LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Monday, February 8, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Focus on the Family Pro-Life Tim Tebow Super Bowl Commercials
• Pro-Life Advocates Applaud Focus on the Family's Tebow Super Bowl Ad
• Poll: Backers of Tim Tebow Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad Best Opponents by 15%
• Colts Coach Clyde Christensen Spared From Abortion Like Tim Tebow
• Pro-Life Group Helps Provide Ultrasounds for Women Considering Abortion
• Arlen Specter Turns Back on Abstinence to get Pennsylvania Dems Support
• ACLU Pushes Pro-Abortion License Plates in Virginia, Georgia
• Susan Hill, Owner of Abortion Businesses in North Carolina, Dies Last Week
• Northern Ireland Pro-Life Group Says Human Rights Orgs Misleading
• Vermont Sees Another Accident Kill Unborn Child, Raises Questions
• Fitchburg, Massachusetts Drops Plans to Keep Planned Parenthood Out
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Focus on the Family Pro-Life Tim Tebow Super Bowl Commercials
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Focus on the Family Super Bowl commercials featuring Tim Tebow and his mother Pam have been the subject of national attention for weeks. Below, LifeNews.com has obtained the videos and text of the two 30-second Super Bowl commercials with Pam Tebow sharing her story of not having an abortion. In-Game Advertisement
Pam: I call him my miracle baby. He almost didn't make it into this world. I can remember so many times when I almost lost him. It was so hard. Well he's all grown up now, and I still worry about his health. You know, with all our family's been through, you have to be tough...
Tim tackles his Mom.
Pam: Timmy! I'm trying to tell our story here.
Tim: Sorry about that, Mom... You still worry about me, Mom?
Pam: Well, yeah, you're not nearly as tough as I am.
The ad closes with text urging Super Bowl watchers to visit the Focus on the Family web site for the full Tebow birth story. View the ads here --> Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Advocates Applaud Focus on the Family's Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- After millions of people across the United States and around the world watched the Focus on the Family commercials featuring Tim Tebow and his mother Pam, pro-life advocates say pro-abortion groups clearly overreacted in their outrage and complaining about what turned out to be positive, life-affirming ads.
Although the pro-life organization didn't set out to air the commercials to get free press, Focus on the Family turned what wound up as the first advocacy ad during the Super Bowl into a publicity bonanza featuring Tebow's heartwarming story.
The long-awaited pro-life Super Bowl ad was broadcast in the first quarter Sunday and a different version -- sans Tim Tebow pretending to tackle his mother -- aired repeatedly before the game.
Americans United for Life Action, in conjunction with LifeNews.com, sponsored a FaceBook page to support the commercial which has grown to more than 237,000 fans.
"This ad was funny, light-hearted, and had a positive message for everyone," AUL president Charmaine Yoest said after the ads aired. "The hate-filled reaction from pro-abortion groups reveals a radical abortion-at-any-cost agenda that is far out of step with the American people. Congratulations to Focus on the Family for inspiring us all in the face of extremism," she continued. Full story at LifeNews.com
Poll: Backers of Tim Tebow Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad Best Opponents by 15%
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A second poll covering the Tim Tebow pro-life ad that Focus on the Family will air later today indicates supporters of the commercial outnumber opponents. However, the numbers in the new Rasmussen poll vary considerably from a Marist poll showing 2-1 support for the ad.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% of Americans who plan to watch Super Bowl XLIV agree with CBS decision to run a pro-life advertisement featuring Tebow during today s game.
Another 30 percent disagree with the decision to run the ad prepared by Focus on the Family and another 25 percent are unsure.
The Marist Poll published this past week showed 60 percent of Americans agreed with CBS' decision to air the ad while just 30 percent said no and 10 percent were undecided.
Rasmussen's poll showed 51 percent of men who plan to watch the Super Bowl agree with the decision to broadcast the ad while women are split 40-34 percent. That, too, differed with the Marist poll figures showing men and women equally supportive of the Focus on the Family commercial with 61 percent of men agreeing with CBS to show the ad and 30 percent saying no while women split 60-30.
