LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, November 17, 2010
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Pro-Life Congressman John Boehner Elected New House Speaker
• House Democrats Keep Pro-Abortion Nancy Pelosi as Leader
• Sarah Palin Considering 2012 Republican Presidential Bid
• Donald Berwick Retreats on Rationing, Republicans Complain About Hearing
• Congressman Warns of Pro-Abortion CEDAW Treaty Before Hearing
More Pro-Life News
• Democrats for Life Takes Big Shots From Pro-Life Leaders
• Tea Party Patriots Co-Founder: Abortion Truce Letter Doesn t Represent Us
• Michigan Center Closing Where Alberto Hodari Forced Teen s Abortion
• Washington Center That Did Secret Abortion on Teen Closes
• Pro-Life Group at Canada s Carleton University Pressured to OK Abortion
• Planned Parenthood Puts Pocketbook Above Women s Interests
• Alaska Planned Parenthood Uses Mitzvah Mall Bazaar to Promote Abortion
• New York City Faces Lawsuit if Anti-Pregnancy Center Bill OKd
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Pro-Life Congressman John Boehner Elected New House Speaker
Congressman John Boehner, a pro-life advocate who led the fight against the abortion-funding ObamaCare legislation in the House was unanimously elected today by his Republican colleagues to become the next Speaker.
GOP members of the incoming Congress held a closed-door vote during a meeting in the Longworth House Office building.
Boehner faced no opposition and three pro-life House members, Reps. Dave Camp of Michigan, Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia and Steve Stivers of Boehner s home state of Ohio, placed his name into nomination and gave speeches on his behalf.
Since his first days in Congress, John Boehner has stood up to Washington and stood up for the American people, said Camp, according to a Politico report. As one of the architects of the Contract with America, John demanded the federal government be more limited and more responsive to the needs of the American people.
Republicans also elected pro-life Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia as majority leader, pro-life Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California as majority whip, and pro-life Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas as Republican Conference chair. Full story at LifeNews.com
House Democrats Keep Pro-Abortion Nancy Pelosi as Leader
Americans may have rejected pro-abortion Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her pro-ObamaCare allies in the 2010 midterm elections, but House Democrats voted Wednesday to keep her as their leader.
In a secret ballot vote today, Democrats voted 150-43 to re-elect Pelosi to the top spot in the party caucus albeit a demotion to House Minority Leader from the Speaker position.
Pelosi faced a challenge in North Carolina Rep. Health Shuler, a Democrat who typically votes pro-life and voted against the ObamaCare legislation that allows abortion funding.
Shuler said on Sundaythat he would run against Pelosi after Republicans defeated them overwhelmingly for control of the House.
Shuler told CNN s Joe Johns on State of the Union he knew he doesn t have the numbers to win, but would run anyway.
Before the vote, Democrats defeated an effort by pro-abortion Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon to put off the vote for a couple of weeks to allow time for lawmakers to consider whether Pelosi was the best choice and because of fights on down-ballot races. Full story at LifeNews.com
Sarah Palin Considering 2012 Republican Presidential Bid
In a new interview with the New York Times magazine, former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin confirms she is considering a possible 2012 presidential bid.
Should Palin run, she would be entering what is expected to be a crowded field vying for the Republican nomination and the right to take on pro-abortion President Barack Obama.
Palin is also the former governor of Alaska and a strong pro-life advocate who has shared the story of the birth of her son Trig, who has Down syndrome, with pro-life groups across the country.
In the interview, Palin acknowledges she is considering a potential candidacy and discussing it with family and political advisors.
I m engaged in the internal deliberations candidly, and having that discussion with my family, because my family is the most important consideration here, she said.
Palin also admitted she would need to seriously beef up her political staff, as her political action committee currently operates with a small staff none of whom have extensive experience running a national presidential campaign. Full story at LifeNews.com
Donald Berwick Retreats on Rationing, Republicans Complain About Hearing
President Barack Obama s Medicare chief backed away from the pro-rationing positions he s taken previously during a hearing today before the Senate Finance Committee.
Berwick is the man Obama appointed to implement ObamaCare and head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and he is finally testifying before Congress months after lawmakers began a concerted effort to get him to answer tough questions about the new government-run health care scheme.
Since he was appointed to the position by Obama, who relied on a recess appointment since he could not obtain enough votes in the Senate, 134 days have passed since he was asked to come to Congress to answer questions, pro-life Senate Finance Committee ranking Republican Charles Grassley noted.
The reason I accepted is because the president asked me, and I want to serve this country, Berwick replied when asked by pro-life Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky why he accepted the recess appointment rather than face a confirmation vote. It was not my choice to be recess-appointed, or not. When asked, I came, because it s my duty to do that. Full story at LifeNews.com
Congressman Warns of Pro-Abortion CEDAW Treaty Before Hearing
Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey sent a letter to his Republican colleagues in the Senate warning them of the problems associated with the CEDAW treaty slated for a Thursday hearing.
Smith is the leading pro-life member of Congress and he says the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee s Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law ought to know the way in which the United Nations, UN agencies and abortion advocates have misused the document before they hold a hearing on ratifying it.
The document is billed as supporting the rights of women, but it has been used to pressure nations to legalize abortions.
