LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
| For pro-life news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com. |
Current Headlines
• Pro-Abortion Group NARAL Solidly Supporting Elena Kagan for Supreme Court
• FDA Calls New Abortion Drug Ella, Billed as Morning After Pill, Safe for Women
• Poll Shows Pro-Abortion Democrats in Serious Trouble in November Elections
• House Democrats' Delay on Passing Spending Bills Could Allow Abortion Funding
• Abortion Advocates at NARAL Continue Attacks on Crisis Pregnancy Centers
• Pro-Life Group Still Opposes Disclose Act Despite Democrats' Deal With NRA
• Pro-Life Advocate Rick Santorum Heads to Iowa Again, Could Run in 2012
• Charlie Crist Faces New Pro-Life Radio Ads After Vetoing Abortion-Ultrasound Bill
• Louisiana Senate OKs Bill to Hold Abortion Centers Accountable for Problems
• Birmingham, Alabama Sued for Arresting Pro-Life Advocates Opposing Abortion
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Pro-Abortion Group NARAL Solidly Supporting Elena Kagan for Supreme Court
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Despite making it clear he had a litmus test for abortion for Supreme Court nominees, top pro-abortion groups issued tepid support for nominee Elena Kagan when President Barack Obama announced her name. Now, they have come around and are strongly supporting her bid for the high court.
After pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement, NARAL president Nancy Keenan promised her group would thoroughly evaluate Kagan.
"Given the current composition of the court, we will assess the eventual nominee's complete record on privacy and other relevant issues in the same way we did during Justice Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation process," she said in April.
That appears to have happened as NARAL is now distributing talking points to members of the Senate, the media and allied organizations advocating Kagan's confirmation.
A Democratic source sent the pro-abortion Huffington Post web site the talking points defending Kagan's pro-abortion record.
The Post says they cast Kagan as within the mainstream public opinion on abortion, even though she repeatedly helped ex-President Bill Clinton find political cover for his veto of a ban on partial-birth abortions -- supported by more than two-thirds of the American public.
"Elena Kagan's writings indicate a respect for women's freedom and privacy as defined by Roe v. Wade--and the writings are consistent with the pro-choice position adopted by the Clinton White House," NARAL says. Full story at LifeNews.com
FDA Calls New Abortion Drug Ella, Billed as Morning After Pill, Safe for Women
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Food and Drug Administration today declared a new abortion drug called ella (also known as ellaOne and ulipristal) safe and effective for women. The ella pill is billed as a new morning after pill that can work longer after intercourse than the traditional morning after pill but it mostly acts as an abortion drug.
The FDA released documents today saying ella, made by French drugmaker HRA Pharma, appears to work with no unexpected side effects.
The documents come ahead of a public meeting slated for Thursday, where Obama administration officials will decide whether to market the drug, currently used in Europe, in the United States. Watson Pharmaceutical would sell the drug in the United States should the FDA approve its use.
The FDA review papers say the makers of the drug have shown it has no unexpected side effects, though normal side effects such as nausea, headache and abdominal pain were common.
"Data on pregnancy outcomes after EC (emergency contraceptive) failure with ulipristal were too limited to draw any definitive conclusions regarding the effect of ulipristal on an established pregnancy or fetal development," the FDA wrote.
Abortion advocates, aided by media reports from sources such as USA Today, have falsely portrayed the drug as a "morning after pill" and "a new emergency contraceptive" that can prevent pregnancy "five days after sex." Full story at LifeNews.com
Poll Shows Pro-Abortion Democrats in Serious Trouble in November Elections
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll conducted by NPR is drawing attention today because it shows pro-abortion Congressional Democrats in serious trouble in the November elections. The poll predicts the kind of landslide pro-life groups hope will allow pro-life lawmakers to return to control in the House and Senate.
The Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies teamed up for the national survey of voters in key battleground districts.
It shows just 41% of voters prefer the Democratic candidate for Congress in their district while 49% favor the Republican candidate.
Worse for abortion advocates, in the 30 most competitive districts -- ones where battles will likely pit pro-life versus pro-abortion candidates -- voters favor the GOP candidate by a 48%-39% margin.
Those districts include 12 open seats held by Democrats and 18 vulnerable incumbents, most of whom are not pro-life. Also, the polls asked respondents about the actual name of the candidate and not just the party -- making it even more likely that pro-life candidates may be swept into office in November.
