LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, January 13, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Top Democrat Working With White House For Abortion Funding in Health Care
• Barack Obama Meets With Key Democrats on Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
• A Quiet Admission Speaks Loudly About Abortion and Breast Cancer
• Embryonic Stem Cell Research Has Lost the Battle, California Was Its Waterloo
• Abortion Practitioner to Haiti: "Stew in Your Own Juices" for Having High Population
• Ultrasound Pioneer Shari Richard Convinced Technology Will Stop Abortions
• Survey Finds Girls Less Likely Than Boys to Recommend Abortion to Friends
• Key Pro-Life Democrat Bart Stupak Considers Run for Governor in Michigan
• Pro-Life Groups Ask Notre Dame to Drop Charges Against Obama Protestors
• Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Murder or Guilt-Free Medical Practice?
• Massachusetts Senate Race Close, Brown and Coakley Divided on Health Care
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Top Democrat Working With White House For Abortion Funding in Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- To the American people, there may seem to be a lull in the health care debate as members of Congress return from their Christmas break and try to piece together a final bill from the House and Senate versions. But one top pro-abortion activist in the House is working furiously to fund abortions.
Rep. Diana DeGette, the Colorado Democrat who leads the caucus of pro-abortion lawmakers, says she has been talking with the White House and others about how to resolve the abortion differences in the two bills.
The House measure contains the Stupak amendment that effectively bans government-funding of abortions under the health care plan -- consistent with current federal law under the Hyde amendment. The Senate bill contains the Nelson-Reid deal that contains six different pro-abortion threats and forces taxpayers to pay for abortions.
It is a meeting a minute around here, DeGette told Roll Call magazine about the repeated efforts by top Democrats and the Obama administration to work out a solution.
Their efforts are complicated by the fact that Rep. Bart Stupak, a pro-life Michigan Democrat, has a group of 10-12 lawmakers who voted for the final bill in the House -- passed by three votes -- but who say they will vote no if abortion funding is included. Stupak told Roll Call that he thinks issues other than abortion are more likely to sink the government-run health care bill.
Abortion is the least of their problems, he said, citing tax issues and deals cut to send money to certain states but not others. Full story at LifeNews.com
Barack Obama Meets With Key Democrats on Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama is meeting with key Democrats today to further the closed-door process of resolving the differences between the Senate and House versions of the government-run health care bill. The Senate measure includes massive abortion funding and other concerns while the House bill does not.
Today's face-to-face meeting is intended to be an update on the process, which Reid aides tell media outlets is "humming along" out of sight of the media and the public.
A Reid advisor told Fox News that Democratic leaders are hammering out the final bill, which pro-life groups are closely watching to see if it requires taxpayers to fund abortions.
The latest timeline has Democrats sending the proposed bill to the Congressional Budget Office as soon as the end of the week or early next week. Once CBO returns with the financial numbers and analysis on the bill, which is expected to take about 10 days, both the House and Senate will attempt to pass the legislation without any changes. The House will need a majority vote while the Senate will need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
That would have both chambers of Congress voting on the legislation during the last week of January and Democrats hope to get the bill approved before Obama delivers his State of the Union address in early February.
But pro-abortion Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York says that's not going to happen. Health care negotiators are facing a serious problem," he said Tuesday night and he speculated that a bill would not be produced until February. Full story at LifeNews.com
A Quiet Admission Speaks Loudly About Abortion and Breast Cancer
by Dave Andrusko
Physicians have been indoctrinated to believe (or have chosen to believe) that it is hooey to contend that having an induced abortion heightens a woman's risk of incurring breast cancer. So, too, has the public, and legislatures around the country.
What is the fallback, the last line of defense that makes their consciences rest easy (and defeats various legislative initiatives)? The conclusion reached by a National Cancer Institute workshop in 2003 that there is no association.
The importance of this conclusion is almost immeasurable, including that it represented a dramatic turnaround for the National Cancer Institute. The ringleader was National Cancer Institute (NCI) researcher Louise Brinton. Why is that important six plus years later?
Because of a study published last April whose results are just beginning to be appreciated for what they say about the ABC link.
