LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Senate Democrats: Reconciliation Still Possible Even With Health Care Summit
• Obama Gives Planned Parenthood Abortion Prez Frequent White House Access
• Document Reveals More Abortion, Sexual Abuse Violations at Planned Parenthood
• Conservative, Pro-Life Leaders to Sign Mount Vernon Statement of Principles
• Pro-Life Women's Leader: Obama Putting Abortion Ahead of Health Care Reform
• Sarah Palin, Daughter Respond to Family Guy Show's Mocking Disabled Son
• Virginia Lege Strips Planned Parenthood Funding From its License Plate Bill
• British Pro-Life Group Chides BBC for Promoting Ray Gosling Euthanasia Claim
• Missouri Bill Gives Women Info on Baby's Abortion Pain, Installs Waiting Period
• Attorneys Want No Charges For Man Who Challenged Patrick Kennedy
• Utah Man Pleads Guilty to Forced Miscarriage, Gave Girlfriend Abortion Drug
• Nevada Personhood Backers Appeal Judge's Ruling Abortion Amdt Too Broad
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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Senate Democrats are confirming comments last week from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a top aide and saying that the reconciliation idea to railroad the pro-abortion government-run health care bill through the Senate is on the table even with the upcoming White House health care summit. They say there is no need to abandon the controversial idea even though Obama is engaging in a publicity campaign to try to find more support for the bill, which contains massive abortion funding.
The nationally televised summit is set for next Thursday, February 25, but pro-abortion Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, tells Roll Call there is no reason to cast aside the reconciliation idea.
I think it should be constantly pursued, he said when asked if Democrats should put aside the plan.
I think the Republicans are pretty committed to the notion that obstructing everything that President Obama would like to accomplish is very key to their base and their political success, Whitehouse added. I don't see them departing from that strategy.
On the other hand, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told Roll Call that instead of a health care summit that most pro-life advocates and Republican lawmakers view as a publicity stunt, Obama and congressional Democrats should scrap the pro-abortion bill and start over. Full story at LifeNews.com
Obama Gives Planned Parenthood Abortion President Frequent White House Access
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Visitor logs reveal what pro-life advocates suspected would happen once President Barack Obama took over as presdient. He and his administration have allowed the Planned Parenthood abortion business unfettered access to the White House and top staffers.
The visitor logs reveal Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards has visited the White House and spent time with Obama administration officials on four occasions.
The documents show Obama wasted little time in giving Richards access, with her first visit coming on January 20 -- the date of Obama's inauguration -- for a luncheon reception with 299 total people.
Richards' next visit appears undocumented in the visitor logs.
The Obama administration put together a White House health care summit in March 2009 which saw Richards and Planned Parenthood invited to promote abortion while pro-life groups were left out.
The visitor logs also reveal Richards attended a private meeting with Obama administration staff on June 6 and July 7.
The June meeting saw 28 people gather at an event coordinated by Valerie Jarrett's White House Office of Public Engagement. Kathleen Richardson, who headed the public-relations offensive designed to woo groups to support the health care bills, coordinated the meeting. The logs don't reveal how long Richards stayed.
The July event had Richards in a one-hour private meeting with Tina Tchen, the executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, which pro-life advocates say is promoting abortion on a worldwide level. The meeting likely included discussion of plans for Tchen to appear at a Planned Parenthood event held just two weeks later. Full story at LifeNews.com
Document Reveals More Abortion, Sexual Abuse Violations at Planned Parenthood
Birmingham, AL (LifeNews.com) -- A newly-obtained document from the Alabama health department finds even more violations at a Birmingham Planned Parenthood abortion center. The report finds nine cases of underage girls who were victims of statutory rape getting abortions in violation of the state's parental consent law.
The documented cases are so numerous that Lila Rose, the pro-life muckraker who exposed the problems in an undercover video, says Planned Parenthood's license should be revoked.
As LifeNews.com reported, the state health department placed the Planned Parenthood center on a one-year probation last week because of the violations.
Now, Rose's group, Live Action, has obtained a copy of the Alabama Department of Public Health's Statement of Deficiencies indicating it charged Planned Parenthood with additional violations.
