LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, June 18, 2010
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Current Headlines
• FDA Advisory Committee Gives Thumbs Up to New Abortion Drug Ella
• Elena Kagan's Oxford Thesis Has Supreme Court Nominee Praising Activist Judges
• Activist: Forcing Military Base Hospitals to Do Abortions Just a "Sign of the Times"
• Bill Would Stop $1 Bill Abortion Groups Get, But Pro-Life Congress Needed
• House Expected to Vote Friday On Bill Limiting Pro-Life Groups' Free Speech
• Top Catholic Bishop Blames Catholic Health Association for Pro-Abortion HCR
• Intl Planned Parenthood Pushing Millennium Development Goals for Abortion
• Wisconsin Pro-Life Group Endorses Ron Johnson in Upcoming Senate Campaign
• New Zealand Reports Over 17,000 Abortions in 2009, Right to Life Applauds Drop
• South Carolina Legislature Forges Agreement on 24-Hour Abortion Waiting Period
• Abortion Advocates at Women Deliver Conference Claim Right to Maternal Health
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FDA Advisory Committee Gives Thumbs Up to New Abortion Drug Ella
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- An FDA advisory committee today cast two votes giving a thumbs up to the new abortion drug Ella, which supporters are falsely billing as a morning after pill. The Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs gave its approval to the early abortion drug on two 11-0 votes.
The panel said the "investigational emergency contraceptive pill" known as ulipristal, that would potentially be sold under the name Ella in the United States, is safe and effective at preventing pregnancy.
The committee said women could use the drug to prevent pregnancy when taken up to five days after intercourse -- and did so by redefining the beginning of pregnancy from conception to implantation. In so doing, the panel ignored the fact that the drug kills a unique human being at the earliest point of pregnancy.
If the FDA ultimately approves the drug, and it usually follows the recommendations of its advisory panels, the ella drug would be an "improvement" over the current Plan B morning after pill that can be used 72 hours after sexual intercourse.
Wendy Wright, the president of Concerned Women for America, said the ella abortion drug maker could not answer questions about the drug.
"The drug sponsor couldn't provide information on whether Ella can cause birth defects, or what happens to women who are pregnant who take it. And yet the committee strongly recommended not giving a woman a pregnancy test," she told LifeNews.com after the hearing.
"In Europe, Ella is contra-indicated (not to be used) in pregnancies. But the FDA committee voted to not to test women to detect if they're pregnant. They are telling doctors to be willfully blind when giving the drug," Wright continued. "The committee voted to deceive women." Full story at LifeNews.com
Elena Kagan's Oxford Thesis Has Supreme Court Nominee Praising Activist Judges
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- When President Barack Obama nominated Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court, he likely spent enough time with her to know she appreciates activist judges who make law from the bench rather than interpret it. Without the benefit of knowing her intimately, pro-life groups are left to research her background.
Americans United for Life has turned up a copy of the thesis Kagan wrote in 1983 at Oxford University that praises agenda-driven judges.
In her graduate thesis, Kagan spends considerable time analyzing the Warren Court -- the years from 1953-1969 when activist Earl Warren was Chief Justice and the legal prelude to Roe v. Wade was set.
Kagan describes the Warren Court as a court with a mission to correct the social injustices and inequalities of American life [and] to transform the nation.
Kagan states that the Warren Court justices set themselves a goal and they steered by this goal when resolving individual cases. According to Kagan, the rectification of social injustice was the Warren Court s standard of constitutional decision-making.
In a comment that may find its way into her upcoming Senate committee hearings, Kagan said it is "not necessarily wrong or invalid" for Supreme Court judges to "mold and steer the law in order to promote certain ethical values and achieve certain social ends."
According to AUL's analysis of the thesis, "Kagan does not criticize the Warren Court s vision of a 'just and fair society informing almost the whole of the Court s constitutional analysis.' Kagan only critiques the Warren Court because it failed to write 'a tenable legal argument' for its decisions regarding the exclusionary rule, leaving them vulnerable to reversal or modification by future Courts." Full story at LifeNews.com
Activist: Forcing Military Base Hospitals to Do Abortions Just a "Sign of the Times"
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A massive debate over whether to turn the approximately 250 taxpayer-funded military base hospitals into abortion centers is heating up in the Senate. But, the move to overturn the ban on abortions at the hospitals is nothing out of the ordinary for the president of Cecile Richards.
The president of Planned Parenthood calls turning the military into an abortion business like her own just another "sign of the times" in a Politico interview.
It s the recognition that reproductive health care for women is basic health care. The world has changed, and women play a larger role in the military. These are all very positive steps," Richards says.
