LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, March 10, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Pro-Life Group Demands Pro-Life Provisions in Next Budget Bill
• Post-Gosnell Inspections Close Two Problematic Abortion Centers
• Poll: Americans Back Waiting Period, Ultrasound Abortion Bills
• Kansas Practitioner Admits Five Abortion Deaths in Five Years
More Pro-Life News
• Record Number of Pro-Lifers Join 40 Days for Life Event
• Mitch Daniels Further Explains Social Issues-Abortion Truce
• Illinois Abortion Advocates Oppose Sexual Abuse Reporting Bill
• Disciplined Doctor Reopens Troubled California Abortion Clinic
• Pro-Life Advocates to Honor Leader Joe Scheidler Next Month
• Oklahoma House Passes Fetal Pain-Based Abortion Ban
• New Mexico House OKs Limited Unborn Victims of Violence Bill
• Pharmacist Convicted for Forcing Girlfriend to Have Abortion
• Minnesota Lawmakers Introduce Human Cloning Ban Bill
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Pro-Life Group Demands Pro-Life Provisions in Next Budget Bill
With the Senate having defeated both a pro-life budget bill the House passed and a Senate version not containing provisions to de-fund Planned Parenthood and stop some taxpayer funding of abortions, lawmakers move to the next step. That step will likely come in the form of a temporary Continuing Resolution that would fund the federal government at current levels rather than make more demonstrative changes like the long-term CR that would have funded the federal government through September. The House and Senate agreed to a two-week CR already that allowed both chambers the chance to debate the long-term version that failed in the Senate yesterday.
Although the House included the Pence Amendment to de-fund Planned Parenthood and provisions to reinstate the Mexico City Policy, stop abortion funding in the District of Columbia and to remove funding for the pro-abortion UNFPA in the long-term bill, it did not include the provisions in the short-term measure because of the importance of avoiding a government shutdown and potential negative political ramifications from it.
When the next short-term continuing resolution is discussed, the Family Research Council wants House Republicans to include those provisions.
In a letter FRC provided to LifeNews.com that it sent to House members, FRC Senior Vice President Tom McClusky said, "I want to strongly encourage you to oppose any additional temporary Continuing Resolutions for FY 2011 that fails to prevent government funding of abortion in the District of Columbia and government funding for the nation's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood." Full story at LifeNews.com
Post-Gosnell Inspections Close Two Problematic Abortion Centers
After the national controversy the deplorable conditions and brutal infanticides at the abortion center Kermit Gosnell ran drew national attention, Pennsylvania officials began cracking down on abortion center inspections.
The inspections, which hadn't taken place in over a decade, turned up problems at two abortion centers also located in Philadelphia and the owner and operator of the centers has decided to shut them down and retire as opposed to correcting the problems.
Soleiman Soli, who runs two abortion businesses known as Abortion as an Alternative Inc in Bensalem and the Germantown section of Philadelphia, were the subject of scathing reports from state health inspectors recently. The Associated Press indicates Department of Health officials said Soli responded to the problems by retiring.
At Soli's abortion centers, officials found drugs that had expired decades ago, equipment that was not adequate to properly care for patients or did not function properly, record-keeping was not up to current standards, and the abortion center staff did not properly dispose of the bodies of unborn children killed in abortions. Soli did not have a written transfer agreement to have local hospitals accept patients in cases of a botched abortion requiring immediate medical care.
The inspection report from the October 26 probe into Soli's clinics also found the abortion practitioner had no way to revive patients who may lose consciousness following a botched abortion, and Soli did not understand how to use the abortion center's oxygen tank — taking him and a secretary 10 minutes to figure out how to use it during a test conducted in front of state health inspectors. The report indicated the mask for the oxygen tank was found covered in dust. Full story at LifeNews.com
Poll: Americans Back Waiting Period, Ultrasound Abortion Bills
A new national poll reveals a strong majority of Americans favor state legislation that requires a waiting period before an abortion and they say such laws are effective in reducing the number of abortions.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds 65 percent of Americans support a three-day waiting period and counseling before an abortion while just 24 percent oppose such a requirement and 11 percent are unsure.
