LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, April 2, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Strong Opposition to Pro-Abortion Health Care Could Topple Democrats in 2010
• Bart Stupak Asked to Stop Attacking Pro-Life Groups on Pro-Abortion Health Care
• Terri Schiavo's Family Boycotts Fox's Family Guy Sponsors After Recent Attack
• Komen for the Cure Deepens Ties With Planned Parenthood Abortion Business
• Scott Roeder Gets Life in Prison for Killing Late-term Abortionist George Tiller
• Bruised Not Broken, Pro-Life People Must Re-Engage After Abortion-Health Care
• Hey Feminists: Reproductive Justice Means Supporting Women, Not Abortion
• United Nations Report: Soak Poor Countries With More Contraception, Abortions
• Kenya Parliament OKs New Constitution, No Protections for Unborn on Abortion
• Kansas Billboards Help Abortions Decline as Women Given Positive Alternatives
• Mississippi Personhood Amendment to Ban Abortions Gets Enough Signatures
• Pro-Life News: Assisted Suicide, Ohio, Tennesse,, Texas, Minnesota, Abortion
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Strong Opposition to Pro-Abortion Health Care Could Topple Democrats in 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With the battle over the pro-abortion health care bill in Congress turning into a partisan divide -- as Democrats promoted it and Republicans stood unanimously in opposition -- the fact that Americans strongly opposed the legislation could turn the 2010 mid-term elections into a thrashing of Democrats in November.
A new Gallup/USA Today poll finds the attitude of the American public similar to that of the 1994 and 2006 elections -- when control of Congress switched from one party to another.
The poll finds the favorable rating for the Democratic Party has fallen to its lowest level since 1992, when Gallup first asked questions about the parties and whether voters approve or disapprove.
It also shows more Americans say they will vote for Republican candidates for Congress this November than Democrats -- and the last time those numbers appeared in a poll Republicans trounced their opposition at the polls.
Stan Greenberg, pollster for President Bill Clinton when Democrats lost control of Congress to pro-life Republicans in 1994, told USA Today, "If the election were now, we'd have a 'change' election; we'd have a 1994."
In the poll, 62% of registered voters say they are "more enthusiastic than usual" about the election -- typically seen in presidential election years. However, the Gallup poll, and a CNN poll before that, find Republicans and independents who oppose the health care bill, not Democrats, are the ones excited about voting in November.
The poll also found a record-low 28% say most members of Congress deserve re-election. Full story at LifeNews.com
Bart Stupak Asked to Stop Attacking Pro-Life Groups on Pro-Abortion Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Congressman Bart Stupak caused outrage within the pro-life community when he wrote an opinion column which appeared in the Washington Post on March 27. The article raised eyebrows as Stupak attacked pro-life organizations by saying they are more interested in politics than pro-life.
"The pro-life groups rallied behind me -- many without my knowledge or consent -- not necessarily because they shared my goals of ensuring protections for life and passing health-care reform but because they viewed me as their best chance to kill health-care legislation," Stupak wrote.
William Saunders, a vice president at Americans United for Life, issued a response to Stupak in an opinion column at the Daily Caller.
He said pro-life advocates were "deeply disappointed" to read Stupak's comments.
Stupak's column "contained an attack on the integrity of pro-life organizations, like mine, that fought to keep abortion out of health care reform" and "mischaracterized the bill and the executive order that President Obama signed."
Saying he had no desire to attack Stupak personally and admitting he didn't know the insider negotiations that led Stupak to vote for the pro-abortion health care bill, Saunders pointed out it would not have passed had Stupak and some of his pro-life Democratic colleagues not traded their votes for the executive order. Full story at LifeNews.com
Terri Schiavo's Family Boycotts Fox's Family Guy Sponsors After Recent Attack
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- The family of Terri Schiavo has officially launched a new boycott of the sponsors of the Fox program "The Family Guy" after the show mocked Terri's death just days before the fifth anniversary of it. The program included a satire titled "Terri Schiavo: The Musical."
In this sketch, Terri is mocked and the memory of the suffering she endured ridiculed as she is portrayed as someone on a number of mechanical life support systems. She is referred to as a vegetable and the sketch ends with characters calling for pulling the plug.
Terri's brother, Bobby Schindler, previously told LifeNews.com today that both inferences in the Family Guy episode are false regarding Terri's case.
Now, the Schindler family has started the "Enough is Enough" campaign to respond to the Fox program by boycotting its sponsors and sponsoring a petition to the Family Guy's sponsors.
