LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Monday, January 4, 2010
| For pro-life news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com. |
Current Headlines
• Latest Rasmussen Poll Finds Majority Oppose Abortion Funding in Health Care Bill
• Planned Parenthood Does More Than 1.1 Million Abortions Annually Worldwide
• Republicans May Run on 2010 Platform of Repealing Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
• Post Office Recognizes Mother Teresa With 2010 Postage Stamp
• Illinois Abortions Increase 5 Percent in 2008 After New Aurora Planned Parenthood
• Copenhagen Summit Document Could Push Abortion, Ambassador Bolton Worried
• Alaska Bishop Urges Catholics to Support Petition for Parental Rights on Abortion
• Massachusetts Special Senate Election Features Contrasting Candidates on Abortion
• Ben Nelson of Nebraska Protested at Home for Abortion-Health Care Compromise
• Spain Pro-Life Advocates Collect One Million Signatures Against Abortion Bill
--> We are starting a campaign to add 2,000 new subscribers to the LifeNews.com pro-life news email lists. We are urging pro-life people to sign up for our Daily News at http://www.Lifenews.com/digest or our Weekly News at http://www.Lifenews.com/weekly Please share this with all of your pro-life friends and urge them to sign up! Thank you!
Latest Rasmussen Poll Finds Majority Oppose Abortion Funding in Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The latest Rasmussen Reports poll confirms a majority of Americans want a ban on abortion funding in any health care bill Congress may approve. When the House and Senate return from their Christmas break they will have to merge two different bills when it comes to forcing taxpayers to fund abortions.
Released today, the new Rasmussen survey indicates 53 percent of Americans favor a ban on abortion coverage in any health insurance plan that receives federal subsidies.
The poll finds just 40 percent of respondents are opposed to such a ban in the proposed health care legislation now before Congress.
The figures from the survey show voters who hold the most passionate feelings either way are more strongly opposed to funding with 39 percent saying they are strongly supportive of a ban on tax-funded abortions and just 26 percent opposed to such a ban.
Rasmussen indicates that members of Congress may find the only way to get the health care bill approved is to ensure an abortion funding ban is included.
"While most supporters of the plan oppose the abortion ban, that provision is difficult to drop because support for the overall legislation is already quite low. Just 39% of voters currently favor its passage, and public attitudes have hardened. Dropping the abortion provision might further erode support," the polling firm noted. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Does More Than 1.1 Million Abortions Annually Worldwide
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) recently released its annual performance report for 2008-2009. Despite an economic downturn and a slight decrease in annual income, the abortion industry giant boasts of increased activity across all of its lines of work -- including condom distribution, advocacy and abortion services.
IPPF s overall income for 2008 was US$119.7 million, down from over $120 million the previous year.
While IPPF's total financial intake dipped, its abortion business boomed. The organization provided almost 428,000 abortion services to young people alone, with a staggering 1,134,549 total number of such services almost double the number from 2007 across the globe.
Despite an increase in abortion services, IPPF remains unsatisfied with the figure, arguing that "in comparison to other types of services provided by IPPF Member Associations, these figures remain low and indicate that much needs to be done in terms of future investment in this area if IPPF is to meet its objectives of providing women with the choice and right to safe abortion when faced with an unwanted pregnancy."
In the report, IPPF boasts of promoting its abortion agenda among its member associations in traditionally pro-life countries. Full story at LifeNews.com
Republicans May Run on 2010 Platform of Repealing Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Republicans hope a push to repeal the Democrats health care bill will inspire voters to turn out for them in the 2010 elections --even though some of them admit that it has no realistic chance of working, Politico reports. We have to repeal very substantial parts of it and that s not going to be easy, said Republican Pat Toomey, who s running for the Senate in Pennsylvania. I m not sitting here predicting that a president who signs this into law in 2010 is likely to sign a repeal in 2011. The repeal-or-bust strategy is designed to give Republican candidates a powerful talking point for the midterms a way to tap into deep anxiety about the health care plan among the GOP base and independent voters. Even before a final version of the bill has reached President Barack Obama s desk, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and several House members have promised to introduce legislation repealing it if it resembles the bill that passed the Senate last week.