"A proposal has been made that would require a three-day waiting period and counseling before having an abortion. Do you favor or oppose such a proposal?" the question asked. "Suppose a law was passed that would require a three-day waiting period and counseling before having an abortion. How likely is it that such a law reduce the number of abortions?" As to the second part of the question, 65 percent of Americans believe the waiting period and counseling are at least somewhat likely to reduce the number of abortions with 33 percent saying it is very likely to reduce abortions. Just 30 percent say the requirement is unlikely to reduce the prevalence of abortion and just 7 percent say it is very unlikely to do so.
The polling data concerns a law the South Dakota state legislature passed that Gov. Dennis Daugaard is expected to sign that would require women seeking an abortion to wait three days and have counseling about adoption and other parenting issues before undergoing the abortion.
Rasmussen also asked about a law the Texas legislature has supported that would allow women a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child prior to an abortion — something abortion centers routinely perform but may not allow women a chance to see beforehand. The polling data found 48 percent of Americans support this law while only 38 percent are opposed to it and 14 percent are unsure. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kansas Practitioner Admits Five Abortion Deaths in Five Years
Overland Park, Kansas abortionist Herbert Hodes traveled to Topeka Wednesday to testify against the abortion clinic licensing bill, but while doing so, revealed something neither the committee nor the public has ever heard–that there have been 5 maternal abortion deaths in Kansas over the past 5 years. This bombshell admission alone should prove why Kansas needs the Abortion Clinic Licensure Act, HB 2337, which was the subject of the House Federal & State Affairs committee hearing that continues today.
So, an abortionist who came to oppose clinic licensure inadvertently gave us the very reason to pass this legislation. This begs the question if there were that many maternal abortion deaths, how many abortion injuries are occurring?
HB 2337 and its twin in the Senate, SB 165, are essentially the same legislation to regulate clinics that former Gov. Sebelius vetoed twice, claiming it was unneeded in 2003 and that it unfairly singled out abortion in 2005. HB 2337 creates abortion incident reporting to KDHE and professional boards such that the death of an aborted mother is reported within 1 business day and other injuries within 10 business days. Full story at LifeNews.com
Record Number of Pro-Lifers Join 40 Days for Life Event
The first day of the latest 40 Days for Life campaign saw record numbers of pro-life people turn out at locations across the United States to pray at abortion centers and offer women abortion alternatives.
"Just two days into the largest 40 Days for Life campaign ever and we've seen record crowds at kickoff events across the United States — and beyond," says Shawn Carney, the national coordinator. "As this 40 Days for Life campaign is just getting started, there's still plenty of time for you to join in — and to spread the word to everyone you know."
"I just got back from a great 40 Days for Life kickoff rally in Virginia Beach, Virginia," he explained. "They held their event in front of the Planned Parenthood
facility, which is getting ready to expand its abortion capabilities. While I was there, the local ABC affiliate came out to interview Marcia, the local coordinator.
David Bereit, the national director of 40 Days for Life, helped get the first-ever 40 Days for Life campaign in Silver Spring, Maryland off to a great start. It was an exciting night in this Washington, DC suburb. Full story at LifeNews.com
Mitch Daniels Further Explains Social Issues-Abortion Truce
Mitch Daniels, the Indiana governor and potential presidential candidate, further explained his call for a truce on social issues like abortion in a new interview that has been backing away further from it. Although Daniels has never fully repudiated the truce talk — only going as far as saying it was also intended for liberals — a new video has Daniels clarifying what he meant. The video has Daniels giving an interview with a webcast organized by the Hoover Institute at Stanford University that will air on Monday.
In the interview, Daniels called his suggestion that potential Republican presidential candidates put social issues on the back burner "a tactical suggestion."
