LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, July 1, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Kagan Asked About Memo Manipulating ACOG Statement on Partial-Birth Abortion
• Kagan Attempted to Influence Second Medical Group on Partial-Birth Abortions
• Supreme Court Upheld Hyde Amdt 30 Years Ago, Kagan Would Back Abortion $
• House GOP Leaders Push Discharge Petition Against Pro-Abortion Health Care
• Missouri Senate Race has Pro-Life Roy Blunt Leading Pro-Abortion Carnahan
•Nevada Senate Candidate Angle Opposes Abortion in Rape Cases, "God Has Plan"
• Texas Court Again Upholds Unborn Victims Law Protecting Women, Unborn Babies
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Kagan Asked About Memo Manipulating ACOG Statement on Partial-Birth Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan faced questions today about a memorandum she wrote during her time in the Clinton administration. The memo has Kagan altering the opinion of a major medical organization on partial-birth abortion, which it said was never medically necessary.
The memo is particularly concerning because it has her changing the opinion of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which said it found no medical reason for a woman to have a partial-birth abortion.
At the time, ACOG said an expert panel it commissioned could find no medical reason why the partial-birth abortion procedure would ever be used to protect a woman's life or health.
It produced a paper confirming ACOG could identify no circumstances under which this procedure . . . would be the only option to save the life or preserve the health of the woman.
That opinion did not persuade President Bill Clinton to sign a ban on the three-day-long abortion procedure that involves the partial birth of an unborn child and the gruesome destruction of the baby's life by jabbing medical scissors into its skull unless it contained a health exception for women.
The memo says the ACOG statement would be a "disaster" for the Clinton administration, which falsely maintained there were supposedly some circumstances in which partial-birth abortions are medically necessary.
This, of course, would be disaster -- not the less so (in fact, the more so) because ACOG continues to oppose the legislation, Kagan said of the inability to discern a medical reason for the second-trimester abortion procedure.
Kagan also appears to suggest manipulating ACOG's statement to support Clinton's position.
Notes in Kagan s handwriting list suggested options for modifying the ACOG position statement including having the Clinton administration claiming a partial-birth abortion "may be the best or most appropriate procedure in a particular circumstance to save the life or preserve the health of a woman."
That language made its way into the final version of the ACOG statement released about the ban along with the original language found by the panel of medical experts. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kagan Attempted to Influence Second Medical Group on Partial-Birth Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The pressure on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has jumped this week thanks to a memo she wrote during the Clinton administration showing her pressuring a medical group to change its position on partial-birth abortion. Now, new files indicated Kagan also pressured a second group.
Kagan urged Clinton to oppose any meaningful restrictions on partial-birth abortion and went as far as manipulating the option of one medical group, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which said such abortions are never medically necessary.
Senators asked Kagan about that memo today during Judiciary Committee hearings and she explained her actions away by saying she wanted to help ACOG form a more accurate opinion.
Now, according to a report Americans United for Life furnished to LifeNews.com, Kagan s lobbying for changes to medical associations positions while in the White House is further evidenced by an email found in her White House documents.
The email has Kagan clearly trying to change the position of another medical group, the American Medical Association.
Kagan discussed with other Clinton administration officials whether the AMA could reverse its policy saying there is not an identified situation in which partial-birth abortion is the only appropriate method of abortion. The AMA also noted ethical concerns with partial-birth abortions and said that it should not be used unless it is absolutely necessary.
We agreed to do a bit of thinking about whether we (in truth, HHS) could contribute to that effort [convincing the AMA to reverse their policy]," Kagan wrote in the email. "Chuck and I are meeting with the AG on Tuesday; Donna offered to send over some doctors this week (though we don't know who or when) to give a medical briefing.
Responding to Kagan's comments in the email, AUL said: "In other words, Kagan was so opposed to the passage of a ban on partial-birth abortion, she hoped that ACOG and the AMA would suppress or modify their views and aggressively worked to make that happen." Full story at LifeNews.com
Supreme Court Upheld Hyde Amdt 30 Years Ago, Kagan Would Back Abortion $
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Thirty years ago today, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Harris v. McRae, resolving a four-year legal battle to ensure that Congress may prohibit taxpayer dollars from funding abortions. Now, pro-life advocates are concerned Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan would scrap the decision.
Harris v. McRae has prevented taxpayer-funded abortion under Medicaid for three decades, and established a legislative standard set by the Hyde Amendment. This narrow 5-4 decision has had a major impact on an issue upon which seven out of ten voters agree - public funds should not be used for abortion.
But with a debate over taxpayer funding of abortions taking center stage in the congressional battle over health care, abortion advocates showed their hand -- they want the Hyde amendment removed.
They could find themselves with another ally on the Supreme Court if the Senate confirms Kagan's nomination.
Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, told supporters in a speech last week, We won Harris v. McRae with one vote.