The Rasmussen survey, published today, showed 57% of those who watch professional football more than once a week support CBS decision to run the Tebow ad. Full story at LifeNews.com
Miami, FL (LifeNews.com) -- When tens of millions of people around the world tune in for the Super Bowl tomorrow, they will finally get a chance to see the commercial celebrating the life of Tim Tebow. But viewers may not know Clyce Christensen, the assistant head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, has his own potential abortion story that changed his life. Christensen's mother was an unwed teenager who gave birth to him when she was 15 -- an age where many teens have an abortion because their pregnancy is frequently a result of sexual assault.
"I also can't help but look back and think of how easily my life and thus generations to follow could have been snuffed out before it ever got started," Christensen shared last year at a site for adopted people.
"I can't help but think of a 15-year-old, unwed, pregnant teen who made a courageous decision not to abort her child, but instead gave him a chance at life that over 50 million children since have not had. That child was me," he said.
Christensen was adopted, with his mother leaving specific instructions at the Los Angeles County Hospital to place her child in a Christian home or saying she would take Christensen back.
He has still never met his birth mother -- "but I am so grateful for her courage to have her child when it wasn't and still isn't to this day the choice of most." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Group Helps Provide Ultrasounds for Women Considering Abortion
Poughkeepsie, NY (LifeNews.com) -- During National Sanctity of Life Week, Project Ultrasound Inc., a non-profit organization raising awareness and funds to promote the use of ultrasound machines to help deter abortions, announced efforts to strengthen its commitment to helping women choose life. Past initiatives include raising $1,600 to help Heartbeat of Fremont, an Ohio-based pregnancy support center, paying for ultrasound training for their medical staff; generating $7,500 for Riverside Life Center, a pregnancy crisis center in Riverside, California; and raising more than $4,000 for the general cause. Project Ultrasound also offers a list of resources to help donors identify ways their company can match their donation when applicable. With as many as 80 percent or more of pregnancy women who see ultrasounds in a pregnancy center choosing life for their unborn children over abortion, the organization says its help and support can help other centers save lives in their communities as well.
Arlen Specter Turns Back on Abstinence to get Pennsylvania Democrats Support
Harrisburg, PA (LifeNews.com) -- The news web site Politico carried a report last week showing how pro-abortion Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania turned his back on abstinence education in order to get support for Democrats. Specter was never pro-life, but always supported abstinence -- until he needed to win more votes to secure the Democratic nomination for his re-election bid. Here's what Politico says: "Between 2003 and 2009, Republican Sen. Arlen Specter obtained nearly $10 million in earmarks for abstinence education. Then he became a Democrat. Since switching parties last spring, Specter hasn't sought a dime in earmarks for abstinence education a dramatic reversal that critics describe as a case study in the cynical politics of pork-barrel spending. As an abortion-rights Republican facing primary challenges from the right, Specter could use the abstinence education earmarks to show social conservatives in his party that he was sensitive to their concerns. But as a relatively conservative Democrat, he doesn't have to worry about a challenge from the right and has to be careful not to offend liberals, who generally prefer a broader approach to sex education."
ACLU Pushes Pro-Abortion License Plates in Virginia, Georgia
Richmond, VA (LifeNews.com) -- The ACLU of Virginia is urging members of the Virginia General Assembly to support Senate and House bills that authorize a pro-abortion specialty license plate. The plate, containing the phrase Trust Women, Respect Choice, counters a law passed in 2009 authorizing a Choose Life license plate. "Before the final vote takes place, all legislators will have received a memo from us explaining why they are required by the Constitution to approve the pro-choice license plate, said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis. This is one time lawmakers need to set aside their views on reproductive rights and let the First Amendment be their guide. If they can do that, the pro-choice license plate will be easily approved. If not we re undoubtedly headed to court. The ACLU of Virginia has repeatedly asked legislators to move the specialty license plate authorization process to DMV, where it would be administered in a viewpoint neutral manner using rules similar to those that govern vanity license plates. There are two identical pro-choice license plate bills in the Georgia General Assembly, SB 704 and HB 1108. Funds generated by the sale of the plate will support Planned Parenthood s health and family planning programs.
