LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Democrats May Skip Conference Committee to Push Health Care Bill
• Stupak Ready for Negotiations to Keep Abortion Funding Out of Health Care
• Conservatives, Pro-Aborts React to Plan to Bypass Conference Committee
• Battle Over Abortion Funding in Congress Pits Catholics Against Each Other
• Pro-Life Legal Group May File Lawsuit Against Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
• Dutch Euthanasia Deaths Up to 2,500, Number Still Underreported
• Egyptian Woman Dies After Abortion to Save Her Life From Cervical Preg
• Woman in India Commits Suicide After Husband Pressures Her to Get Abortion
• NIH Director Promotes Politics Over Adult Stem Cell Research, Sound Science
• Scotland Pro-Lifers Launch Bid to Stop Debate on Assisted Suicide Bill
• Pro-Life Group Tags San Francisco Catholic Archdiocese on CCHD, Abortion
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Democrats May Skip Conference Committee to Push Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Congressional Democrats are seriously examining the possibility of skipping the formal conference committee process in an attempt to railroad the pro-abortion health care bill through the House and Senate. Bypassing the normal process may allow them to skip procedural votes that could hold up or kill the bill.
With both chambers approving different bills -- a House version doesn't fund abortions while a Senate version does -- Democrats have to create a bill that both chambers can approve and send to President Barack Obama.
Typically a formal conference committee with members from both chambers and both parties formally meet to resolve the differences.
Instead, Democrats may work informally to craft a final bill and Democratic aides tell the New Republican that is "almost certain" to happen.
There will almost certainly be full negotiations but no formal conference, the House staffer told the liberal news outlet. There are too many procedural hurdles to go the formal conference route in the Senate.
I think the Republicans have made our decision for us," the Senate staffer said. "It s time for a little ping-pong.
If, as observers say is likely, the Senate bill is the basis for the final legislation, then pro-life advocates will be working overtime to oppose the bill because the Senate language allows states to force taxpayers to fund abortions and could allow the Obama administration to force insurance companies to pay for abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Stupak Ready for Tough Negotiations to Keep Abortion Funding Out of Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- When members of Congress return from their Christmas break next week, pro-life Michigan congressman Bart Stupak will be ready. He will find himself dueling members of his own party who don't want to see his amendment to strike abortion funding added to the final version of the legislation.
We're in a holding pattern right now, Stupak told the Bay City Times last week. We go back Jan. 10 and I'm sure heavy negotiations will take place.
The House and Senate have approved starkly contrasting versions of the bill -- with the House measure containing the Stupak amendment and the Senate bill including the Nelson-Reid deal that allows states to force taxpayers to fund abortions.
A conference committee featuring members of both chambers will meet, either formally or informally, to iron out the differences. When it does, Stupak hopes to be there, but he's not sure if that will happen.
I just don't know, he said, I asked to be, but I doubt they'll let me because of the amendment. I'll still be in the room, though.
Stupak told the newspaper his goal is to make sure the health care bill doesn't deviate from the Hyde amendment, which has been used for over 30 years to prevent direct federal funding of abortions. It s current law and we want to keep it that way, he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Conservatives, Abortion Advocates React to Plan to Bypass Conference Committee
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Conservative activists and abortion advocates in Congress are reacting to the news today that Democrats plan to avoid a formal conference committee on the pro-abortion health care bill. Doing so makes it so the Democrats in the Senate can avoid some procedural votes that could halt the bill.
Writing at HotAir, conservative columnist Ed Morrissey says abandoning the conference committee process allows Democrats to work on combining the House and Senate versions of the bill in secret.
"The idea is to bypass the public hearings that a conference committee could generate, as well as to exclude Republicans from representation at the talks. While the latter is completely predictable after all, only a couple of Republicans were ever consulted on ObamaCare, and only to get past a filibuster vote the former violates pledges made by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama during the last two election," he explained.
"Given the bill s increasing unpopularity, it doesn't surprise that Democrats want to hide themselves while trying to get it out of Congress. However, that kind of approach will not build support for ObamaCare," Morrissey continued.
"It will undermine whatever support it has left except as a purely partisan exercise which explains why its support among likely voters closely mirrors the percentage of Democrats among that sample," he added.
