LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Monday, February 15, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Pro-Abortion Sen. Evan Bayh to Retire, Easier for Pro-Life Senate Wins
• Report: As Independent Abortion Centers Close, Planned Parenthood Expands
• Pro-Life Groups Honor Susan B. Anthony's Birthday, Point to Abortion Opposition
• Writer Kathleen Parker Under Fire for Suggesting Sarah Palin Exploiting Son Trig
• Latest 40 Days for Life Pro-Life Campaign Kicks off Wednesday in 165 Cities
• Followup Poll Finds Pro-Life Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad Connected With Viewers
• Taking Care of People, Not Problems: Responding to PVS State Diagnosis
• John Edwards Scandal Points to Fact That Men are Harmed by Abortion
• Abortion Advocates Misuse Iowa Case to Attack Unborn Victims of Violence Laws
• South Dakota Abortions Up 20% in 2008, Pregnancy Center Redoubles Effort
• Quebec National Assembly Panel Begins Debate on Euthanasia Measure
• Colorado Pro-Lifers Submit Signatures for Next Personhood-Abortion Amdt
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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Senator Evan Bayh, an abortion advocate from Indiana, will announced today that he will retire from the Senate. His departure is seen by political observers as making it much easier for one of the pro-life Republicans seeking his seat to win it and, ultimately, potentially shifting more Senate seats to pro-lifers. The decision by the senator who was once viewed as a potential running mate for Barack Obama continues to put the Senate in play in the 2010 elections.
Bayh will announce the decision at a press conference later today and is expected to say, After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned," according to a Washington Post report.
Republicans had recruited former Sen. Dan Coats, a pro-life leader when he served in the Senate, to challenge Bayh along with pro-life former Rep. John Hostettler. Both were seen as trailing Bayh in polls but would now have the edge in any race against potential Democrats who would vie for Bayh's seat.
Conservative writer Ed Morrissey says Bayh's leaving turned what would have been a potential pickup into a likely one.
"Indiana would not have likely sent Bayh back for a third term in any event. The entry of Dan Coats into the race gave Republicans at least one strong, credible candidate (there are others either declared or interested) to challenge Bayh on his support for the Obama agenda," he explained. "Bayh had recently tried to rebuild his centrist credibility, but his vote to allow ObamaCare to come to a floor vote undermined his supposed independence." Full story at LifeNews.com
The pro-life group released a report in December listing every abortion center in the United States and a tally of 713.
The number dropped by five since then with the closing of abortion businesses in places like Ohio and Michigan. But that figure is adjusted upwards by two thanks to the opening of new massive abortion centers by Planned Parenthood in Houston and Portland -- which brings the overall total to 710.
"It is very clear that the only abortion group expanding its business is Planned Parenthood, and the only reason it can do so is with the help of our tax dollars," OR president Troy Newman told LifeNews.com today.
"This news emphasizes the need to de-fund Planned Parenthood nationwide. Without being artificially supported with our tax dollars, Planned Parenthood would be closing clinics, not building new ones," said Newman. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Groups Honor Susan B. Anthony's Birthday, Point to Abortion Opposition
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Susan B. Anthony is often considered one of the earliest leaders for women's rights but, as Americans remember her today on her birthday, pro-life groups point out that she was vehemently pro-life. Though modern-day women's groups promote abortion, Anthony would not have joined them.
America s most well-known women s rights leader was born 190 years ago today, on February 15, 1820.
The president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a national organization named for the pro-life suffragette, reflected on Anthony s largely unknown pro-life legacy.
If Susan B. Anthony were alive today, she would be overjoyed by the strength of the growing American pro-life majority, said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the head of the group that helps elect pro-life women to office.
While many are familiar with Anthony s efforts to earn women the right to vote, few realize she vehemently opposed abortion. Anthony recognized that authentic women s rights could never be built upon the broken rights of innocent unborn children," she told LifeNews.com today.
Dannenfelser says American women are coming to the realization that abortion doesn't represent them -- a concept Anthony readily understood two centuries ago. Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Conservative opinion columnist Kathleen Parker, who does not take a pro-life position opposing legal abortions, is coming under fire. In a weekend column, Parker suggested pro-life former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was exploiting her developmentally disabled son Trig. Palin is a darling of the pro-life movement and was lauded for putting her pro-life views into practice when pregnant with Trig.
While more than 90-95 percent of pregnancies involving physically disabled unborn children like him who are diagnosed with Down syndrome are eventually killed in abortions, Palin chose life for her baby.