Susan Hill, Owner of Abortion Businesses in North Carolina, Dies Last Week
Jackson, MS (LifeNews.com) -- Susan Hill, the owner of abortion businesses in North Carolina, Mississippi and other states, died last week. Hill died on February 1 in her early 60s. Jill Stanek, a pro-life blogger, talked about her death and said an article she found said Hill had breast cancer. "If it was breast cancer, she doesn't appear to have birthed any live children, which would have protected her against it. If Hill had an abortion or hormonal contraceptive history, which also would have increased her risk, they are unknown," she wrote. Hill was president of the National Women's Health Foundation, a group that raised money to pay for abortions for poor women. She also owns the only abortion business in Mississippi and was the head of the Jackson Women's Health Organization, which ran the abortion business. Hill also headed the National Women's Health Organization, and owned up to as many as 11 abortion centers in her heyday but had just four at the time of her death. Stanek continues, "Two weeks after the Roe v. Wade decision Hill and a partner opened the 1st mill in FL, the EPOC mill in Orlando. This is the infamous mill now owned by James Pendergraft, where baby Rowan was aborted alive in 2005 and allowed to die (the death the movie 22 Weeks was based upon). Hill, a social worker by trade, is said to have been responsible for the deaths of 400,000 children aborted at her mills."
Northern Ireland Pro-Life Group Says Human Rights Orgs Misleading on Abortion
Belfast, Northern Ireland (LifeNews.com) -- Northern Ireland pro-life group Precious Life has accused two human rights bodies of hypocrisy for ignoring the human rights of unborn children. Precious Life says the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Consortium are "doing unborn children out of their rights." The Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Consortium are running campaigns encouraging people to respond to a Government consultation on what should be in a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. Director of Precious Life Bernadette Smyth explained, "Homes across Northern Ireland are currently receiving brochures from these so-called human rights groups. These groups also have newspaper ads and billboards littered with expressions like 'Don't be done out of your rights' and 'protect everyone' Of course, all right-thinking people would support a Bill of Rights that protected 'everyone'. But the hypocrisy of the Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Consortium is that they do not want a Bill of Rights where everyone s rights are protected ...they want the rights of unborn children to be deliberately excluded. They have done unborn children out of their rights."
Vermont Sees Another Accident Kill Unborn Child, Raises Legislative Questions
Montpelier, VT (LifeNews.com) -- The state of Vermont has seen another auto accident that claimed the life of an unborn child and is prompting state residents to want to know when the legislature will hold criminals accountable for killing unborn children in such situations. Early the morning of Jan. 7, with the roads icy and snow falling, Sarah Cardinal drove east on Vermont 15, heading from Johnson to St. Johnsbury with her sister and 2-year-old niece. As Cardinal s Subaru wagon approached the Wolcott/Morristown line, it collided head-on with a Subaru sedan driven by 19-year-old Ian Masse of Craftsbury. Later that day, as Cardinal struggled at the hospital with numerous injuries from the crash, she learned that her twin unborn children she was eight months pregnant didn't survive. Nearly a month after the crash, Cardinal is at Fanny Allen rehabilitation center in Colchester recovering from her injuries and can't get past the notion that legally it is as if her babies didn't count. I think it ought to count, she said. They were babies in our eyes.
Fitchburg, Massachusetts Drops Plans to Keep Planned Parenthood Out
Fitchburg, MA (LifeNews.com) -- The Fitchburg City Council has abandoned its formal attempt to keep Planned Parenthood from opening a center in the city. A standing-room-only crowd attended the hearing last week, and even for an hour after the vote, opponents and proponents lined up to offer their views on the plan to open the clinic at 391 Main St. Christine Hanley, Chair of the Fitchburg-Leominster Chapter of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, responded to the vote: "Kudos to members of the Fitchburg-Leominster Chapter of Mass. Citizens for Life and the other pro-life citizens from the area around Fitchburg. Planned Parenthood plans to use a federal grant to open facilities in Fitchburg, Milford, and Marlborough. Last Thursday 80 people protested at the proposed Fitchburg site. On Tuesday, 40 pro-lifers attended the Fitchburg City Council meeting and many of them testified. The Council voted not to act on the resolution which asks Planned Parenthood not to come to Fitchburg." She urges area residents to contact the landlords who own the building: Bruce Richard, Trustee and Christopher Kacandes, Trustee B C Realty Trust, 168 Harris Road., Ashburnham, 01430, or call 781-858-7475
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