LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, March 5, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Pro-Abortion House Leader: Pro-Lifers Can't Stop Senate Health Care Bill
• Sidebar Bill Discussed to Ban Abortion Funding in Health Care Bill, Prospects Dim
• Catholic Bishops Would Promote Sidebar Abortion Funding Ban Bill in Senate
• Senate Health Care Bill Funds, Promotes Abortions Despite Pelosi's Protest
• There is No Middle Ground, Health Care Bill Will Fund Abortions Or It Won't
• Anti-Euthanasia Groups Blast New Washington State Report on Assisted Suicide
• Live Tweeting Abortion: Experience Shows Abortion Still Hurts Women
• Prosecution Rests in James Pouillon Shooting Case, Says Abortion Motivated It
• United Nations Report Warns of Dire Effects of Underpopulation, Fertility Decline
• American Idol, StayTeen.org and Planned Parenthood: Promoting Sex, Abortion
• Spanish Catholic King Juan Carlos Signs Bill Into Law Expanding Abortions
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Pro-Abortion House Leader: Pro-Life Advocates Can't Stop Senate Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The leader of the pro-abortion contingent in the House of Representatives claims pro-life advocates don't have the votes to stop the pro-abortion Senate health care bill there. However, it appears Rep. Diana DeGette's arithmetic may need some updating as opponents have the advantage.
DeGette, a pro-abortion lawmaker from Denver, Colorado, and the head of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, talked with a top Congressional newspaper about her theory.
"I don't think Congressman Stupak has the votes to kill healthcare legislation over his language not being in there," DeGette told The Hill.
DeGette is responding to Rep. Bart Stupak, the leading pro-life Democrat who has promised to vote against the Senate bill along with about 12 of his colleagues who don't want to force Americans to fund abortions.
"He says he has 10 or 11 people who will vote no, but a lot of those people voted no the first time, but there are also a lot of other people who voted no the first time who now want to support the bill," she said.
However, that's not the case. All of the pro-life Democrats -- and pro-life Republican Rep. Anh Cao of Louisiana -- who are saying they will vote against the Senate bill because it funds abortions voted for the House bill the first time because it included the Stupak amendment. Full story at LifeNews.com
Sidebar Bill Discussed to Ban Abortion Funding in Health Care Bill, Prospects Dim
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The talk in Congress of a sidebar bill to attempt to ban the massive abortion funding currently found in the Senate health care bill is escalating. But the prospects for such a bill are dim as the Senate doesn't have enough votes and pro-life advocates worry such an idea may backfire.
Rep. Bart Stupak, the leading pro-life Democrat in the House who has been orchestrating opposition to the bill among Democrats because of its pro-abortion components, first brought up the idea of a sidebar bill.
Stupak has said he has enough pro-life Democrats to derail the pro-abortion health care bill in the House.
With the reconciliation process not able to stop the abortion funding in the Senate health care bill -- the rules for the companion reconciliation bill would not allow changes to the abortion funding -- Stupak said a sidebar bill is a possibility.
"It would have to be a separate bill, you could sidebar it to the final bill," Stupak said. "One bill doesn't pass without the other. They walk down the aisle together."
Late Thursday, pro-abortion House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said such a bill is a possibility and that one could be drafted to get the pro-life Democrats on board with the overall health care bill. Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic Bishops Would Promote Sidebar Abortion Funding Ban Bill in Senate
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A spokesman for the nation's Catholic bishops, who were instrumental in getting the Stupak amendment to ban abortion funding in the House health care bill, said they would work to get a sidebar bill through the Senate to offset the massive abortion funding in the Senate bill the House may approve.
A sidebar bill is a new concept Rep. Bart Stupak floated this week.
Stupak is the de facto leader of the pro-life Democrats in the House who are threatening to reject the Senate health care bill because of its massive abortion funding and other pro-abortion problems.
Stupak's idea of a sidebar bill would have the House and Senate okaying a separate bill to go along with the overall health care measure that bans abortion funding.
However, the Senate already defeated the Nelson amendment by 10 votes and there doesn't appear to be more support for banning abortion funding since then. On top of that, pro-abortion lawmakers could easily use a filibuster to stop the bill from advancing.
Late Thursday, Richard Doerflinger, an associate director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told Politico the bishops would help lobby the Senate for a sidebar bill.
