LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, May 6, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Diane Wood Would Give Obama Reliable Abortion Advocate on Supreme Court
• Philadelphia Official, Pro-Life Advocates Respond to Teen Forced Abortion Case
• Tennessee Becomes Second State to Stop Abortion Funding in Health Care
• University of Wisconsin Denies Plans Dropped for Late-Term Abortion Center
• Planned Parenthood Thinks Moms Want More Abortions for Mother's Day
• Incompatible With Life? Some Children Die in Abortions, But Bella is Now Two
• Whoopi Goldberg: Without Abortions, Mom's More Likely to Hurt Kids Later
• California's Carly Fiorina Gets Pro-Life Endorsement as Does Chuck DeVore
• Minnesota House Limits Tax-Funded Abortions, Bans Sex-Selection Abortion $
• Ohio Right to Life Says Majority of Pro-Life Candidates Won Primary Races
• Kansas Senate Falls One Vote Short to Override Veto of Late-Term Abortion Bill
• David Obey, Top Pro-Abortion Lawmaker From Wisconsin, Won't Run Again
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Diane Wood Would Give Obama a Reliable Abortion Advocate on Supreme Court
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama will likely name a Supreme Court nominee in the coming days or weeks and should he pick federal appeals court Judge Diane Wood, he will get a reliable abortion advocate. Left-wing politicos like her judicial background of taking the most polemic pro-abortion position possible.
Obama's short list of potential nominees to replace retiring pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens is said to potentially be down to four names.
With Stevens taking up membership in the pro-abortion majority on the high court, and with Democrats likely losing a considerable number of seats this November, some say Obama will take the opportunity to appoint the most pro-abortion justice possible -- and that would put Wood's name at the top of the list.
Thomas Goldstein, a Supreme Court legal analyst, told CNN yesterday, "Diane Wood is among the most respected federal judges on the left."
"Being a woman is a political plus, but she has decided cases on abortion," he said.
Wood has known Obama since their days at the University of Chicago and she still maintains a friendship with him. That's personal relationship combined with reports that pro-abortion groups are waging a quiet underground campaign to push Wood's name make her the odds on favorite of some.
But for pro-life groups, Wood's abortion advocacy will earn her very strong opposition. Full story at LifeNews.com
Philadelphia Official, Pro-Life Advocates Respond to Teen Forced Abortion Case
Philadelphia, PA (LifeNews.com) -- News of a teenager who was taken to New Jersey from her foster mother and allegedly pressured by city health department officials to have an abortion is drawing outrage from pro-life advocates. Philadelphia's Department of Human Services is the subject of controversy in the sordid tale.
As LifeNews.com has reported, a teenager in the Pennsylvania foster care program became pregnant.
When the state Department of Human Services (DHS) found out, they asked for a family court order approving the state to take her in for an abortion -- despite the fact that her mother refused to consent.
By that time, the girl was 24-weeks pregnant and the abortion had to be done in New Jersey and the teen was taken there for the abortion. The foster care employee didn't contact the girl's foster mom, who panicked when she didn't return from school that day.
When she walked through the door at 8:30 that night, her foster mom asked her "what happened?" The girl replied, "The baby is dead."
Deputy Mayor Donald Schwarz, who oversees DHS, told KYW News today that the agency does not coerce young women or teenagers to have abortions either in policy or practice.
"The agency does have a duty to assure that women under their care have the same rights as other young women, particularly regarding reproductive health," he said.
However, Schwarz would not talk with the radio station about the specific case, citing state privacy laws. He would only say the agency and its staff have been "working diligently" to protect the girl's rights, safety and privacy. Full story at LifeNews.com
Tennessee Becomes Second State to Stop Abortion Funding in Health Care
Nashville, TN (LifeNews.com) -- Tennessee became the second state today to stop at least some of the abortion funding in the national health care bill President Barack Obama signed. Arizona was the first state to have its bill signed into law and now, Governor Phil Bredesen let the Tennessee bill become law without his signature.
Without comment, Bredesen refused to sign legislation barring abortion as a funded benefit in new federally mandated health care exchanges. Since he did not issue a veto, the protective policy takes effect immediately.
Tennessee law allows the governor to sign a bill, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature.
Sponsored by pro-life Rep. Matthew Hill and pro-life Sen. Diane Black, the new law says: "No health care plan required to be established in this state through an exchange pursuant to federal health care reform legislation enacted by the 111th Congress shall offer coverage for abortion services."
HB 2681 / SB 2686 passed the state House 70-23 and the state Senate 27-3.
Tennessee s General Assembly was the nation s first to pass legislation making clear that abortion would not be included as a benefit in federally required health care exchanges. Arizona, Mississippi and Florida have since followed suit and bills at governors' desks in the latter two states while several other states are working on legislation. Full story at LifeNews.com
University of Wisconsin Denies Plans Dropped for Late-Term Abortion Center
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- The University of Wisconsin is denying it has dropped its controversial plans for a late-term abortion facility at the Madison Surgery Center, a joint venture between UW Hospital and Clinics, Meriter Hospital and the UW Medical Foundation.
