LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, October 15, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Judge Rules Lawsuit Against Abortion-Funding ObamaCare Law Can Proceed
• Planned Parenthood Launches Campaign to Fund Birth Control Via ObamaCare
• Pro-Abortion Groups Worried Key Lawmakers, Candidates May Lose Elections
• Abortion Practitioner Loses Medical License: Called a "Clear Danger" to Women
• Father Frank Pavone: No Truce on Abortion, Can't Agree to Disagree on Life
• Pro-Life Senate Candidates Lead in Nevada, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, NC
• Ohio Abortions Reach All-Time Low, New Health Department Records Reveal
• Alaska Senate Race Sees Pro-Abortion Murkowski File Against Pro-Life Joe Miller
• Oregon Hospices Right to Not Cooperate With Assisted Suicides for Elderly, Ill
• Michigan Pro-Life Group Says Proposal 1 Constitutional Convention a Bad Idea
• Philippines Pro-Life Groups, Catholic Leaders Oppose Reproductive Health Bills
• European Pro-Lifers Celebrate Council of Europe Vote on Abortion, Conscience
---> Thank you for reading and supporting pro-life news from LifeNews.com! Yesterday we hit a milestone -- our 5,000th email news report. Since 1992 we have kept the pro-life movement updated on the latest pro-life news and information. But we couldn't have done it without your support, faithful readership, and the tireless work of pro-life people across the U.S. and around the world. Without your efforts and theirs to protect human life, there's nothing to report. We look forward to 5,000 more!
Judge Rules Lawsuit Against Abortion-Funding ObamaCare Law Can Proceed
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A federal judge in Florida issued a ruling today saying the lawsuit more than 20 states have filed against the ObamaCare health care law, that allows abortion funding, can proceed. The judge ruled that parts of the lawsuit can go to trial and his decision came after a Michigan threw out a similar lawsuit last week.
But, this decision joins a similar decision by a federal court in Virginia, which also allowed a third lawsuit to move ahead.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson issued a written ruling saying the court needs to issue a decision on the question of whether or not it is a violation of the Constitution to force Americans to purchase health care insurance.
He will hold a hearing on December 16 on the question, though he ultimate decision will ultimately wind up before the Supreme Court.
The key component of the decision Vinson issued concerns the individual mandate, and he appears sympathetic to those who oppose it, thus opposing the entire law.
"At this stage in the litigation, this is not even a close call But, in this case we are dealing with something very different. The individual mandate applies across the board. People have no choice and there is no way to avoid it," he wrote. "Those who fall under the individual mandate either comply with it, or they are penalized. It is not based on an activity that they make the choice to undertake." Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Launches Campaign to Fund Birth Control Via ObamaCare
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Planned Parenthood abortion business has launched a new national campaign designed to promote forcing insurance companies to cover birth control via the ObamaCare health care law. It wants to get the federal government to include birth control among the preventive services covered under the measure.
The plan would exploit the Mikulski amendment, which pro-life advocates warned about when it was added to the legislation.
The amendment allows the federal government to define what constitutes "preventive services" that new private health plans must cover without cost-sharing by consumers as required under the federal health reform law. During the ObamaCare debate, pro-life groups said the Obama administration could determine birth control or abortions were "preventative" and force taxpayers to shell out millions to cover the cost of them.
If Planned Parenthood is successful, private insurance plans would be forced, and thereby insured enrollees, would be forced, to pay for birth control through their premiums.
Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, commented on the new campaign.
"It turns out that the over $650 million that federal taxpayers gave to abortion giant Planned Parenthood from 2002-2007 is not enough. The billion dollars a year abortion monolith is now proclaiming it wants to use your tax dollars to pay for birth control for everyone, all under the aspects of Obamacare," he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Abortion Groups Worried Key Lawmakers, Candidates May Lose Elections
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Leading pro-abortion groups are furiously emailing their members for last-minute funds to support pro-abortion senators and candidates who they are worried will go down in defeat next month. NARAL and Emily's List are reacting to the same polls currently giving the pro-life movement real hope for the future.
Sen Debbie Stabenow, a pro-abortion Michigan lawmaker, sent a plea for funds to members of Emily's List today in a fundraising email written for the multi-million dollar organization.