"In a year where voters want change and which Democrats are seen to be in power this is a tough poll, about as tough as you get," said pollster Stan Greenberg, the Democrat. Full story at LifeNews.com
House Democrats' Delay on Passing Spending Bills Could Allow Abortion Funding
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The scene in Washington right now pits Democrats against Republicans on the annual appropriations bills that are passed to allow the federal government to function. However, the lack of any spending bills could result in passing an omnibus measure that may overturn pro-life provisions.
Typically, Congress approves a slate of bills funding major departments and they frequently contain provisions such as the Hyde amendment that limit federal funding of abortions.
With the federal debt on the minds of many American voters, and with President Barack Obama calling for $50 billion more in deficit spending to help some states, the two parties are preparing to go toe to toe on financial matters.
Republicans have been complaining that Democratic leaders have not yet passed a budget for the first time in 35 years. That's because there is a divide between liberal and conservative Democrats on allowing more spending -- with some Democrats worrying they will be voted out of office if they approve more.
Without committee and subcommittee hearings on various parts of the federal budget, the House could move forward with an omnibus spending bill that would fund all government departments at current levels (or some other level).
The problem for the pro-life movement is these bills typically pass the House easily and they could contain language, for example, ditching the Hyde amendment and its provisions against taxpayer funding of abortions via Medicaid. Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortion Advocates at NARAL Continue Attacks on Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Appearing to deny women the choice they so fervently advocate, the abortion promoters at NARAL are on the attack again. In a series of email to its national membership, NARAL president Nancy Keenan is accusing pregnancy centers of "spreading lies" about abortion as they help women find other options.
"Crisis pregnancy centers spend millions of dollars on misleading advertisements, portraying themselves as safe havens for women in need," Keenan wrote last week. "Their real goal? To make women feel too guilty or scared to choose abortion by providing information that is medically inaccurate and manipulative."
To counter the work the centers to do support pregnant women, NARAL is launching an online quiz that it says "unmasks the lies these fake clinics tell women every day."
The "quiz" essentially poses a question asking respondents which "misleading and false statement" pregnancy centers use to supposedly mislead women.
"Abortion causes breast cancer" and "Abortion causes dangerous and life-threatening psychological side effects" -- both of which have been confirmed by dozens of research studies and reporters -- are two of the possible answers.
Kristin Hansen, the vide president for communications at Care Net, a national network of more than 1,100 pregnancy centers, talked with LifeNews.com about the NARAL quiz. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Group Still Opposes Disclose Act Despite Democrats' Deal With NRA
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A national pro-life organization is still oppose to the DISCLOSE Act, a campaign finance "reform" bill it says is really a stringent limit on the activities of pro-life groups. Despite a deal Democratic lawmakers struck with the National Rifle Association, the National Right to Life Committee is still opposed to it.
The measure is a response to the Supreme Court ruling striking down parts of the controversial McCain-Feingold campaign finance law many pro-life groups opposed because of the stringent limits placed on them.
NRLC has asked pro-life advocates to oppose the DISCLOSE Act (H.R. 5175), on free speech concerns, calling the bill a "bullying political power grab," which is "not a curb on corruption, but itself a type of corruption.
The Right to Life group has said the measure is "a corruption of the lawmaking process, by which incumbent lawmakers employ the threat of criminal sanctions, among other deterrents, to reduce the amount of private speech regarding the actions of the lawmakers themselves."
House Democratic leaders were having problems moving the bill forward until they reached a compromise with the NRA, which had opposed the measure, to exempt it from the disclosure requirements that it worried would force it to make its membership lists public.
The exemption doesn't mention the NRA specifically but allows 501(c)4 groups with more than one million members and affiliates in all 50 states and meeting other criteria to opt out of some of the requirements of the bill.
The changes aren't enough for National Right to Life.
"NRLC is strongly opposed to the bill, viewing it as a blatant political attack on the constitutional rights of the organization and of its members and donors," it said. "President Obama and congressional Democratic leaders are pushing hard for quick enactment of a bill that would place extensive new legal restrictions on the ability of corporations - including incorporated nonprofit citizen groups such as NRLC -- to communicate with the public about the actions of federal lawmakers." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Advocate Rick Santorum Heads to Iowa Again, Could Run in 2012
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Rick Santorum is heading back to Iowa, stoking further speculation the pro-life former U.S. senator could throw his hat in the ring for the 2012 Republican presidential primary. Santorum is one of several pro-life elected and former elected officials considering taking on President Barack Obama.
