LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, May 21, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Catholic Bishops Leave Coalition Group Backing Pro-Abortion Pick Elena Kagan
• Barack Obama Sees Approval Ratings Decline After Pro-Abortion Elena Kagan
• Sarah Palin Pro-Life Speech Prompts Debate Over Susan B. Anthony, Abortion
• Elena Kagan's Political Contributions Go to Pro-Abortion Democrats, Radicals
• Congress Should Fix Abortion Funding Problems in Health Care Law, Bishops Say
• Bishops Condemn UK Television Ads for Abortion, Banned in Northern Ireland
• Study Shows Abortion Has Helped Pharmaceutical, Cosmetics Industries Grow
• Pro-Life Women's Group Backs Angle in Nevada While Another Supports Lowden
• Seminar Against Euthanasia Follows Defeating Assisted Suicide in Canada
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Catholic Bishops Leave Coalition Group Backing Pro-Abortion Pick Elena Kagan
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The nation's Catholic bishops have left a coalition of organizations that recently endorsed the Supreme Court nomination of pro-abortion Solicitor General Elena Kagan. The Coalition for Constitutional Values is running a television and Internet commercial praising President Barack Obama's selection.
If confirmed, Kagan would replace retiring pro-abortion Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
The Coalition for Constitutional Values is a project of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR), a coalition of 200 groups. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was a member of the LCCHR, and as a member pays an annual membership fee.
Catholic writer Deal Hudson, in a national editorial, called on the USCCB to leave the coalition over the nomination of Kagan, who would join the 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court that has kept legal abortions in place since 1973.
In a press statement,Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, the chairman of the bishops Committee on Domestic Justice and Peace, said the USCCB was leaving the coalition.
In light of recent events, it has become increasingly clear that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops continued membership in the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights is not possible because of the LCCR s expanded and broadened agenda, he said.
The interests of the Leadership Conference and those of the USCCB have diverged as the LCCR has moved beyond advocacy of traditional civil rights to advocacy of positions which do not reflect the principles and policies of the bishops conference," he added. Full story at LifeNews.com
Barack Obama Sees Approval Ratings Decline After Pro-Abortion Elena Kagan
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama has seen has approval ratings decline in the aftermath of his selecting pro-abortion Solicitor general Elena Kagan for the open Supreme Court position. Obama's approval ratings are at one of their lowest points in the last month and heading back down to their health care-dominated levels.
The Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll for Thursday shows 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance.
That compares with 53 percent who disapprove -- giving Obama an overall -8 percentage point approval rating.
Among the most passionate voters on either side, 42 percent of voters strongly disapprove of Obama's performance in office while just 26 percent strongly approve - a -16 point rating among the most ardent voters.
Those numbers are a change from a Rasmussen poll at the beginning of May that found Obama with a 48 percent approval rating and a 51 percent disapproval rating. Since then, Obama's approval numbers have dropped five percent.
Rasmussen polling data, respected because it focuses on likely voters instead of merely all adults in general, shows Americans are divided on the Kagan nomination.
A new survey this week finds 39% of voters believe Kagan should be confirmed by the Senate, while another 39% say she should not be confirmed. Another 22 percent are still undecided.
A week ago, immediately following Obama's announcement, a Rasmussen Reports poll found 33% said she should be confirmed, 33% disagreed, and 34% were undecided. Full story at LifeNews.com
Sarah Palin Pro-Life Speech Prompts Debate Over Susan B. Anthony, Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Following the speech former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin gave to a packed house for the Susan B. Anthony List, two critics opened the latest chapter the debate about whether Susan B. Antony is pro-life. Today, the director of the pro-life organization put those questions to rest.
Palin spoke to several hundred people at the SBA List event and talked about an emerging movement of conservative feminists.
Palin said these pro-life women, who counter the mantra that electing women to political office must somehow mean backing abortion advocates, are extending the political legacy of Susan B. Anthony, the famous woman's suffragist for whom the political organization is named.
