LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Monday, January 25, 2010
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Current Headlines
• CNN Can't Figure Out Who Attended the Annual March for Life
• Washington Post Columnist "Gets It" Young People Love March for Life
• National Right to Life Launches Campaign to Stop Pro-Abortion Health Care
• Terri Schiavo's Brother Says Press Lying About His Sister Five Years Later
• Pro-Life Advocates Continue Helping Family of Baby Isaiah in Canada
• Christian Singer Rebecca St. James Talks About Sarah's Choice Movie
• Sarah Palin and Daughter Appear on Magazine Saying They Chose Life
• Second Annual Pro-Life College Student Activism Contest Set for February
• Wisconsin Abortion Facility at Madison Surgery Ctr Taking Awhile to Start
• Switzerland May Discourage Suicide Tourism Through Tax on Suicides
• Seattle Man Pleads Not Guilty To Killing Daughter, GF After Abortion Refusal
• Florida Man Caught Who Paid for Abortion After Sexually Abusing Teen
• Pennsylvania School Changes Policy After Targeting Pro-Life Student
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CNN Can't Figure Out Who Attended the Annual March for Life Against Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Culture and Media Institute noticed that CNN had some of the worst coverage of the March for Life on Friday of any mainstream media outlet.
Here's what it noticed: Near the end of the 3p ET hour of CNN s Rick s List on Friday, host Rick Sanchez couldn't seem to figure out who was protesting at the March for Life in Washington D.C.: It s the 37th anniversary of the Supreme Court s decision in Roe v. Wade case .both sides being represented today, but it does appear to me, as I look at these signs that - which side is represented the most .Do we know? ... As Rick puzzled over which side was more represented at the protest, numerous pro-life signs could be clearly seen on screen. Returning from the commercial break, Sanchez clarified, but still seemed completely unfamiliar with the annual event: As far as we can tell, following this protest on this day, the bulk of the protesters that we have seen here - that doesn't mean there aren't others, because we haven't gone out and counted them individually - seem to be anti-abortion activists. We've seen more pro-life signs than we have the others.
Steve Graydanus of the National Catholic Register responded, "I think of myself as a pretty jaded person, but I admit to being gobsmacked by the naked disregard for truth of the media coverage of the 2010 March for Life. Shame on every so-called journalist involved."
Washington Post Columnist "Gets It" That Young People Love March for Life
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Washington Post columnist Robert McCartney was one of the few mainstream media reports to show any appreciation for the March for Life.
Here is an excerpt from his story: "I went to the March for Life rally Friday on the Mall expecting to write about its irrelevance. Isn't it quaint, I thought, that these abortion protesters show up each year on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, even though the decision still stands after 37 years. What's more, with a Democrat in the White House likely to appoint justices who support abortion rights, surely the Supreme Court isn't going to overturn Roe in the foreseeable future. How wrong I was. The antiabortion movement feels it's gaining strength, even if it's not yet ready to predict ultimate triumph, and Roe supporters (including me) are justifiably nervous. In this case, I was especially struck by the large number of young people among the tens of thousands at the march. It suggests that the battle over abortion will endure for a long time to come."
Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue loved the column. "The pro-life movement is gaining momentum, which is news that makes the pro-aborts nervous and encourages the pro-life troops. It is also somewhat gratifying to hear rhetoric we have been using in countless press releases and interviews over the past couple of years or so be articulated so clearly (albeit unwittingly) by a pro-abort columnist. He sees what we have been seeing without a doubt."
National Right to Life Launches New Campaign to Stop Pro-Abortion Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The National Right to Life Committee has launched eLobby for Life Week, a new nationwide grassroots lobbying campaign to voice opposition to expanding federal funding of abortion in any health care legislation that comes before Congress. The campaign runs through Friday, January 29.
As pro-abortion Democratic leaders in the U.S. House and Senate again work behind closed doors to hammer out a health care reform bill, now is the time for the large majority of Americans who oppose federal abortion funding and federal abortion mandates to make their voices heard, said NRLC executive director David O'Steen. All members of Congress need to hear the message: using federal subsidies to pay for abortion coverage through health care reform is completely unacceptable.
