LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Liberal Leah Ward Sears Mentioned as Another Supreme Court Pick for Obama
• Expose' Video Shows Planned Parenthood Pressuring Young Woman to Get Abortion Soon
• Support for Repeal of Pro-Abortion Health Care Rises as Obama Approval Hits New Low
• Planned Parenthood Thanks Justice Stevens, Confident Obama Will Select Abortion Advocate
• Court Hears Lawsuit to Overturn Obama's Embryonic Stem Cell Research Funding
• Abortion Practitioner Loses Medical License for Killing Wrong Twin in Failed Abortion
• Pro-Life Group Says Earth Day Backers Should Oppose Abortion to Truly Respect Life
• Montana Pro-Life Group Says Baxter Supreme Court Decision Didn't Legalize Assisted Suicide
• Rhode Island Bishop Applauded For Removing Hospital From CHA Over Abortion Bill
• New Jersey Choose Life License Plates Revived by Federal Appeals Court After Lawsuit
• Pro-Life News: Obama, China Abortion, Wisconsin, Abstinence, MIssouri, Alternatives
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Liberal Leah Ward Sears Mentioned as Another Supreme Court Pick for Obama
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As President Barack Obama considers various potential replacements for retiring pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens, media outlets and political observers are floating the names of those most likely on his short list of nominees. Today, ABC News indicated former George Supreme Court chief justice Leah Ward Sears is another possibility.
Sears, like Obama, is black and could rise to the top if Obama believes now is a good time to place another African-American on the high court.
ABC News credits a senior White House official with adding Sears' name to the list of likely nominees -- joining pro-abortion 7th circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diane Wood, pro-abortion Solicitor General Elena Kagan, and DC Court of Appeals Judge Merrick Garland as the most-mentioned replacements.
Others, such as pro-abortion Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano are said to be on the short list.
Sears was the first African-American woman to occupy the post of chief justice of a state Supreme Court when Governor Zell Miller nominated her to the post in 1992. She was also the first woman and youngest judge to sit on Georgia's top court.
Since leaving the high court last year, Sears has practiced private law at the firm of Schiff Hardin and she is a graduate of Emory University Law School.
Sears is a member of the left-leaning American Constitution Society and a worry for pro-life advocates.
Americans United for Life highlighted Sears when she made the short list of potential Supreme Court appointments last year, though Obama ultimately went with pro-abortion Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Justice Sears has not issued any known decision on life-related issues, but AUL indicates "Sears has evidenced a broad conception of substantive constitutional privacy -- the very basis upon which Roe v. Wade is predicated." Full story at LifeNews.com
Expose' Video Shows Planned Parenthood Pressuring Young Woman to Get Abortion Soon
Milwaukee, WI (LifeNews.com) -- A new undercover video taken of staff at a Planned Parenthood abortion business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin shows them pressuring a woman to have an abortion. The video also has staff members giving medically inaccurate abortion counseling and distorting basic facts of fetal development at the taxpayer-funded abortion center.
The video, the third to document problems at Planned Parenthood abortion centers in Wisconsin and one of several showing problems nationwide, was released today by Live Action.
It shows a young woman going to the abortion facility pretending to be a pregnant potential abortion customer.During the September 2009 counseling session with Planned Parenthood staff, the woman is pressured to get an abortion.
Staffers emphasize the difficulties of adoption and urge her to obtain an abortion as quickly as possible, saying images of babies killed in abortions are fabricated and saying an unborn child at 6 to 8 weeks has no "identifiable parts" and is just "fetal matter."
"You know, there's midnight feedings, diapers, money," the staffer says,emphasizing the "problems" of keeping the baby. "I mean, the state can help you with insurance, but after that, babies do cost a lot and right now the economy's pretty bad."
Telling the young woman that having a baby is expensive, the staffer adds, "Yeah so I mean if you don't feel financially stable or you don't feel ready to have a baby, then I would go with an abortion."
In the video, a Planned Parenthood employee tells a woman who is reportedly 6-8 weeks pregnant that her unborn child has "no arms, no legs, no heart no head, no brain" despite medical and scientific facts of fetal development.
"There's not a baby at this point," the Planned Parenthood official tells the young woman considering abortion. "You wouldn't be able to identify any parts of the fetus whatsoever. But at this point there's nothing developed at all. There's no leg's no arms, no head, no brain, no heart. At this point it's just the embryo itself." Full story at LifeNews.com
Support for Repeal of Pro-Abortion Health Care Rises as Obama Approval Hits New Low
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- New polling data from Rasmussen Reports shows the percentage of Americans supporting the repeal of the pro-abortion health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law is increasing. Meanwhile, Obama's own approval rating has hit a new low, according to polling data from Gallup that now has more Americans disapproving than approving.
Three weeks after Congress approved the health care bill, which contains massive abortion funding and promotion, support for repealing it has risen four percent to 58 percent, with 50 percent of Americans strongly favoring repeal.
On the other side, just 38 percent oppose repealing the pro-abortion health care bill and 32 percent strongly oppose such a move.