In a statement today, AUL expanded on that and said it worries what direction Kagan would take.
"Among those who opposed the decision were Justice John Paul Stevens, whose seat President Obama proposes to fill with Elena Kagan, and Justice Thurgood Marshall, for whom Kagan clerked and has repeatedly singled out as someone she admires," the pro-life legal group said. "Marshall, an advocate of unrestricted abortion, thought that a judge should 'do what [he] thinks is right and let the law catch up.'" Full story at LifeNews.com
House GOP Leaders Push Discharge Petition Against Pro-Abortion Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- House Republican leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor announced today they will sign discharge petitions promoted by Reps. Steve King and Wally Herger that would force votes in the House on legislation seeking to undermine the pro-abortion health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law.
The King discharge petition which repeals portions of ObamaCare -- has already been filed and the Herger petition is expected to be filed within the next month, or as soon as permitted under House rules.
"The American people asked Congress and President Obama not to pass the massive health care overhaul, and they were ignored. Three months later, they remain opposed to it, worried about the consequences it is having for job creation, the national debt, and the cost and quality of their health care," Boehner and Cantor said in a statement.
They added: "The House should immediately vote on and pass legislation that would implement the will of the American people with respect to the president s health care law."
King s petition would force a vote on his bill, which would repeal the portions of ObamaCare that originated in the Senate and clear the way for Congress to start over with new legislation, such as the one Republicans sponsored with no abortion funding.
Herger s forthcoming discharge petition would force a vote on his bill, which would repeal all of ObamaCare, including the provisions enacted through the reconciliation process, and replace it with the pro-life health care bill the GOP put forward. Full story at LifeNews.com
Missouri Senate Race has Pro-Life Roy Blunt Leading Pro-Abortion Carnahan
Jefferson City, MO (LifeNews.com) -- Missouri s Senate race is a close one, but a new Rasmussen poll has pro-life candidate Roy Blunt ahead of his pro-abortion opponent Robin Carnahan. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters has Blunt with 48 percent compared with 43 percent for Carnahan.
Three percent favor some other candidate and six percent of Missouri voters remain undecided.
Pollster Scott Rasmussen says the polling data consistently show Blunt, who has the backing of pro-life groups, with a lead.
"Blunt s support since September has remained in the range of 44% to 50%, while Carnahan s in the same period has run from 41% to 46%. The Democrat has never led in the race," he said. "The Republican posts a better than two-to-one lead among voters not affiliated with either of the major parties."
Blunt and Carnahan, both members of prominent Missouri political families, are expected to win their respective party primaries on August 3.
Blunt is aided by the 61 percent of Show Me State voters who favor repeal of the recently passed abortion-funding health care law which Blunt voted against as a member of Congress. Just 35 percent oppose repeal. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Nevada Senate Candidate Angle Opposes Abortion in Rape Cases, "God Has Plan"
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle, who is taking on pro-abortion Sen. Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the chamber, showed her pro-life views in a new radio interview. She said she opposes abortion cases of rape or incest and said God has a plan for women and children who have been victimized.
In an interview with a local radio show, Angle said, "I'm pro responsible choice. There is choice to abstain and a choice to do contraception. There are all kind of good choices."
Asked if there is any reason at all for abortion, she added, "Not in my book."
"So, in other words, rape and incest would not be something?" Angle was asked.
"You know, I'm a Christian and I believe that God has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives and that he can intercede in all kinds of situations and we need to have a little faith in many things," she responded.
The Nevada Democratic Party and others have strongly criticized Angle for her comments, but women who say they were born as the result of a rape have said over the years that they are glad they did not become victims of abortion.
Julie Makimaa, who works diligently against the perception that abortion is acceptable or even necessary in cases of sexual assault, proclaims, It doesn't matter how I began. What matters is who I will become. Full story at LifeNews.com
Texas Court Again Upholds Unborn Victims Law Protecting Women, Unborn Babies
Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) -- A Texas court has again upheld a pro-life law that offers both protection of and justice for pregnant women and their unborn children who are victims of violent crimes. The law allows prosecutors to charge criminals with two crimes when they kill or injure both mother and child.
Texas' Prenatal Protection Act passed in the state legislature in 2003 and it was inspired by the deaths of Laci and Connor Peterson.
Since then, criminals have been successfully convicted of crimes of homicide for taking the lives of unborn children.
In another victory for the law, the state's highest criminal court unanimously upheld the conviction of a San Antonio man for murdering a pregnant girl and her thirteen-week-old unborn child.
In its opinion, delivered on June 16, the nine-member Texas Court of Criminal Appeals relied heavily on an amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) brief submitted by Texas Alliance for Life.
The Court noted that Roe v. Wade permits states to criminalize the homicide of an unborn child so long as the law does not restrict the mother's right to terminate her pregnancy. Full story at LifeNews.com
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