The letter points out the disturbing series of statements and recommendations issued by the committee that oversees compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Smith points out that, although the CEDAW treaty doesn t specifically require the legalization of abortion, A review of statements and recommendations over the past decade reveals that the CEDAW Committee has established a pattern of using the Convention to pressure countries to rescind pro-life laws. Full story at LifeNews.com
Democrats for Life Takes Big Shots From Pro-Life Leaders
Jill Stanek, the pro-life blogger and famed nurse who exposed the brutal practice of live birth abortions at her Chicago-area hospital, is taking the biggest shot yet at Democrats for Life of America over abortion and health care.
DFLA has spurned the rest of the pro-life movement by going it aloneover the passage of ObamaCare and calling pro-life advocates liars and supporters of violence because their legal analysis shows the new law doesn t contain provisions to adequately stop abortion funding.
The formerly respected pro-life Democrats group has come under fire for its erroneous analysis of the ObamaCare bill and for its attacks that went as far as siding with a congressman in his elections complaint against the pro-life group Susan B Anthony List that could result in fines or jail time.
Stanek has written a new opinion column at WorldNetDailygoing further than any pro-life leader or group has in that she says Democrats for Life should specifically be excluded from key pro-life gatherings and meetings until it has a change in leadership. Full story at LifeNews.com
Tea Party Patriots Co-Founder: Abortion Truce Letter Doesn t Represent Us
The fallout is continuing over the controversial letter a group of Tea party leaders and a pro-gay rights Republican organization authored calling for social issues to be put on the back burner.
The letter drew the ire of pro-life advocates for saying abortion didn t matter in the 2010 mid-term elections and that fiscal issues were more important.
Ralph King, who is a Tea Party Patriots national leadership council member and a co-coordinator of its Ohio group, was one of the signers of the document.
But Brad Mattes, the director of Life Issues Institute, tells LifeNews.com King s view doesn t represent the organization.
I spoke with Mark Meckler, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. He solidly reaffirmed that the group does not take a position for or against legislation on abortion, he said. Local individuals identified with Tea Party Patriots have signed a letter asking Congress to avoid addressing social issues. Mark spoke with them and advised against doing so. Full story at LifeNews.com
Michigan Center Closing Where Alberto Hodari Forced Teen s Abortion
The Michigan abortion center where embattled abortion practitioner Alberto Hodari forced a teenager to have an abortion against her will is closing.
Womancare of Downriver in Southgate is owned and operated by Hodari and the pro-life group Operation Rescue informs LifeNews.com it is in escrow to a physician whose practice does not include abortions.
Thus, once escrow closes, so will the abortion business.
All of Hodari s six Detroit area abortion clinics were put up for sale last year. Hodari appeared to be liquidating his assets so he could leave the country after repeated complaints, fines, and lawsuits have recently overwhelmed him, says Cheryl Sullenger of the pro-life organization. Full story at LifeNews.com
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Washington Center That Did Secret Abortion on Teen Closes
The abortion business near Seattle that did a secret abortion on a teenager years ago has closed. The Cedar Women s Clinic, which was the first abortion center to open in the city 31 years ago, closed Monday.
It s regrettable. We d rather not have to close, Beverly Whipple, one of the founders, told the herald newspaper. There isn t the patient volume for two main providers.
Whipple and Deborah Lazaldi opened the Feminist Women s Health Center in Yakima in 1979 and it did about 1,000 to 1,200 abortions anually.
Charlotte Taft, director of the Abortion Care Network, part of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers todl the newspaper part of the problem is competition with Planned Parenthood. Full story at LifeNews.com
The student government at Carleton University in Canada has no problem with allowing a pro-life student group on campus so long as the organization affirms women have a so-called right to an abortion. Carleton Lifeline, the pro-life club at Carleton University has been threatened by the Carleton University Students Association (CUSA) with losing its club status because its constitution affirms its opposition to abortion.
Carleton Lifeline believes in the equal rights of the unborn and firmly believes that abortion is a moral and legal wrong, not a constitutional right, the group s constitution says. Therefore, Carleton lifeline shall work to promote the legal protection of the unborn and their basic human rights to life. Full story at LifeNews.com.
Planned Parenthood Puts Pocketbook Above Women s Interests
by Bill Saunders
The Obama Administration is taking advice from Planned Parenthood again. This time, the nation s largest abortion provider was invited to advise the Institute of Medicine on what should be included in the preventive care for women mandate in the health care reform law. Full story at LifeNews.com
Alaska Planned Parenthood Uses Mitzvah Mall Bazaar to Promote Abortion
Five days after the start of Advent, in which Christians prepare to celebrate the birth of the Infant Jesus, the largest provider of abortions in Alaska plans to utilize a popular holiday bazaar in Anchorage to promote and raise funds for their organization.
Planned Parenthood, which in past years has promoted a Choice on Earth abortion campaign during the Christmas season, is now offering gift certificates. Full story at LifeNews.com
A pro-life legal group said new York City officials should keep in mind its promise that the city would face a lawsuit if the city council moves ahead with a bill attacking pregnancy centers.
The city council is considering a measure, debated fiercely by both sides of the abortion debate yesterday in a hearing, that would place stringent limits on the advertising pregnancy centers use and require them to post signs designed to dissuade women from seeking their abortion alternatives services. Full story at LifeNews.com.
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