said. The baby is doing very well, he said. She and her mother are living with him in Washington, he said.
ACLJ Urges Supreme Court to Take Massachusetts Pro-Life Free Speech Case
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The ACLJ filed an important amicus brief asking the Supreme Court of the United States to hear the case of McCullen v. Coakley, a First Amendment challenge to the Massachusetts anti-speech buffer zone statute that hamstrings pro-life sidewalk counselors outside abortion businesses.
In the McCullen case, pro-life sidewalk counselors Eleanor McCullen, Jean Blackburn Zarrella, and three others brought a federal constitutional challenge to a Massachusetts statute that creates a 35-foot no-speech zone around abortion facilities. After a federal district court and court of appeals rejected the challenge, McCullen and her fellow counselors petitioned the Supreme Court to review the case.
The ACLJ says, "The fact is that pro-lifers are not second-class citizens under the Constitution. The Supreme Court needs to step in and put a stop to the recurring problem of hostile government bodies putting gags on pro-life speakers." In the brief urging the high court to take the case, we point out that ever since the Supreme Court s unfortunate 6-3 decision in the 2000 case of Hill v. Colorado, which rejected an ACLJ challenge to a Colorado bubble zone law, the law of free speech has been deeply unsettled.
Their friend-of-the-court brief explains that the Hill decision is irreconcilable with numerous prior decisions of this Court, and thus has had a destabilizing effect on the law.
Israel Chief Rabbis Criticized for Writing Letter Urging Jews to Oppose Abortion
Jerusalem, Israel (LifeNews.com) -- Israel's chief rabbis were blasted for a public statement decrying abortion in Israel. In a letter circulated last week to rabbis on the state payroll, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger wrote that abortion "delayed the redemption."
They also wrote that most abortions in Israel were "unnecessary" and were "against Jewish law," according to reports. Amar and Metzger related their stance to the week's Torah portion, Shmot, which recounts the biblical tale of two Hebrew midwives who ignored an order by pharaoh to kill all the male babies in Egypt.
"I am sorry to say that our enemies are multiplying," Metzger was quoted as saying.
Pro-abortion groups condemned the rabbis for seeking to prevent women from their right to choose. Irit Rosenblum, head of New Family, an organization fighting to prevent religious influence in marital and birth issues, told the Jerusalem Post that the rabbinate's initiative constituted a blatant intervention by men in women's decisions regarding their bodies.
"You have a bunch of men who do not allow women to participate in their gatherings who are telling women what to do with their bodies," she was quoted as saying. "Why are they interfering? Do they think a woman does not know how to decide on her own what she does with her body?"
Texas Governor Rick Perry to Headline Statewide Pro-Life Rally in Austin
Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry will keynote the Texas Rally for Life on Saturday, January 23rd at the state Capitol in Austin. An anticipated crowd of more than 3,000 pro-life Texans will meet at Republic Square (4th and Guadalupe) and march up Congress Avenue to the South Steps of the state capitol. Joining Gov.
Rick Perry on the Rally program are Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) and Rep. Frank Corte (R-San Antonio), both of whom authored pro-life sonogram legislation during the 2009 state legislative session; Carol Everett, a former abortion facility owner who now heads The Heidi Group, an organization that offers life-affirming assistance to women and families; and other pro-life clergy and leaders from across the state.
"The Texas Rally for Life is an opportunity for thousands of Texans to send a message to their elected officials, both here and in Washington, that Texas is pro-life," says Joe Pojman, Ph.D., executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, one of the organizations on the Rally steering committee. "We oppose Roe v. Wade, and we want to protect mothers and their unborn babies from the tragedy of abortion by promoting compassionate alternatives, including adoption."
Pro-Life Attorney Bryan Brown Alleges Religious, Political Discrimination in Indiana
Indianapolis, IN (LifeNews.com) -- ArchAngel Institute Executive Director Bryan J. Brown recently filed a federal action against the Indiana Supreme Court and others alleging that he was subjected to unconstitutional processing through their application program due to his pro-life identity and adherence to Natural Law jurisprudence.
Brown, a Kansas licensed attorney in good standing since 1996, is also a member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court and was found of sufficient good moral character and mental fitness to be admitted to any state bar by the National Board of Law Examiners in 2006. Missouri invited Brown to sit for their bar exam in 2006.
The Supreme Court of Indiana, through its Board of Law Examiners, refused to acknowledge this National finding and instead ran Brown through a full mental health assessment, after which they denied him entrance in a five sentence order that cites no facts and cites no case law. Brown documents a troubling process fixated upon his religious, political and pro-life perspectives.
Brown notes that it was clear through the processing of my case that the Indiana authorities were demanding that I recant from my allegiance to the Higher Laws concept that defines Christian political science. This I refused to do. For this faithful recalcitrance they have punished me in various and sundry ways, culminating in an order that I not even seek admission to the Indiana bar again until 2014, a full seven years from my previous petition.
| 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. |
Encourage Friends to Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
