LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, December 31, 2010
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Pro-Life Leaders Want Congress to Overturn Death Panel Regs
• Post-Abortion Women Saddened by MTV No Easy Decision Show
• Planned Parenthood Launches New Sex Ed Program for Kids
• Republican Chairman Michael Steele Confirms Pro-Life Views
More Pro-Life News
• Republicans Eye Five Senate Races in 2012 Affecting Abortion
• Meet Some of the Real Pro-Life Heroes: Choosing Life
• Oregon Catholic Group Stops Using United Way Over Planned Parenthood
• Texas Legislators Promote Bill for Ultrasounds Before Abortions
• Vermont, Montana Lead Battles Over Assisted Suicide in 2011
• UN Sneers But Teen STAR Abstinence Program Gets Results
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Pro-Life Leaders Want Congress to Overturn Death Panel Regs
Leaders in the pro-life community are angrily responding to the news that the Obama administration added death panels to the ObamaCare implementation.
They are calling on Congress to take steps to repeal the new regulations Obama officials put in place that they worry will give financial incentives to doctors to hold end-of-life discussions with patients that will lead to the rationing of their medical care. Doctors will instruct patients in the annual voluntary exams to write advance directives listing the kind of treatment they wish to receive or not receive if they are unable to make their own medical decisions.
Although the advanced directives apparently can t be used to facilitate an assisted suicide, there is concern physicians will pressure or persuade patients to make decisions that would ration care or withdraw lifesaving medical treatment.
Dr. Janice Crouse, of Concerned Women for America, told WorldNetDaily, Those of us who voted in common-sense representatives to take control of the House will be expecting to see reversals of regulations like these that run roughshod over the will of the American people. Full story at LifeNews.com
Post-Abortion Women Saddened by MTV No Easy Decision Show
Women who have had or work with women who have had abortions are reacting to the contorversial MTV show, No Easy Decision, featuring a teenage girl s abortion decision.
They represent the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, and they say they and other post-abortive women reacted with sorrow and disappointment to the show, which showed an abortion business misleading women about the development of the unborn baby.
My heart broke for Markai, not just for her difficult situation, but for the lack of counseling she received, said Georgette Forney, a co-founder of the group who has had an abortion of her own.
This abortion decision was driven by economics, but no one told Markai about the help available to her from pregnancy resource centers. No one told her that this didn t have to be Sophie s Choice, having one child die so the other could live, she told LifeNews.com. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Launches New Sex Ed Program for Kids
The Planned Parenthood abortion business is continuing its mission to attract more eventual customers but using sexual education to build relationships.
As they have in the past, the abortion giant is seeking to push comprehensive sexual education on young people, and now it is taking the campaign further with a push to reach children. As CNS News reports in a new article:
Specifically, Planned Parenthood s Web site announced the group is preparing to launch a nationwide social change initiative to end the stigma and shame about sex in American culture. The project aims to teach parents and caregivers how to educate children about sex from birth. And it recommends telling teenagers about masturbation, oral sex and where to go for help to prepare to be sexually active.
The Real Life. Real Talk initiative began as a pilot program in communities in Maine, New York, Connecticut, and Arizona between 2004 and 2008, according to a report about the initiative that is for sale on the project s Web site.
Now Planned Parenthood is preparing to launch the program nationwide, with funding from donors and private groups, including The Ford Foundation. Full story at LifeNews.com
Republican Chairman Michael Steele Confirms Pro-Life Views
Republican Party chairman Michael Steele confirmed his pro-life views in a new interview with the Susan B. Anthony List as he faces several candidates looking to replace him.
The pro-life group has already conducted interviews with other candidates who confirmed their pro-life principles.
Steele said he wouldn t do too much differently in terms of his role as chairman in advocating pro-life issues and he defended his role in advocating the pro-life platform, saying that the GOP got away from pro-life principles in past elections before he took over as chairman.
He said his role as chairman has ensured that Republican voters have their say in a primary with candidates of a differing perspective on abortion and that the party comes into play in the general election supporting GOP candidates that become the nominee.
Steele, the former Maryland Lt. Governor, is pro-life but raised eyebrows in the pro-life community in an interview with GQ, where Steele said he thought women have, according to the interviewer, a right to choose abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
Republicans Eye Five Senate Races in 2012 Affecting Abortion
Republicans are already eying five Senate races in 2012 that they say involve incumbent senators who may have a tough time winning re-election bids.