In an email distributed to supporters across the country, NRLC is encouraging pro-life Americans to contact their member of Congress through the National Right to Life Legislative Action Center and then reach out to pro-life friends, family, neighbors and churches through personal contact, email, blogs and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and urge them to do the same.
Never have the voices of pro-life Americans been more important than they are at this moment in our nation s history, O Steen added.
Terri Schiavo's Brother Says Press Still Lying About His Sister Five Years Later
St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Five years after the euthanasia death of Terri Schiavo, her brother Bobby Schindler says the media is still telling lies about her life and death.
"It s still being misreported by the mainstream media, Schindler told CNS News last week. There s things that are being said that were simply not true." He continued: " They refer to Terri as being brain dead. I see that all the time, and it simply is not true. They say that she was on artificial life support, without explaining to people what artificial life support means. There s this perception out there that Terri was on a machine that people like Terri need machines to keep them alive. And it simply is not true. Terri died because we took away her food and water just like we would all die if our food and water was taken away. It took almost two weeks."
Schindler told CNS News that Terri could be at the March for Life had her husband not won the right to take her life. "All she needed was a wheelchair, and we could have taken her anywhere. But there s the perception out there that these people basically need to be bed-ridden, and they are unable to be taken anywhere. It s just not true." Schindler told CNS that the situation is worse, not better, since her death. "There seems to me to be a profound prejudice against people with disabilities that exists in our culture today," he said.
Pro-Life Advocates Continue Helping Family of Baby Isaiah in Canada
Edmonton, Canada (LifeNews.com) -- The following update is from pro-life advocate Mark Pickup of Human Life Matters about Baby Isaiah in Canada: "Baby Isaiah James May was born on October 24th 2009 after a 40 hour labor. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his throat, depriving his brain of oxygen. Baby Isaiah was air-lifted to the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Baby Isaiah was put on a ventilator and his treating physician declared him brain dead. A letter was sent to his parents telling them baby Isaiah's respirator would be turned off at 2:00 pm on January 20th 2010. This would result in Isaiah's dead by suffocation. His parents, Rebecka and Isaac May, were stunned. They decided to fight the medical decision and hired a lawyer to get an injunction to stop the action by the Stollery Children's' Hospital and give their baby 90 more days to see if he will improve. It's good."
Pickup asks pro-life advocates to contact the Stollery Children's Hospital to let them know you expect that world class facility to do the right thing and give baby Isaiah May 90 more days to improve before removing his respirator. That's not asking too much of the hospital.
Call the hospital at (780)342-8080. Email the treating physician Dr. Ernest Phillipos at ernest.phillipos@albertahealthservices.ca Ask him to give baby Isaiah 90 more days on a respirator as his parents requested. Copy your email to Alberta's health minister at health.minister@gov.ab.ca
Christian Singer Rebecca St. James Talks About Sarah's Choice Pro-Life Movie
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Christian music singer Rebecca St. James, the star of the new pro-life film Sarah s Choice talked recently with the Teens for Life web site about the new movie and her role in it:
Part of the setup for me being prepared to say yes is that God has really given me a passion for faith and family films, a mounting passion for it over the last four or five years or so. In the last year I moved to California because of doors opening in the film arena and this real sense of calling to be a believer in Hollywood helping to shape content. I think a huge percentage of America want films that have family values. I think there s a real need for it and films that Christian parents can trust to show to their families. So God has given me a passion for that, and then last year I got involved with a crisis pregnancy center in LA through a couple of friends and saw the need for films and music that encourage the pro-life message. It made me think of Bella, directly talking about the pro-life message. But there s very, very little that supports what these crisis pregnancy centers are doing. They're literally saving lives. They're being Jesus hands and feet to these people that are in an incredible crisis feeling tremendous amounts of pain, and fear and pressure. What they're doing is so wonderful and they need resources that help encourage what they are doing. I remember being at this crisis pregnancy center banquet going Lord, show me what I can do to help . And then months later I was asked to audition for the role of Sarah in Sarah s Choice. When I got the role, I knew exactly who to go to for research material. I went to the pregnancy centers and said load me up . I really wanted to get into the mind and heart of a girl like Sarah so that I can empathetically play this role. So there was a lot of lead up for this, and I have spoken about saving sex for marriage for really about fifteen years and I've done crisis pregnancy center fundraising events before. It s got that message that true love waits. The purity message goes hand in hand with the pro-life message because if they wait they don't wind up in that situation so it got to my heart in a lot of different ways.