"Organizations like the Susan B. Anthony list are returning the woman's movement back to its original roots, back to what it was all about in the beginning. You remind us of the earliest leaders of the woman's rights movement: They were pro-life," she said.
Ann Gordon and Lynn Sherr attacked the notion of Anthony as pro-life in a Washington Post column.
"Our conclusion: Anthony spent no time on the politics of abortion. It was of no interest to her, despite living in a society (and a family) where women aborted unwanted pregnancies," the pair claim.
The pair gloss over an article in a newspaper owned for several years after the Civil War by Susan B. Anthony in which she describes abortion as "child murder" by merely saying no evidence exists that she wrote it. They dismiss other evidence: Anthony remarked in her diary after a visit from her brother that her sister-in-law engaged in a self-induced abortion that did not go well and left her bedridden.
"She will rue the day she forces nature," Anthony writes, but the women claim Anthony wasn't referring to the abortion but her sadness about her relative facing post-abortion complications.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president, Susan B. Anthony List, responded with her own Washington Post editorial. Full story at LifeNews.com
Elena Kagan's Political Contributions Go to Pro-Abortion Democrats, Radicals
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As the analysis continues on Elena Kagan, more evidence is coming out about the company she keeps and how it would influence her role as a Supreme Court justice. Conservative writer Morgen Richmond writes at Big Journalism about one donation recipient who should cause concern.
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry are some of the prominent abortion advocates Kagan has supported in the past.
As Richmond notes, "she has donated exclusively to Democrats, with Obama receiving more than half ($6300) of the $12,300 in total she contributed to national level campaigns in the preceding 10 years."
According to the Boston Herald, Kagan has supported Deval Patrick s gubernatorial campaign and Tim Murray for lieutenant governor.
But, Richmond says, "every media outlet has either failed to report, or missed, a campaign contribution of Kagan s which seems pretty notable given how little is known about her political beliefs and preferences."
Kagan made a maximum ($500) campaign contribution to John Bonifaz, who was running in the Democratic primary campaign for Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and that donation cause Richmond particular concern.
"I suspect like me most of you have probably never heard of John Bonifaz, but it turns out he is about as far left as you can get before joining the Bernie Sanders fan club," he writes. "His opponent in the 2006 race actually accused him of being a closet Green Party supporter, which of course is just a polite way of calling someone a socialist." Full story at LifeNews.com
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Congress Should Fix Abortion Funding Problems in Health Care Law, Bishops Say
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a new letter to members of Congress, the nations Catholic bishops urge the House and Senate to go back and fix some of the problems associated with the new health care law. They specifically want Congress to stop the abortion funding and add conscience protections.
The chairman of the U.S. bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities drafted a letter today seeking to remedy the abortion and conscience flaws in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston said PPACA was an important step toward ensuring access to health coverage for all Americans but was profoundly flawed in its treatment of abortion, conscience rights, and fairness to immigrants.
He urged members to support H.R. 5111, sponsored by Reps. Joseph Pitts (R-PA) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL) with 91 other House members that would address those concerns.
The Catholic official said, Efforts to ensure that our health care system truly serves the life, health and conscience of all will be a legislative goal of the Catholic bishops in the months to come.
This legislation, wrote Cardinal DiNardo, will bring PPACA into line with policies on abortion and conscience rights that have long prevailed in other federal health programs by ensuring PPACA funds are covered by the Hyde Amendment, along with other provisions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Bishops Condemn UK Television Ads for Abortion, Banned in Northern Ireland
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- The Catholic bishops in England have joined with pro-life groups to condemn the showing of television advertisements for abortion. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland will prohibit the commercials form airing, as they will do on the Channel 4 station in England.
As LifeNews.com reported Wednesday, the television station will begin airing advertisements starting next week for abortions for the British-based abortion business Marie Stopes international.
