LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, August 10, 2010
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Current Headlines
• College Students in North Carolina Forced to Pay for Abortions in Health Plans
• Planned Parenthood Where Teen Died From Abortion Drug Loses Affiliation
• Senate GOP Refuses Vote on Obama Judges, Including Pro-Abortion Goodwin Liu
• English-Speaking Hispanics More Likely Pro-Abortion Than Spanish Speakers
• Catholics United Protests Pro-Life Group's Bus Tour on Abortion-Health Care
• Gubernatorial Races See Potential Pickups for Republicans, Pro-Life Candidates
• Children Are the World's Greatest Resource, Not the End of Its Productivity
• Indiana Pro-Life Senate Candidate Dan Coats Keeps Large Lead Over Ellsworth
• Dutch Euthanasia Advocates Proposing Swiss-Style Suicide Clinics for Everyone
• Louisiana Pro-Life Groups React to Lawsuit Filed Against Ultrasound-Abortion Bill
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College Students in North Carolina Forced to Pay for Abortions in Health Plans
Charlotte, NC (LifeNews.com) -- A national pro-life group for college students has uncovered new information revealing that college students who attend public universities in North Carolina will be forced to pay for abortions via their required student health care plan.
Students for Life of America has discovered that the North Carolina Board of Governors will require all students enrolled in a University of North Carolina public institution, starting with the 2010-2011 school year, to have health insurance.
Students who do not already have private health insurance are required to buy a state selected policy from Pearce & Pearce, Inc.
This mandated policy, SFLA told LifeNews.com this morning, covers up to $500 toward elective abortions and has 80% PPO coverage for elective abortions.
The Pearce & Pearce policy costs students $744 per year or $375 per semester and the State of North Carolina will not be paying into the policy. Instead, students who are required to purchase the insurance will be required to pay the entire cost -- part of which will go towards the payment of abortions for fellow students.
Kristan Hawkins, the executive director of Students for Life of America, told LifeNews.com, she is disturbed to see how North Carolina students will be forced to pay for elective abortions, regardless of their personal views on the issue.
"The fact that North Carolina students are going to be forced to pay for elective abortions is appalling. Students should not be put in a situation like this in order to attend an educational institution," she told LifeNews.com. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Where Teen Died From Abortion Drug Loses Affiliation
San Francisco, CA (LifeNews.com) -- The local San Francisco, California affiliate of Planned Parenthood where teenager Holly Patterson died from using the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug has lost its affiliation with the national abortion business. The decision is not related to Patterson's death but is said to be because of management problems.
Planned Parenthood Golden Gate will not longer be a Planned Parenthood affiliate as of September 3, according to the Bay Citizen newspaper.
Last week, the national Planned Parenthood Federation of America board voted to remove their trademark from the PPGG affiliate, which runs centers in San Francisco, Sonoma, Marin, Alameda and San Mateo counties.
They were not meeting our standards for administrative and fiscal management, said Karen Ruffato, VP of affiliate services, told the paper.
The decision means the local abortion business can't rely on the Planned Parenthood name, nor can it benefit from its materials or purchasing power to get better rates on contraception and birth control.
Therese Wilson, interim CEO of PPGG, told the Bay Citizen, We will continue our operations at all of our 7 sites. We are working really hard to keep our doors open."
Wilson said the abortion business would come up with a new name and focus on fundraising, as it has fallen on hard financial times because it no longer receives reimbursements from the state for Medi-Cal until a state budget is approved. Full story at LifeNews.com
Senate GOP Refuses Vote on Obama Judges, Including Pro-Abortion Goodwin Liu
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- While most of the attention in the Senate last week was focused on its approval of pro-abortion activist Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination, Republicans refused votes on other judicial nominees President Barack Obama put forward. That includes pro-abortion appeals court nominee Goodwin Liu.
Senate Republicans declined in six instances last week to allow a unanimous consent request from Democrats to vote on Obama's judicial nominees.
As a result, the Senate returned those six nominations to the White House, according to Family Research Council legislative guru Tom McClusky.