The 58-38 percent split favoring repeal is an increase from the 54-42 percent margin favoring repeal during the last two weeks of the Rasmussen Reports polls. The week prior to that showed Americans favoring repeal by a 55-42 percent margin.
Although Americans support repealing the pro-abortion health care bill, Rasmussen finds 38% of voters think it is even somewhat likely that the health care bill will be repealed while 51 percent see repeal as unlikely. Those figures include 11% who say it s very likely to be repealed and 18% who say repeal is not at all likely.
Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Republicans and 54% of voters not affiliated with either major party favor repeal. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Democrats are opposed.
Meanwhile, Obama's job approval rate hit a new low over the weekend and the Gallup daily tracking poll three day rolling average sank to 45%. That's the lowest approval rating for Obama at any point of his presidency, according to Gallup. Some 48 percent, the respected polling firm showed, currently oppose Obama's job performance in the White House, which represents a new high. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Thanks Justice Stevens, Confident Obama Will Select Abortion Advocate
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The nation's largest abortion business has released its statement responding to the news that pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens will retire from the Supreme Court this summer. Planned Parenthood thanks Stevens for his advancing abortion and says it is confident President Barack Obama will select an abortion advocate to replace him.
"Stevens has served the American people with dignity and distinction," Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards said in a statement.
During his long and productive tenure as an associate justice, he protected and strengthened individual liberties embodied in our nation s Constitution and Bill of Rights, respected legal precedent that is fundamental to the fabric of our society, and upheld the letter of the law," Richards said.
Richards pointed to Stevens' opinion in the landmark Supreme Court case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which saw the high court affirm the Roe v. Wade ruling that has resulted in 52 million abortions.
"Roe is an integral part of a correct understanding of both the concept of liberty and the basic equality of men and women," Stevens wrote at the time.
Stevens quoted Justice Thurgood Marshall, saying: Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men s minds. And he concluded, The same holds true for the power to control women s bodies. "
Richards responded, We thank Justice Stevens for his service to the American people and for his fundamental understanding of what freedom means to women. We honor his legacy."
She expressed confident that Obama will select an equally ardent abortion proponent. As President Obama now turns to selecting a new justice for the court, we have full confidence that he will choose someone who will stand equally strong for" abortion, she said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Court Hears Lawsuit to Overturn Obama's Embryonic Stem Cell Research Funding
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A federal appeals court held a hearing today in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the controversial guidelines the National Institutes of Health used to implement President Barack Obama's decision to force taxpayers to finance embryonic stem cell research.
The suit contends that the Obama administration s embryonic stem cell research policy is in violation of a law which prohibits federal funds from being used to destroy human embryos for research purposes.
The Alliance Defense Fund is one of the plaintiffs and ADF senior legal counsel Steven Aden commented on the case.
No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless, said Aden. Innocent life should not be treated like a commodity. Although private-sector funding of embryonic stem cell research has been practically unlimited, it has failed to produce results."
"Furthermore, experimentation on embryonic stem cells isn t even necessary because adult stem cell research has been enormously successful. In economic times like we are now, why should the federal government use precious taxpayer dollars for this illegal and unethical purpose? he asked.
The lawsuit alleges that the guidelines governing destructive embryonic stem cell research implemented by the Obama administration in July are contrary to law, were promulgated without observing the procedures required by law."
The lawsuit says the guidelines violate the Dickey-Wicker appropriations provision regarding embryo research that prohibits federal funding of creating human embryos by any method, explicitly including human cloning, or any "research in which" human embryos are harmed in any way. Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortion Practitioner Loses Medical License for Killing Wrong Twin in Failed Abortion
Miami, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A Florida-based abortion practitioner lost his medical license this weekend after the state medical board evaluated his license. Matthew Kachinas was supposed to do an abortion on one of the twin babies who had Down syndrome but wound up killing the other baby in the failed abortion.
Kachinas injected a chemical to kill the baby in the abortion, but the injection ultimately killed the healthy unborn child.
The Florida Board of Medicine met over the weekend, according to the Miami Herald, and revoked Kachinas' license for that and other cases that have come to its attention where Kachinas engaged in shoddy medicine.
Immediately after the hearing, Kachinas said he would kill himself and was hospitalized at a local mental health facility out of concerns of his well-being, the newspaper reported.
Kachinas was one of the few abortion practitioners in Florida to engage in second-trimester abortions or the practice known as selective reduction, whereby one or more unborn children are killed when a pregnancy involves more than one baby.
The pregnancy in question involved unborn children conceived through in-vitro fertilization. Records show that after the "wrong" baby was killed in the first abortion, a second abortion was done to kill the disabled unborn child as well. The babies were 15 weeks along at the time of the abortion.
The twin who was considered healthy was a girl while the twin diagnosed as having Down syndrome, was a boy. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Group Says Earth Day Environmentalists Should Oppose Abortion to Truly Respect Life
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- If the organizers of Earth Day truly want to protect human life, a Catholic pro-life group says they should oppose abortion and advocate the protection of human lives from things that destroy them both before and after birth. CatholicVote says environmentalists should use Earth Day to celebrate nature s greatest gift -- human life.
