LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, July 30, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Obama Admin Bows to Pressure, Appears to Limit Abortion Funding in Health Care
• Obama Officials Won't Apply Abortion Funding Limits to Full Health Care Program
• Pro-Abortion Elena Kagan Called "Dangerous" as Fourth Republican Backs Her
• Congressman Files New Pro-Life Bill to Cut All Federal Funding for Abortions
• Obama Rationing Czar Donald Berwick Asked to Detail His Lifetime Health Care
• United Nations Cmte Attacks Motherhood, Demands Abortion Rights for Women
• France Rocked by Shocking Case of Mother Who Killed Eight Newborn Infants
• Texas Legislator Seeks Atty General Opinion on De-Funding Planned Parenthood
• Kansas Senate Candidate Todd Tiahrt Gets Pro-Life Group's Endorsement
• Latin American Summit ECLAC in Brazil Promotes Abortion for Gender Equality
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Obama Admin Bows to Pressure, Appears to Limit Abortion Funding in Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Obama administration appears to have bowed to pressure from pro-life groups that discovered it had authorized abortion funding in three states under the new high risk health insurance programs created under the new government-run health care bill, President Barack Obama signed into law.
The Department of Health and Human Services issued a new regulation today that it says prohibits the high risk health insurance pools from covering elective abortions with federal taxpayer funds.
However, pro-life groups informed LifeNews.com that the limits do not apply to all aspects of the health care law, just the high risk insurance pools.
The new regulation says the subject of taxpayer funding of abortion under the new health care bill was addressed in the executive order Obama released that pro-life groups said was not sufficient to prevent abortion funding.
It also said the health care bill did not overturn current limits on abortion funding such as the Hyde Amendment, although the amendment does not apply to the health care law.
"These restrictions currently apply to certain Federal programs that are similar to the PCIP program," the regulation says -- though it does not say they cover the high risk pools created under the ObamaCare law.
The program is Federally-created, funded, and administered (whether directly or through contract); it is a temporary Federal insurance program in which the risk is borne by the Federal government up to a fixed appropriation," the new regulation says. "As such, the services covered by the PCIP [Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan] program shall not include abortion services except in the case of rape or incest, or where the life of the woman would be endangered. Full story at LifeNews.com
Obama Officials Won't Apply Abortion Funding Limits to Full Health Care Program
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Although the Obama administration promised it will limit federal taxpayer funding of abortions in the new high risk health insurance programs created under the ObamaCare law President Barack Obama signed into law, officials have said the limits are temporary and apply only to the new program.
As LifeNews.com reported today, the Obama administration appears to have bowed to pressure from pro-life groups that discovered it had authorized abortion funding in three states under the new high risk health insurance programs.
White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle offered further explanation of the new regulation on the official White House blog.
There she admitted that, "The program s restriction on abortion coverage is not a precedent for other programs or policies given the unique, temporary nature of the program and the population it serves."
Douglas Johnson, the legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, responded in an email to LifeNews.com.
Without blinking, the Obama Administration had approved high-risk pool plans submitted by at least three states that would have funded virtually all abortions until NRLC raised the alarms starting on July 13," he said.
This entire episode demonstrates what National Right to Life said in March there is no language in the new health care law, and no language in Obama s politically contrived March 24 executive order, that effectively prevents federal subsidies for abortion on demand, Johnson added. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Abortion Elena Kagan Called "Dangerous" as Fourth Republican Backs Her
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Supreme Court nominee and pro-abortion activist Elena Kagan picked up more support on Wednesday from a pro-abortion Republican senator who is now the fourth GOP lawmaker to endorse her. In response, the leading Republican on the Judiciary Committee called her a "dangerous" nominee.
Olympia Snowe, the pro-abortion Maine Republican, is the fourth GOP lawmaker to endorse Kagan but her decision to do so is somewhat less surprising than the decisions of typically pro-life Sens. Dick Lugar of Indiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
All four of the republicans who have endorsed Kagan also voted for pro-abortion Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
Snowe said Kagan had met her standard for a justice, "with the strong intellect, respect for the rule of law, and understanding of the important but limited role of the Supreme Court that I believe is required."