We would strongly urge everyone, Democratic and Republican, to vote to waive the point of order, Doerflinger said of urging senators to support procedural rules necessary to approve a bill. Whether it would be enough to get to 60 votes, I can't predict. We would certainly try. Full story at LifeNews.com
Senate Health Care Bill Funds, Promotes Abortions Despite Obama, Pelosi's Protest
by Douglas Johnson
On abortion policy, the health care bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi brought to the House floor last November was extremely bad (before the House fixed it by adopting the Stupak-Pitts Amendment) -- but the Senate health bill (H.R. 3590) is worse.
There is No Middle Ground, Health Care Bill Will Fund Abortions Or It Won't
by Charmaine Yoest
It's now becoming clear that Barack Obama is willing to put everything on the table in order to be the president who passes health-care reform. Everything, that is, except a ban on federal funding for abortion.
Last September, the president promised that "no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place." Yet the legislation most likely to move forward in Congress would be the single greatest expansion of abortion since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
The White House knows how to turn Mr. Obama's September commitment into legislative action. I met with senior White House officials and told them that only adding a so-called Hyde Amendment to the health-care reform bills would fulfill the president's promise to protect Americans from subsidizing abortion.
The Hyde Amendment dates back to the 1970s, when congressional leaders discovered that Medicaid was paying for nearly 300,000 abortions a year. This had not been an intended outcome of the Medicaid program, which was created in 1965 with strong bipartisan support. So in 1976 Rep. Henry Hyde introduced an amendment to the Health and Human Services appropriations bill prohibiting taxpayer funds from paying for abortions.
Similar amendments have been added to health-care bills ever since. Without specific language prohibiting the practice, history has shown that the courts or administrative agencies end up directing government dollars to pay for abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Anti-Euthanasia Groups Blast New Washington State Report on Assisted Suicide
Olympia, WA (LifeNews.com) -- Two groups that oppose euthanasia are taking issue with a new report released by Washington state officials showing at least 36 people died after they killed themselves under the first year of the state's new law legalizing assisted suicides. They say the law has opened up elderly abuse and other problems.
The figures from the state indicate Washington doctors gave prescriptions for lethal doses of drugs to 63 patients between March 5, when the law went into effect, and the end of 2009.
The numbers reveal 47 people died -- with 36 of them taking the lethal cocktail of drugs while seven people died of other causes and four people died but it could not be determined if they died from an assisted suicide or for other reasons.
Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition emailed LifeNews.com about his concerns with the new report.
"The majority were 65 years old or older, and educated. Nearly half had private insurance. These factors are consistent with their being individuals with money. Older people with money are prime targets of abuse," he said. "Washington's act is, regardless, coercive: An heir who will benefit from the death, is allowed to help the person sign up for the lethal dose; there is no requirement of consent at the time of death."
According to the report, 23 percent of the Washington residents who killed themselves via assisted suicide did so due to a concern about becoming a "burden" to their families.
"This is a marker of possible abuse because the person was pressured to feel that way," Schadenberg said. "After the death, even prosecutors are required to treat the death (voluntary or not) as 'natural.' Elders abused by the Act have no recourse." Full story at LifeNews.com
Live Tweeting Abortion: Experience Shows Abortion Still Hurts Women
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Angie Jackson made national headlines recently when she decided to use a combination of Twitter and YouTube updates to document her abortion using the dangerous mifepristone abortion drug. Two pro-life advocates say the experienced shows abortion still hurts women.
As LifeNews.com reported, Jackson, who called herself Angie the Atheist, prompted shock from pro-life advocates for live-blogging her drug-induced abortion.
Shortly after swallowing the chemical abortion drug, RU 486, the 27-year-old single mom began posting live updates on Twitter and YouTube. More than 119,000 watched her first video.
Um, yeah, I'm having an abortion right now. It s not that bad. It s not that scary, she said, smiling broadly into the camera.
But Brad Mattes of Life Issues Institute noted "over the next few days, Angie s updates increasingly detailed bleeding, dizziness and severe pain, along with an admission that she quickly exhausted her first supply of painkillers."