The first step was when the Obama administration, in February, issued a new order for the U.S. military requiring all military hospitals and health centers to stock the morning after pill.
Now, pro-abortion Sen. Roland Burris is taking the next step. He attached an amendment to a bill in the Senate Armed Services Committee that received a 15-12 vote -- with all Democrats supporting it except for Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who joined all of the committee's Republicans in opposition.
In the Senate, things are good, said Richards. The good thing is, this amendment puts the issue squarely on the table."
Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, told Politico that foisting abortion on the military is just the next step in the pro-abortion agenda.
They're using the military as a wedge and a way to implement their agenda, she said. I see them being very craven in looking to use the military to put the stamp of approval of federal government on abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
Bill Would Stop $1 Bill Abortion Groups Get, But Pro-Life Congress Needed
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Yesterday, a new GAO report revealed the abortion industry received over $1 billion in taxpayer funds from the federal government in the last seven years. A congressman has proposed a bill to begin de-funding the pro-abortion groups, but he needs more pro-life colleagues to move it forward.
As LifeNews.com reported, the Government Accountability Office report shows the Planned Parenthood abortion business reported receiving over $650 million in federal funds over a seven year period.
The report also shows the pro-abortion group Population Council, which sponsored the dangerous abortion drug RU 486, received $284.3 million in federal funds as well for its international family planning efforts. And the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion group that does research on abortion statistics, received $12.7 million.
Congressman Mike Pence has introduced the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act (H.R. 614), a bill prohibiting the distribution of Title X family planning money to entities that use abortion as a method of family planning.
With the GAO report showing $342.1 million of the federal funds Planned Parenthood received coming from the Title X family planning program, Pence's bill would take a big first step in de-funding the abortion industry.
"It is morally wrong to end an unborn human life by abortion. But it is also morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use those funds to promote abortion," Pence told LifeNews.com. Full story at LifeNews.com
House Expected to Vote Friday On Bill Limiting Pro-Life Groups' Free Speech
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Friday on a bill that would place more limits on pro-life and other political groups when it comes to communicating with supporters about legislative and political activities. The bill, called the DISCLOSE Act, has drawn opposition from several pro-life groups.
The bill would place campaign finance and legislative communications restrictions on groups and potentially force them to make donor records public when they discuss something as typical as how members of Congress vote on pro-life issues.
To build more support for the bill, Democratic leaders included exceptions in it targeted towards removing the objections the NRA had to the legislation.
In the latest developments on the legislation, House Democratic leaders have decided to expand the carve-out from disclosure requirements they gave to the NRA. The new standard lowers the membership requirement for organizations to be exempt from the restrictions and limits. Originally, groups with more than 1 million members were exempted and that has been reduced to 500,000.
But that won't allow pro-life groups to drop their objections to the bill, which will head to the Rules Committee today and to the House floor Friday.
The National Right to Life Committee is one of a handful of pro-life groups telling its members to call Congress to oppose the bill and saying it would score votes on it because the restrictions would hurt its activities so much.
In a new letter to Congress, NRLC says "there is very little in this bill, despite the pretenses, that is actually intended to provide useful or necessary information to the public. The overriding purpose is precisely the opposite: To discourage, as much as possible, disfavored groups (such as NRLC) from communicating about officeholders." Full story at LifeNews.com
Top Catholic Bishop Blames Catholic Health Association for Pro-Abortion HCR
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Speaking at a semi-annual meeting of Catholic bishops, the president of the national conference of Catholic bishops blamed the Catholic Health Association for passage of the health care "reform" bill that contained massive abortion funding.
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago spoke before fellow bishops as they are meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida and he said CHA bears the brunt of the responsibility for the controversial bill.
According to the Catholic Culture web site, he said the Catholic Health Association and other so-called Catholic groups provided cover for those on the fence to support Obama and the administration.
Cardinal George shared how he and other members of the USCCB tried to talk Sister Carol Keehan, the CHA president, out of endorsing the legislation because of the abortion funding and lack of conscience protections for health care professionals.
The Conference never backed down on these issues, he said, adding that "everything went south" after the House rejected the Stupak amendment that would have prevented any funding under the bill and resolved the conscience issues.
Sr. Carol and her colleagues are to blame for the passage of the pro-abortion bill, the cardinal added, according to a CNA report. I personally met with her in March to no avail." Full story at LifeNews.com
Intl Planned Parenthood Pushing Millennium Development Goals for Abortion
by Samantha Singson
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) launched a new campaign this week called "A Promise is A Promise," demanding that states implement policies and programs to achieve the controversial Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target 5b on "universal access to reproductive health by 2015."