"We were outraged that Fox and its sponsors would so heartlessly ridicule my sister's death by forced starvation," Schindler said in an email to LifeNews.com.
"It's difficult to adequately convey the pain we felt as Terri was mocked and her agonizing suffering ridiculed. I was shocked at the complete cruelty and bigotry the program showed toward our beloved sister as well as toward the efforts of my family to care for her and attempt to save her life," he added. Full story at LifeNews.com
Komen for the Cure Deepens Ties With Planned Parenthood Abortion Business
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation has been under fire from pro-life advocates for years for its ties to the Planned Parenthood abortion business. In a new column, pro-life writer Jill Stanek uncovers new information showing the link between the two groups is deepening.
Komen's ties to Planned Parenthood are well documented and figures from STOPP International show Komen chapters giving $711,485 from April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2006 to Planned Parenthood affiliates.
And in numbers provided to the Associated Press, Susan G. Komen for the Cure spokeswoman Rebecca Gibson confirmed 19 of the 122 Komen affiliates made grants totaling $374,253 to Planned Parenthood during the 2005-2006 fiscal year.
Figures show Komen affiliates have given Planned Parenthood $3 million between 2003 and 2008 and $805,000 in the 2008 fiscal year.
Those donations and links have continued as Komen affiliates in California, Idaho, Colorado, Iowa, Texas, and other states have either made donations or worked with Planned Parenthood abortion centers.
Now, Stanek indicates a pro-life advocate in Washington state who dug into the tax forms of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest discovered the abortion business has held a 12.5 percent share in Metro Centre, a mall in Peoria, Illinois, since 2006.
Stanek connects the dots in a new column at WorldNetDaily. Full story at LifeNews.com
Scott Roeder Gets Life in Prison for Killing Late-term Abortionist George Tiller 
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- Scott Roeder, the former militia activist not affiliated with any pro-life organization, was sentenced to life in prison today for the 2009 murder of late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller. Roeder entered the Lutheran Church on a Sunday morning last summer and shot him at point-blank range.
Sedgwick County Judge Warren Wilbert agreed with prosecutors, who wanted Roeder to not have a chance at parole for the first 50 years of his sentence.
At Roeder's age, 52, he will essentially spent the rest of his life behind bars.
Roeder was also charged with two counts of aggravated assault for waving a gun at two Reformation Lutheran Church members while brandishing the gun on his way out of the church.
Judge Wilbert sentenced him to 12 months in prison on each of the counts.
Before the sentencing, Roeder's friends spoke on his behalf -- saying the man they know killed Tiller because he opposes abortion -- even though every pro-life group has said pro-life people should only use peaceful means to stop abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Bruised Not Broken, Pro-Life People Must Re-Engage After Abortion-Health Care
by Dierdre McQuade 
The pro-life movement recently suffered a discouraging setback during efforts to provide life-affirming health care to millions of uninsured Americans. The Catholic bishops and others fought hard for many months to retain conscience rights and the longstanding ban against federal funding of elective abortions.
The final health care reform law, passed narrowly against the bishops opposition, fails to meet these widely-supported, fundamental moral requirements.
If not changed, the law will, for the first time in over 30 years, subsidize abortions throughout the nine months of pregnancy for any reason and force Americans to be complicit in the direct taking of innocent life. Many who conscientiously object to abortion will be forced to pay for others abortions through their insurance premiums or taxes.
No amount of good in the new law will ever justify the moral evil of facilitating the destruction of precious human life. Not precious in just a poetic, pastel, feel-good sense as in the popular Precious Moments figurines, and not precious like works of art that command a lot of money, but precious in the ultimate sense: being of such inestimable value that it cannot be put on a scale and traded off for other goods even other goods honoring the dignity of the human person.
God creates persons to live eternally and so we cannot and must not be put on a cost-benefit scale. The deliberate destruction of innocent human life at its most defenseless stage is never, under any circumstances, justifiable. 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. |
Hey Feminists: Reproductive Justice Means Supporting Women, Not Abortion
by Anne Marie Polak 
According to the National Organization of Women (NOW), real reproductive justice for women requires self-determination, equality, and the respect and support of her society to help end the discrimination and inequality that keep women from controlling their own reproductive lives.[i]
NOW s quote suggests two things; that access to abortion on demand will engender more societal support for women and that women are currently unable to control their reproductive lives.
Ironically, NOW s first assertion, that access to abortion on demand will create greater support in society for women and ostensibly for women in all of their capacities has not only failed to materialize in the 37 years since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationally, but in fact has created just the opposite obstacle for women.
