LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Census Numbers Make Obama 2012 Re-Election Tougher
• Planned Parenthood Chapter Quits, Forced by National to Do Abortions
• Democrats Prepare Defense Against Repeal of ObamaCare
• Bishop Removes Catholic Tag on Hospital Doing Abortion
More Pro-Life News
• Teen Birth Rate Hits Record Low in 2009, Abstinence Credited
• No Peace on Earth Without Peace in the Womb
• Continuing Resolution Sets Up Battle on DC Abortion Funding
• Canada PM Harper Chided for Vote on Forced Abortion Bill
• Kansas Laws Needed to Focus on New Abortion Practitioners
• New Jersey Senate Supports Bill Funding Planned Parenthood
• Maryland Man Gets Life Sentence, Girlfriend Shot After Abortion Refusal
---> Looking for a pro-life speaker for a 2011 event? Email us about LifeNews.com Editor Steven Ertelt.
Census Numbers Make Obama 2012 Re-Election Tougher
The new census numbers the federal government released today will make it tougher for pro-abortion President Barack Obama to win a re-election bid in 2012.
That s because states that went for Obama saw population declines that will result in fewer electoral votes and states that did not support Obama in 2008 saw their population increase and, as a result, the number of electoral votes they will allocate to a presidential candidate next time.
The census found the United States population bumped up from approximately 281 million in 2000 to 308,745,538 as of April 1. Regionally, the northeast grew 3.2 percent while the Midwest grew 3.9 percent, the South grew 14.3 percent and the West grew 13.8 percent making it so states that typically go Republican experienced more growth than predominantly Democratic areas.
On the Republican side, Texas picked up four seats, Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina, and Utah will gain one seat each while Louisiana loses one thanks to population declines following Hurricane Katrina and Missouri loses one as well. On the Democratic side, New York and Ohio lose two electoral votes each while the Obama-supporting states of Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania lose one and the pro-Obama states Nevada, and Washington gain one and Florida gains two.
Ultimately, states voting against Obama in 2012 gained six electoral votes while states supporting him in 2008 lost six a total shift of 12 electoral votes. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Chapter Quits, Forced by National to Do Abortions
A Texas-based Planned Parenthood affiliate has resigned as a member of the national organization because Planned Parenthood Federation of America wanted it to do abortions.
Local officials say PPFA is instituting a mandate that all of its affiliates across the nation offer facilities where abortions are done and the head of Planned Parenthood of South Texas says her group doesn t want to add abortions.
CEO Amanda Stukenberg told the Corpus Christi Caller newspaper that PPST doesn t need to do abortions because independent abortion business already exist in the area, so her group has focused solely on promoting contraception and birth control.
We have never provided abortions, she said. Our position is that if that is a need in your community, fine. There are far greater needs in our area than abortion. We feel that women here have options. We don t need to duplicate services.
Stutenberg told the newspaper that national Planned Parenthood officials told her they want to standardize their operations nationwide and that includes a requirement to for all affiliates to do abortions.
Instead, Stukenberg said the Planned Parenthood chapter will change its name to Family Planning of the Coastal Bend and she and her board of directors feel confident they can financially survive leaving the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Full story at LifeNews.com
Democrats Prepare Defense Against Repeal of ObamaCare
Congressional Democrats are preparing now for what will likely be eventual votes on legislation that would repeal, de-fund or significantly scale back their abortion-funding ObamaCare law.
With voters giving pro-life Republicans control of the House of Representatives, GOP lawmakers are expected to make good on their pledge to put forward repeal and de-funding legislation to reverse ObamaCare or, at minimum, mitigate its abortion-funding components and other problematic features.
Democrats will use the repeal bills as a means of promoting the aspects of ObamaCare they believe will resonate with the general public even though polling data has shown a majority of Americans consistently opposing ObamaCare before, during and after passage of the legislation.
The Hill indicates Ways and Means health subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark, a pro-abortion California Democrat, has already unveiled a 14-page report to help his Democratic colleagues put together talking points defending ObamaCare. Full story at LifeNews.com
Bishop Removes Catholic Tag on Hospital Doing Abortion
Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix has removed the Catholic designation from St. Joseph s Medical Center because of a controversial abortion it performed last year.
The hospital s head of its ethics committee, Sr. Margaret McBride, approved the abortion of an 11-week unborn baby whose mother suffered from pulmonary hypertension. Olmsted gave the hospital s parent, Catholic Healthcare West, until today to confirm its policies on abortion to those of the Catholic Church or face decertification of its status as a Catholic hospital.
Olmsted had originally given Catholic Healthcare West, the parent of St. Joseph s Hospital until Friday to change its abortion policy but has extended the deadline to Tuesday after some late-minute confidential communication between the two.
