LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Kagan Called Judicial Activist in Supreme Court Hearing, Dems Cite No Record
• Pro-Life Groups Blast Pro-Abortion Supreme Court Pick Kagan Before Hearing
• Republicans to Make Example of Kagan's Judicial Activism During Hearings
• Court Reinstates Lawsuit Against Obama's Embryonic Stem Cell Funding
• Pro-Abortion Senator Robert Byrd Dies; Death Affects Election, Kagan Hearings
• New Study Denying Fetal Pain Lacks Scientific Basis Pro-Life Groups Say
• Mike Huckabee Opens Door to 2012 Presidential Bid, Says He Leads GOP Polls
• Media Call Bush's Supreme Court Picks Conservative, Label Obama's "Centrist"
• Adult Stem Cells, Not Embryonic, Cure Blindness in Dozens of Patients in Italy
• Story of ER Sending Starving Boy Home May be Common Under ObamaCare
• Nebraska Planned Parenthood Challenges law to Help Women Get Abortion Info
• Missouri Becomes Second State to Allow Women to Use Force to Protect Unborn
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Kagan Called Judicial Activist in Supreme Court Hearing, Democrats Cite Lack of Record
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is drawing strong condemnation from Republicans on the Judiciary Committee in their opening statements on the first day of her nomination hearings. Even Democrats are pointing out she has little record on which to examine her judicial philosophy.
Jeff Sessions, the pro-life Alabama senator who is the lead GOP member of the committee, minced no words today in his opening statement.
"Kagan has never tried a case before a jury. She argued her first appellate case just nine months ago," he said. "She has barely practiced law, and not with the intensity and duration from which real understanding occurs."
"Kagan has less real legal experience of any nominee in at least fifty years. It s not just that she has never been a judge," he continued. "Kagan certainly has numerous talents and good qualities, but there are serious concerns about this nomination."
Sessions also pounded Kagan on abortion, saying "Kagan was also the point person for the Clinton Administration s efforts to block Congressional restrictions on partial-birth abortions."
"No individual ... should be confirmed as a judge if she doesn't understand that the judge s role is to fairly settle disputes of law," Sessions added. "[T]throughout her career, Ms. Kagan has associated herself with well-known activist judges. These judges don't deny activism; they advocate it. And they openly oppose the idea of a judge as a neutral umpire."
Kagan herself said she is qualified and said she would have an even-handed temperment on the Supreme Court. She said she would give "nothing less than a fair shake for every American." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Groups Blast Pro-Abortion Supreme Court Pick Kagan Before Hearing
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Leading pro-life organizations are mounting their final attack on the nomination of pro-abortion Solicitor general Elena Kagan to replace retiring pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. The criticisms come as the Senate Judiciary Committee begins hearings today.
Several groups, including Concerned Women for America and Students for Life are participating in a morning press conference at the Senate and urging lawmakers to oppose her bid for the high court.
The American Center for Law and Justice called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to fully examine Kagan's judicial philosophy.
It's time for tough, probing questions and clear, thorough answers," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the pro-life legal organization.
There are many questions facing the Supreme Court nominee - perhaps none more important than: does she consider the Constitution the final authority or will she legislate from the bench? With no judicial experience, the Senate Judiciary Committee must pose specific questions about her legal positions of the past and her judicial philosophy - how does she view the role of Justices, the Constitution, and the rule of law?" he said.
Sekulow said, "The American people deserve forthright answers from Elena Kagan during the confirmation hearings."
Americans United for Life released a statement today saying Kagan should be opposed because its research into her writings and backgrounds reveals she will promote abortion on the Supreme Court if confirmed. Full story at LifeNews.com
Republicans to Make Example of Kagan's Judicial Activism During Senate Hearings
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Republicans have settled on a strategy when it comes to how to handle the hearings, starting today, on pro-abortion Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. They plan to ask her tough questions about comments she has made over the years supporting judicial activism, but they may not filibuster her nomination.
It is expected that GOP lawmakers, who lack the votes to stop her nomination outright and may not have enough to support a filibuster against her, may use the hearings as a "teachable moment" about the problems of judicial activism.
That's the attitude that prompted the Supreme Court to allow unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy for any reason as a result of its Roe v. Wade decision that has yielded 52 million abortions in the decades since.
I think a recurrent theme will be: Here you have a person who has been deeply involved in policy-politics most of her life without a judicial record to demonstrate that she can put that behind her on the bench, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, a pro-life member of the committee, told Politico. And therefore she s got a burden of proof to find other ways to assure us that she will decide cases just based on the facts and not just based on the politics," he said.
As far as a filibuster is concerned, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, pro-life Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, said Sunday it is still on the table. If things come out that indicate she s so far outside the mainstream, it s conceivable a filibuster might occur, Sessions said on CBS s "Face the Nation."