Leading pro-life advocates opposed to the plan received a letter saying it will not proceed, but the University denied that was the case later in the day.
Last year, pro-life groups including the Alliance Defense Fund, Pro-Life Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Right to Life exposed the plan for the new UW abortion center and led opposition to it.
Now, ADF has received a letter from the Wisconsin Department of Justice stating that the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics has abandoned its plans.
Assistant Attorney General Kevin Potter, in a letter to an Eau Claire attorney, stated, We have also been in contact with legal counsel for the University of Wisconsin (UW) to determine how the proposed services would be provided."
"We have been awaiting response from the UW on the final plans before replying to your letter. It is my understanding based on recent information from the UW that they have now abandoned plans to provide late-term abortion services at MSC," the letter went on to say. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Thinks Moms Want More Abortions for Mother's Day
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- It's a little difficult for people who were victims of abortion to purchase their mother a gift for Mother's Day this weekend. But Planned Parenthood apparently thinks moms want donations made to the abortion business in their name from those lucky enough to not have been aborted themselves.
Cecile Richards, the president of the largest abortion business in the nation, sent out Planned Parenthood's annual Mother's Day fundraising missive today.
"It's almost Mother's Day ... and if you have a mother in your life who's anything like me or my mom (the late Texas Governor Ann Richards), then you know nothing would make her happier than a gift that represents bold and compassionate values. Like a gift in her honor to Planned Parenthood Federation of America," she writes.
"We've made it quick and easy and we've even made it pretty," Richards adds. "Honor a mother in your life with a gift to Planned Parenthood. [It's] a gift your loved one will appreciate and remember."
But Wendy Wright says Planned Parenthood would make more from its fundraising appeal if it didn't make it so there are fewer people who could give.
"Planned Parenthood could make even more money from its shameless exploitation of Mothers Day if they stopped making women childless from abortion," she told LifeNews.com today. Full story at LifeNews.com
Incompatible With Life? Some Children Die in Abortions, But Bella is Now Two
by Rick Santorum
"Incompatible with life." The doctor's words kept echoing in my head as I held my sobbing wife, Karen, just four days after the birth of our eighth child, Isabella Maria.
Bella was born with three No. 18 chromosomes, rather than the normal two. The statistics were heartbreaking: About 90 percent of children with the disorder, known as trisomy 18, die before or during birth, and 90 percent of those who survive die within the first year.
Bella was baptized that day, and then we spent every waking hour at her bedside, giving her a lifetime's worth of love and care. However, not only did she not die; she came home in just 10 days.
She was sent home on hospice care, strange as that sounded for a newborn. The hospice doctor visited us the next day and described in graphic detail how Bella would die. In sum, she could die at any time without warning, and the best we could hope for was that she would die of the common cold.
Karen and I discontinued hospice so that we and our amazing doctors, James Baugh and Sunil Kapoor, could get to work focusing on Bella's health, not her death.
Like so many moms of special kids, Karen is a warrior, caring for Bella night and day and, at times, fighting with health-care providers and our insurance company to get our daughter the care she needs. Full story at LifeNews.com
Whoopi Goldberg: Without Abortions, Mom's More Likely to Hurt Kids Later
by Brad Wilmouth
On ABC's The View on Tuesday, as the group discussed a new law in Oklahoma that requires an ultrasound of an unborn baby be performed and the image offered to a pregnant woman before an abortion could take place, none of the panel members spoke up in favor the Oklahoma law, although right-leaning Elisabeth Hasselbeck supported "nudging" pregnant women to look at an ultrasound to be informed about the life signs of their unborn babies.
Whoopi Goldberg became emotional as she dismissed the effectiveness of viewing an ultrasound in encouraging women not to have abortions, and seemed to worry that making such images available would make a woman more upset as she decides whether to have an abortion. She also seemed concerned that if some women facing difficult circumstances chose not to have an abortion, that the baby would be murdered later in life at the hands of its desperate parents.
Goldberg: "Let me tell you something. There's not a woman that goes, there's not a woman out there who makes a decision to have an abortion lightly. It is a tough, a tough, but to have someone compound what you are already carrying, you are already going in there with that pain because maybe you didn't want to have an abortion, maybe you can't have a baby. Maybe you can't afford it."
After Hasselbeck posed, "Are you going in there with all the knowledge of what's actually going on inside of you at 16 weeks?" Goldberg responded: "But what difference does it make if you can't have the baby? What difference does it make if you're going to bring a baby in and you can't feed it and you can't take care of it and then people end up killing their kids? I hate it!" Full story at LifeNews.com
California's Carly Fiorina Gets Pro-Life Endorsement as Does Chuck DeVore
Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- California U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina picked up another pro-life endorsement on Wednesday adding to two she already has. Meanwhile, the head of another pro-life group said he is backing her Republican primary opponent, Chuck DeVore.