"Less than three weeks to go, too close to call, and so much at stake," she writes. "That's what our friends Barbara Boxer, Patty Murray, and Robin Carnahan are up against right now. Each of their races is a top Republican target that will come down to the wire."
"Please contribute to these women today, and show the GOP that they can't take our Senate majority," she added.
Stabenow says Boxer, a pro-abortion activist from California, 'needs your help immediately to break through in the final lap" because she is "far from safe."
She also says "Patty Murray needs your help immediately to fend off a new rash of late-breaking Republican attacks" in the state of Washington, where early voting is beginning. Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortion Practitioner Loses Medical License: Called a "Clear Danger" to Women
Trenton, NJ (LifeNews.com) -- After a nine hour hearing late Wednesday, the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners formally suspended the medical license of abortion practitioner and business owner Steven Chase Brigham. The board said he presented "a clear and imminent danger to the public health and safety."
"Dr. Brigham has consistently and repetitively engaged in manipulative and deceptive behavior designed to circumvent the requirements of the board's termination of pregnancy regulation," the board said in its ruling.
It added that Brigham has "eviscerate[d] the protections that those regulations seek to afford to New Jersey patients."
The board took action after the state attorney general's office filed a complaint against him.
Officials say he has concocted a scheme by which he evades the late-term abortion limits of the state of New Jersey and health and safety rules in the state by starting abortions in the state and then transporting the women to Maryland to complete them.
His New Jersey medical license has been suspended based on allegations that he illegally began abortions well beyond the 14 week limit in New Jersey and completed them at the Elkton, Maryland abortion center. Full story at LifeNews.com
Father Frank Pavone: No Truce on Abortion, Can't Agree to Disagree on Life
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Father Frank Pavone, the national director of Priests for Life and one of the foremost respected pro-life Catholics in the country, has penned his response to the abortion "truce" potential Republican presidential candidates Mitch Daniels and Haley Barbour have advocated in recent months.
"Sorry, but this is a proposal we in the pro-life movement can't accept. There can be no truce," Pavone writes in a new column at the Washington Times.
"It is dismaying to hear some pro-life politicians calling for a 'truce' on social issues like abortion - possible White House contenders Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour among them. Their suggestion is that it's more important to do whatever is necessary to get elected than to worry about issues that appear to be intractable," he says.
Pavone says asking pro-life advocates to "agree to disagree" on abortion is akin to asking them to change their position on the killing of unborn children.
"Why do we disagree in the first place? When we oppose abortion, we disagree with the notion that it is even negotiable. We do not only claim that we cannot practice abortion, but that nobody can practice it, precisely because it violates the most fundamental human right, the right to life," he says. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Senate Candidates Lead in Nevada, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, NC
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In the latest update of polls in the competitive Senate races across the nation, four pro-life candidates have leads in North Carolina and three states where they would replace longtime abortion advocates. The pro-life hopefuls lead in Nevada, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
A new Mason-Dixon poll in Nevada shows Sharron Angle, the candidate backed by pro-life groups, ahead of pro-abortion Sen. Harry Reid, who has severely watered down his formerly pro-life views.
Angle by two points in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 45% and pollster Brad Coker says the race may end up turning out to be a referendum on Reid, which makes it appear more likely he will go down in defeat.
"I wouldn't call it momentum so much as what you would expect to happen as undecided voters start to drift a little bit toward the nonincumbent. At the end of the day, if Nevada voters really want to get rid of Reid, they'll vote for just about anybody. And I've always said this race is a referendum on Reid," he said.
A Wednesday Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Nevada finds Angle with 49% support and Reid at 48%. Full story at LifeNews.com
Ohio Abortions Reach All-Time Low, New Health Department Records Reveal
Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) -- New records from the Ohio Department of Health show the number of abortions in the Buckeye State have reached an all-time low. The 2009 Report on Induced Abortions in Ohio shows a continued downward trend in the total number of abortions as has been the case nationally and in other states.
The report shows 28,721 abortions were done in 2009, which represents a three percent decrease from the 2008 number of 29,613.
The number of total abortions done in Ohio has declined annually since 2000 and there has now been a decrease of over 40% from the all time high number in the 1980s.