But pro-life Utah Sen. Orrin hatch says he doesn't believe Republicans will filibuster Kagan's nomination. Full story at LifeNews.com
Court Reinstates Lawsuit Against Obama's Embryonic Stem Cell Research Funding
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A federal appeals court has reinstate the lawsuit a collection of pro-life groups have filed against the Obama administration for forcing taxpayers to finance embryonic stem cell research involving the destruction of human life.
The organizations were successful in getting the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals to reinstate their case against the Health and Human Services Department.
The suit is a response to President Barack Obama's decision last year to overturn the protections the Bush administration put in place preventing funding of research that involves the destruction of human life.
The court's decision found that doctors doing adult stem cell research have "competitive standing" to sue to preliminarily enjoin and ultimately overturn the controversial guidelines for public funding of embryonic stem cell research that the National Institutes of Health issued in July 2009 to implement Obama's executive order forcing the funding.
The implementation of these guidelines marks the first time that taxpayer dollars have been used to fund research that will result in the destruction of human embryos. Since 1994, Congress has expressly banned NIH from funding research in which human embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.
Thomas G. Hungar, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, told LifeNews.com in a statement that the language of the statute is clear. It bans public funding for any research that leads to the destruction of human embryos." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Abortion Senator Robert Byrd Dies; Death Affects Election, Kagan Hearings
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Senator Robert Byrd, the pro-abortion West Virginia Democrat who held the title of the longest serving senator in the history of the Senate, passed away early Monday morning. His death could affect both the 2010 election picture as well as the hearings on pro-abortion Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.
Byrd was hospitalized on Sunday and his staff described him as seriously ill.
His passing leaves Democrats in the Senate with 58 votes, two shy of the 60-vote majority they need to stop filibusters, such as one Republicans may mount against Kagan.
Byrd was first elected in 1953 and, after the Roe v. Wade decision, with Congress casting votes on abortion, he frequently took the pro-abortion side.
In his last election in 2006, Byrd campaign spokesman Mark Ferrell pointed to his handful of pro-life votes as reasons to re-elect the senator. He said Byrd voted to ban partial-birth abortions and supported President Bush's two nominees to the Supreme Court, who enjoyed support from pro-life groups.
However, according to the National Right to Life Committee, Byrd has just a 33 percent pro-life voting record in 2005-2006, only a 36 percent pro-life voting record from 2003-2004 and scored a 0 percent pro-life rating from 2001-2002.
More recently, Byrd had a 0 percent pro-life voting record in 2009-2010 as he voted for the health care bill that contained massive taxpayer funding of abortions and against the Mexico City Policy that prevents tax-funding of groups that promote and perform abortions in other nations. Full story at LifeNews.com
New Study Denying Fetal Pain Lacks Scientific Basis Pro-Life Groups Say
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new study from members of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists lacks a strong scientific basis and ignores the evidence supplies in several previous studies supplied by leading researchers in the field, say pro-life groups who are criticizing the new report.
As LifeNews.com reported last week, the new study, from a Working Party of RCOG, disputes an overwhelming body of evidence that unborn children can feel pain in utero.
The new study claims the nerve connections to the brain are not fully developed to the point at which babies before birth have the ability to feel pain.
While claiming fetal pain doesn't begin until late in pregnancy, the doctors also suggest that, after 24 weeks into the pregnancy, sunburn children are in a state of "continuous sleep-like unconsciousness or sedation."
Mary Spaulding Balch, a National Right to Life attorney who has overseen the development of legislation in the Unite States informing women of the pain unborn children experience in an abortion, told LifeNews.com that most scientific research says the pain exists.
"An objective expert in neurobiology would be appalled by the stunning lack of scholarship in the RCOG article," she said. That's because the authors of the article have a pro-abortion bias and include one abortion practitioner, she explained. Full story at LifeNews.com
 The Value of Life Project. See a preview of this unique animated video illustrating the miracle of a baby s development and help fund the completion of this unique project. The final DVD will be available for elementary schools. View the trailer at www.lumen.tv and help complete/distribute the DVD. |
Mike Huckabee Opens Door to 2012 Presidential Bid, Says He Leads GOP Polls
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee left the door open to a potential presidential bid in 2012 against pro-abortion President Barack Obama. During a Sunday interview, he said he does better against Obama than any of the potential Republican presidential candidates.
Huckabee said, as most potential candidates have, that he is making no decision on a presidential run until after the midterm elections this November.
Huckabee, a Fox News contributor, said on "Fox News Sunday," that I haven't closed the door. I think that would be foolish on my part, especially when poll after poll shows that there is strong sentiment out there."
"I end up leading a lot of the polls. I'm the Republican that clearly, at this point, does better against Obama than any other Republican, said Huckabee.
Huckabee is one of several pro-life candidates who may wind up running for the GOP nomination against Obama, who has been described as the "abortion president" by pro-life detractors. At the National Right to Life convention, Huckabee saw support from attendees, as LifeNews.com staffers observed first-hand.