Read the rest of the interview here.
Sarah Palin and Daughter Appear on Magazine Cover Saying They Chose Life
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol were recently featured on the cover of the latest issue of In Touch Weekly. The cover featured smiling pictures of mother and daughter and the words "We're Glad We Chose Life.
The magazine declared: Though raising an infant has been challenging, Bristol has the unconditional love and support of her family especially her mother, Sarah Palin. After all, no one can better understand the complicated decision to have a baby under difficult circumstances. Just a year earlier, at the age of 44, Sarah carried her son Trig to term, even though she was told during a sonogram that he would be born with Down syndrome. Now, the mother and daughter are sharing a unique experience raising baby boys together under the same roof.
Daniella Bean of the National Catholic Register commented on the cover. "Well, this is bound to stick in someone s craw. Pretty much everything Sarah Palin does seems to, so it might as well be a bold pro-life statement that gets her into trouble this time," she said. "However you feel about Sarah Palin s politics or personal life, pro-life Catholics have to appreciate the positive, life-affirming message she and her daughter send in this interview. There is, after all, no shortage of those who do not appreciate such a pro-life message. Who will in fact sneer at it. And roll their eyes."
Second Annual Pro-Life College Student Activism Contest Set for February
Minneapolis, MN (LifeNews.com) -- Human Life Alliance and Students for Life of America have announced the second annual Campus Impact Award challenge which offers $1,000 in prizes to student clubs that promote pro-life activism during the months of February and March.
The Award encourages students to act upon their pro- life beliefs after the March for Life and other walks fuels their spark of enthusiasm. Tens of thousands of young people turn out for these local and national events.
"We're asking students to step up and be a catalyst for pro-life action on their campus," said HLA Deputy Director Joe Langfeld. "When young people return from these powerful events, they're inspired to stand up for life. The Impact Award helps young people show their peers that pro-life values are alive and well on campus."
Three cash prizes of $500, $250 and $250 will be awarded to the top three clubs who succeed in producing creative and broad reaching educational efforts.
Kristan Hawkins, SFLA Executive Director, stated, "This is just the type of encouragement students need to cultivate a pro-life presence on campus. In turn, the new opportunities developed through the challenge will launch pro-life clubs to a whole new level of activism." The 2009 Campus Impact Award winners were Purdue Students for Life (1st place), University of New Mexico Students for Life (2nd place) and the Carnegie Mellon University Respect Life Club (3rd place).
Wisconsin Abortion Facility at Madison Surgery Center Taking Awhile to Set Up
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- The new abortion facility at the Madison Surgery Center is taking awhile to set up, according to emails the Madison State Journal newspaper obtained. The correspondence also suggests public opposition is taking a toll, with references to patients canceling appointments at the surgery center and some of the doctors who perform surgeries there threatening to leave.
The e-mails were obtained through an open records request by the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit, Christian legal organization that is representing several surgery center workers who don't want to take part in abortions. The organization provided the e-mails to the State Journal. UW Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Brunette did not dispute excerpts from them shared with her by the newspaper.
On Jan. 6 of last year, a plan by UW Hospital, its doctor group and Meriter Hospital to begin offering abortion procedures at the center became public. More than a year later, the abortions have yet to begin.
Two months prior to public knowledge of the plan, on Nov. 5, 2008, Peter Christman, executive vice president of the UW Medical Foundation, wrote to Laurel Rice, chairwoman of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at the UW School of Medicine, that it "would be nice if we could plan a start date like February 1st (2009)." In her return e-mail, Rice suggested Jan. 15.