The important factor in the process is that the informal or closed-door conference process will not get the Senate out of needing 60 votes to overcome a filibuster of the final legislature. Full story at LifeNews.com
by Deal Hudson
The present standoff over abortion funding in health-care reform pits two sets of Catholics against each other: The bishops, supported by pro-life leaders, zealously oppose abortion funding, while prominent Catholic members of Congress just as zealously promote it. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi leads the pro-abortion Catholic pack pushing hard for abortion funding in the health-care bill. Her 100 percent rating from NARAL should dispel any misconception about her decision to allow a vote on the Stupak-Pitts amendment: It was political expediency, pure and simple.
As if to assure her pro-abortion supporters before the final vote, Pelosi told Newsweek in a recent interview that the Church's position on abortion denies women the "opportunity to exercise their free will." Somewhere in her Catholic education, Pelosi evidently missed the lesson that moral rules are both possible and necessary because we have free will.
Pelosi's pro-abortion partner is another Catholic, Rep. Rosa De Lauro (D-CT), who is always close at hand when members of Congress bash the Church for its stance on life issues. De Lauro said of the Stupak-Pitts amendment, "It takes away that same freedom of conscience from America's women. It prohibits them from access to an abortion even if they pay for it with their own money. It invades women's personal decisions."
A few days ago, De Lauro told the Huffington Post that she might be willing to support the abortion language of the Senate bill. This is a significant admission, since she is one of the House members assigned to work out the abortion language on the final version of the bill. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Legal Group May File Lawsuit Against Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Should Congress approve and President Barack Obama sign the pro-abortion health care bill pending in Congress, a pro-life legal group says it would likely file a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. Liberty Council would file a legal challenge against the measure over abortion and other political issues.
"The current healthcare bills pending in the Senate and the House are unconstitutional, because Congress lacks the authority to mandate insurance coverage for individuals or private businesses," the group said in a statement today that LifeNews.com obtained.
"Congress clearly lacks the constitutional authority to force individuals to have, or private businesses to provide, health insurance. Congress s attempt to force health insurance coverage on the nation is a stunning example of what Congress cannot do," the group continued.
"If a bill passes that mandates individual coverage or requires private employers to provide coverage, Liberty Counsel will file suit challenging the constitutionality of the bill," the organization promised.
Liberty University, a Christian Virginia-based college with over 50,000 students, would be one of the plaintiffs in such a legal challenge. The pro-life legal group is affiliated with it. Full story at LifeNews.com
Dutch Euthanasia Deaths Up Significantly to 2,500, Number Still Underreported
Amsterdam, (LifeNews.com) -- The number of euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands rose significantly in 2009 compared with 2008. There were reportedly 200 more deaths under the law, but pro-life advocates say those numbers are likely lowball estimates given the underreporting in the Dutch system.
The Dutch News indicates approximately 2,500 people died via euthanasia in 2009, but the actual number is unknown because the government estimates about 20 percent of cases are not reported.
The new government figures also include six registered cases of euthanasia on elderly patients with senile dementia, all of whom were supposedly in the early stages and able to make their wishes to die known.
In Holland, patients wanting to be killed must be in unbearable pain, the physician must sign off on the patient making an informed choice, and a second physician must certify the doctor's findings.
Alex Schadenberg of the Canada-based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, discussed the new numbers.
He says the number of people dying in the Netherlands is higher because assisted suicide figures are not included. If they are included, another 500 people should be added to the 2,500 who were killed last year via euthanasia. He also says deaths without explicit consent are not included and pointed to the most recent government report from 2005 showing 550 deaths are directly and intentionally caused by the physician but not reported as euthanasia because they lacked consent. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Egyptian Woman Dies After Abortion to Save Her Life From Cervical Pregnancy
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- An Egyptian woman has died from a legal abortion that, ironically, was designed to save her life. The woman had the abortion on Saturday because of life-threatening complications due to an abnormal pregnancy which saw the unborn child attached to her cervix.
The woman's husband Abdul Aal, said his wife was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday night because of vaginal bleeding.
Doctors eventually determined that the unborn child, who was 18 weeks into gestation, had attached to his wife's cervix and posed a risk of immediate death. However, after they performed the abortion, physicians realized they were unable to stop the bleeding.
According to Arab News, the failed abortion resulted in the hospital having to subject the woman to two more surgical procedures, including a hysterectomy. Doctors then assured Aal that his wife's bleeding had stopped but, when he went to her hospital room to visit her, he found her dead in her hospital bed.
