LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Justice Anthony Kennedy Won't Retire Until Barack Obama No Longer President
• Pollster: 10-13 Senate Races Will Decide Control of Senate After 2010 Elections
• Pro-Life Women's Group SBA List Makes More 2010 Election Endorsements
• Saving Alex: Mainstream Media Ignores Success of Adult Stem Cell Treatments
• National Catholic Reporter Misleads Readers on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
• Kenya Doctors, Attorneys Work to Stop Pro-Abortion Provisions in Constitution
• Spain Pro-Life Advocates Upset New Abortion Law Going Info Effect Now
• Pro-Life Freedom Rides Featuring Black, Catholic Leaders Just Weeks Away
• Tennessee Right to Life Endorses Fincher for Congress, State Rep Candidate
• Rhode Island Pro-Life Group Backs Candidate John Robitaille for Governor
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Justice Anthony Kennedy Won't Retire Until Barack Obama No Longer President
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Justice Anthony Kennedy apparently has told close friends he will not retire from the Supreme Court until pro-abortion Barack Obama is no longer president. Although Kennedy is not supportive of overturning Roe v. Wade, pro-life advocates hope to replace him with a justice who will reverse it.
Kennedy is considered the swing vote on the high court when it comes to abortion as he went along with the four conservative jurists in upholding the national ban on partial-birth abortions.
However, Kennedy has sided with the four pro-abortion members of the court on the matter of Roe itself, the 1973 Supreme Court case that has resulted in more than 52 million abortions.
Today, the New York Daily News reports Kennedy has told friends, family and close associates he plans to stay on the Supreme Court through at least the end of Obama's term with the hopes he will be replaced by a Republican president
Kennedy turns 74 this month and he has spent 22 years on the Supreme Court, but reportedly doesn't want to see that legacy undone by a liberal justice.
Under Obama, the Supreme Court has already seen the addition of Sonia Sotomayor, an abortion advocate who is currently in the pro-abortion alliance of justices.
Now, the Senate is currently considering the nomination of Elena Kagan, Obama's pro-abortion Solicitor General who has been criticized for helping President Bill Clinton keep partial-birth abortions legal longer.
Pollster: 10-13 Senate Races Will Decide Control of Senate After 2010 Elections
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A prominent pollster has released his analysis of the 2010 election landscape as far as the U.S. Senate is concerned and he says 10-13 races will decide whether Democrats or Republicans have control over the chamber. Scott Rasmussen says GOP candidates need almost a full sweep to have control.
Currently, Rasmussen projects Democrats will have at least 49 of the 50 Senate seats when combining returning senators not up for re-election with those seats he expects Democrats to hold.
Republicans are projected to hold 41 seats with returning lawmakers and races they're likely to win.
That leaves 10 tossup races (and three of the projected seats that lean towards one party or the other) that will determine whether pro-abortion Democrats or pro-life Republicans run the Senate.
"Democrats can probably count on having at least 49 Senate seats after Election Day, while Republicans will hold a minimum of 41. In play, however, are 10 Toss-Up races that are likely to be the major storyline of Election 2010," Rasmussen says.
Republicans are poised to pick up Democratic-held Senate seats in four states Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana and North Dakota.
Arkansas' Blanche Lincoln is the only incumbent senator currently projected to lose a seat and three more GOP pickups include open-seat races following retirements by Democratic incumbents. Democrats are not currently expected to pick up any Republican seats, with one exception.
Six of the 10 toss-up states are currently Democratic seats, while four are held by the GOP, Rasmussen explains. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Women's Group SBA List Makes More 2010 Election Endorsements
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Susan B. Anthony List has released another round of endorsements of candidates in 2010 primary and general elections. The national pro-life political action committee says the women are adding to what is becoming the "year of the pro-life women" adding to primary election victories in other states.
SBA List is behind other women, such as pro-life Senate candidates Carly Fiorina in California and Sharron Angle in Nevada.
Now, SBA is backing congressional candidates Anne Marie Buerkle in New York, Renee Ellmers in North Carolina, Kristi Noem in South Dakota, Star Parker in California, Jaime Herrera in Washington and Diane Black in Tennessee.
The latest endorsements also include Nikki Haley, candidate for governor in the general election in South Carolina, and Rita Myer, candidate for governor in the Wyoming primary slated for August.