The document, according to Rose, reveals nine of nine underage girls, aged 13 to 15, received abortions without proper verification of parental consent. Also, a 13-year-old girl went to the Planned Parenthood clinic for two different abortions within the span of four months. Rose says Planned Parenthood made no report of suspected abuse or neglect to the state as required by law. Full story at LifeNews.com
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Seeking a statement of principles heading into the 2010 mid-term elections, a group of prominent conservative and pro-life leaders are gathering tomorrow to do just that. They will sign the Mount Vernon Statement near George Washington's Mount Vernon home on Wednesday afternoon. The list of signers reads like a who's who of the pro-life and conservative political communities including former Attorney General Ed Meese, Heritage Foundation President Edwin Feulner, and Wendy Wright, the president of Concerned Women for America.
"The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant," the statement will say. "Some insist that America must change, cast off the old and put on the new. But where would this lead forward or backward, up or down? Isn't this idea of change an empty promise or even a dangerous deception?"
"The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles," the statement says.
It mentions the right to life in saying, "'The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature's God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Women's Leader: Obama Putting Abortion Ahead of Health Care Reform
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The president of a pro-life women's group says President Barack Obama could likely get congressional approval of a health care reform bill if he would make one important concession. Drop his insistence that the legislation make taxpayers pay for abortions and the bill might move ahead.
In a last gasp to save the pro-abortion government-run health care bill, Obama has called for a bipartisan White House health care summit next week.
Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser, in a new opinion column appearing in the Washington Examiner, says Obama would see more success if abortion were off the table.
The House is reluctant to approve the Senate measure, in part because pro-life and moderate Democrats object to its massive abortion funding and other pro-abortion problems.
"The president promised from the get-go to maintain the national consensus that rejects public funding of abortion. He has yet to live up to it," Dannenfelser says.
"So in this new conciliatory mode, if he ignores the 80-percent consensus opposing abortion coverage in healthcare, the most intractable and divisive issue thus far, he reveals what many have suspected from the beginning - that abortion ideology is more precious to this president than his top domestic priority," she adds. Full story at LifeNews.com
Sarah Palin, Daughter Respond to Family Guy Show's Mocking Disabled Son
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol are responding to comments on the Fox show "Family Guy" belittling her family and her disabled son Trig. Although Palin is a contributor for Fox News Channel that hasn't stopped her from criticizing the show on sister company Fox Broadcasting.
Palin, via her Facebook page, complained that the "Family Guy program delivered another kick in the gut with a joke targeting her family.
In Sunday s episode, Family Guy shows a girl with Down syndrome saying, My dad is an accountant and my mom is the former governor of Alaska.
Palin s son Trig has Down syndrome and she expressed her frustrations on Facebook, saying Fox Hollywood what a disappointment.
Last night, she posted another response that featured her daughter giving her thoughts on the controversy.
"People are asking me to comment on yesterday s Fox show that felt like another kick in the gut," Palin wrote. "Bristol was one who asked what I thought of the show that mocked her baby brother, Trig (and/or others with special needs), in an episode." "Instead of answering, I asked her what she thought. Here is her conscientious reply, which is a much more restrained and gracious statement than I want to make," she said. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Virginia Legislature Strips Planned Parenthood Funding From its License Plate Bill
Richmond, VA (LifeNews.com) -- In what pro-life advocates are hailing as a brilliant legislative move, Virginia lawmakers stripped Planned Parenthood funding from its own bill to sponsor pro-abortion license plates. The plate bill now sends the proceeds from sales of the plate to a state fund that actually helps pregnant women.
Money generated from the sales of the Trust Women, Respect Choice" license plates was intended to go to the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
When Democrat Delegate Robert Brink brought up the bill, on the House floor in preparation for today's final vote, the legislation said the Virginia League of Planned Parenthood would receive $15 of the $25 plate fee.
In an interesting turn of events, Delegate Todd Gilbert, a Republican, offered an amendment to the bill to change it so all funding would go to the Virginia Pregnant Women Support Fund -- a move that the pro-life Family Forum group describes as a devastating blow to Planned Parenthood.
The Virginia Pregnant Women Support Fund was created in 2007 to support women and families who are facing unplanned pregnancy and is managed by the Virginia Board of Health. The goals are far different from Planned Parenthood's abortion agenda as it provides funding for ultrasound machines, parenting programs, and other support. Full story at LifeNews.com
British Pro-Life Group Chides BBC for Promoting Ray Gosling Euthanasia Claim
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- A British pro-life group is chiding the BBC for its decision to give sympathetic coverage to Ray Gosling, a BBC presenter who claims to have killed his terminally-ill ex-lover in a euthanasia bid. Gosling claims his former gay partner had AIDS and was in terrible, terrible pain."
Gosling made the shocking claim on the episode of "Inside Out" that aired last night on the BBC. The program is dedicated to end-of-life issues.
