LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Barack Obama Names Pro-Abortion Activist Chai Feldblum to EEOC Position
• Pro-Life Democrat Who Split With Stupak Pans Obama Abortion Executive Order
• Polls: Obama Hits New Low, Americans Want Pro-Abortion Health Care Repealed
• Planned Parenthood Thanks Catholic Nuns Who Backed Pro-Abortion Health Care
• National Doctors Group Files Lawsuit Against Pro-Abortion Health Care Law
• Report: Telemed Abortions Using Dangerous Drug Hurt Woman, Up Insurance Costs
• Abortion's Slippery Slope Led to Killing Terri Schiavo, We Must Never Forget
• Real Reproductive Justice Helps Women Find Information About Abortion Risks
• Father Frank Pavone, Pro-Life Advocates Mark 5th Terri Schiavo Day Wednesday
• Illinois Judge Dismisses ACLU Lawsuit Against Parental Notification on Abortion
• Duke University Keeps Pro-Life Group From Women's Center for Motherhood Event
• New York Times Calls Campaign Helping Women After Abortion "Propaganda"
• Pro-Life News: Tennessee, Abortion, New Zealand, England, Colorado, Personhood
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Barack Obama Names Pro-Abortion Activist Chai Feldblum to EEOC Position
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Unable to overcome a bipartisan filibuster against her nomination to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, President Barack Obama used a weekend recess appointment to give Chair Feldblum a one-year term on the commission. The decision could impact abortion as it relates to employment issues.
Last December, the Senate HELP Committee approved Feldblum's nomination in a closed-door meeting not open to the press.
However, due to opposition from Senate Republicans and a few Democrats, Feldblum could not surpass the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster.
With the Senate on its Easter recess, Obama had an opportunity to appoint the pro-abortion activist to the EEOC position. There, she could decide cases that related to pressuring women employees to have abortions or pressuring pro-life advocates to allow abortions in insurance policies.
Feldblum isn't known by most Americans, but she worked for the pro-abortion Human Rights Campaign Fund and, from 1986-1987, was a legislative counsel for the pro-abortion ACLU.
She also clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, the infamous judge who handed down the Roe v. Wade decision that has allowed more than 51 million abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Democrat Who Split With Stupak Pans Obama Abortion Executive Order
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In the aftermath of the House passing and Obama signing the pro-abortion health care bill, pro-life Democrats have been taken to task for voting for it in exchange for a flimsy executive order that won't truly ban abortion funding. But one Democrat who voted against the bill is standing his ground.
Congressman Dan Lipinski of Illinois had been a member of the Stupak dozen but joined a few other pro-life Democrats in splitting with Rep. Bart Stupak.
Although Stupak made the deal to trade his and a handful of votes from other pro-life Democrats -- ensuring passage of the pro-abortion bill -- Lipinski stood his ground.
"It was rather lonely, yes," Lipinski told the Chicago Tribune this weekend about voting against the pro-abortion health care bill after other pro-life Democrats compromised. "But I could not vote for a bill that would change the status quo on funding for abortion."
Lipinski also indicated he thinks the executive order Obama signed will eventually be overturned in court and that it won't truly ban abortion funding.
"People have asked me, If it was good enough for Stupak, why wasn't it good enough for you?'" Lipinski said. "The executive order most likely will be overturned by the federal courts. The order does not trump the law."
That's the same analysis leading pro-life groups have put forward about the lack of effectiveness of the Obama order. Full story at LifeNews.com
Polls: Obama Hits New Low, Americans Want Pro-Abortion Health Care Repealed
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Just one week after Congress passed and Obama signed a the pro-abortion health care bill, Americans dropped Obama's approval rating to a new low in one poll. Another survey shows, by a 12 percentage point margin, Americans favor repealing the health care law and its abortion funding.
A new Gallup survey released today shows President Barack Obama's approval ratings tying a previous historic low.
Gallup tracks daily the percentage of Americans who approve or disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as president and 46 percent disapprove while 46 percent approve.
And when it comes to the bill itself, Americans strongly oppose the legislation.
CNN released a new poll today showing 56 percent of Americans disapprove of the legislation while just 42 percent approve of it. Only 15 percent of those polled said they have "no reservations" about the new pro-abortion health care law.
CNN found 26 percent of Americans say they are angry about passage of the bill while another 27 percent are displeased -- for a total of 53 percent. Just 45 percent are either pleased (30%) or enthusiastic (15%) about its passage. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Thanks Catholic Nuns Who Backed Pro-Abortion Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The nation's largest abortion business is thanking a small group of Catholic nuns whose letter endorsing the pro-abortion health care bill is seen by many observers as helping its passage. With their numbers grossly distorted by the mainstream media, the nuns gave Catholic lawmakers cover to vote for the bill.
In an opinion column posted on the pro-abortion Huffington Post last week, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards praised the sisters from the group Network that signed the letter.