He said the truce is meant to rally Americans around the notion that the next president must first and foremost address the national debt that greatly affects the nation's economic future. Daniels also wants that commitment to be something that rallies Americans around the next Republican presidential candidate. Full story at LifeNews.com
Illinois Abortion Advocates Oppose Sexual Abuse Reporting Bill
A bill inspired by the pro-life group Americans United for Life would expand the definition of who is a "mandatory reporter" of suspected sexual abuse to include everyone inside an abortion clinic – not just the abortion practitioner and nurse. However, abortion advocates are opposed to the legislation to protect minor girls.
AUL tells LifeNews.com the measure "provides the maximum amount of protection for children who may be undergoing sexual abuse and are being taken to an abortion clinic by a predator."
Planned Parenthood and the ACLU still oppose the measure and Planned Parenthood's website includes the following statement in a form letter their supporters can send to legislators making it clear they are more concerned about overburdening government than protecting minor girls. Full story at LifeNews.com
Disciplined Doctor Reopens Troubled California Abortion Clinic
A troubled abortion center that has closed and reopened numerous times as its abortion practitioners have run afoul of the law is open again in southern California. Constantine Mitchell is the latest abortion practitioner to head up the Clinica Medica Para La Mujer De Hoy, a small chain of abortion centers that prey on Hispanic women in the largely populated state. The center was last closed when its owner and founder Bertha Bugarin was sentenced in February 2009 to three years and four months in prison on charges of pretending to be a physician and doing abortions without a medical license. The pro-life group Operation Rescue indicates Mitchell was disciplined by the California Medical Board in 1983 for billing and insurance fraud. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Advocates to Honor Leader Joe Scheidler Next Month
On Saturday, April 2 hundreds of pro-life advocates and more than two dozen leaders from all over the country will gather in Chicago to honor Pro-life Action League founder and president, Joseph Scheidler.
This Evening of Tribute to Joe Scheidler is sponsored by Citizens for a Pro-life Society and 30 additional pro-life organizations. Full story at LifeNews.com
Oklahoma House Passes Fetal Pain-Based Abortion Ban
The Oklahoma state House has approved legislation that would make the state the next to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the scientific evidence showing unborn children feel pain.
The House overwhelmingly approved the bill, House Bill 1888, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would require abortion practitioners to determine the age of an unborn child prior to an abortion and would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks — a clear point in science when unborn children have the ability to feel intense pain. The 94-2 vote came without any questions from lawmakers to debate on the topic. Full story at LifeNews.com
New Mexico House OKs Limited Unborn Victims of Violence Bill
The New Mexico state House approved today a bill that would provide justice and protection for some pregnant women and their unborn children when attacked in violent crimes. New Mexico is not one of the 35 states that recognize a second crime when a criminal attacks a pregnant woman and also kills or injures her unborn child. because a case occurred in the state in 2009 where a criminal could not be held accountable, lawmakers assembled legislation this year to address the subject. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pharmacist Convicted for Forcing Girlfriend to Have Abortion
A New York man who was a pharmacist has been convicted of in connection with a case that saw him force his girlfriend to have an abortion by slipping her the dangerous misoprostol abortion drug. Orbin Eeli Tercero was charged with criminal homicide of an unborn child, first-degree murder of an unborn child, aggravated assault of an unborn child, aggravated assault, hindering apprehension or prosecution, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. he was arrested last April by state police after reportedly having a two-year long fling with a 36-year-old pharmacist who worked at the same pharmacy despite his engagement to another woman. Full story at LifeNews.com
Minnesota Lawmakers Introduce Human Cloning Ban Bill
Human cloning would be banned in Minnesota under a bill introduced today at the state capitol and supported by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the statewide pro-life organization. Minnesota pro-life advocates have sought the ban ever since the University of Minnesota's attempts to clone human beings came to light several years ago. Laboratories around the world are in competition to be the first to successfully clone a human being and the University of Minnesota's Stem Cell Institute is believed to be pursuing human cloning as well. Full story at LifeNews.com
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