Unfortunately, subsequent communications with leadership at St. Joseph s Hospital and CHW have only eroded my confidence about their commitment to the Church s Ethical and Religious Directives for Healthcare, the Catholic leader said in a statement. They have not addressed in an adequate manner the scandal caused by the abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
Teen Birth Rate Hits Record Low in 2009, Abstinence Credited
The teen birth rate hit record low levels in 2009 according to a new report issued by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Among girls between the ages of 15 and 19, the birth rate fell to 39.1 births per 1,000 teens in 2009, which is the most recent year for which statistics are available. That s the lowest level in 70 years, the Center indicates and a 6 percent decline from the 2008 level and the second year in a row that teen birth rates fell.
The numbers are also down 16 out of the last 18 years though the question becomes one of why the rates are falling, whether the downturn in the has something to do with it or whether abstinence education or promotion of birth control and contraception is the main factor.
Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association says abstinence is the leading cause for the decline. Full story at LifeNews.com
No Peace on Earth Without Peace in the Womb
by Bryan Kemper
Picking out the Christmas tree with the kids, singing Christmas hymns at church, teaching my children about the birth of our Savior I could go on and on about things that bring my joy during the Christmas season; it truly is a magical time of the year.
I also spend of lot of the Christmas season in pain, sadness and heartbreak as I watch what is happening to our world. Christmas is a time for false love, fake peace and people to fool themselves into thinking they love God. Most of what we see is blasphemy and does not please God at all.
God knows our hearts and knows that most of these celebrities who spoon-feed poison and filth to us all year long are just paying lip-service for the holidays. This kind of fake praise and half-hearted faith does not please God; it isn t fooling Him at all. Full story at LifeNews.com
Continuing Resolution Sets Up Battle on DC Abortion Funding
The Senate voted 82 to 14 today to invoke cloture on legislation to fund the government through March 4, 2011 after rejecting an omnibus funding bill containing several goodies for the abortion industry.
The omnibus bill Republicans stopped last week funded abortions with taxpayer funds in the nation s capital and contained increases in funding for pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood that engage in international family planning efforts. But the Continuing Resolution does not contain the increase in Planned Parenthood funding or an authorization for a global women s affairs office that pro-life groups worried would be used to promote international abortion.
The Continuing Resolution the Senate is expected to pass this afternoon will be considered by the House of Representatives this evening and likely approved. Full story at LifeNews.com
Canada PM Harper Chided for Vote on Forced Abortion Bill
In the aftermath of the vote in the Canadian House of Commons on a bill the prevent forced and pressured abortions, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is coming under fire for opposing the measure.
Harper has said all along he doesn t want to open Canada s abortion debate but the legislation, modeled after successful bills in the United States that don t affect the status of legalized abortion, was defeated by MPs.
Paul Wells of Macleans noted Harper took the unusual step of voting on the measure.
He said it surprised some political observers because it what was worth noting was that Stephen Harper was voting against one of his own MPs. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kansas Laws Needed to Focus on New Abortion Practitioners
With news that two state-licensed physicians, Mila Means and Gregory Linhardt, are training to open an abortion venture in Wichita, it is worth noting that Kansas still has no law to inspect and license abortion clinics.
Any Kansas clinic that is essentially the office of a state-licensed physician is under the authority of the state Board of Healing Arts, and, since 2006, required to adhere to minimum safety and sanitation standards.
Abortion businesses, however, are notorious for cutting safety corners and using untrained, low-wage staff (see last week s Florida example). In part, this is because aborted women are resistant to protesting shoddy treatment and unhygienic facilities for fear of exposing their abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
New Jersey Senate Supports Bill Funding Planned Parenthood
The New Jersey state Senate on Monday approved a bill that would restore the state taxpayer funding of the family planning efforts run by the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
Last month, the state Assembly approved a pair of bills to restore the funding pro-life Gov. Chris Christie revoked for financial reasons. However, the passage of the bills came seven votes shy of what is needed to override another expected gubernatorial veto.
Yesterday, senators voted for S2393/A3273, which transfers $5 million in reserve funds to the family planning program and received a 44-25 vote with nine abstentions in the Assembly in November. Sen. Jennifer Beck of Monmouth and Sen. Diane Allen of Burlington were two Republican lawmakers who joined Democrats in voting for the funding. Full story at LifeNews.com
Maryland Man Gets Life Sentence, Girlfriend Shot After Abortion Refusal
A Maryland man was given a life sentence in prison after a court convicted him of attempting to have his pregnant girlfriend killed because she refused to have an abortion.
Charles Brandon Martin, 33, arranged to have Jodi Torok killed when she told him he was pregnant. He has four children with Torok and two children with another woman.
Jerold Raymond Burks was allegedly the triggerman in the incident but he tried to convince police officials someone named Maggie pulled the trigger. But, at Burks trial, prosecutors made a case that Burks shot Torok to work off a $400 drug debt to Martin. Full story at LifeNews.com
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