Should a pro-life candidate come away with the GOP nod, it will set up a stark contrast between the nominee and a president who has built a solid pro-abortion record.
Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, announced today he will visit Iowa next week to deliver two speeches and campaign for a candidate for the state Senate, according to a CNN report.
"Each time I visit the Hawkeye state, I am struck by how concerned Iowans are about the state of our nation," said Santorum.
He added, They are fired up about the mid-term elections and engaged about what can be done to return our country back to the road of fiscal discipline and economic prosperity."
Santorum will address the Iowa GOP convention and an event for the a Scott County Lincoln Club and will campaign for Republican Sandy Greiner.
This isn't Santorum's only foray into leading primary and caucus states -- he visited New Hampshire twice and has been in South Carolina four times, according to CNN. Full story at LifeNews.com
Charlie Crist Faces New Pro-Life Radio Ads After Vetoing Abortion-Ultrasound Bill
Tallahassee, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is facing a new radio advertising campaign from a pro-life group after recently vetoing a bill that would have allowed women a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn baby prior to an abortion.
The bill would have also exempted the state from some of the abortion funding in the government-run health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law.
Crist vetoed the measure with the false claim that it would have forced women to see the ultrasound of their baby, even though the measure contained language allowing them to sign a form saying they were offered the chance to do so but opting out.
Today, the Family Research Council Action PAC launched a statewide radio ad campaign in response to the veto. The ad will air across the state over the next week on 74 Florida radio stations.
The governor issued the veto only days after removing a pro-life section from his campaign website.
"Governor Charlie Crist used to claim to be pro-life. Now he's just pro-Crist. Since leaving his party he's decided he'd rather be pro-abortion, removing the pro-life section from his website and vetoing a bill that would allow women to see an ultrasound of their child before having an abortion," the FRC ad says. Full story at LifeNews.com
Louisiana Senate OKs Bill to Hold Abortion Centers Accountable for Problems
Baton Rouge, LA (LifeNews.com) -- While most of the focus in the Louisiana Senate Monday centered on the bill that would allow the state to opt out of some of the abortion funding under the Obama health care law, state legislators also approved a bill to better hold failing abortion centers accountable.
The Senate approved the measure unanimously, as the state House has, and now it heads to pro-life Gov, Bobby Jindal, who is expected to sign it into law.
The legislation gives the state health secretary broader power to revoke the licenses of abortion centers when they violate state law or put the health and safety of women at risk.
Rep. Fred Mills, a Democrat, is the sponsor of the bill that would allow the head of the Department of Health and Hospitals to immediately suspend the license of an abortion center that is putting women's health at risk with shoddy abortions.
"Current law does not allow for immediate suspension for abortion clinic licenses, even when violations pose immediate health risks," said Sen. Willie Mount, a Democrat who sponsored the measure in the Senate. Full story at LifeNews.com
Birmingham, Alabama Sued for Arresting Pro-Life Advocates Opposing Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Birmingham, Alabama officials are the subject of a new pro-life lawsuit from the Life Legal Defense Foundation. The pro-life legal group says several Birmingham police officers engaged in "outrageous civil rights violations" against nine pro-life advocates who were arrested last year.
LLDF tells LifeNews.com the pro-life young people were unlawfully arrested in February last year and they spent more than 14 hours in jail for holding signs and handing out literature on a public sidewalk in front of a local high school.
The lawsuit is filed in conjunction with attorney Phillip Jauregui and it seeks redress for what LLDF calls the unlawful actions of Birmingham police officers in prohibiting peaceful free speech activity on the public sidewalk adjacent to Parker High School.
The pro-life advocates are members of the pro-life activist youth group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust and they were handing out literature to students as they left the building at the end of the school day.
The officers told the group the sidewalk was private property and not a public sidewalk and insisted the pro-life advocates go to a sidewalk across the street to hold their signs and distribute literature.
When the pro-life activists refused to move, police arrested all nine including those who were only filming the police interaction. Police officials also confiscated the group s camera equipment, destroying some of the video coverage of the event, and towed their van, resulting in damage to the vehicle. Full story at LifeNews.com
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