Looking to defeat pro-abortion Senator Barbara Boxer in November, the political arm of the National Right to Life Committee endorsed Fiorina.
"It is clear that Carly Fiorina is a strong advocate for life and is a candidate who can win," National Right to Life Political Director Karen Cross told LifeNews.com. "She supports pro-life legislative efforts to protect innocent human life - unborn children and medically disabled or dependent persons whose lives are threatened by abortion or euthanasia."
"Carly Fiorina is serious and sincere in her respect for the sanctity of human life," added Cross. "She is committed to take up the cause of life in the United States Senate and we look forward to working with her on those efforts."
The endorsement has National Right to Life joining the California Pro-Life Council and the Susan B. Anthony List, two pro-life groups that are already siding with Fiorina.
Meanwhile, Steve Mosher, the president of the Population Research Institute, told LifeNews.com he is endorsing DeVore.
The California Senate race has national implications," he said. Pro-lifers have the opportunity of a lifetime to put the U.S. Senate back in pro-life hands by electing a rock-solid senator from California. Chuck DeVore would work hard in Washington to undo the damage caused by the ultra-liberal Barbara Boxer these last 28 years. Full story at LifeNews.com
Minnesota House Limits Tax-Funded Abortions, Bans Sex-Selection Abortion Funds
St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) -- Members of the Minnesota state House voted Tuesday on several abortion provisions, including ones to ban sex-selection abortions and limit taxpayer funded of abortions using state dollars. The 79-54 vote on taxpayer funding of abortions was one of a series taken on amendments to protect unborn children.
Rep. Steve Gottwalt, R-St. Cloud, offered the amendment to ban taxpayer funding for sex-selection abortions during a lengthy floor session on the House Health and Human Services omnibus bill.
"Tuesday's vote to ban public funding for bizarre sex-selection abortions was both an admission that these abortions are being performed in Minnesota, and strong agreement that taxpayers should not be forced to pay for them," said Scott Fischbach, the head of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.
"We already know that thousands of abortions are performed in our state every year as a backup method of birth control. Aborting an unborn child because of her sex is shockingly contemptuous of the unborn child's humanity," he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Ohio Right to Life Says Majority of Pro-Life Candidates Won Primary Races
Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) -- A vast majority of the pro-life candidates Ohio Right to Life's political action committee endorsed won their contested primary elections Tuesday night. The victories set up some sharply divided November election contests pitting pro-life advocates against pro-abortion candidates.
Sen. Jon Husted won the Republican nomination for Secretary of State. His win sets up a stark pro-life v. pro-abortion race in the general election against Mary Ellen O'Shaughnessy.
O'Shaughnessy has been backed in previous races by EMILY's List, which only supports Democrats who back partial-birth abortions and taxpayer funding of abortions.
David Yost, the Delaware County Prosecutor, defeated Rep. Seth Morgan for the Republican nomination for Auditor of State.
Yost will face Democrat David Pepper in the general election. Both the new Secretary of State and Auditor of State will serve on the Apportionment Board, which will draw new state legislative districts for the next decade. Those elections could determine the fate of crucial pro-life legislation. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kansas Senate Falls One Vote Short to Override Veto of Late-Term Abortion Bill
Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) -- Proving that one vote does indeed matter, the Kansas state Senate today failed to override a veto by Governor Mark Parkinson of a pro-life bill. The Senate voted 26-14 to overturn the veto, which was one vote shy of the two-thirds majority necessary to do so.
Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer, a Republican, said a potential change in the political landscape after November could help ensure the bill is signed into law.
He referred to the potential election of pro-life Sen. Sam Brownback as the governor of Kansas -- and he faces state Sen. Tom Holland, a Democrat who voted against the override.
We will have a change in governor, we will get this passed, it is just a year away, he said, according to the Wichita Eagle.
Sen. Jeff Colyer, a Republican, talked in support of the override while Sen. Jean Schodorf, also a Republican, voted against it.
The bill concerns a measure that would help provide enforcement to a state law limiting late-term abortions. The Kansas state House voted 86-35-3 to override the veto on Monday. Full story at LifeNews.com
David Obey, Top Pro-Abortion Lawmaker From Wisconsin, Won't Run Again
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- One of the top pro-abortion members of Congress will retire. David Obey, who has represented a Wisconsin congressional district since the late 1960s, announced today he will step down from the seat -- which could go to a strongly pro-life candidate.
Saying he was bone tired and had lost the will to keep up the Washington political battle, Obey announced his retirement.
There is a time to stay and a time to go, Obey said. And this is my time to go.
Obey where the chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee where he consistently promoted abortion and earned low pro-life rankings from the National Right to Life Committee each year -- including a 21 percent score this year.
Obey was also the third-longest-serving member of the House behind pro-abortion Democrats John Dingell and John Conyers of Michigan and will be the 19th-longest-serving Congressman in U.S. history. Full story at LifeNews.com
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