The recent polling data over the last few months bears out the former governor's claim that he does better against Obama than his potential primary opponents. Full story at LifeNews.com
by Kyle Drennen
When President Bush nominated John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court in 2005, the media did not hesitate to describe both men as "very conservative," but when President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Elena Kagan this year many in the press couldn't seem to identify any liberal ideology. The Media Research Center has produced a video compilation of examples to further demonstrate the obvious double standard. [Audio available here]
During ABC's live special coverage of Roberts's nomination on July 19, 2005, then This Week host and former Democratic operative George Stephanopoulos declared: "This is a very conservative man with a strong paper trail that proves it." NPR's Nina Totenberg could hardly contain her urge to label, using the word "conservative" several times during a July 23 appearance on Inside Washington: "John Roberts is a really conservative guy...he's a conservative Catholic....[President Bush] has given conservatives a hardline conservative." Full story at LifeNews.com
Adult Stem Cells, Not Embryonic, Cure Blindness in Dozens of Patients in Italy
Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- Scientists from around the world have told the public that Embryonic stem cells will cause the lame to walk and the blind to see, but it is only adult stem cells that have ever helped patients. New reports from Italy indicate blind patients are able to see fully or partially thanks to the sue of adult stem cells.
Dozens of people who were blinded or otherwise suffered from vision problems when their eyes were splashed with dangerous chemicals have had their sight restored.
Italian researchers reported their success on Wednesday in a new report that has since caused a worldwide stir.
Dr. Ivan Schwab of the University of California, Davis, an ophthalmologist who was not involved in the study, said it is the largest of its kind and told AP it was "a roaring success."
The adult stem cell treatments worked completely for 82 of 107 eyes involved in the study and was partially successful in 14 more. The benefits, AP notes, have last for at least a decade with some patients involved and one man who is 60 and had his eyes very severely damaged years ago now has near normal vision. Full story at LifeNews.com
Story of ER Sending Starving Boy Home May be Common Under ObamaCare
by Jordan Marie Bauer
A recent story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Lake City ER sends starving disabled boy home with just a note" (June 17, 2010), has caused quite the stir. An investigative report released last week by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) revealed that a disabled, severely malnourished boy from Lake City, Minnesota, was wrongly sent home from a hospital emergency room without any medical assessment or treatment.
After school nurses found open lesions on the Lake City boy's back, and noted that he could not walk or feed himself and lay on a school cot in the fetal position, the boy's parents were told by social service and law enforcement officials to take him to an emergency room as soon as possible.
The boy was brought to the Lake City Medical Center; however, due to decisions made that were not in the best interests of the boy's health, he was sent home and did not receive the medical treatment he so desperately needed.
The next day social service workers had the boy taken to another hospital, where he was "admitted several days due to severe malnutrition, starvation, bedsores and uncontrolled seizures," according to the MDH report. Full story at LifeNews.com
Nebraska Planned Parenthood Challenges law to Help Women Get Abortion Info
Lincoln, NE (LifeNews.com) -- Planned Parenthood of the Heartland announced today it has filed a lawsuit against a bill designed to help women get the kind of information on abortion's risks and alternatives that it fails to provide women when they consider abortion. The abortion business is challenging LB 594, the "Women s Health Protection Act."
Planned Parenthood complains the bill "imposes requirements that are both impossible to meet and require physicians to flood their patients with false and misleading information."
The new law tightens informed consent requirements that help women choose abortion alternatives. It helps women understand the physical, psychological, emotional, demographic or situational risk factors associated with an abortion.
Republican Gov. Dave Heineman signed the bill into law in April after the unicameral Nebraska legislature approved it 44-5.
He said the bill, and another educating women on the pain their unborn child will feel during an abortion, is " important legislation for Nebraska and I want to thank both senators for their thoughtful approach to this issue." Full story at LifeNews.com
Missouri Becomes Second State to Allow Women to Use Force to Protect Unborn
Jefferson City, MO (LifeNews.com) -- Last week, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon signed House Bill 2081 into law -- making the Midwestern state the second in the nation to adopt a new kind of law. The measure ensures a pregnant woman can use deadly force to protect the life of her unborn child.
The new law is based on innovative Americans United for Life model legislation:the Pregnant Woman s Protection Act.
In 2009, Oklahoma became the first state to enact what AUL attorney Denise Burke terms "important and much-needed legislation" -- passing it by unanimous votes in both the House and Senate.
Recognizing what Burke calls a "critical deficiency in state criminal laws," AUL developed the Pregnant Woman s Protection Act that she says would "ensure that women who use force, including deadly force, to protect the lives of their unborn children from criminal attacks are not later themselves subjected to prosecution and incarceration."
"Importantly, the new law extends both legal recognition and legal protection to an unborn child. It also further isolates abortion as the only instance in which such legal recognition and legal protection are not afforded to an unborn child," Burke said of the new Missouri law. Full story at LifeNews.com
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