She said they deserve thanks from pro-abortion activists for making a critical demonstration of support for the pro-abortion bill via their letter.
Richards applauded how the nuns "broke with the bishops and the Vatican to announce their support for health care reform" at a time when the nation's Catholic bishops were urging a no vote because of the massive abortion funding and promotion in the legislation.
This brave and important move, demonstrating that they cared as much about the health care of families in America as they did about church hierarchy, was a critical demonstration of support, she wrote.
While the USCCB, as Richards wrote, threatened to bring down health care completely over their narrow demands ... these women stood in the way of plenty of men in Congress who were ready to cut a deal, whether with Bart Stupak or the National Conference of Catholic Bishops." Full story at LifeNews.com
National Doctors Group Files Lawsuit Against Pro-Abortion Health Care Law
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A nationwide doctors group is the first medical society to file a lawsuit against the new pro-abortion health care law President Barack Obama recently signed. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons filed suit in federal court against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
AAPS filed the suit Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
"If the PPACA goes unchallenged, then it spells the end of freedom in medicine as we know it," Jane Orient, M.D., the director of AAPS, said in a statement. "Courts should not allow this massive intrusion into the practice of medicine and the rights of patients."
"There will be a dire shortage of physicians if the PPACA becomes effective and is not overturned by the courts," Dr. Orient added.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons says the new government-run health care system, which will likely fund and promote abortions despite an executive order Obama signed last week, requires most Americans to buy government-approved insurance starting in 2014, or face stiff penalties.
The doctors group says that requirement violates the Fifth Amendment protection against the government forcing one person to pay cash to another. AAPS is the first to assert this important constitutional claim, it contends. Full story at LifeNews.com
Report: Telemed Abortions Using Dangerous Drug Hurt Woman, Up Insurance Costs
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new reported issued by a national pro-life group takes on the growing practice of "telemed abortions" -- which see abortion practitioners instruct women on using the dangerous abortion drug by video conference instead of assisting them in an in-person, on-site visit.
The practice involves the dangerous RU 486, or mifepristone, abortion drug that has killed at least 13 women worldwide and injured 1,100 in the U.S, alone as of 2006 FDA figures.
Operation Rescue released the report on telemed abortions, which it calls "a disturbing new trend in the abortion industry that could be endangering the lives and health of thousands of women."
The group also says the practice "is bilking insurance companies out of grossly inflated fees."
The pro-life organization engaged in an undercover investigation of the "telemed abortion" scheme operated by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland in Iowa.
Women visit the abortion facility for a drug-induced abortion and they visit with an off-site abortion practitioner who appears on a computer monitor and explains the medical abortion procedure to them before issuing a prescription for the abortion drug. Full story at LifeNews.com
 Abortion Scandal at Catholic College Sign Protest Here: Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women are listed on the web site of the University of Detroit Mercy, a Catholic institution, as career resources. Please defend innocent life by signing the online protest to get these removed. |
Abortion's Slippery Slope Led to Killing Terri Schiavo, We Must Never Forget
by Maria Vitale 
I'll never forget where I was when I heard the awful news that Terri Schiavo had died.
I was on vacation, spending spring break with my daughter. And, while I relished the time I had with my little one, there was a sense of sadness, knowing that far away in Florida, a woman was being dehydrated and starved to death.
For me, the execution of Terri Schiavo is like President Kennedy s assassination something so unbelievable, so tragic, the pain continues, long after the victim has been laid to rest.
Last year, during the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation s Celebrate Life Banquet, former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline publicly apologized to Terri s brother, Bobby Schindler, who had given a talk at the pro-life conference in Scranton earlier that day. In the banquet hall, before hundreds of people, Kline spoke of his deep sorrow about Terri s untimely death, and he said that he believed that Bobby deserved an apology.
If only the perpetrators of that death would apologize, too. Full story at LifeNews.com
Real Reproductive Justice Helps Women Find Information About Abortion Risks
by Denise Burke
These are real women's stories stories of women who underwent abortions, trusting the person with Doctor before his or her name. Regrettably, that trust was grossly misplaced in an industry where paternalistic attitudes pervade and where profits and an adherence to a radical pro-abortion ideology are placed above women s health and well-being.
Since the 1980s, pro-life advocates and others concerned with abortion s impact on women have worked to enact informed consent laws. Fully-informed consent for abortion necessarily includes information about the risks, complications, and alternatives to abortion. It means that a woman must fully understand the procedure to be performed and its potential consequences. Today, 32 states have enforceable informed consent laws, protecting women and their right to make fully-informed choices about their pregnancies.