Switzerland May Discourage Suicide Tourism Through Tax on Assisted Suicides
Bonn, Switzerland (LifeNews.com) -- Patients who travel to Switzerland to die in Zurich s so-called suicide clinics could face a 50,000 Swiss franc ($53,000) death tax." Swiss politicians, concerned about what they describe as death tourism, want groups such as Dignitas to pay large fines for helping anyone who has not lived in Zurich for at least a year to die.
A referendum on the proposal will be held this year. If more than 50 per cent of the electorate votes in favor, it could become law.
Here is what American bioethicist Wesley Smith has to say: "Here s the problem: The Swiss now understand that once fully unleashed, the death culture knows no limits. So, rather than play games with taxes or other disencentives, they should just outlaw assisted suicide altogether. After all, the Swiss Constitution recognizes the intrinsic dignity of individual plants, why not stand up for the greater dignity of individual people even those who are suicidal and, who in their despair, can t see their own worth as human beings."
Seattle Man Pleads Not Guilty To Killing Daughter, Girlfriend After Abortion Refusal
Seattle, WA (LifeNews.com) -- A man who prosecutors say fatally shot his girlfriend and baby daughter in their Seattle home pleaded not guilty last week. Daniel Thomas Hicks is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old Jennifer "J" Morgan and 13-month-old Ema Morgan.
He reportedly killed his girlfriend and their infant daughter after the woman refused his request to get an abortion. Prosecutors now have 30 days to decide if they will seek the death penalty. The victims were found dead December 22 in their Beacon Hill home by Jennifer's mother. Hicks was captured a week later in Santa Cruz, California. In probable cause documents filed in King County Superior Court, investigators say that the already-rocky relationship between Hicks and Jennifer became worse when she became pregnant.
He allegedly had threatened Morgan during the pregnancy, at one point trying to make her get an abortion. Morgan's mother told police Hicks was upset that the child was a girl and started to claim that he was not Emma's father. The relationship finally got to the point where Jennifer decided Hicks had to move out of the home they had shared with Morgan's parents, the papers said. Jennifer's family was in the courtroom, and her sister wept while the charges against Hicks were read.
Florida Man Caught Who Paid for Abortion After Sexually Abusing Teen
Land O' Lakes, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A 45-year-old meat market owner wanted on a charge of having sex with a 16-year-old girl was caught at the Canadian border, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Ramon A. Ventura was extradited to Pasco County on Wednesday. Ventura, who told authorities he owns A&R Meat Market in St. Petersburg, is charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
According to court records, the teen skipped school and ended up at Ventura's house in Land O'Lakes sometime between April and June 2009. At the home, Ventura had sex with the girl, who later found out she was pregnant, records state. The girl's mother confronted Ventura, and he paid $2,400 for the girl to get an abortion, records state. The victim's name and relationship to Ventura were not disclosed due to the nature of the crime.
A judge signed the warrant for Ventura's arrest on Dec. 11, court records state. According to The Buffalo News, Ventura tried to flee to Canada as a passenger in a taxi on Jan. 7. He was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, who seized $13,000 in cash Ventura had on him, the News states. He was turned over to the Buffalo police, incarcerated and extradited to Pasco. Ventura has been released from the Pasco County jail on $25,000 bail.
Pennsylvania School Changes Policy After Targeting Pro-Life Student's Shirt
York, PA (LifeNews.com) -- Policy changes will end a lawsuit against West Shore School District in a freedom of speech case about a student's T-shirt with "Abortion is not healthcare" scrawled on it. On Thursday, the board approved revisions to four policies that dealt with dress and grooming, student expression and harassment.
Specifically, the student expression policy now mentions a student's First Amendment rights for freedom of speech. The revisions were the result of a federal lawsuit against the district, filed by William Boyer, the father of a Crossroads Middle School student with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund.
School officials deemed the shirt inappropriate, saying it might insult somebody -- even though the school routinely allows students to wear other shirts with other potentially offensive messages.
"Pro-life students shouldn't be censored for their views, ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman told LifeNews.com previously. It s clearly unconstitutional for school officials to prohibit a student s message on the grounds that someone might not like it. The school routinely allows students to wear a wide variety of messages on their shirts without any concerns, but this student has been singled out even though his shirt caused no disruption and is clearly within the bounds of constitutionally guaranteed free speech," he said.
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