While most of the attention in the next election cycle is already focused on the massive presidential race and the Republican nomination that will ultimately produce a candidate to take on pro-abortion President Barack Obama, the Senate is another key focus for pro-life advocates.
With the Supreme Court potentially one vote away from reversing Roe v. Wade and its allowance for virtually unlimited abortions, a pro-life president and pro-life Senate is needed to confirm a justice who could become the fifth vote.
Ron Jesmer, the director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told CNN that races in Montana, Virginia, Nebraska, Florida and North Dakota are ones where Democratic senators could be replaced with Republicans. Four of the states have pro-abortion members up for re-election while Nebraska has Ben Nelson, who is pro-life but upset pro-life advocates when he voted for the abortion-funding ObamaCare bill even after his amendment to stop the abortion funding in it fell short. Full story at LifeNews.com
Meet Some of the Real Pro-Life Heroes: Choosing Life
by Maura Butler
During this Christmas season I have had the blessing of being introduced to some real pro-life heroes. No, not the kind who work on Capitol Hill fighting legislative battles, or who pray outside abortion clinics.
They are the kind who, in difficult and sometimes tragic situations take a good look in the mirror and who choose Life for their children: real moms and dads who did not succumb to the pressure. And heroes who support these men and women, who provide an environment and a real, life-giving and life-altering choice: Life.
I received an email from the aunt of a college-aged girl who had decided she was going to have an abortion. She and her boyfriend, although in a loving relationship, had not planned to have a child in their lives right now. She felt abortion was her only option, and felt pressure from her boyfriend, although he himself was being pressured by his peers. She even had an appointment scheduled. She had decided to through with it. Prayers were said and support was offered to them by family, friends and strangers. Full story at LifeNews.com
Oregon Catholic Group Stops Using United Way Over Planned Parenthood
The Catholic Community Services Board in Eugene, Oregon has stopped using the United Way as a charity partner through which it can receive donations because of ties to Planned Parenthood.
The Lane County United Way gives funds to Planned Parenthood, the nation s largest abortion business that does more than one-quarter of all of the abortions done annually in the United States. Also, some Oregon Planned Parenthood centers have begun distributing the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug that has killed dozens of women and injured more than 1,100 women in the U.S. alone since 2006, according to the FDA.
In 2010, funds obtained through the United Way accounted for $71,000, or 4 percent of the budget of the Catholic organization. The money it had received had been designated for food and shelter services for poor and homeless residents of the area. Full story at LifeNews.com
Texas Legislators Promote Bill for Ultrasounds Before Abortions
If a woman is going to have an abortion, shouldn t she at least be given all of the information she needs to make an informed decision beforehand?
That s the question two Texas legislators are asking, and they say the answer is ensuring women are given information about their unborn baby that abortion centers normally don t provide beforehand. Although women getting abortions most often have an ultrasound to determine gestational age, they don t necessarily get a chance to view it.
Sen. Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican, and Rep. Rep. Geanie Morrison, a Victoria Republican, are behind a bill in the Texas legislature that would change that.
Vermont, Montana Lead Battles Over Assisted Suicide in 2011
Vermont and Montana will form ground zero for the debate over assisted suicide in 2011 as legislatures in both states are expected to tackle bills related to the subject. Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is closely following the machinations of both legislatures and he provides further insight.
The newly elected governor of Vermont, Peter Shumlin, is committed to legalizing assisted suicide in that state, he said.
Shumlin told the lobbying arm of the pro-assisted suicide group Death With Dignity: As Governor, I will strongly champion death with dignity legislation. I have been a sponsor of this legislation for multiple years and I have a track record of bringing people together to get tough things done. Full story at LifeNews.com
UN Sneers But Teen STAR Abstinence Program Gets Results
Nothing gets the debate burning hotter at the UN than one over sex education for children. Last Fall conservative UN delegations angrily protested a report claiming for children a new right to comprehensive sexuality education.
At another meeting last year, when the Holy See promoted abstinence-based programs, liberal delegations met the proposal with sneers and laughter.
While some at the UN sneer, an innovative abstinence-based education program is seeing results. Dr. Hanna Klaus, a medical missionary nun and veteran OB/GYN, developed the Teen STAR program that educates adolescents about their fertility with natural family planning techniques. Full story at LifeNews.com
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