She said endorsements from judicial scholars and some conservatives persuaded her to endorse Kagan, though they likely provided her with political cover to do so.
Responding to Snowe's endorsement, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, warned senators that voting for Kagan would put a political activist on the high court.
"Be careful about it, because I'm afraid that we have a dangerous, progressive, political-type nominee," he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Congressman Files New Pro-Life Bill to Cut All Federal Funding for Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Congressman Chris Smith officially filed is new legislation today that would compile all of the annual provisions that prevent federal funding of abortions into one piece of legislation. The beauty of the bill lies in its ability to make what are annual battles to stop abortion funding permanent federal law.
When it comes to taxpayer funding of abortions from the federal government, pro-life advocates have to fight several battles annually in Congress to ensure abortions are not funded in programs ranging from HHS and USAID to health care and the District of Columbia.
Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, the chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, is behind the new No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act designed to establish a consistent government-wide prohibition on abortion funding.
Two leading pro-life groups praised the official introduction of the legislation, which likely won't ever enjoy a debate and vote while pro-abortion Speaker Nancy Pelosi runs the House of Representatives.
Family Research Council Action senior vice president Tom McClusky told LifeNews.com that with passage of a health care law that will fund and subsidize abortion, and with efforts by pro-abortion senators to open up military bases to abortion, legislation to enact a government-wide abortion funding ban is needed.
"In the last year, we have seen President Obama and pro-abortion congressional leaders make repeated attempts to eviscerate the long-agreed line on federal funding of abortion. They began by enacting the abortion funding health care law and are now advancing an abortion agenda that includes turning our military hospitals into abortion facilities," he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Obama Rationing Czar Donald Berwick Asked to Detail His Lifetime Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Senator Charles Grassley, a pro-life Iowa Republican, has sent a letter to Donald Berwick, the rationing advocate who President Barack Obama appointed to become the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, asking him about his lifetime health care.
Republican members of the Senate, who did not get a chance to hold a hearing or vote on Berwick thanks to the recess appointment, are concerned about Berwick's ties to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
The nonprofit organization received $12.2 million in contributions and grants in 2008, the Examiner indicates, and Berwick received $2.3 million that year in compensation. His salary from the organization was $637,006 in 2007 and $585,008 in 2006.
Berwick also receives, along with his wife, health care insurance coverage paid for by the Institute "from retirement until death."
Grassley's letter, sent today, requests that Berwick disclose information about the sources of funding for the Institute as Berwick promised to do last month. The letter asks for Berwick to provide this information to allow some transparency regarding actual or potential financial conflicts of interests in his role as CMS Administrator, given the Administration s apparent opposition to allowing you to appear before a Committee nomination hearing.
The letter also asks whether IHI continues to provide benefits to Berwick and his family including health care coverage as indicated in IHI s audited financial statement.
It remains unclear whether Berwick will decline his IHI-provided coverage and accept federal health coverage instead, thus subjecting himself to the same coverage decisions he and his agency will impose on one in three Americans. Full story at LifeNews.com
United Nations Cmte Attacks Motherhood, Demands Abortion Rights for Women
New York, NY (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- United Nations (UN) treaty committee notorious for its promotion of abortion and ideological positions not supported by UN treaties, concludes its session this week after launching attacks on motherhood and traditional gender roles, while calling for an ever-expanded array of new sexual and reproductive "rights."
The session was especially notable for the statement by the Russian Federation, which reported that decreasing abortion rates were helping to decrease the overall maternal mortality rates in that country.
The committee, which monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), is composed of 23 independent experts and is reviewing eight nations during their 46th session.