With bus ads starting today in Chicago and next week in San Francisco and Seattle, CatholicVote.org is encouraging Americans to rethink how they celebrate Earth Day, and how they go about fostering a culture that respects the environment.
Our goal is to use Earth Day to get Americans to think more deeply about what it means to truly respect the Earth and creation. Prevailing environmental attitudes too often view humans as the enemy of nature," Brian Burch, the president of CatholicVote, told LifeNews.com today.
"We believe the human person is God s greatest creation, and the Earth s greatest resource. Building up a culture of life is the single most important way to build a culture that respects the environment," he said.
The members of CatholicVote.org wanted to bring this balanced Catholic view of the environment to the streets, said Burch, and that s why we ve advertising on over 50 buses in Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Montana Pro-Life Group Says Baxter Supreme Court Decision Didn't Legalize Assisted Suicide
Helena, MT (LifeNews.com) -- A Montana pro-life group has issued a new analysis saying the decision by the state's Supreme Court to allow assisted suicide there didn't legalize the practice. The Montana Family Foundation says doctors who engage in the practice may still be charged for homicides there despite the Montana Supreme Court's decision in the Baxter case. The pro-life group hired two attorneys, Greg Jackson of Montana and Matt Bowman with the Alliance Defense Fund, to analyze the controversial decision.
"The purpose of the analysis is to place the decision in perspective, and to dispel much of the misinformation surrounding the issue," said Jeff Laszloffy, president of the Montana Family Foundation. "Contrary to recent headlines, the Supreme Court did not legalize physician assisted suicide. Medical personnel and institutions must understand that if they participate in assisted suicide they expose themselves to potential civil and criminal liability, and may even be charged with homicide," the pro-life former state legislator added.
"Within a very narrow set of constraints, if a doctor assists on physician assisted suicide and they're brought up on a murder charge, they might be able to make the claim of consent," Laszloffy said. "But if it falls anywhere outside that narrow set of parameters, it quickly goes over to a murder charge."
Kathryn Tucker, director of legal affairs for Compassion & Choices, the major pro-euthanasia and pro-assisted suicide group, told KAJ-18 television that the only objective of the analysis is to confuse physicians and patients. Full story at LifeNews.com
Rhode Island Bishop Applauded For Removing Hospital From CHA Over Abortion Bill
Providence, RI (LifeNews.com) -- Rhode Island Bishop Thoms Tobin is earning praise from pro-life advocates for removing his hospital from membership in the Catholic Health Association because of CHA's active support for the pro-abortion health care bill.
Anne Fox, the president of Massacusetts Citizens for Life, told LifeNews.com that Tobin stated exactly what her members found when they lobbied in DC in the days immediately preceding the March 21st vote when he told the CHA:
"Your enthusiastic support of the legislation, in contradiction to the position of the Bishops of the United States, provided an excuse for members of Congress, misled the public, and caused serious scandal for many members of the Church."
Fox said MCFL members were told, in every office where the congressman planned to vote for the bill, that such a vote was justified by the support of the CHA.
"When the pro-lifers tried to cite the USCCB instead, they were told it was only their view that the USCCB was the group actually speaking for the church," Fox said. "The CHA, which stands to profit from health care reform, pledged a large sum of money last July to the Obama administration to help ease passage of the overhaul, well before the final draft of the bill materialized." Full story at LifeNews.com
New Jersey Choose Life License Plates Revived by Federal Appeals Court After Lawsuit
Trenton, NJ (LifeNews.com) -- A federal appeals court has revived the effort of a New Jersey pro-life group hoping to make it so motorists in the Garden State can purchase Choose Life license plates. While a state judge agreed with local officials in their bid to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the rejection of the plates, an appeals court said that was "viewpoint discrimination."
After having their proposal for a pro-adoption specialty plate rejected because of the slogan "Choose Life," the Children First Foundation (CFF) submitted a new plate design that was rejected too.
In response, the group filed a lawsuit and a federal judge, in July 2006, refused to dismiss the civil rights lawsuit brought against New Jersey officials.
A new judge assigned to the case dismissed it in June 2008, resulting in the current appeal to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and New Jersey authorities are defending their actions. On Friday, that appeals court saw a three-judge panel revive the lawsuit.
"The court should have focused on whether the prohibition of certain advocacy messages and the permission of others based solely on the viewpoints expressed constituted such a violation," Judge Theodore McKee wrote for the panel, according to an AP report. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life News: Obama, China Abortion, Wisconsin, Abstinence, MIssouri, Alternatives
• Christian Activists Call on Obama to Pressure China to Stop Forced Abortions
• Wisconsin District Atty Stands Up to Governor Doyle on Abstinence Education Cuts
• Missouri State Senate Committee Preserves Abortion Alternatives Funding
• Woman in Wisc Who Was Victim of Forced Abortion Attempt Receives Bond Money
Full story at LifeNews.com
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