In the Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, [ii] Justice Sandra Day O'Conner writes, The ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their reproductive lives.
United Nations Report: Soak Poor Countries With More Contraception, Abortions
by Susan Yoshihara
New York, NY (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- A just-released United Nations (UN) report backed by the world s top population organizations argues that nations should double their investment in family planning and abortion in poor countries for a total of $24 billion a year, claiming this would dramatically reduce maternal and child deaths and solve a host of social ills.
The report, entitled "Adding it Up: the Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health," makes the claim that if UN member states invest another $12B a year into modern family planning, the world-wide result will include cost savings for poor countries on health, water, sanitation, and social services, a 2/3 reduction of unintended pregnancies, a 70% drop in maternal deaths, a 44% drop in newborn deaths, a 73% reduction in "unsafe" abortions, and a 60% reduction of disabilities.
The report argues that, if all women wanting to avoid a pregnancy used modern contraceptives, the resulting decline in unintended pregnancies would reduce the cost of providing all of these women with the recommended standard of maternal and newborn care by $5.1 billion from $6.9 billion to $1.8 billion. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kenya Parliament OKs New Constitution, No Protections for Unborn on Abortion
Nairobi, Kenya (LifeNews.com) -- The Kenyan Parliament approved the new constitution the nation has been debating and it affords no protections for unborn children on abortion. This version of the constitution will now go to a vote of the people in Kenya in July and pro-life advocates are hoping they will reject it.
As LifeNews.com reported, the first draft of the newly-proposed Kenya Constitution protected the lives of unborn children from conception.
However, changes made to the document weakened those protections and are drawing opposition from pro-life advocates and Catholic Church leaders.
Before the vote, the World Congress of Families today had urged the Kenya government not to abandon the unborn by adopting language that would facilitate abortion.
"On the one hand, Section 26 states that every person has a right to life, and that life begins at conception," WCF communications director Don Feder told LifeNews.com.
"However, this is totally negated by the next section, which allows abortion when, in the 'opinion of a trained health professional (not necessarily a physician), there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law,'" he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kansas Billboards Help Abortions Decline as Women Given Positive Alternatives
Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) -- There is no doubt about pro-life factors influencing the 9 percent drop in abortions for the state of Kansas in 2009. The Vitae Foundation believes it also had an influence in the drop in abortions during the last quarter of 2009.
Vitae ran 105 billboards directing pregnant women to five different pregnancy centers in the greater Kansas City area offering free help. The majority of the billboards were in Johnson and Wyandotte Counties. They ran from October through January, 2010.
Vitae worked closely with area pregnancy help centers, business, civic and church communities to get pregnant women the help they need, Anne Carmichael, Vitae s Vice President, stated. We knew it was going to be a tremendous campaign when women were canceling their abortion appointments and choosing life! Full story at LifeNews.com
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Mississippi Personhood Amendment to Ban Abortions Gets Enough Signatures
Jackson, MS (LifeNews.com) -- Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann has notified the backers of the personhood amendment in Mississippi that the state ballot measure received enough signatures. But whether it will ever succeed in its goal of banning abortions is another question.
The amendment is the fourth ballot initiative since 1992 to fulfill the requirement of 89,285 voter signatures.
"The term 'person' or 'persons' shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof," it says.
Les Riley, sponsor of the personhood amendment, told LifeNews.com that it's about all pro-life advocates can do to limit abortions in the state since the legislature has passed almost as many pro-life laws as possible to reduce them. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life News: Assisted Suicide, Ohio, Tennesse, Texas, Minnesota, Abortion
Members of Assisted Suicide Group Final Exit Network Plead Not Guilty
Atlanta, GA (LifeNews.com) -- Members of the Final Exit Network assisted suicide ring pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges they helped a man with cancer kill himself, and asked a judge to strike down the state law used to prosecute them.
Texas and Minnesota Govs Declare April Special Post-Abortion Awareness Month
Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) -- Governor Rick Perry of Texas and Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota have declared April as Abortion Recovery/Awareness Month.
Ohio Governor Strickland Signs Umbilical Cord Bill Into Law
Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) -- On March 31, 2010, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed H.B. 102. The new law, which was sponsored by Rep. Todd Book (D, McDermott), requires the Ohio Department of Health to place printable information on umbilical cord blood banking and donation on its web site.
Tennessee Right to Life Commends Retiring Representative Rowland
Nashville, TN (LifeNews.com) -- The state's oldest and largest pro-life organization expressed appreciation for the leadership of pro-life state Representative Donna Rowland (R-34) upon announcement of her decision not to seek re-election.
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