In recent years, many states have enhanced their existing informed consent laws by enacting ultrasound requirements, requiring counseling about fetal pain, informing women of the link between abortion and breast cancer, and ensuring that women are not coerced into submitting to abortions. An increasing number of states are also directly and indirectly supporting and subsidizing abortion alternatives including adoption services and the work of pregnancy care centers. Full story at LifeNews.com
Father Frank Pavone, Pro-Life Advocates Mark 5th Terri Schiavo Day Wednesday
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Hundreds of pro-life advocates will join Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life on Wednesday to mark the fifth annual Terri's Day. This is the ceremonial day set aside by those who want to honor the life of Terri Schiavo, the disabled woman whose former husband killed her.
Five years ago, Terri's husband Michael Schiavo won a court order to take her life by depriving her of food and water because she was in a minimally conscious state.
The order came despite the wishes of her family -- a mother and father as well as a brother and sister who wanted to provide her with the medical care and rehabilitation Michael denied Terri during the years-long legal battle between them.
On March 31, five years ago, Terri Schiavo died a court mandated and government enforced death, Father Pavone, the national director of the pro-life Catholic group, told LifeNews.com.
Pavone was present with the Schindler family not long before Terri died and he painted a different picture of her death than the one euthanasia proponents set up.
I saw for myself, as I held her hand and prayed at her bedside, that this death was not peaceful and beautiful as euthanasia advocates want us to think," he explained. Full story at LifeNews.com
Illinois Judge Dismisses ACLU Lawsuit Against Parental Notification on Abortion
Springfield, IL (LifeNews.com) -- An Illinois judge issued a ruling today dismissing the legal challenge the pro-abortion ACLU legal group brought against the state law allowing parents to know when their minor daughter is considering an abortion. Although the lawsuit is dismissed, the ACLU was given 60 days to appeal the decision.
Although the state legislature passed the law in 1995, it has never been enforced thanks to lawsuits and a delay from the state.
The law is meant to allow parents to know 48 hours in advance when their minor daughter is considering an abortion so they can help her find positive alternatives.
In November, Judge Dan Riley blocked enforcement of the parental notification law on abortion just hours after a state board approved letting it go into effect.
He issued the decision today, which makes it so the law can't be enforced while the ACLU continues the appeals process. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Duke University Keeps Pro-Life Group From Women's Center for Motherhood Event 
Durham, NC (LifeNews.com) -- Duke University made it to the Final Four in college basketball this weekend and officials there apparently think it's all right to root for the team, but not to use the campus women's center if you're pro-life. Duke officials prevented the pro-life group on campus from using the facility for an event on motherhood.
The Duke University Women's Center has canceled an event about motherhood because the sponsor was engaging in pro-life expression elsewhere on campus.
A Women's Center representative told Duke Students for Life (DSFL) that "we have a problem" and an ideological "conflict" with the event, which was supposedly canceled to protect Duke women from encountering the event during the group's "traumatizing" pro-life "Week for Life."
The group's president has turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help. Full story at LifeNews.com
New York Times Calls Campaign Helping Women After Abortion "Propaganda"
by Colleen Raezler
How dare pro-life activists have an unassuming Web site and advertising campaign that doesn't explicitly condemn abortion!
That was the message Susan Dominus conveyed in her March 26 New York Times article, "In Subway Ads on Abortion, a Pretense of Neutrality."
Dominus attacked recent ads for abortionchangesyou.com, a Web site in which anybody touched by abortion can anonymously share their feelings and learn that they are not alone. Dominus began her story by noting the innocuous nature of the advertisement, but turns on the Web site after revealing its association with Project Rachel, a Catholic initiative.
After describing the advertisement, Dominus disparaged all pro-lifers by saying, "as anti-abortion strategies go, it is relatively oblique - a far cry from a brick in the window or a death threat to a member of Congress." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life News: Tennessee, Abortion, New Zealand, England, Colorado, Personhood
Pro-Life Bill Heads to Tennessee's Senate and House Floors Wednesday
Nashville, TN (LifeNews.com) -- On Wednesday, March 31, Tennessee's House of Representatives and Senate are scheduled to vote on Tennessee's Freedom from Coercion Act (House Bill 3301/Senate Bill 3812). Every state Senator and each state Representative needs to hear from constituents right now as pro-abortion groups rally opposition to the commonsense protection says Tennessee Right to Life.
New Zealand Residents on South Island to March for Life on April 9
Wellington, New Zealand (LifeNews.com) -- South Islanders will march together on 9 April to protest the Family Planning Association's application to administer the abortion drug RU 486 and to promote the value of all life, born or pre-born.
Dying Hospital Patient Dies After Water Denial, Calls Switchboard for Drink
London, England -- As the London Daily mail reports: A patient desperate for a drink of water had to telephone the switchboard of the hospital he was being treated in to beg to see a doctor.
Colorado Voters Will Again Consider Personhood Measure on November Ballot
Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) -- Colorado voters will once again consider a state ballot measure that would define unborn children as persons starting at conception and would draw an almost immediate legal challenge from pro-abortion groups.
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