"We are winning the fight against those who push abortion as the first and sometimes only choice for women in crisis," Ohio Right to Life Executive Director Mike Gonidakis told LifeNews.com today. Full story at LifeNews.com
Alaska Senate Race Sees Pro-Abortion Murkowski File Against Pro-Life Joe Miller
Juneau, AK (LifeNews.com) -- As expected, pro-abortion Sen. Lisa Murkowski filed papers yesterday to mount a write-in campaign against pro-life Republican nominee Joe Miller. Murkowski filed the papers with the state elections office to run a write-in campaign after the upset primary election that saw Miller defeat the political giant.
Murkowski's bid is not unexpected and she announced a month ago that she would mount the bid to retain her Senate seat, despite the endorsement of Miller by pro-life groups.
Miller, fueled by an endorsement from pro-life former Governor Sarah Palin and by strong Tea Party support, was the upset winner over Murkowski in the August primary. Despite pleas from the GOP leadership to accept the primary s verdict, Murkowksi announced a write-in campaign anyway.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters finds the ace is neck and neck between the two. It has Miller with 35% support and Murkowski with 34% of the vote. Democrat Scott McAdams runs third with 27%. One percent (1%) prefers another candidate, and three percent (3%) are undecided. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Oregon Hospices Right to Not Cooperate With Assisted Suicides for Elderly, Ill
by Wesley J. Smith
I am rarely encouraged by news out of Oregon about assisted suicide, where doctors may legally prescribe a lethal overdose to patients they diagnose as terminally ill. Over the years, the number of assisted suicides has increased, while the media studiously ignored studies demonstrating that abuses abound.
For example, a major study in the Michigan Law Review (PDF) by Dr. Kathleen Foley perhaps the country s most respected palliative care physician and suicide prevention expert, Dr. Herbert Hendin, found that the so-called protective guidelines are often violated with legal impunity.
Further, the study found that the bureaucrats in charge of overseeing the law do not collect the information it would need to effectively monitor the law and worse, that in its actions and publications [they] act as the defender of the law rather than as the protector of the welfare of terminally ill patients. Full story at LifeNews.com
Michigan Pro-Life Group Says Proposal 1 Constitutional Convention a Bad Idea
Lansing, MI (LifeNews.com) -- When Michigan voters head to the polls next month, a statewide pro-life group hopes they will reject Proposal 1, which would call for a new constitutional convention. Right to Life of Michigan is recommending a note vote on the ballot proposal, saying it likely won't help pro-life efforts.
The proposal is on the November 2 general election ballot because the wording of the 1963 Michigan Constitution requires giving the voters the ability to call for a new constitutional convention every 16 years.
The two previous times this question has appeared, 1978 and 1994, it was rejected.
There are arguments that can be made from a pro-life perspective both in favor of and opposition to calling a constitutional convention. On the one hand, pro-life language could be added to the constitution that recognizes legal protection for unborn children. Or provisions could be added that would enshrine abortion -- even if the Supreme Court eventually overturns the Roe v. Wade abortion case.
Right to Life of Michigan worries about the latter situation developing. Full story at LifeNews.com
Manilla, Philippines (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- Protests loom in the Philippines as Catholic leaders and lay groups monitor bills that would enact national population control measures. Two measures pending in the Philippines promote reproductive health. They mandate dispensing artificial birth control, including potential abortifacients. Both bills contain substantially similar language.
The bills require the state to guarantee universal access to reproductive health care services, methods, devices, and supplies -- not only for adults but also for adolescents and children. Both bills promote modern methods of family planning, including birth control pills, intra-uterine devices (IUDs), injectables, and condoms. Full story at LifeNews.com
European Pro-Lifers Celebrate Council of Europe Vote on Abortion, Conscience
Strasbourg, France (LifeNews.com) -- A dramatic legislative reversal reaffirmed the conscience rights of medical professionals and institutions in Europe last week.
The Council of Europe s legislature considered a resolution calling for onerous restrictions on conscientious objection, including stripping protections for doctors who object to performing abortions.
Led by two politicians from Italy and Ireland, a coalition of legislators secured the passage of 29 amendments that transformed the resolution into one that upheld universally recognized rights to freedom of conscience.
The original resolution, known as the McCafferty report, sought to punish medical professionals for refusing to perform procedures against their conscience. It even called for a new registry of conscientious objectors. Full story at LifeNews.com
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