SBA List Candidate Fund President Marjorie Dannenfelser told LifeNews.com of the endorsements: "The emerging Year of the Pro-Life Woman is the most resounding affirmation of the SBA List's mission since our founding."
"America is embracing authentic feminism -- one which returns to its suffragist, pro-life roots. These women are the brightest stars of a populist, pro-woman, pro-life grassroots movement that is determined to return the strength of femininity to feminism," she added. Full story at LifeNews.com
Saving Alex: Mainstream Media Ignores Success of Adult Stem Cell Treatments
by Maria Vitale
Alex R. Szeles has lived the American dream. The Pennsylvania native married his high school sweetheart, became successful in several businesses, raised four children, and has lived to see 18 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
In an op-ed piece in the Patriot-News newspaper, he recalls receiving the shock of his life in April of 2007, when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow s plasma cells. My prognosis was that if treatments were to be started immediately, they could possibly buy me two years. But I wanted more.
So Alex and his wife Dory journeyed to the University of Arkansas and the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy. Alex s relief came by way of adult stem cell transplants.
As he says in the Patriot-News, I love the life that my wife and I have built together. I am fighting for my life with every fiber of my being. I have beaten the odds and am now 36 months past the date of my diagnosis.
Alex notes that adult stem cells have successfully treated more than 70 diseases, according to the Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics (www.stemcellresearch.org). As he points out in the Patriot-News piece, Adult stem cells have alleviated ailments such as diabetes and Parkinson s disease, and they carry with them none of the controversy that marks embryonic stem cell research, which has cured not a single mouse and involves the killing of human embryos.
Alex goes on to say, I am not willing to have another life tiny though it may be cut short so that I might have a longer life. I stand as a living example of the success of stem cell research, entirely ethical research, which gives hope and life and harms no one. Full story at LifeNews.com
National Catholic Reporter Misleads Readers on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
by Jack Smith
Bill Tammeus has written a column over at NCR titled It s easy to be misled on stem cell research, and he proves the point pretty well himself. It s hard to tell though whether he s misled or intending to mislead. At any rate, certainly his editors know he s factually incorrect.
Tammeus is a Presbyterian who is concerned that the Catholic church has an imprecise understanding of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) or cloning as it is known throughout the entire world except for the Greater Kansas City media market. This imprecise understanding has led to an unjustified moral condemnation of SCNT by the Catholic church, according to Tammeus. So he endeavors to explain the science for us poorly informed Catholics. This is so bad, I have to go line by line.
Tammeus explains that SCNT produces something he calls early stem cells . These are cells which unfortunately, imprecisely and thus misleadingly are usually called embryonic stem cells, he says. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kenya Doctors, Attorneys Work to Stop Pro-Abortion Provisions in Constitution
Nairobi, Kenya (LifeNews.com) -- A group of doctors and attorneys in Kenya have filed suit in court to get the provisions in the draft Constitution that promote abortion removed. Kenyans head to the polls next month to vote on the constitution and pro-life and church groups are forced to oppose it because it would allow unlimited abortions.
Currently, Kenya is one of the majority of nations in the world that protects women and unborn children from abortions.
The litigants in the new lawsuit say Article 26(4) of the proposed Constitution does not represent the views of the people of Kenya and should be struck from the document before voters go to the polls.
They are asking the Interim Independent Constitutional Dispute Resolution Court (IICDRC) to strike the language, according to a Capital FM report. They say the Committee of Experts (CoE) unlawfully ignored the recommendations from the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Constitution Review to come up with the provisions that would undermine Kenya's pro-life laws.
The insertion of words not recommended by the PSC renders the constitutional process a nullity and it is imperative for the court to intervene, their petition read, according to the news source. The CoE exceeded its mandate when it purported to change clauses regarding the rights to freedom of conscience, religion and opinion by entirely drafting new provisions. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Spain Pro-Life Advocates Upset New Abortion Law Going Info Effect Now
Madrid, Spain (LifeNews.com) -- Spanish pro-life advocates are upset that a new law went into effect Monday that expands abortions and provides no parental consent for teenagers wanting abortions.
Under the law, abortions are allowed for any reason to 14 weeks, and up to 22 weeks if an abortion practitioner certifies a serious threat to the health of the mother, or says the unborn child is disabled.