Post Office Recognizes Mother Teresa With 2010 Postage Stamp
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Nobel Peace Prize honoree Mother Teresa will be headlining the 2010 stamp program, the U.S. Postal Service announced recently. With this stamp, the U.S. Postal Service recognizes Mother Teresa, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. Noted for her compassion toward the poor and suffering as well as unborn children, Mother Teresa, a diminutive Catholic nun and honorary U.S. citizen, served the sick and destitute of India and the world for nearly 50 years. Her humility and compassion, as well as her respect for the innate worth and dignity of humankind, inspired people of all ages and backgrounds to work on behalf of the world's poorest populations. President Ronald Reagan presented Mother Teresa with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 and, in 1997, Congress awarded Mother Teresa the Congressional Gold Medal for her "outstanding and enduring contributions through humanitarian and charitable activities." In February 1997, in her remarks at the White House Prayer Breakfast, with President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton -- two unswerving supporters of abortion -- Mother Teresa laid out her case clearly. "What is taking place in America is a war against the child," she said. "And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another."
Illinois Abortions Increase 5 Percent in 2008 After New Aurora Planned Parenthood
Springfield, IL (LifeNews.com) -- The number of abortions done in Illinois in 2008 rose 5 percent from the year before, according to new figures from the state health department.
A top Planned Parenthood official cited the economic downturn as the reason for the abortion increase but, because Illinois does not have the same kind of pro-life laws as most other states, abortions have not seen a similar decline over the years.
The state Department of Public Health reported 47,717 abortions in 2008, the latest year for which it has figures.That is a 5 percent uptick from 2007 and the highest recorded abortion total in 10 years.
Though the figure is lower than the 1998 stat of 49,403 unborn children killed in abortions, most other states saw abortions decline at higher rates in the late 1990s and during the current decade.
Steve Trombley, head of Planned Parenthood in the Chicago area, suggested the economic decline is responsible for the higher abortion figures. Local pro-life advocates suggest the increase in abortions comes as a direct result of the new abortion center Planned Parenthood and Trombley opened in Aurora in 2007. Full story at LifeNews.com
Copenhagen Summit Document Could Push Abortion, Ambassador Bolton Worried
Copenhagen, Denmark (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- Former United States representative to the United Nations (UN) John Bolton recently warned that the failure to reach a legally-binding treaty on climate change in Copenhagen may make the outcome document more dangerous to national interests in the long term.
Precisely because many states will see a document only politically rather than legally binding as less consequential, their guard will be down, the former diplomat said in a recent article in the Spectator UK online.
They will be more inclined to score points with the global warming crowd by agreeing to language they would have otherwise resisted, believing they can avoid making legal' commitments in the real' treaty, he said.
The two-week-long environmental summit closed last week with an anti-climactic 12-paragraph document that appeared to leave advocates on every side of the debate unhappy. The goal of Copenhagen was to create a legally-binding treaty to replace the failed Kyoto Protocol which was supposed to regulate and monitor greenhouse gas emissions by developed nations and provide money to poor countries to help lower their emissions.
Social conservatives experienced in UN policy debates note that just because the summit was controversial and the outcome document is non-binding does not mean that activists will not use it to promote the very aims nations ostensibly rejected. Full story at LifeNews.com
Alaska Bishop Urges Catholics to Support Petition for Parental Rights on Abortion
Juneau, AK (LifeNews.com) -- With time running out, Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz has called all Catholics to actively rally behind a ballot initiative that would require abortion practitioners to obtain permission from -- or at least inform -- parents before performing abortions on minor girls in Alaska.
In order for the Parental Notification Initiative to go before voters in August, organizers need 44,000 signatures of registered Alaskan voters.
At this moment they are 4,500 signatures short with two weeks to go, Archbishop Schwietz wrote in a December 31 letter addressed to all pastors and parish administrators in the archdiocese. How tragic it will be if this initiative fails because of a lack of attention or indifference, he added.