Since then, she has become even more outspoken against abortion and has dedicated herself to supporting families and children who are disabled.
Parker points to Palin's comments in response to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who is pro-abortion, calling developmentally disabled children retarded. Palin invoked Trig's name and Parker now claims that Palin has a problem separating herself from her child. Full story at LifeNews.com
Latest 40 Days for Life Pro-Life Campaign Kicks off Wednesday in 165 Cities
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The latest 40 Days for Life pro-life campaign is set to begin nationwide on Wednesday with pro-life advocates reaching out to their local communities. The pro-life campaign kicks off in 165 cities across the United States and also cities and towns in Canada, Australia, and Northern Ireland.
Some of the local pro-life campaigns will hold kick off events today and tomorrow while others begin on Wednesday.
David Bereit, the national director of the 40 Days for Life campaign is encouraging pro-life advocates to participate in a national video feed from a live rally on Tuesday evening.
"We are going to hold a national 40 Days for Life kickoff event that will be live-video-streamed on the Internet," he told LifeNews.com today.
"We have a video crew joining Shawn Carney (40 Days for Life campaign director), Abby Johnson (former Planned Parenthood abortion facility director who experienced a conversion during last fall's 40 Days for Life), and me at a live event in Jackson, Mississippi and they'll be streaming the whole event online," he said.
The 40 Days for Life is a community-based campaign that draws attention to the evil of abortion through the use of a three-point program of prayer, presence outside local abortion centers, and community outreach. Full story at LifeNews.com
Barna conducted a national telephone poll with 1,001 adults from February 7 through February 10, including interviews on the evening the Super Bowl ad aired.
Among those who viewed the football contest, 43% said they had seen the Tebow commercial and 9 percent were able to recall the spot without prompting. With the high level of viewership of the Super Bowl, (a record 106 million Americans watched it) that means 27% of all Americans, excluding those who may have watched the commercial online after the game, watched the pro-life commercial.
"The Focus-Tebow commercial generated consistent levels of viewership across a variety of demographic segments, reflecting the broad appeal of the Super Bowl," Barna reported.
Revealing the potential impact of the ad, 25 percent of all Americans who say abortion should be legal in all or most cases viewed the commercial. Some 30 percent of pro-life Americans who think all or most abortions should be illegal also watched the ad. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Taking Care of People, Not Problems: Responding to PVS State Diagnosis
by Ken Connor
Three years ago, the medical community was stunned when Rom Houben -- diagnosed to have been in a persistent vegetative state since a horrific car crash in 1983 -- was discovered to be fully conscious and aware. Unable to speak or communicate, he'd lived as a prisoner in his own body for over two decades.
Doctors had performed test after test, concluding repeatedly that Houben s consciousness was extinct. It took 23 years for technology to prove that the opposite was true: Houben s brain was not dead, and his consciousness was not extinct. I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me -- it was my second birth.
Many Americans have never heard of Rom Houben, but you would be hard pressed to find an American who hasn't heard of Terri Schiavo.
On March 31, 2005 Terri Schiavo died, almost two weeks after the tube that provided her with nutrition and hydration was removed by court order. After collapsing in her home in 1990, Terry was diagnosed to be in a persistent vegetative state. The battle between Terri s husband and her parents over whether to remove life support put Terri s story at the center of national attention, igniting a firestorm of debate. Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortion Advocates Misuse Iowa Case to Attack Unborn Victims of Violence Laws
Des Moines, IA (LifeNews.com) -- Abortion advocates are misusing a rare case out of Iowa to attack unborn victims of violence laws that provide justice and protection for pregnant women and their unborn children. A federal version of the law is on the books as are similar measures in 36 states, though Iowa's is different.
The recent case involves Christine Taylor, an Iowa mother of two who was pregnant with her third child at the time, who fell down her stairs during an argumentative phone conversation with her estranged husband.
Taylor went to the emergency room to check on the health of her baby and staff there contacted authorities after she indicated she was considering abortion or adoption of her second-trimester baby.
The Iowa mother eventually found herself arrested and put in jail because local police misunderstood the state's feticide law.
The charges against Taylor were ultimately dropped, but that hasn't stopped blogger Amie Newman at the pro-abortion blog RH Reality Check from making the claim that such laws target women and make it a criminal act to fall down the stairs.
"Pregnant? Don't Fall Down the Stairs" she writes in her column. Full story at LifeNews.com
The Associated Press reports on the figures and says they show 848 abortions in South Dakota during 2008, an increase from 707 during 2007. All but 139 for the abortions involved state residents.