"Though the Florida woman said she pursued abortion because of health risks, the irony is the abortion itself could have killed her and will likely leave long-term side effects," he said. "RU 486 is far from safe. At least 12 women died after taking the human pesticide, and more than 600 adverse effects have been reported to the FDA, including heart attacks, hemorrhaging, and surgery to repair damage." Full story at LifeNews.com
Prosecution Rests in James Pouillon Shooting Case, Says Abortion Motivated It
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The prosecution has rested in the case involving the shooting death of pro-life advocate James Pouillon of central Michigan. Prosecuting attorneys made the case that Harlan Drake shot Pouillon, and then a local businessman, because Pouillon used graphic pictures to oppose abortions.
During the trial, prosecutors pointed out that Drake confessed to shooting Pouillon and said he did so because of abortion.
I just drove and stopped, and I shot (Jim Pouillon), Drake said in a recorded police interview, according to the Argus Press newspaper. He was still moving so I shot him one more time. I aimed under the ribcage going up toward the heart.
The interview shows Drake didn't like the fact that Pouillon would use images of unborn children killed in abortions during his protests outside a local high school. Pouillon also used images of fetal development that are not graphic.
I'm not against anti-abortion. I'm against showing little kids those pictures, Drake said during the interview. I asked him over the years not to do that in front of the kids. A little kid shouldn't have to look at that." Full story at LifeNews.com
United Nations Report Warns of Dire Effects of Underpopulation, Fertility Decline
New York, NY (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- A recently-released United Nations (UN) report finds that the global trend of fertility decline and population aging will have devastating economic and societal effects on the developing world, particularly on women who are now targeted by UN agencies to further reduce fertility.
World Population Ageing 2009 was published in December 2009 by the UN Population Division, a statistics research branch within the UN s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
Because fertility is decreasing in the developing world, there will be fewer and fewer workers to support aging citizens, the report found. The ratio of workers to older non-workers dropped from 12 to 9 between 1950 and 2009. By 2050, there will be only 4 workers supporting every retiree: The reduction of potential support ratios has important implications for social security schemes, particularly for pay-as-you-go pension systems under which taxes on current workers pay the pensions of retirees."
The effects of fertility decline and population aging will hit the developing world hardest, according to the report, because, "The pace of population ageing is faster in developing countries than in developed countries. Consequently, developing countries will have less time to adjust to the consequences of population ageing. Furthermore, ageing in developing countries is taking place at lower levels of socio-economic development than has been the case for developed countries. Full story at LifeNews.com
American Idol, StayTeen.org and Planned Parenthood: Promoting Sex, Abortion
by Kortney Blythe
While watching American Idol, a commercial came on that caught my attention. An amateurish-looking home video showed two giddy, laughing teenage girls jumping on a trampoline, acting goofy. Then a voiceover said:
I love my life. I'm not gonna mess it up with a pregnancy. And a web site flashed on the screen: Stayteen.org.
Being the abortion abolitionist I am, I immediately opened my laptop to check it out. At first, I was pleasantly surprised. The web site, which is funded by a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, strongly advised waiting to have sex.
Among the various messages were myths about sex, lists of compelling reasons why abstinence is best and even a mention of how TV and movies portray sex as having no repercussions. In addition, they impressively differentiated between lust and love, and recognized the physical and emotional consequences attached to sex.
According to their bullet points, not everybody is doing it. Nearly 70 percent of teens wish they had waited to have sex and 94 percent want a strong abstinence message. Full story at LifeNews.com
Spanish Catholic King Juan Carlos Signs Bill Into Law Expanding Abortions
Madrid, Spain (LifeNews.com) -- King Juan Carlos of Spain is upsetting pro-life Catholics by signing into law a bill the Spanish Parliament passed that expands legalized abortions. Although the signing was ceremonial in nature, Juan Carlos has come under fire from Human Life International, which urged him not to sign it.
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, said earlier this week that Juan Carlos should refuse to allow the measure to become law.
"The world is watching to see whether Spain's Head of State, Juan Carlos de Borbón, will abdicate his moral leadership of the nation and sign the death warrants of millions more Spanish babies who will be killed by abortion," he told LifeNews.com. "He has already been complicit, by his signature, in the deaths of millions in the first abortion law he signed in 1985."
A poll conducted by Instituto Noxa in October 2009 showed that more Spanish citizens oppose expanding abortion than support its expansion.
The Spain Parliament last month approved the final version of a new law that expands abortions and provides no parental consent for teenagers wanting abortions. Strong opposition from pro-life advocates and the Catholic Church couldn't stop the bill, which receive a 132-126 vote in the Spain Senate. Full story at LifeNews.com
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