"I killed someone once. . . . He was a young chap, he'd been my lover and he got AIDS," Gosling said in the broadcast, which showed him crying as he walked through a cometary.
"In a hospital one hot afternoon, the doctor said, 'There s nothing we can do', and he was in terrible, terrible pain," Gosling recalls. "I said to the doctor, Leave me just for a bit and he went away. I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead." "The doctor came back and I said, He s gone . Nothing more was ever said," he concluded.
The Nottinghamshire police have launched a probe into Gosling's comments, but SPUC Pro-Life tells LifeNews.com that the BBC should be held accountable as well. Full story at LifeNews.com
Missouri Bill Gives Women Info on Baby's Abortion Pain, Installs Waiting Period
Jefferson City, MO (LifeNews.com) -- A new bill in the Missouri legislature would provide women considering an abortion information on the pain the unborn baby feels during the procedure. The bill also installs a 24 hour waiting period to allow women a chance to consider positive alternatives.
Republican Sen. Rob Mayer of Dexter is the sponsor of the legislation and he appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday to talk about his bill.
According to an AP report, Mayer told the committee the legislation would help women avoid abortions and make better choices.
But AP indicates a Planned Parenthood representative called the bill a burden and said much of the information women would receive is already available.
Under the measure, women would also get information on the medical and mental health risks associated with an abortion and they would be given a chance to see an ultrasound of the unborn child prior to the abortion.
Mayer introduced a similar bill during the last legislative session. Representative Bryan Pratt of Blue Springs had introduced the bill in the House. Full story at LifeNews.com
Attorneys Want No Charges For Man Who Challenged Patrick Kennedy on Abortion
Providence, RI (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life legal group is working to make it so a man who publicly challenged pro-abortion Rep. Patrick Kennedy on abortion will face no charges for doing so. The case involves a perennial local government candidate Christopher Young, who accused Kennedy of supporting a health care bill that would fund abortions.
At the December 1 forum, Kennedy made his first public appearance after he came under fire from his bishop for questioning the pro-life credentials of the Catholic Church.
He also had disclosed a private letter he had received in 2007 urging him not to receive communion. Young attempted to give Kennedy a pro-life DVD to watch, but was escorted from the event by police when he tried to do so. You're not Catholic if you force Catholics into funding abortion, he before police led him away from the forum.
Kennedy never responded to Young's comments because a student grabbed the microphone to ask another health care question and the event continued on without incident. Full story at LifeNews.com
Utah Man Pleads Guilty to Forced Miscarriage, Gave Girlfriend Abortion Drug
Grand Junction, CO (LifeNews.com) -- A Utah man who formerly resided in Colorado has pleaded guilty to giving his pregnant girlfriend the second part of the two-part abortion drug in an attempt to force her to have an abortion. This is the latest incident in what is becoming a growing national and international phenomenon.
In this case, 31-year-old Jared Merril faces a felony charge of unlawful termination of pregnancy.
The Grand Junction Sentinel newspaper indicates Ahlstrom pleaded guilty to that charge in court today.
He is not covered under a plea agreement and, as a result faces an open sentence that could net him anywhere from probation to 12 years in prison on the class four felony charge. Mesa County District Judge Thomas Deister will determine the sentencing on May 3.
After he moved from Colorado to Utah, Ahlstrom sent emails to his former girlfriend saying he had given her misoprostol to cause an abortion.
He allegedly obtained the drug, which is an ulcer medication that is misused in the two-part RU 486 abortion drug process to cause contractions and expel the body of the dead unborn child, in Mexico.
Nevada Personhood Backers Appeal Judge's Ruling Abortion Amdt Too Broad
Carson City, NV (LifeNews.com) -- Backers of a personhood-abortion ballot measure in Nevada that would define unborn children as a person beginning at conception, or fertilization have appealed a judge's decision. Last month, a judge said the language was too broad and violated a state law saying ballot measures can't cover more than one subject.
Abortion advocates in Nevada filed a lawsuit seeking to stop pro-life advocates who want to gather signatures to put a personhood measure on the ballot.
The amendment does not specifically mention abortion, but says its intent is to codify "the inalienable right to life for everyone, young or old, healthy or ill, conscious or unconscious, born or unborn."
"In the great state of Nevada, the term 'person' applies to every human being," the one-sentence amendment reads.
Carson City District Court Judge James Russell issued the ruling siding with the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. The pro-abortion groups say the five-paragraph description of the measure does not say that the end result would ban abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
