LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, December 17, 2010
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Planned Parenthood Gets $363M in Tax Money, Abortions Rise
• Court: No Abortion Right in Ireland, Europe, But Attacks Ban
• Omnibus Bill Funds DC Abortions, Planned Parenthood
• Court s Decision Doesn t Require Ireland to Legislate Abortion
More Pro-Life News
• Barbara Walters Question on The View Gives Pregnant Pause
• Canada Hospital Abortions Dropped in 2008, Figures Unreliable
• Canadian MPs, Prime Minister, Defeat Bill to Stop Coerced Abortions
• Pro-Life Lawmakers Chosen to Lead ObamaCare Panel
• South Korea Court Upholds Sentence for Cloning Scientist Hwang Woo-Suk
• Wisconsin Pro-Life Group Supports ObamaCare Opt Out Bill
• Pro-Life Groups Respond to European Court Ruling on Abortion
• Arizona Catholic Hospital Defends Abortion From Bishop s Letter
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Planned Parenthood Gets $363M in Tax Money, Abortions Rise
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America finally released its 2008-2009 Annual report detailing its financial figures. The report shows it received more government funding, which has translated into more abortions.
The nation s largest abortion business released a factsheet in September showing the number of abortions it performed in 2008 increased to 324,008, a 6.1 percent increase over the 305,310 abortions it did in 2007.
The total government grants and contracts received by PPFA affiliates from government sources including state, local and federal governments, increased from $337 million to $350 million in 2009. The new report shows that figure has increased again to $363 million, though it does not specify what portion of the figure was received from each level of government.
Government grants accounted for 33% of Planned Parenthood s income compared with just 28 percent for private donations. Income from its abortion centers generated another 37 percent.
In 1997, Planned Parenthood did about 160,000 abortions and received approximately $160 million in total taxpayer funding from various levels of government. Both the number of abortions and the amount of money received from government, supposedly for family planning to reduce abortions, has more than doubled since then. Full story at LifeNews.com
Court: No Abortion Right in Ireland, Europe, But Attacks Ban
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights today unanimously reaffirmed that the European Convention on Human Rights contains no right to abortion.
That s the good news for the pro-life movement, but the court also unanimously ruled in favor of one of the three women who brought a lawsuit saying the Ireland abortion ban violates their rights.
The case, A, B, and C v. Ireland, has been dubbed by pro-life groups as the Roe v. Wade of Europe because the European Court of Human Rights could have construed the convention document as conferring a right to abortion not only on Ireland but on other European nations as well. It could have ruled that all countries in the Council of Europe must allow abortion or face large financial penalties in damages if ever sued.
Attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund in the United States joined the Irish government in defending Ireland s legal protections for unborn children against three women who sued to have the country s constitutional amendment protecting unborn children abolished.
Because the lawsuit was decided in the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, the judgment is binding on all lower chambers and member states, making it a pivotal case. Full story at LifeNews.com
Omnibus Bill Funds DC Abortions, Planned Parenthood
The omnibus appropriations bill the Senate will consider this weekend or early next week to fund the federal government contains a laundry list of goodies for pro-abortion groups.
The House already approved a continuing resolution bill to fund the federal government since Congressional Democrats have been able to get bills to fund its various parts approved.
The Senate is not considering the continuing resolution but may vote on an omnibus bill, if it is not successfully filibustered, that would provide taxpayer funding for abortions in the nation s capital and give additional tax money to abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood.
The FY11 omnibus undermines the prohibition on abortion funding in the District of Columbia, which Democrats overturned last year to fund abortions in Washington for the first time in many years. Because Congress approves all D.C. appropriations it can determine whether tax dollars can pay for abortions or not.
The legislation allocates $327 million for the Title X Family Planning Program which provides funding to groups like Planned Parenthood. This is a $10 million increase over last year and a $44 million increase over the last four years. Full story at LifeNews.com
Court s Decision Doesn t Require Ireland to Legislate Abortion
by William Binchy
Today s judgment from the European Court of Human Rights will require detailed analysis over coming days but some clear points emerge immediately. The most important is that the judgment does not require Ireland to introduce legislation authorising abortion.
On the contrary, it fully respects the entitlement of the Irish people to determine legal policy on protecting the lives of unborn children.
The Irish people must now make a choice. If they were to choose to endorse the Supreme Court decision in X, this would involve legalising abortion contrary to existing medical practice and the best evidence of medical research. If on the other hand, the Irish people choose to endorse the current medical practice, they will be ensuring the continuation of Ireland s world renowned safety record for mothers and babies during pregnancy. Full story at LifeNews.com
Barbara Walters Question on The View Gives Pregnant Pause
The View co-host Barbara Walters is getting an earful from popular pro-life blogger and family advocate Rachel Campos-Duffy.
She made the mistake of asking Campos-Duffy, whose pro-life husband Sean Duffy recently won election to a Congressional seat in Wisconsin, a question that made it appear Walters assumed Campos-Duffy regrets how her large family has supposedly hindered her career. It hasn t.