"She was soaked in blood," he told Arab News. "She was very cold. She was lying there dead for a long time and the doctors concealed this from me." Full story at LifeNews.com
Woman in India Commits Suicide After Husband Pressures Her to Get Abortion
Mumbai, India (LifeNews.com) -- An Indian woman has killed herself following an abortion she obtained after pressure form her husband, who did not want children. Sarika Powar, reportedly committed suicide on Sunday by hanging herself in her Santa Cruz home after having the abortion she didn't really want.
The DNA news agency indicates Powar's husband and mother-in-law have both been arrested following a complaint from her father.
He told police that Powar's husband Umesh Powar, 24, and mother-in-law Pratiksha, 40 had put tremendous pressure on the young woman since their marriage just months ago.
Jitendra Kamble, the assistant police inspector of the Vakola police station, related to DNA what happened.
Around 6 p.m. on Sunday, when Powar returned home, he found the door locked from inside. He knocked several times, but when there was no response, he peeped in through a window to find Sarika hanging from the ceiling, Kamble said. Umesh then requested his neighbor s kid to go inside through the window to open the door. He rushed Sarika to a nearby hospital, where she was declared dead before admission, Kamble added. Full story at LifeNews.com
NIH Director Promotes Politics Over Adult Stem Cell Research, Sound Science
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a new opinion column appearing the magazine Science, NIH director Francis Collins appears to put politics over science. In a list of five "opportunities for research," Collins promotes embryonic stem cell research but ignores the adult variety already helping patients.
In the column, Collins says it is "appropriate to identify areas of particular promise" where NIH can help fund the work of scientists and researchers in "areas that are ripe for major advances that could reap substantial downstream benefits."
"Yet when discussing stem cell research and Translational Medicine, there is no mention whatsoever of pushing ahead with developing more adult stem cell treatments, already shown effective for patients," notes Family Research Council fellow Dr. David Prentice. "Instead, the emphasis is all on embryonic stem cells and the embryonic-like iPS cells."
Collins promotes the first human protocol (for spinal cord injury) involving human embryonic stem cells and says it was approved by the FDA in 2009. The NIH director says "the opening up of federal support for hESC research will bring many investigators into this field." Collins also spends time touting iPSCs even while admitting "much work remains to be done to investigate possible risks."
While pro-life advocates share the excitement about induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), they note that significant hurdles have not been overcome that would bring it to the level of adult stem cells -- that are helping patients today battle more than 100 different diseases and condition. Full story at LifeNews.com
Scotland Pro-Life Advocates Launch Bid to Stop Debate on Assisted Suicide Bill
Glasgow, Scotland (LifeNews.com) -- Scotland pro-life advocates have launched a new effort with the hope of preventing a debate on a bill in the Scottish Parliament that would legalize assisted suicide. An MSP sponsoring the bill hoped the parliament in Scotland will debate her measure.
MSP Margo MacDonald thought early last year that she had ecured enough support from colleagues to introduce the measure.
MacDonald was guaranteed a debate on her measure as soon as 21 MSPs out of the 129 in the chamber indicated their support.
However, today, pro-life advocates wrote to Holyrood's Presiding Officer arguing the bill should not be allowed to receive a debate and vote because it contravenes the European Convention on Human Rights. The Care Not Killing campaign says the MSPs would be acting outside the parliament's jurisdiction if they debate the bill.
Last year, Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish health minister, said she is opposed to the assisted suicide bill and worries that it will be abused to target the elderly and disabled. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Group Tags San Francisco Catholic Archdiocese on CCHD, Abortion
San Francisco, CA (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life group says the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the Archdiocese of San Francisco continue to support an organization that promotes abortion. American Life League says neither should support the San Francisco Organizing Project.
In November, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development issued For the Record The Truth about CCHD Funding in response to criticism that the group funds organizations that support abortion. The document defends the San Francisco Organizing Project (SFOP) by saying, the "Archdiocese of San Francisco strongly supports the work of the SFOP to expand access to health care to children."
"Both Archbishop Levada and Archbishop Niederauer have spoken at SFOP events; SFOP has met regularly with [a]rchdiocesan staff to coordinate work on health care access and other issues that affect the poor and immigrant families," the document continued.
However, an investigation by the Reform CCHD Now campaign, which includes several pro-life groups as members, found SFOP supports health care facilities that promote contraception and emergency contraception such as the morning after pill, which can cause an abortion in some circumstances.
In a statement LifeNews.com received today, ALL says further investigation reveals the SFOP was instrumental in establishing the Healthy Kids and Healthy San Francisco insurance programs that cover full range of birth control, from drugs to devices, and elective abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
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