LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Obama Admin to Spend $125M to Defend Pro-Abortion Health Care Law
• New Elena Kagan Memo Urged Clinton to Oppose Ban on Assisted Suicide
• Judicial Expert: Memo Makes it Clear Elena Kagan Would Back Roe, Abortion
• NARAL Pushes Amdt Allowing Abortions at Tax-Funded Military Hospitals
• Sister Carol Keehan Gives Catholic HS Speech Despite Abortion Bill Support
• Forgotten Father's Day: Abortion Has Negative Impact for Men, Relationships
• Kenya No Campaigners Start Work to Oppose Pro-Abortion Draft Constitution
• Penn Teenager Does Self-Abortion, Older Boyfriend Buries Baby's Body
• Florida Pro-Life Group Lobbies Gov Crist to Sign Ultrasound-Abortion Bill
• Connecticut Trial Court Rejects Attempt to Overturn Ban on Assisted Suicide
• UK Stats Reveal Dozens of IVF Unborn Children Die Annually Via Abortions
• Pro-Life Advocates Challenge Free Speech Limits at DC Planned Parenthood
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Obama Administration to Spend $125M to Defend Pro-Abortion Health Care Law
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Obama administration is unveiling a new $125 million publicity campaign over the next five years to promote the pro-abortion health care law. Obama officials are replying on a pro-abortion former senator and a former official of a top pro-abortion group to make the case for the law.
The move comes as polling data continues to show a majority of Americans oppose the pro-abortion, government-run health care system Obama and his congressional allies created.
Despite an executive order Obama signed, the program contains massive funding for abortions and states are already exercising their option to opt out of some of the abortion funding.
Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle and Victoria Kennedy, wife of the late pro-abortion Sen. Ted Kennedy, will head up the new public relations campaign.
Andrew Grossman, a veteran Democratic operative, will head up to day-to-day operations of the new effort, dubbed the Health Information Center, according to a Politico report. Grossman is already raising money from unions, corporations and foundations to help defend the health care scheme.
Tomorrow, President Barack Obama will kick off a series of public events designed to boost support for the pro-abortion health care program in advance of the coming November elections that appear likely to have numerous pro-abortion Democrats losing their congressional seats. Full story at LifeNews.com
New Elena Kagan Memo Urged Clinton to Oppose Ban on Assisted Suicide
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- When the Clinton presidential library released papers written by Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan last week, two of them had Kagan taking a pro-abortion position. A third shows Kagan urging former president Bill Clinton to oppose a ban on assisted suicide.
The issue of assisted suicide came up in the Clinton administration following a vote by Oregon voters to make the state the first in the nation to legalize the practice.
The Clinton administration was considering issuing a ruling saying Oregon doctors who prescribe federally controlled drugs to kill patients in assisted suicides were not violating federal law in doing so.
Kagan penned a hand-written note about whether the Justice Department ruling should be accompanied by legislation -- such as a ban on assisted suicide. She noted that Begala likes it, a reference to Paul Begala, a top adviser to Clinton.
This is a fairly terrible idea," she added about a national ban on physicians killing patients.
At the time, pro-life lawmakers, including Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and Representative Henry Hyde of Illinois, had hoped to get the Drug Enforcement Administration to counteract the Oregon law by making it illegal for physicians to use federally-controlled drugs in the assisted suicides.
Since all assisted suicides involve such drugs, that would have the effect of nullifying the Oregon assisted suicide law. Full story at LifeNews.com
Judicial Expert: Memo Makes it Clear Elena Kagan Would Back Roe, Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Last week, a legal memo Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan authored during her time as a law clerk for pro-abortion Justice Thurgood Marshall received new attention. One early analysis from a pro-life legal group suggests the memos show Kagan's pro-abortion mindset.
Americans United for Life, which brought up the memo weeks earlier, said they show Kagan will promote abortion on the high court, if confirmed.
Now, another judicial expert, Carrie Severino, chief counsel for the Judicial Crisis Network, concurs with that analysis.
She says the "Kagan documents may give insight into her studiously guarded record."
One of the documents relates to a case of a prisoner who wanted her state to use taxpayer funds to pay for her abortion. Kagan expressed her concern to Marshall that the Supreme Court would use the case to finally place some limits on abortion.
"This case is likely to become the vehicle that this court uses to create some very bad law on abortion and/or prisoners' rights," she wrote in the 1988 memo, and recommended Marshall vote against reviewing the case.
Severino writes that Kagan felt it was "incorrect" for the federal appeals court to suggest that he state should pay for inmates abortions because the general public didn't have the same "right" to taxpayer-financed abortions.
Writing at National Review, Severino says Kagan's response indicates "she was political in her recommendations to her boss even if she thought a case below was wrong, she was more concerned about the direction in which the law would be shifted than about doing justice in an individual case or taking on a case that might go the wrong way." Full story at LifeNews.com
NARAL Pushes Amendment Allowing Abortions at Tax-Funded Military Hospitals
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A top pro-abortion organization is pushing an amendment its supporters added to a Senate bill that would turn U.S. military base hospitals into abortion centers. It would overturn current federal policy against elective abortions done at the bases, which are run with taxpayer dollars.