In order for an initiative to be placed on a state election ballot in Alaska, 32,734 signatures from registered voters are required and while the minimum number of names has already been gathered, more signatures are still needed to make-up for those signers who may be disqualified because they are not registered voters. The deadline is Jan. 15. Full story at LifeNews.com
Massachusetts Special Senate Election Features Contrasting Candidates on Abortion
Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) -- When Massachusetts voters go to the polls to vote in the special election for the U.S. Senate, they will choose between starkly different candidates on the issue of abortion. Attorney General Martha Coakley is strongly pro-abortion and she has raised more than $1 million over the past six weeks for her campaign thanks in part to the national pro-abortion group Emily's List. She won the organization's endorsement in September to replace the late pro-abortion Sen. Ted Kennedy and went on to win the December 8 Democratic primary. Now she faces Republican state Senator Scott Brown, who has raised $700,000 during the same period, much of it on the Internet, for a total of $1.2 million. In a state known for its left-leaning and pro-abortion politics, Brown has an uphill battle but he enjoys the support of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. Jack Rowe, chairman of the MCFL PAC, emailed LifeNews.com today to say that he is seeing movement in Brown's direction. "People are terribly upset about health care and asking what to do. Here is the very exciting part. We in Massachusetts can actually save the whole country from this awful health care. Our PAC has been supporting Scott Brown because he will be a pro-life vote in the Senate. Scott Brown will also vote against the health care bill. After the compromise bill comes out of conference, it must be approved again by each house. Brown will vote against the bill. That means there will not be 60 votes in the Senate. That means the bill will be defeated." That's a lofty goal but Rowe is encouraging pro-life advocates in Massachusetts to get involved in the special election. "Can we do it? We certainly can! Turn-out will be very small," he said -- adding that the pr-life movement could change the dynamics of the race of it gets mobilized.
Ben Nelson of Nebraska Protested at Home for Abortion-Health Care Compromise
Omaha, NE (LifeNews.com) -- A small group of pro-life supporters braved sub-freezing temperatures and knee-deep snow on New Year's Day to protest outside the Omaha residence of Sen. Ben Nelson. The group, which was joined by Operation Rescue's Truth Truck, voiced disapproval of Nelson's "Cornhusker Kickback," in which Nelson traded his vote in support of tax-funded abortion for special favors for Nebraska. The group of protesters displayed signs that read, "Keep your hands off my Health Care" and "Ben Nelson, Traitor to the Unborn." At one point the Truth Truck, a large panel truck that displays billboard-sized images of aborted babies, became stuck in a snow drift near a busy intersection. However, during the 15 minutes it took to free the vehicle, it was viewed by hundreds of passersby. The group of seven activists, led by Rescue the Heartland's Larry Donlan, reported that several neighbors came out to give them the "thumbs up." Nelson's vote for taxpayer funded abortion is extremely unpopular in his home state. Pro-life groups like Donlan's, including Nebraska Right to Life and Nebraskans United for Life, that supported Nelson in the past have considered his deal a betrayal.
Spain Pro-Life Advocates Collect One Million Signatures Against Abortion Bill
Madrid, Spain (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life advocates in Spain have collected one million signatures to oppose a bill in the nation's parliament that would expand the country's law that already permits most abortions. The law would also deprive parents of any right to know if their minor daughter is considering an abortion. Now, the pro-life group Derecho a Vivir (Right to Life) has gotten residents across the country to sign its pro-life petition. The group's president, Ignacio Arsuaga, says the petition will be sent to the Moncloa Palace home and head office of Spain s head of state at the end of this month. Two dozen members of the organization collected signatures in Madrid s central Plaza Mayor near the Puerta del Sol station and handed out brochures. Derecho a Vivir says abortion is a profit-making business and the cruel and violent death of a human being , at a stage when it is the most innocent and defenseless of all . They also say it is a drama for the woman who suffers it and a collective failure of society.'
| 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