The leading pro-life group SPUC strongly condemned the ads.
Without the television and radio commercials, MSI has relied on magazines, taxi and bus ads, and advertising through alternative newspapers.
The new commercial asks women "Are you late?" and directs women to a hotline that directs to the abortion business.
A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales said, "We believe that services which offer or refer for abortion - whether commercial or not-for-profit organizations - should not be allowed to advertise on broadcast media." Full story at LifeNews.com
Study Shows Abortion Has Helped Pharmaceutical, Cosmetics Industries Grow
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Vicki Evans, Respect Life Coordinator for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, has authored a new study showing the growth of the abortion industry has aided the growth of the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. Evans shared her study with the Catholic San Francisco newspaper.
She informed the paper that abortion has become a $1 billion-a-year industry over the last 40 years that has fed off of "a climate that is allowing related, morally suspect commercial offshoots to develop in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and life sciences."
Legal and widespread abortion has made possible a host of clandestine business practices that thrive under the radar of the American populace," Evans explains.
Looking at the abortion industry itself, Evans notes that there were 1,787 abortion providers in the United States in 2005 and Planned Parenthood Federation of America s abortion market share grew from 12% in 1997 to nearly 25% in 2008.
PPFA presents a comprehensive case study on how business evolves to capitalize on changes in the law and the prevailing culture," Evans says.
She noted that Planned Parenthood got a big bang for its buck as it political contributions of $15.76 million during the 1990-2008 election cycles. That resulted in billions of dollars in state and federal taxpayer grants. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Women's Group Backs Angle in Nevada While Another Supports Lowden
Carson City, NV (LifeNews.com) -- Nevada is the envy of other states as it faces the kind of problem pro-life advocates rarely see: two pro-life women facing off for the same political post. Today, Concerned Women for America's political action committee endorsed Sharon Angle, but the Susan B. Anthony List is in Sue Lowden's corner.
Both women are seeking the Republican nomination to take on pro-abortion Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.
CWA issued a statement, according to conservative writer Matt Lewis, endorsing Angle and saying she has what it takes to defeat Reid.
Concerned Women PAC endorses Sharron Angle because she stands resolutely on the issues, such as family values, protection of the unborn," Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women PAC, said. "Sharron provides the clearest contrast to liberal Harry Reid.
"There was never any question that Sharron was the most experienced and proven conservative in the race, Nance adds. Now there are polls that show Sharron can win her Primary June 8th and beat Harry Reid in November."
In fact, the last poll, conducted by Rasmussen, shows Angle ahead of Reid by a 48-40 percentage point margin.
"Reid has voted against the Concerned Women for America Legislation Action position 72 times over 4 terms in the Senate, and has only voted with pro-family, pro-life advocates 18 times," CWA says in criticizing Reid. "He recently voted in favor of government take over of healthcare and against an amendment that would have prohibited federal funds from being used for abortions." Full story at LifeNews.com
Seminar Against Euthanasia Follows Defeating Assisted Suicide in Canada
Seattle, WA (LifeNews.com) -- On the heels of defeating a bill that would have legalized assisted suicide in Canada, an anti-euthanasia group is organizing a national conference to coordinate strategy to respond to additional attempts to promote the practice. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition will host the event next month in Seattle.
The bill to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada was overwhelmingly defeated by a vote of 228 to 59 last month.
Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition tells LifeNews.com that was an "unprecedented victory."
"The massive victory was accomplished by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition quarter-backing a focused campaign that involved groups and individuals from many different organizations," he said. "In other words the incredible victory was achieved by maintaining a strict focus and working in coalition with many different groups who shared one goal, opposing the legalization of assisted suicide."
Now that the battle to soundly defeat Bill C-384 has come to an end, Schadenberg is ready to move ahead to the next fight.
"Similar strategies need to be employed in every jurisdiction in the United States and around the world," to ward off euthanasia and assisted suicide, he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
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