LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, March 24, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Judge: Gosnell Must Financially Face Botched Abortion Lawsuit
• Michele Bachmann Expected to Form GOP Exploratory Committee
• Jim DeMint Won t Run for Republican Presidential Nomination
• Huckabee Hosts Online Fundraiser for Pro-Life Candidates
More Pro-Life News
• One Year Later, Abortion Funding in Obamacare Still a Concern
• Pregnancy Center in New York City Burglarized, Trashed
• Adult Stem Cells Help Patients with Aggressive Multiple Sclerosis
• Alabama Committee Holds Hearing on Fetal Pain-Abortion Bill
• Catholic Universities on Front Lines of Abortion Culture
• Ohio: Pro-Life Republican Ken Blackwell Mulls Senate Bid
• NYC Gets Second Lawsuit Over Law Attacking Pregnancy Centers
• Arkansas Cmte OKs Bill to License Centers Using Abortion Drug
• Princeton Student Accused of Racism for Fliers on Black Abortions
• Milwaukee Pro-Life Sidewalk Counselor Sees False Charges Dropped
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Judge: Gosnell Must Financially Face Botched Abortion Lawsuit
A judge approved an agreement between attorneys for both sides in the civil lawsuit embattled abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell faces concerning the death of a young woman he killed in an botched abortion.
Gosnell is the nationally-known abortion practitioner who has been charged with eight counts of murder and several of his staff at the abortion center, including his wife and sister-in-law, have been charged as well in the case with assisting in botched abortions, practicing medicine without a license or covering up the actions of those who did. The counts include grisly infanticides that involved Gosnell snipping the spines with scissors of babies who had purposefully been prematurely born so they could be killed moments later.
The charges also include a count of murder related to the death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar from a botched abortion Gosnell performed. Mongar died November 20, 2009, after overdosing on anesthetics prescribed by the doctor.
The family of the woman Gosnell killed has filed a civil lawsuit against him and against Gosnell s abortion business seeking damages.
Common Pleas Judge Paul Panepinto, earlier this month, granted a temporary injunction that prevents the abortion practitioner from liquidating his assets in an effort to avoid paying out any money in the settlement his attorney may arrange with attorneys for Mongar s family.
Today, the Philadelphia Daily News indicates Bernard Smalley, the attorney representing Monar s family, and defense attorney Jack McMahon, came to an agreement saying Gosnell would not sell any of his assets without notifying Smalley and seeking court approval. Gosnell owns several homes and the attorneys agreed the only one he may sell in the future would be one in New Jersey valued at $900,000 in order to pay legal fees. That s because McMahon has a separate order from Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes, who is overseeing the criminal case against Gosnell, to be able to sell the home to pay for his attorney. Full story at LifeNews.com
Michele Bachmann Expected to Form GOP Exploratory Committee
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a pro-life advocate from the state of Minnesota, will reportedly form an exploratory committee in June, or perhaps earlier, to consider a potential bid for the GOP nomination for president.
Bachmann is a conservative lawmaker who has burnished national credentials because of her involvement with Tea Party groups and her outspoken views on pro-life issues. According to a CNN report, she may form the committee the first official step before a formal candidacy is declared earlier than June in order to participate in some of the early Republican presidential debates media outlets and interested organizations are already organizing.
She s been telling everyone early summer, a source close to the congresswoman told CNN. If you [debate sponsors] come to us and say, To be in our debates, you have to have an exploratory committee, then we ll say, Okay, fine I ll go file the forms.
There are already three Republican presidential debates planned for before June including one on May 2 at the Ronald Reagan Library in California, a May 5 debate in South Carolina, and CNN will host its own debate in early June.
The CNN report indicates Bachmann is making moves as if she will be running for president, as she hired Iowa Republican state Sen. Kent Sorenson to serve as her political director for the state. Bachmann aides have indicated she hopes to have a team of staff committed to helping her in Iowa put together by this weekend.
I should have state directors in all those states within a week, Bachmann Chief of Staff Andy Parrish indicated. Full story at LifeNews.com
Jim DeMint Won t Run for Republican Presidential Nomination
Sen. Jim DeMint, a prominent pro-life conservative from South Carolina, has ruled out running for president before but, today, a spokesman for him said he is definitely not seeking the GOP nomination.
The news comes as pro-life Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he is forming an exploratory committee and pro-life Rep. Michele Bachmann reportedly will set up a committee between now and June.
Matt Hoskins, spokesman for the Senate Conservatives Fund, DeMint s political action committee, told the Washington Post that, instead of seeking the presidential nod, DeMint will focus on supporting conservative candidates for Congress as he did during the 2010 election cycle.
He s said all along that he isn t running for President and his role in the primary is to encourage the candidates to embrace conservative principles, Hoskins confirmed.
At the end of the day he believes he can do more to change America by continuing to change the U.S. Senate, another source close to the senator told the Post. He doesn t wake up every day with a burning desire to be the commander-in-chief [and] he knows without a deep burning desire to be president it is near impossible to successfully run for the job.
During the 2010 election cycle, DeMint supported pro-life Senate candidates like Utah s Mike Lee, Pennsylvania s Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio in Florida and Rand Paul in Kentucky all three won, but other DeMint-supported candidates lost, including Ken Buck in Colorado and Christine O Donnell in Delaware. Full story at LifeNews.com
Huckabee Hosts Online Fundraiser for Pro-Life Candidates
Potential presidential candidate Mike Huckabee today is hosting an online fundraiser for pro-life candidates for other elected offices a move that will keep him in good stead with politicians should he run for the GOP nod.
The former Arkansas governor s political organization HuckPAC is hosting what it called an online fundraiser in support of pro-life candidates, according to an email LifeNews.com received.
Events like this are why I formed Huck PAC, my national political action committee. I want to unite grassroots, pro-life conservatives across America and focus our power and energy to elect like-minded leaders to office at all levels government, Huckabee said. Today s goal is 1,000 donors for this event.
We need to elect more pro-life candidates to the next Congress so we can overturn Roe v. