LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
| For pro-life news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com. |
Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Election Preview: Pro-Life Women Win, Dems Lose Over ObamaCare
• Potential House Speaker John Boehner a True Pro-Life Advocate on Abortion
• Haley Barbour to Weigh 2012 GOP Presidential Bid, Pro-Life Truce May Hurt
• Five Things We Know About the Pro-Life Catholic Vote
More Pro-Life News
• National Cancer Institute Must Tell Women Abortion, Breast Cancer Linked
• Pro-Abortion, Pro-Life Candidates Got Big Bucks in Elections
• Catholic Physicians Draw Ethical Lines in Cloning Debate at CMA Conference
• Assisted Suicide Advocates Forget Hope a More Powerful Force Than Death
• Late-Term Forced Abortions Exposed on Chinese Twitter
• Pregnancy Center Group Ups Pledge to Reach Black Women
• Australia Greens Senator Makes Parliament Debate Bill OKing Euthanasia
---> Tune in to http://LifeNews.com on Election Night as we bring you Live coverage of the election returns from the pro-life perspective. Who's winning? What does it mean for the pro-life movement? We'll have answers and input from top pro-life groups.
Election Preview: Pro-Life Women Win, Dems Lose Over ObamaCare
With a pro-life landslide expected tonight as votes from across the nation are counted, pro-life advocates are eagerly awaiting the results in races for the House and Senate, governor, and other contests.
Three expected election night themes are emerging as the final polls paint a picture of what may take place.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the head of the Susan B. Anthony List, says there is the potential for a great pro-life shift, a chance to save lives, in the coming Congress because hers and other pro-life groups did so much to lay the groundwork for today s election.
She said the fidelity and sacrifices of pro-life advocates have been indispensable to creating the opportunity today s election offers.
Dannenfelser says she expects two themes to emerge from the results the first is that a new cadre of pro-life women have been elected to Congress and statewide offices.
Together, we ve endorsed a record number of strong, pro-life women for office at the top levels of government including the U.S. Senate and Governorships, and many U.S. House candidates, she said. These women are strong. They are all possible winners tonight, and if so, will finally send the Senate a pro-life woman. Full story at LifeNews.com
Potential House Speaker John Boehner a True Pro-Life Advocate on Abortion
John Boehner, the Ohio congressman who is the leading Republican in the House, is not as well known as pro-abortion Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but tonight s election could change that quickly.
When it comes to the issue of abortion, Boehner has not only been a consistent pro-life advocate with a 100% pro-life voting record, but he s been recognized by leading pro-life organizations as a champion or hero in protecting unborn children.
Should Republicans capture a majority of the House seats as the votes are counted this evening, the expectation is that Boeher, the Republican minority leader, will ascend to the position of Speaker.
He has received accolades from conservatives for keeping the GOP caucus together in unanimously opposing the abortion-funding ObamaCare bill and he won praise from pro-life advocates for the Pledge to America document outlining how the Republican Party would work to repeal or severely weaken the ObamaCare law and how it would press for a government-wide prohibition on taxpayer-financed abortions.
Boehner, for his part, has been reticent to talk about how he will likely become the leading Republican figure in the federal government preferring to focus on turning out voters to support GOP candidates today. Full story at LifeNews.com
Haley Barbour to Weigh 2012 GOP Presidential Bid, Pro-Life Truce May Hurt
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is waiting until the conclusion of the Congressional elections to begin the process of evaluating whether he will mount a presidential bid for the Republican nomination.
When he does evaluate the prospects for success in getting the Republican nod to take on pro-abortion President Barack Obama, he ll need to weigh the effect his decision to endorse a truce on social issues will have on his potential candidacy.
Barbour, as the head of the Republican Governor s Association who has been campaigning across the country for candidates, has fiercely declined to talk about a presidential bid until after the elections.
I ve said from the very beginning, I wasn t gonna do anything about anything except governors races through tomorrow. We can t wait till 2012 to start taking our country back, he told CNN s John King yesterday.
But he did say he would begin weighing his options.
I m gonna sit down after [Tuesday] and see if there s anything to think about, he said. But I don t feel any time pressure over the next few weeks or months. We ll see if Marsha [his wife] thinks it s a good idea and whether others think it s a good idea. Full story at LifeNews.com
Five Things We Know About the Pro-Life Catholic Vote
by Deal Hudson
The polling results released by the New York Times last week do not come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the recent history of the Catholic vote.
The NYTs poll found that the percentage of self-identified Catholics favoring GOP candidates has risen 34% since the 2008 election.
In fact, Catholic voters moved the most toward the GOP among all the groups being polled, including women, college graduates, independents, West region, 30-44 year olds, suburbanites, and families with under a $50,000 income.
Catholics are a powerful swing vote in American politics, but that dynamism is easily misunderstood.
Between 1999 and 2004, as Chair of Catholic Outreach at the RNC, I led an effort that successfully helped to move 15% of self-identified Catholic voters from supporting the Democratic presidential candidate to voting for the Republican, in this case, George W. Bush. (In 1996, Dole won 37% of Catholics compared to 52% of Catholics who voted for Bush in 2004.) Full story at LifeNews.com
National Cancer Institute Must Tell Women Abortion, Breast Cancer Linked
by Dr. Gerard Nadal
As October has closed, so does another Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is a noble and worthy endeavor to raise awareness of this dread disease and how it affects the women we love and their families.
We have indeed made great strides against this disease in all areas: etiology, early detection, and treatment.
However, the National Cancer Institute s (NCI) pro-abortion political correcting of honestly assessing all areas of causality undercuts the effectiveness of this month s activities, and leaves millions of women at needless increased risk. Specifically, we need to consider the risks associated with oral contraceptive (OC) use and abortion.