According to IPPF, "universal access to reproductive health refers to a full package of services including comprehensive sexuality education, access to contraception, maternity care, emergency obstetric care, and safe abortion services " The IPPF event was promoted as an UN-sponsored meeting to get input from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for the high level MDG Summit that will take place in the fall.
IPPF Director-General Gill Greer said advocates "must make up for lost opportunity" and that "the universal access to reproductive health target is not optional." Greer claimed that though "universal access to reproductive health" was not included in the MDGs in 2000, in 2005 states "recognized the missing link" to reproductive health. Full story at LifeNews.com
Wisconsin Pro-Life Group Endorses Ron Johnson in Upcoming Senate Campaign
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- Wisconsin Right to Life is weighing in on the competitive U.S. Senate race and its political action committee today announced it is endorsing Ron Johnson for the Republican nomination. Johnson, a businessman, faces another businessman Dave Westlake for the GOP nod.
The winner of the primary election will ultimately face incumbent pro-abortion Sen. Russ Feingold, who faces no Democratic primary opposition.
WRTL PAC chair Bonnie Pfaff says the endorsement of Johnson is based on his strong belief in the sanctity of human life, his exceptional leadership background and his outstanding credibility.
"Ron Johnson is an individual who believes that protecting the most vulnerable members of the human family is the right thing to do," said Pfaff. "He will work in Congress to help create a culture of life, where every human being is welcomed and protected."
"We believe Ron Johnson is an individual who has the values, background and experience to serve all the citizens of Wisconsin in an exceptional manner. The Wisconsin Right to Life Political Action Committee is very proud to make this endorsement," said Pfaff. Full story at LifeNews.com
New Zealand Reports Over 17,000 Abortions in 2009, Right to Life Applauds Drop
Wellington, New Zealand (LifeNews.com) -- New Zealand officials reported 17,550 abortions on the island nation in 2009, which represents a drop of 390 abortions from the nearly 18,000 abortions done in 2008. Right to Life New Zealand is pleased with the reduction as it continues the downward trend over the previous two years.
"This is good news for our unborn children and their mothers," the organization told LifeNews.com today.
Right to Life believes the decrease is due to "the increasing recognition in the community that abortion not only destroys an innocent and defenceless unborn child but is also harmful to the physical and mental health of women."
The pro-life group also believes the use of ultrasound is persuading more women to keep their baby instead of having an abortion.
"Right to Life believes that many women seeing their child with heart beating, complete with arms and legs moving in their womb, choose life for their child and refuse to terminate the developing child," the gorup said. Full story at LifeNews.com
South Carolina Legislature Forges Agreement on 24-Hour Abortion Waiting Period
Columbia, SC (LifeNews.com) -- Early Thursday morning, lawmakers from the South Carolina state House and Senate reached an agreement on language that gives women contemplating an abortion 24 hours to review information that could lead her to choose life for her unborn child.
South Carolina Citizens for Life had strongly objected to all attempts to weaken the Woman s Right to Know Act of 1995.
Legislators had considered including excptions for rape and incest and forcing pregnancy care centers and pro-life physicians and medical facilities to perform and date stamp obstetric ultrasounds that could then be used by abortion practitioners.
We did not lose a thing, said Greg Delleney, a Republican legislator who was the the champion of pro-life legislation.
We preserved our gains. We improved the bill to include links to pregnancy care centers. There is an authentic 24-hour waiting period if someone downloads pro-life materials from the internet or receives the materials in the mail," Delleney said. "There are links on the DHEC website to crisis pregnancy centers. This is a great victory. Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortion Advocates at Women Deliver Conference Claim Right to Maternal Health
by Susan Yoshihara
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- At the United Nations (UN)-backed Women Deliver conference in Washington DC last week, abortion activists announced the achievement of a new international human right to maternal health just three years after launching a campaign to establish it.
Advocates said that the new right requires nations to liberalize abortion laws and create numerous new bureaucracies, procedures and programs.
In a paper entitled, Preventing Maternal Mortality and Ensuring Safe Pregnancy," the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) asserted, [W]omen s rights to life, health, and non-discrimination entitle them to maternal health and that governments must ensure women s access to high-quality, appropriate reproductive health care, abolish discriminatory laws and social practices and allow women to make autonomous decisions regarding their reproductive lives.
The paper said this includes contraceptives, family planning counseling, sex education, and safe abortion services. CRR and other groups have dozens of legal cases pending in Brazil, India, South Africa and elsewhere to enact the new right. Full story at LifeNews.com
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