Sen. Rolland Burris of Illinois won approval for attaching the amendment to a bill in the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The panel voted 15-12 for the amendment with all Republicans and Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson voting against it and all other Democrats voting for it.
While pro-life lawmakers hope to remove the Burris amendment on the Senate floor, NARAL is asking its members across the nation to contact lawmakers and tell them to support it.
NARAL bills the amendment as "ending a ban on military women s ability use their own money to access abortion" and glosses over the fact that taxpayers are on the hook for the abortions because the base and its staff, equipment and supplies are wholly paid for at taxpayer expense.
"Right now, women who serve in the military in places like Afghanistan have nowhere to turn if they face an unintended pregnancy because of an abortion ban," NARAL claims, ignoring a wealth of medical and other support for pregnant women who decide to keep their baby. Full story at LifeNews.com
Sister Carol Keehan Gives Catholic HS Speech Despite Pro-Abortion Bill Support
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Sister Carol Keehan, the head of the Catholic Health Association, gave the commencement speech this weekend before graduating seniors at Gonzaga College High School in Washington even though the CHA's support for the pro-abortion health care bill likely enabled its passage.
Keehan's eleventh-hour endorsement of the bill and false pronouncement that it did not contain abortion funding, gave political cover to some pro-life Democrats who wanted to support the bill but worried of running afoul of pro-life groups and the Catholic bishops.
She earned one of the 21 pens President Barack Obama used to sign the pro-abortion health care bill into law and her decision also earned her the commencement slot at the DC-based Catholic high school.
Washington Times columnist Elias Crim noted the problems the CHA caused.
"The CHA endorsement created an impression of internal division on what many had assumed was a bedrock Catholic commitment to protect human life. In response, a cardinal and two bishops, speaking for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement on May 21 that rebuked the CHA," he recalled.
In fact, the Bishop William Murphy and Bishop John C. Wester held CHA responsible for sowing "confusion" and opening a "wound to Catholic unity." Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact Fr Novotny at Gonzaga HS at anovotny@gonzaga.org with your complaints.
Forgotten Father's Day: Abortion Has Negative Impact for Men, Relationships
by David C. Reardon, Ph.D.
In the early 1970s, Arthur Shostak accompanied his partner to a well-groomed suburban abortion clinic. They had both agreed abortion was best. But sitting in the waiting room proved to be a "bruising experience." By the time he left the clinic, he was shocked by about how deeply disturbed he had become.
A professor of sociology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Shostak spent the subsequent ten years studying the abortion experience of men. His study included a survey of 1,000 men who accompanied their wives or girlfriends to abortion clinics.
Shostak's study was published in Men and Abortion: Lessons, Losses and Love, in 1984. The value of this study is limited to reporting mostly the short term reactions of men to the pregnancy and the decision to abort. In addition, because of the selection process, this study did not reflect the attitudes or experiences of men who did not accompany their partners to the abortion clinic--which could be because they were unaware of the pregnancy and abortion, because they were casual or unsupportive partners, or because they were opposed to the abortion.
Despite these significant limitations, Shostak's study, using the largest group of men ever surveyed about their abortions, is still the benchmark study in this understudied field.
Shostak reported that the majority of the men surveyed in clinic waiting rooms felt isolated, angry at their partners or themselves, and were concerned about the physical and emotional damage abortion might cause their partner. Only about one-fourth of the men stated that they had offered to pay the costs of raising the child if the woman didn't abort. Half of the single men said they offered to marry their female partner if continued the pregnancy. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kenya No Campaigners Start Work to Oppose Pro-Abortion Draft Constitution
Nairobi, Kenya (LifeNews.com) -- The grassroots organizers of the No campaign on the pro-abortion draft constitution Kenya residents will vote on at the polls in August have started their campaign in earnest. Their effort to stop approval of the constitution comes after polling data shows a majority of Kenyans support it.
Tom Namwamba told the Capital News that the No campaign will begin on Wednesday with a large event at the Red Card Center in Upper Hill.
I can assure you powerful statements will be made on that day, he said. We want Kenyans to know that they are in the trap if they accept the new constitution. We want to get them out of that trap."
Higher Education Minister William Ruto has become the de facto political leader of the No campaign but this grassroots effort will be more of a people's response to the constitution, which contains language undermining Kenya's history pro-life laws protecting women and unborn children.
We need Kenyans to know that the No team is not opposed to the new Constitution but what we are saying is we need a Constitution that measures to the expectations of all Kenyans, Namwamba told the Capital News. We need a Constitution that is people-based not government driven.