The number of abortions on out of state women rose from 98 in 2007, which accounts for 29 percent of the increase in abortions. most women come from Minnesota and Iowa for abortions.
And the overall increase comes after abortions declined 5.5 percent from 2006-2007 and down from the 805 abortions done in 2005.
The health department numbers also show women in their 20s accounted for 57 percent of the abortions while 15 percent were done on women between 30-34 and 11 percent on women above the age of 35. Another 10 percent were done on women 18-19 and 7 percent on teenagers 17 or younger. Full story at LifeNews.com
Quebec National Assembly Panel Begins Debate on Euthanasia Measure
Quebec City, Canada (LifeNews.com) -- A committee of the Quebec's national assembly began hearings today on a bill that would examine doctors killing patients in assisted suicides. About 30 people, including members of the Federation of Medical Specialists and physicians, were expected to speak.
The committee is holding the first hearing since the provincial government, at the request of the opposition Parti Québécois, announced it would hold hearings on the pro-euthanasia measure.
The idea behind the measure is to clarify the issues surrounding euthanasia and obtain input from the general public.
Quebec can't legalize assisted suicide on its own, but a bill is pending in the Canadian Parliament that would do so. But some advocates of assisted suicide hope the hearings will lead to the drafting of a paper to present to MPs urging them to legalize it.
Huge Anderson, in an editorial appearing today in the Montreal Gazette, said he hopes Parliament rejects Bill C-384.
"It was while I was reading Bill C-384 that I realized that only a few more steps would be necessary for me to be killed legally by a doctor if that federal private member's bill becomes law," he writes. Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new report from a pro-life group that tracks the number of abortion centers nationwide finds that while independent abortion facilities are closing, Planned Parenthood is expanding its business. Operation Rescue says that's because the abortion giant receives large amounts of taxpayer funding.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A followup poll conducted by Barna Group, a Christian research firm, finds the pro-life ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother Pam connected with Super Bowl viewers. The study finds most people understood the pro-life message behind the ads and millions eventually went to the Focus on the Family web site.
A recent scandal surrounding John Edwards, former North Carolina Senator and U.S. presidential candidate, brought this issue into plain view. Mr. Edwards publicly acknowledged an extramarital affair with Rielle Hunter in the summer of 2008, a few months after pulling out of the presidential race.
Even after admitting to the affair, however, he continued to deny having fathered Ms. Hunter s daughter, Quinn, until January of 2010 when he finally admitted that he was, in fact, her father.
A former aide to Mr. Edwards has just published a tell-all book describing how Mr. Edwards tried to coerce Ms. Hunter to get an abortion. Commentator Jill Stanek analyzed the situation this way: Fortunately, Hunter resisted this all too typical coercive attempt by a sexually exploitative and irresponsible man to abort his own baby. Of course Edwards is a pro-abort, which as we see is incredibly self-serving for men. Edwards was ready to sacrifice his own baby for political and personal expediency.
Mr. Edward s extramarital activities remind us how legalized abortion has the clear and pronounced effect of supporting sexual infidelity, providing cover and encouraging men to become less responsible and accountable for their personal choices. It enables men to justify and get away with sexual license. Full story at LifeNews.com
by Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk
An important but often unacknowledged angle of the abortion debate involves the serious effects that legalized abortion has on men.
Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) -- New numbers from the South Dakota state health department reveal the number of abortions jumped by 20 percent in 2008. The figures are a cause for concern nationwide because they could be a sign of abortions increasing across the country due to the weak economy during the last three years.
Personhood Colorado leaders announced they plan to submit 79,817 petition signatures to state election officials.
The total is just 3,770 signatures more than 76,047 required, which is five percent more signatures than required. However, some observers suggest the amendment may not make the ballot because not all signatures come from valid Colorado voters and some may be duplicates.
The group had a 79 percent signature rate on its approximately 131,000 2008 petitions and a similar rate this time around would have the amendment falling about 13,000 signatures short of qualifying it for the 2010 ballot.
Should state officials qualify the amendment, Colorado voters would consider the amendment for the second time after first voting against it by a 73-27 percent margin in 2008. Full story at LifeNews.com
Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) -- On Friday, some pro-life advocates in Colorado submitted signatures for a second try to get state voters to approve a personhood amendment that could affect abortion and bioethics issues. The amendment defines unborn children as persons starting at conception, but it may never go before state voters.