Before the CEDAW committee, the Russian Federation delegation highlighted a new two-year program of the Ministry of Health that focused on the prevention of abortion and the protection of life. The delegation was pleased to report to the committee that for the first time in decades, the birth rate was now exceeding the abortion rate and that the declining number of abortions was also decreasing women s mortality rates after birth or abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
France Rocked by Shocking Case of Mother Who Killed Eight Newborn Infants
Paris, France (LifeNews.com) -- France is making international headlines today with a shocking case of infanticide that has 47-year-old French woman Dominique Cottrez charged with killing eight of her own children over the course of the last 20 years. The news came to light after officials discovered the remains of two children.
The bodies of the two infants were found wrapped in plastic bags by the new owners of a house in the village of Villers-au-Tertre, near Lille, where Cottrez once lived.
Police tracked the previous occupants to another house in the vicinity where they found the bodies of six more children hidden at that property.
Cottrez, who has two grown daughters with her husband Pierre-Marie, is said to have been systematically killing her babies since 1988. Two of the bodies discovered had been hidden in the first house for more than 20 years.
If convicted on the charges, Cottrez faces a life term in prison while her husband, Pierre-Marie Cottrez, a 47-year old carpenter, was allowed to walk free under judicial control as Cottrez says he knows knowing of the killings or her burying the bodies. Full story at LifeNews.com
Texas Legislator Seeks Atty General Opinion on De-Funding Planned Parenthood
Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) -- A Texas state legislator is continuing his battle to ensure no tax dollars go to the Planned Parenthood abortion business, whether to pay for abortions or for other purposes. Sen. Bob Deuell, a Republican, is seeking an opinion from the attorney general in order to clamp down on the funding it receives.
In 2005, an amendment Deuell sponsored prevented tax dollars from going to organizations that "perform or promote abortions or contract or affiliate with entities that perform or promote abortions."
The amendment set up a "demonstration project" approved by the Bush administration that let the state avoid certain Medicaid regulations to obtain permission to siphon off the Planned Parenthood funds and send them elsewhere.
The goal was to make sure federal Medicaid money for family planning and women's health,such as cancer screenings, went to legitimate medical groups rather than the abortion business.
However, Planned Parenthood set up a separate business entity that runs its abortion business from the entity that runs the rest of its programs. The Texas Health Department, relying on its own internal attorneys, decided that it could to prevent the funds from going to Planned Parenthood despite the law the Texas legislature approved. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kansas Senate Candidate Todd Tiahrt Gets Pro-Life Group's Endorsement
Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) -- When Kansas voters head to the polls next week to cast their ballots for a Republican candidates to replace pro-life Senator Sam Brownback, the National Right to Life Committee hopes they will vote for pro-life congressman Todd Tiahrt. Yesterday, the National Right to Life Political Action Committee endorsed Tiahrt over pro-life Congressman Jerry Moran and other Republican candidates.
In their endorsement letter to Congressman Tiahrt, National Right to Life director David O'Steen, political director Karen Cross, and legislative director Douglas Johnson noted Tiahrt has been a "key leader on pro-life issues" who has "fought tenaciously against pro-abortion proposals that have surfaced" in the House Appropriations Committee.
The letter also noted that Tiahrt voted against President Barack Obama's massive health care restructuring bill in March.
The law will provide federal funding for insurance plans that cover abortion on demand and contains other provisions which can lead to further expansion of abortion. It also contains provisions that will result in large-scale rationing of lifesaving medical treatments, the pro-life group said. Full story at LifeNews.com
New York, NY (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- A recent gathering of Latin America s top economic commission issued a document praising secularism, condemning "lesbophobia," calling for redistributive social systems, and liberally promoting sexual and reproductive rights. Delegates from more than 30 Latin American and Caribbean countries attended the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean s (ECLAC) Eleventh Session of the Regional Conference on Women in Brazil. The purpose of the conference was to address gender equality and women s empowerment in economic terms. The delegates were mainly gender advisors, representing the government of member states.
The non-binding outcome document, which its proponents call The Brasilia Consensus, recommends that at the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals, which will be held in September 2010, particular attention should be paid to target 5B concerning universal access to reproductive health. Full story at LifeNews.com
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