Beyond 22 weeks, abortions are only allowed in serious cases of fetal disability and in cases where the pregnancy threatens the mother's life.
Meanwhile, the head of the organization Professionals for Ethics, Jaime Urcelay, is also criticizing the law, according to CNA.
The first to be affected is the child whose life will be taken. But in addition, many women feel compelled either directly or indirectly to have an abortion for economic or professional reasons or out of pressure from family members or society, he said
Urcelay added that the law poses problems for medical workers who do not want to be involved in abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Freedom Rides Featuring Black, Catholic Leaders Just Weeks Away
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Organizers of the Pro-Life Freedom Rides are weeks away from what they hope will be an event that can draw African-Americans into the pro-life movement and shift the culture towards life. Drawing on the freedom rides of the civil rights era, the new rides focus on legal protection for unborn children.
The Freedom Riders of 1961 made history as they took their lives in their hands to protest the injustice of segregation. The Freedom Riders took their action to test a Supreme Court ruling that struck down segregation laws.
Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King, and the head of outreach to the black community for Priests for Life, will lead the first Pro-Life Freedom Ride on July 24.
The ride will take place from Birmingham, Alabama to Atlanta, Georgia. Pro-life people are welcome to caravan in their own vehicles behind the Freedom Ride bus, which will depart Birmingham midday on the 24th and arrive in Atlanta late that afternoon.
The theme of the pro-life movement is, indeed, freedom, King said today in an email to LifeNews.com.
She added: How can one be free if one is not alive? How can any movement call for equal rights if the most fundamental right, life, is not secured equally? That s why we are calling people from across the religious, ethnic, and political spectrum to ride with us for freedom for all, including the unborn. Full story at LifeNews.com
Tennessee Right to Life Endorses Fincher for Congress, State Rep Candidate
Nashville, TN (LifeNews.com) -- With the start of early voting for the August primary election fast approaching, Tennessee Right to Life has thrown its support behind Stephen Fincher, candidate in the Republican primary for the open congressional seat in western Tennessee.
The group said the endorsement is based on information resulting from candidate surveys, public statements, and interviews with candidates seeking the pro-life endorsement.
Fincher faces a crowded Republican primary field for the right to take on likely Democratic nominee state Sen. Roy Herron for the seat of retiring pro-abortion Rep. John Tanner.
"We are confident that the courage which led Stephen Fincher to challenge a 22 year incumbent is exactly the kind of courage required to stand for the cause of life in Congress," said Karen Brukardt, legislative liaison for Tennessee Right to Life.
"Stephen Fincher has the most consistent pro-life position of any of the candidates and is the only one who meets criteria for endorsement," she told Lifenews.com. "We look forward to working hard to encourage our members to actively support Mr. Fincher's election to public office." Full story at LifeNews.com
Rhode Island Pro-Life Group Backs Candidate John Robitaille for Governor
Providence, RI (LifeNews.com) -- The political action committee of Rhode Island State Right to Life has announced an endorsement for governor and the pro-life group says it is supporting candidate John Robitaille. He is seeking the Republican nomination in the primary that will be held September 14.
Should he capture the primary nomination, Robitaille will face a large field of candidates including pro-abortion ex-U.S. senator Lincoln Chafee and the winner of the Democratic primary between Frank Caprio and Patrick Lynch.
John Robitaille has promised that, as Governor, he will ensure that every citizen will have a voice at the State House. And we are confident this promise applies to human beings at every stage of development," RIRTL director Barth Bracy told LifeNews.com.
He said he urges pro-lifers throughout Rhode Island to unite in support of Robitaille's gubernatorial campaign.
RIRTL PAC chair Lisa Torrado added, Innocent human lives hang in the balance. We believe that, like Gov. Carcieri, John Robitaille will stand up for the inalienable Right to Life of the unborn, the elderly, and the disabled.
The latest poll from Rasmussen Reports released in May finds Chafee leading with 35 percent, Caprio with 32 percent and Robitaille with 25 percent.
The results of prior polls from January to May show Chafee bouncing around the mid 30s, Caprio moving from the high 20s to the low 30s and Robitaille moving up consistently from 12 percent to his current standing. Full story at LifeNews.com
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