"While some of President Obama s nominees were given a reprieve due to a deal struck between Democratic and Republican leadership two of his most controversial judicial appointees were sent back to the President (alongside 100 other nominees)," he said.
"One of the two, Goodwin Liu, nominee to the Ninth Circuit Court, is a firm believer in the rule of international law and has shown nothing but disrespect for the Senate Judiciary Committee," McClusky added.
Liu was appointed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and another pro-abortion nominee was Louis Butler for a federal district court position in Wisconsin.
The pro-life advocate said he expected Obama would send the nominations back to the Senate. If Obama choose to re-nominate them, they would be considered new nominations and the Senate would send them to the Judiciary Committee to full hearings. Full story at LifeNews.com
English-Speaking Hispanics More Likely Pro-Abortion Than Spanish Speakers
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll reveals some concerns for the pro-life movement about an ethnic group that has been relied on for solid opposition to abortion. The survey shows English-speaking Hispanics are less likely to oppose legalized abortion than their Spanish-speaking counterparts.
The survey results make it appear that "Americanized" Hispanics are losing the cultural and religious values that prompt Latinos in Central and South America to oppose abortion in large numbers.
The Associated Press and Univision teamed up for a poll of 1,500 Hispanics conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
The survey found Latinos support abortion in much lower numbers than Americans overall, with 39 percent saying abortions should be legal compared with 51 percent of the general population in a 2009 poll AP conducted.
But when Hispanics are examined as a group, 49 percent of those who mainly speak English said abortions should be legal in most cases while just 31 percent of those who mainly speak Spanish say most abortions should be legal. Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholics United Protests Pro-Life Group's Bus Tour on Abortion-Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Following through on its commitment to confused pro-life voters and support congressional candidates who voted for the pro-abortion health care bill, Catholics United, which claims to be pro-life, today staged a counterprotest at a pro-life bus tour event sponsored by a national pro-life group.
The Susan B. Anthony List is headed to Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania this week to let pro-life voters know the Democratic lawmakers they voted for whom they thought were pro-life wound up voting for a measure with massive abortion funding.
The Obama administration has already tried to fund abortions with federal taxpayer dollars in three states, and only backed down after pro-life groups exposed the funding.
Also, Obama officials have said the limits are temporary and will apply only to the new program high risk insurance pool program -- not throughout the entire health care plan.
SBA List officials stopped their Votes have Consequences bus tour in Cincinnati today to let voters know how congressman Steve Driehaus voted for the pro-abortion health care bill. They were met by Catholics United officials who misled voters with "Thank you Steve Driehaus" and "SBA List: Stop Lying About Abortion Funding" signs.
Despite ample evidence to the contrary, the religious right continues to spread lies about federal funding of abortion in service of a partisan agenda, said Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United, told the Cincinnati Enquirer. Full story at LifeNews.com
Gubernatorial Races See Potential Pickups for Republicans, Pro-Life Candidates
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Pollster Scott Rasmussen released an analysis today of the gubernatorial races taking place in 37 states. His tally shows Republicans picking up governorships in several states and that means good news for pro-life advocates since some of them will change away from abortion advocates.
Of the 37 races in play this November, 19 of those governorships are now held by Democrats, while Republicans sit in the governor s chair in 18 of the states.
"The Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Gubernatorial Scorecard shows Democrats solidly ahead in three states, with three more leaning their way. Republicans are running strongly in 14 states, and four more are leaning GOP," Rasmussen wrote today.
"Hawaii is the only state with a Republican governor that is considered likely to elect a Democrat in November. But five states now headed by Democrats Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming are seen as likely GOP pickups," Rasmussen added.
In each of those five states, pro-abortion governors who either vetoed pro-life legislation or signed into law bills pro-life groups opposed will be replaced.
Meanwhile, pro-abortion governors are losing seats in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maine and Pennsylvania appears to be a state where pro-life advocates will pick up a pro-life governor. Republicans appear well-positioned to win in Michigan and Maine, but the GOP candidates are not pro-life advocates. Full story at LifeNews.com
Children Are the World's Greatest Resource, Not the End of Its Productivity
by Colin Mason
Cyril Connolly once said that there is no more somber enemy of good art than the pram in the hallway. Connelly is here suggesting that the distractions implicit in rearing a child will undercut an artist's attempt to create, so children are to be avoided insofar as possible.