At my blog, I have been analyzing the peer reviewed scientific and medical literature showing the association between OC use, abortion and breast cancer. For a half-century now, well over a hundred studies have indicated a link between abortion and breast cancer, with increased risks being upward of 50% for abortions before a first full-term pregnancy, with many showing increased risks above 100%. Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic Physicians Draw Ethical Lines in Cloning Debate at CMA Conference
What does it mean to be human? It is an age-old question.
The Discovery Institute played host to a discussion of what it means to be human as a prelude to the 79th annual educational conference in Seattle for the Catholic Medical Association.
Human life is under assault like never before in our history. Some scientists are advocating destruction of our most vulnerable with promises of miraculous cures for the rest of us.
From researchers who use destroy human embryos in an attempt to find cures for all that ails us, to perhaps one day fetal tissues made from grown from cells taken from our own body to replace, say your kidneys, this is the natural consequence of deciding that human life has no dignity, said Wesley Smith.
In fact, ironically there is a growing sentiment in the country that more dignity should be given to animals than humans when it comes to medical research. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Abortion, Pro-Life Candidates Got Big Bucks in Elections
To hear some media outlets and political pundits tell the story, the issue of abortion barely resonated in this year s midterm Congressional elections.
But the spending by pro-life and pro-abortion groups tells a different tale.
The pro-life women s group Susan B. Anthony List released a list of key numbers from its election campaign today showing $11 million raised and spent in the 2010 election cycle an increase over the $8 million raised in the 2008 election cycle and the $5 million raised in the 2006 cycle.
The group spent $3.4 million on its Votes Have Consequences Project, $2.3 million supporting pro-life women candidates, and $1.4 million spent defeating pro-abortion incumbents and protecting pro-life leaders. Those figures resulted in 2.3 million pieces of voter mail dropped in 42 House districts held by Democrat incumbents, who voted for pro-abortion Obamacare.
Candidate contributions from SBA List members topped $600,000 including $112,000 raised for Michele Bachmann and her political action committee in Minnesota, $65,000 for Sharron Angle in Nevada, and $87,000 for Carly Fiorina in California. SBA List made a $11,000 campaign contribution for Susana Martinez, the pro-life New Mexico gubernatorial candidate, which was more than any other PAC donated. Full story at LifeNews.com
Assisted Suicide Advocates Forget Hope a More Powerful Force Than Death
In a recent statement, Ludwig Minelli, founder of the Swiss death clinic, Dignitas, called for suicide drugs to be legally available to distraught spouses of his suicide clients should they wish to follow their loved ones in ending their lives.
Assisted suicide has become an increasingly controversial issue as advocates insist it is a humane, dignified way to die. Efforts to turn public opinion in favor of assisted suicide include an appeal to patient autonomy and freedom of choice. Opponents of assisted suicide are criticized for lacking compassion when they try to prevent an elderly, disabled or terminally ill person from deciding to end his or her suffering through suicide.
The choice to end one s life, however, is not an exercise of freedom; it is ultimately a manifestation of loss and despair. The desire to end a painful health condition is one reason for a suicidal tendency, but there are ways to eliminate pain without killing the patient.
By far, the most common reason for a suicidal tendency is one s self-perception as a burden, as not worthy of someone else s time or care. Something is very wrong when people, out of feelings of guilt, fear, or sadness, begin to define their worth and sense of self only in terms of their usefulness to others. Full story at LifeNews.com
| Looking for a Low-Cost Pro-Life Speaker? |
| Looking for a pro-life speaker for your next banquet, conference or convention? LifeNews.com editor Steven Ertelt is a low-cost speaker who can entertain and educate your audience as well as help you with a fundraising pitch if necessary. For more information: news@LifeNews.com. |
Late-Term Forced Abortions Exposed on Chinese Twitter
by Erin Brown
Last year when Michael Jackson died, average people all over the world knew it within minutes, thanks in part to advances in social media technology such as Facebook and Twitter that make information sharing instantaneous.
But maybe these new media have a role in getting out actually important, yet under-reported stories. That may be the case with the horror of violent forced abortions in China.
The enforcement of China s infamous one-child policy has led family planning authorities to fine women with an illegal second pregnancy for as little as $1 for the poorest citizens, up to $40,000. But in some cases, government actions are far more extreme.
Thanks to an Al Jazeera video posted on China s version of Twitter, the truth of a gruesome, late-term abortion forced upon a mother in the modern city of Xiamen is now receiving more mainstream attention than it might have in a pre-Twitter era. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pregnancy Center Group Ups Pledge to Reach Black Women
Care Net is upping its pledge to reach black women and other minorities who are often some of the last to find out about the abortion alternatives its thousands of local centers offer.
The national pregnancy center group has announced that Rev. Dean Nelson has been appointed Vice President of Underserved Outreach to spearhead the organization s efforts to develop pregnancy centers in urban communities nationwide.
With decades of experience in ministry, grassroots mobilization, and equipping urban leaders, Rev. Nelson will focus on recruiting and equipping African American pastors to open pregnancy centers in urban areas. As some of the highest rates of abortions occur among African-American women, and with the majority of abortion centers clustered in urban neighborhoods, Nelson s work will focus on one of the most strategic projects in the pro-life movement today. Full story at LifeNews.com
Green s Senator Bob Brown is pushing for the federal government to pass a bill that would essentially legalize the practice of euthanasia on the island nation by allowing states to do so. Brown received a debate on his measure which would overturn the federal 1997 Euthanasia Laws Act which effectively ceased the operation of Northern Territory s own Rights of the Terminally Ill Act. The bill would allow Australian states to make their own laws pertaining to assisted suicide.
Media reports indicate MPs would be given a conscience vote on the issue. Full story at LifeNews.com
Encourage Friends to Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