President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga are heading up the Yes campaign and say they want to get the constitution approved and pass amendments to it later. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pennsylvania Teenager Does Self-Abortion, Older Boyfriend Buries Baby's Body
Lehigh, PA (LifeNews.com) -- A 13-year-old Pennsylvania girl reportedly conducted a self-abortion using a lead pencil after her much-old boyfriend subjected her to statutory rape. The 30-year-old boyfriend, officials say, then buried the body of the dead unborn child after the abortion was completed.
Pennsylvania State Police told the Express Times newspaper that staff at the Lehigh Valley Hospital informed them Sunday morning of the incident.
Hospital officials say signs indicate the unnamed Polk Township girl was pregnant and told them she became very ill in the three days following the self-induced abortion, started having contractions and ultimately delivered the dead baby.
Police informed the newspaper that Michael James Lisk, of Kunkletown, who is believed to be the father of the unborn child, put the baby's body in a plastic shopping bag and buried the bag in a wooded area alongside a road between his house and the girl's.
A police forensics unit has recovered the bag and the body of the baby and will run DNA tests to determine the parents. Full story at LifeNews.com
Florida Pro-Life Group Lobbies Governor Crist to Sign Ultrasound-Abortion Bill
Tallahassee, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A state pro-life group is upping the pressure on Governor Charlie Crist to sign a bill that helps women by allowing them a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child before an abortion. Crist has made it appear he will likely veto the bill, which is under attack by pro-abortion groups.
On April 30th, the Florida Legislature passed HB 1143 -- with the House backing it 76-44 and the Senate 23-16. Both are short of the two-thirds necessary to override a gubernatorial veto.
Carrie Eisnaugle, the president of Florida Right to Life, told LifeNews.com today that her group, which called weeks ago for Crist to sign the bill, is upping its efforts for a final push.
She told pro-life advocates, "we still need your help and action on this important bill."
"It is expected to be in front of the Governor for his signature or veto very soon. We need a strong final push of support for this bill so Governor Crist will know where the majority of his constituency stands on this is," she added. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact Governor Crist: Phone: 850-488-7146, Fax 850-487-0801, or write him at Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
Connecticut Trial Court Rejects Attempt to Overturn Ban on Assisted Suicide
Hartford, CT (LifeNews.com) -- A Connecticut trial court judge rejected a lawsuit by euthanasia advocates seeking to overturn the Connecticut ban on assisted suicide. had the lawsuit been successful, it could have made the New England state the fourth after Oregon, Washington, and Montana to allow assisted suicides.
Gary Blick and Ronald Levine, two Fairfield County doctors, brought the lawsuit with the support of the pro-euthanasia group Compassion & Choices and state attorneys hoped Judge Julia Aurigemma would dismiss it.
Judge Aurigemma did just that -- and dismissed the petition, although the backers of the lawsuit are expected to file an appeal.
The euthanasia advocates argued the state s manslaughter statute, which explicitly criminalizes aiding another person in suicide, should not apply to physicians who provide aid in dying by prescribing lethal drugs to patients.
Mailee Smith, an attorney with Americans United for Life, said the argument "represents a new tactic by suicide advocates: attempting to redefine assisted suicide by creating new legal terminology and tricking the courts and the American public into legalizing physician-assisted suicide under a different name." Full story at LifeNews.com
UK Stats Reveal Dozens of IVF Unborn Children Die Annually Via Abortions
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- In-vitro fertilization is sold as a foolproof technology designed to help parents who can't and have children and want them to have them. But new figures from the UK provide evidence of what is likely a global phenomenon -- many unborn children created via IVF ultimately die in abortions.
That has pro-life groups condemning what they call the commoditization of human life.
Statistics from the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (HFEA) released under the Freedom of Information Act show as many as one percent of all IVF pregnancies end in abortion.
Although the process is costly and complex, some women do not carry the pregnancy to term because of relationship problems, money or other issues.
IVF is not a procedure to be undertaken lightly and we know what it means personally to the many women who make this decision every year. The HFEA does not regulate terminations of pregnancies," officials from HFEA told WebMD. "All patients who undergo IVF are assessed, as are the implications for any child that might be born, in advance of the decision to treat.
Another reason for the abortions is the process commonly called reduction -- the intentional killing of one or more unborn children because more than one embryo was implanted and more than one unborn child made it further in the pregnancy. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Wisconsin Right to Life Continues "Pass it On" Campaign with father's Day Video
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Planned Parenthood in the nation's capital has put up a fence around public property and threatened to arrest members of the pro-life community who attempt to pray and counsel at its abortion center there. For years, people were allowed to pray, counsel and maintain a pro-life witness.
That has changed with the fence, but the Christian Defense Coalition has applied for a permit to hold a prayer vigil on the public sidewalk leading to the entrance of Planned Parenthood.
Now, D.C. police officers have threatened to arrest people involved in reaching out to women heading to the abortion facility.
However, local pro-life advocates say they will proceed with a prayer vigil that will take place on Tuesday morning. Full story at LifeNews.com
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