I have long believed that Connelly is wrong in opposing children to art. So I was pleasantly surprised, recently, to see my view validated by Frank Cottrell Boyce, a successful British screenwriter, novelist and actor. Boyce's article, entitled The Parent Trap: Art After Children and appearing in Britain's Guardian, makes the case that children, far from inhibiting or destroying an artist's creativity, are actually a creative boon. He has this to say about fatherhood and art. Full story at LifeNews.com
Indiana Pro-Life Senate Candidate Dan Coats Keeps Large Lead Over Ellsworth
Indianapolis, IN (LifeNews.com) -- Indiana pro-life Senate candidate Dan Coats has retained his large lead over Brad Ellsworth, who upset pro-life groups with his support for the health care bill that contained abortion funding. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters has Coats up by 21 percent.
Coats has the support of 50 percent of Hoosier voters while Ellsworth posted his worse showing to date with the backing of just 29 percent.
Seven percent favor another candidate while 14 percent of Indiana voters are still undecided.
A month ago, Coats was ahead of Ellsworth 51% to 30%. Coats has earned 46% to 54% of the vote in matchups with Ellsworth since February. Ellsworth has picked up 30% to 36% of the vote in those same surveys, but his support has been trending down since May.
Coats, who previously represented Indiana in the Senate from 1989 to 1999, is viewed as a conservative by 67% of voters in the state. Fifty-one percent regard his views as mainstream, while 24% say they are extreme.
Ellsworth is seen as liberal by 35% and moderate by another 27%, according to the Rasmussen poll. Thirty-four percent think his views are in the mainstream, while 31% view them as extreme. Full story at LifeNews.com
Dutch Euthanasia Advocates Proposing Swiss-Style Suicide Clinics for Everyone
Amsterdam, Netherlands (LifeNews.com) -- Euthanasia advocates in the Netherlands are proposing establishing new suicide clinics similar to the ones the pro-euthanasia group Dignitas runs in Switzerland that have generated so much controversy. The Dutch pressure group Right to Die NL (NVVE) is investigating the idea.
The RNW news service indicates the group wants to establish facilities where they can engage in euthanasia and assisting suicides for those who want to die.
They do not want to limit the killing "services" to merely those who are terminally ill, but plan to extend it to anyone who wishes to end their life regardless of their age or medical condition.
Others who could be targeted, RNW indicates, are those who have chronic psychiatric problems, with Alzheimer s or dementia and people who feel they have completed their life -- people who need mental health support rather than death.
Euthanasia is available in most Dutch hospices but those people suffering from those certain mental health conditions don't meet the hospice requirements for death.
The Dutch news agency says the NVVE group wants its life s end clinic to be seen as a normal medical facility in the same manner as a hospital or nursing home. Full stories at LifeNews.com
Louisiana Pro-Life Groups React to Lawsuit Filed Against Ultrasound-Abortion Bill
Baton Rouge, LA (LifeNews.com) -- Two pro-life groups are responding to the lawsuit a pro-abortion legal group filed against a new pro-life Louisiana law that would allow women chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child before the abortion. The Bioethics Defense Fund and Louisiana Right to Life Federation say the lawsuit is baseless.
As LifeNews.com reported yesterday, the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, filed suit on behalf of Louisiana abortion businesses and abortion practitioners.
The Ultrasound Before Abortion Act, SB 528, authored by Senator Sharon Weston Broome (D-Baton Rouge), would require ultrasounds to be performed before all abortions in Louisiana.
Women would be given an opportunity to see it or sign a document saying they did not decide to do so. They're normally not given a chance to see ultrasounds of their baby and pro-life advocates hope the ultrasound will persuade some women to choose abortion alternatives.
Dorinda Bordlee, an attorney with BDF and Ben Clapper of LRTL, released a join statement to LifeNews.com.
"The abortion industry s lawsuit is a baseless attempt to tie up a life-saving law in federal court," they said. Full stories at LifeNews.com
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