Brinton was one of seven co-authors of "Risk Factors for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in Women Under the Age of 45 Years," which appeared in the American Association for Cancer Research's medical journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. The study is primarily about the association between the use of contraceptives and increased risk of a particularly virulent form of breast cancer in women under the age of 45. Full story at LifeNews.com
Embryonic Stem Cell Research Has Lost the Battle, California Was Its Waterloo
by Joe Carter
The battle over embryonic stem cell research is over. A few skirmishes will no doubt continue -- perhaps even for years -- and some ESCR advocates will refuse to acknowledge defeat. But they have decisively lost.
Years from now, when we look back in astonishment at having been fleeced for billions to pay for therapeutically worthless research, we'll recognize that California was the Waterloo for ESCR.
In 2004, California approved Proposition71, a ballot measure that would allow the state to borrow $3 billion for ESCR. At best the measure would have been an epic boondoggle: pharmaceutical companies would have been able to profit off the taxpayer-funded research without the state sharing any of the profits or even obtaining any of the developed drugs at a cheaper cost.
But because it was considered a progressive measure (ESCR has always been a stalking horse for abortion rights) it received the support from a long list of billionaires, Silicon Valley tycoons, Nobel laureates, and Hollywood celebrities. Convinced that the only thing standing between science and cures was time and money, the citizens of California opened the state s coffers.
But five years later, the hype has died down and ESCR has provided no cures, no therapies, no progress, and no hope. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Abortion Practitioner to Haiti: "Stew in Your Own Juices" for Having High Population
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (LifeNews.com) -- The world is in mourning today in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Haiti that initial reports indicate could have left hundreds of thousands of people dead or wounded. Although the nation is getting the world's sympathy, Haiti was once on the receiving end of hatred from an abortion practitioner.
Joyce Tarnow, the owner of an abortion center in Florida, where many Haitian-Americans reside, made some shocking comments to a newspaper two years ago.
Tarnow is an aggressive population control advocate who told the New Times newspaper in July 2004, "I try to get as many people sterilized as are in my way." But, today, she is being recalled as someone whose attitude towards the Haitian people is beyond the pale.
Tarnow told the New Times at the time that she supports population control because America "can't take all the people in the world."
"We need to help nations that can subsist and let others wither on the vine," she said.
She told the newspaper that Haiti, and third-world nations like it with high populations, "has denuded the whole land." Her advice for the country? "Stew in your own juices." Full story at LifeNews.com
Ultrasound Pioneer Shari Richard Convinced Technology Will Stop Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As the nation marks 37 years of virtually unlimited abortions later this month under Roe v. Wade, a pioneer of the use of ultrasound believes it has the power to stop abortions. Shari Richard has promoted the use of ultrasounds for decades and she believes the technology has turned the corner.
More than a million American women will have an abortion in 2010 and 44 percent of American women will have an abortion at some point in their lifetime, Richard says.
As the latest anniversary of the infamous Supreme Court decision arrives, Richard points to polls conducted in 2009 showing movement in the pro-life direction as evidence of the power of ultrasound technology.
With improvements in the imaging taking a two-dimensional picture and moving it into the world of 3D and 4D, Richard is not surprised that more Americans are becoming pro-life and more are opting against an abortion.
"Ultrasound technology is credited with an important role in changing attitudes. If women see images of their unborn children, and are educated about developing life in the womb, they are less likely to abort," she says. Full story at LifeNews.com
Survey Finds Girls Less Likely Than Boys to Recommend Abortion to Friends
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new survey conducted by the Girl Scouts finds girls are less likely than boys to recommend abortion to their friends. And, overall, less than 10 percent of young people say they would ever suggest an abortion.
The numbers are from a new nationwide survey released today by Girl Scouts of the USA. The study, conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI), is nearly identical to one Girl Scouts commissioned in 1989.
A comparison of the two shows a marked shift toward more ethical and responsible beliefs and values and civic involvement among teens and tweens, the organization noted.