Walters inquired: Did you ever think, I wish I had a career and I didn t have six kids?
With baby number six sitting on her lap at the time, Campus-Duffy simply responded, Being a mom is the best job in the world! Full story at LifeNews.com
Canada Hospital Abortions Dropped in 2008, Figures Unreliable
New figures produced by the Canadian government show a supposed reduction in the number of abortions in Canada from 2007-2008 but a pro-life organization notes they are very unreliable.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information released the new numbers for 2007 and 2008 but the data set is so incomplete the agency would not publish a final total.
Of the abortions that take place in hospitals, CIHI indicated 47,318 were done in 2007 and 44,416 in 2008. But it provided no abortion totals for the abortions done in private facilities since so few report their abortion totals to the government despite LifeCanada saying they likely do more than half of all abortions annually in Canada.
LifeCanada president Monica Roddis complained to LifeNews.com that Canadians have no idea how many abortions they pay for each year in Canada even though taxpayers pay for almost all that are performed in hospitals or in private, for-profit clinics. Full story at LifeNews.com
Canadian MPs, Prime Minister, Defeat Bill to Stop Coerced Abortions
Members of the Canadian Parliament, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, voted against a bill today that would have help stop coerced and pressured abortions women sometimes face.
Bill C-510, proposed by Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge, would have made it illegal for anyone to coerce a woman into an abortion through threats of violence, withdrawal of financial resources or denial of a place to live.
Bruinooge acknowledges there are already general laws against coercion and making threats, but he believes a specific prohibition against coercing pregnant women into abortion needs to be spelled out as a message to potential offenders and to society at large.
Bruinooge says the bill, also known as Roxanne s Law, is a response to the murder of Winnipeg constituent Roxanne Fernando, who was beaten to death by three men because she refused to have an abortion. Her body was found in a frozen ditch outside the city a few days after she vanished.
But, the House of Commons killed his private member s bill by a vote of 178 to 97. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Lawmakers Chosen to Lead ObamaCare Panel
In a move that puts the official stamp on what pro-life groups have already applauded, pro-life lawmakers were put in top positions on a key panel that will assess ObamaCare.
The committee will begin work on legislation to repeal, de-fund or at least remove the abortion funding from the law.
Fred Upton, the Michigan congressman who has a weak pro-life voting record but will head the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, gave pro-life advocates the consolation prize by placing pro-life champion Rep. Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania in the position of chairman of the health subcommittee. The move, tentatively announced earlier, was made official today. Full story at LifeNews.com
 "Christian or not, whether you like thriller-genre books or not, regardless of your feelings about abortion. You must read this book." -- Abigail Seidman, Pro-Life Activist www.theintrusionbook.com |
South Korea Court Upholds Sentence for Cloning Scientist Hwang Woo-Suk
A South Korean appeals court today upheld the conviction of Hwang Woo-Suk, the prominent scientist who faked his experiments supposedly showing advances in embryonic stem cell research.
Still, the court reduced the sentence by reducing the penalty and imposing an 18-month sentence suspended for two years.
Last October, Hwang received a two-year sentence suspended for three years on conviction of embezzling $719,000 in government funds intended for his research and ethical problems of purchasing human eggs for experiments and using eggs donated from female members of his research team.
Prosecutors appealed the conviction, saying Hwang should also be charged on fraud by fraudulently obtaining funds from local firms and using government-funded laboratories to falsify his work. Full story at LifeNews.com
Wisconsin Pro-Life Group Supports ObamaCare Opt Out Bill
A Wisconsin pro-life group wants the Badger State to become the next to opt out of the portions of the ObamaCare health care law that could result in massive abortion funding.
Wisconsin Right to Life is pressing for a bill that Senator-Elect Rich Zipperer, a Pewaukee Republican, and Rep. Robin Vos, a Racine Republican, have promised to sponsor in the upcoming legislative session.
The pair announced months ago that they will sponsor legislation to remove Wisconsin from the abortion funding mandate in the state-based insurance exchanges created by Obamacare. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Groups Respond to European Court Ruling on Abortion
Several pro-life groups have issued responses to the ruling by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights that confirmed there is no abortion right in Europe or Ireland.
The ruling, however, did favor abortion in limited cases, which has drawn strong condemnation from pro-life groups. Full story at LifeNews.com.
Arizona Catholic Hospital Defends Abortion From Bishop s Letter
St. Joseph s Hospital is defending itself from criticism by a Catholic bishop who says it may see its status as a Catholic institution revoked over a controversial abortion it allowed.
Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix plans to declare today whether St. Joseph s Hospital is not longer a Catholic one unless its parent organization changes its stance on abortion.
The hospital has been facing questions for the better part of a year over a 2009 abortion which the hospital s ethics committee deemed necessary to save the life of the mother. Full story at LifeNews.com.
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