Among teenagers queried in the survey, girls are less likely than boys to say they would advise an abortion -- with just 6 percent of girls saying so and 12 percent of boys saying they would advise one. Full story at LifeNews.com
Key Pro-Life Democrat Bart Stupak Considers Run for Governor in Michigan
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Bart Stupak has established himself as the leading and most trustworthy pro-life Democrat in Congress by virtue of his single-handed opposition to abortion funding in the government-run health care bill. Now the Michigan congressman is considering a move up the ladder as a possible gubernatorial candidate.
Stupak, whose name has become synonymous with the pro-life effort over the last six months to de-fund abortions in the health care bill, is loved by pro-life advocates and has been demonized by abortion activists.
With that in mind, Stupak, who has an interest in serving his home state as governor, says he plans to take his time to see if such an endeavor has any merit.
He told CQ he is strongly considering a run for governor and will be traveling across his state in the coming weeks to gauge support for a bid.
Stupak also said Michigan needs "a strong leader who's not afraid to bite the bullet. ...I think I'm a guy who does that." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Groups Ask Notre Dame to Drop Charges Against Obama Protestors
South Bend, IN (LifeNews.com) -- Now that a local judge has recused herself from the case involving the pro-life advocates arrested at the University of Notre Dame for protesting the honorary degree and commencement speech of pro-abortion President Barack Obama, two pro-life groups want the school to drop the charges.
As LifeNews.com reported yesterday, Judge Jenny Pitts Manier, assigned to the ND88 case, removed herself from it.
She is married to pro-abortion Notre Dame professor Edward Manier and stepped down after Thomas More Society attorney Tom Dixon, who is representing the dozens of pro-life advocates involved, filed two motions asking Judge Manier to step down and appealed her earlier decision not to do so.
Now, Human Life International and the Thomas More Society have launched a new petition asking that University of Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins and Notre Dame officials drop the charges.
"During the Obama scandal controversy, Fr. Jenkins repeatedly assured us that he and Notre Dame are 100% pro-life," HLI president and Notre Dame alumn Fr. Thomas Euteneuer told LifeNews.com today.
"Asking that the charges be dropped will cost Fr. Jenkins absolutely nothing, but it could save the ND88 from a protracted trial process, and possible jail time. As long as this situation persists with Notre Dame's cooperation, how can Fr. Jenkins possibly expect us to take him seriously?" Euteneuer asked. Full story at LifeNews.com
Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Murder or Guilt-Free Medical Practice?
by Judie Brown
America's growing fascination with what constitutes a living, breathing human being is a constant amazement to me. This idea was brought up again in the New York Times last month. Entitled "When does death start?," the article by Darshak Sanghavi provides a lesson in how easy it has become for man to dismiss acts of terror as simple practices involving medical decisions to end a human being s life.
Using the real-life experiences that followed a tragic accident rendering a fifteen-year-old girl named Amanda nearly dead, Sanghavi involves the reader in the emotions this young girl s mother was experiencing. Having hooked the reader into sympathizing with the mother, he carefully turns the corner and addresses different ways of donating organs once a patient is subjectively defined as nearly dead.
In Amanda s case, there was a challenge to the treating physician. Upon examination of the child, whose own reflexes indicated that her brainstem was still working, Dr. Monica Kleinman decided that she could not pronounce the child brain dead. Clearly, the organs could not be taken from a patient who did not meet the brain death criteria. But there were other ways of getting those organs and the doctor understood what they were. Full story at LifeNews.com
Massachusetts Senate Race Close, Brown and Coakley Divided on Health Care
Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) -- The special election in Massachusetts for the Senate seat the late pro-abortion Sen. Ted Kennedy occupied is neck-and-neck. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley attracting 49% of the vote.
Her rival, state Senator Scott Brown, picks up 47%, three percent say they will vote for an independent candidate, and two percent are undecided.
The poll shows movement in the direction of Brown and away from Coakley, who has the endorsement of pro-abortion groups like Emily's List.
A week ago, the overall results showed Coakley leading by a 50% to 41% margin. The Rasmussen poll shows Coakley is supported by 77% of Democrats while Brown picks up the vote from 88% of Republicans. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, Brown leads 71% to 23%. Full story at LifeNews.com
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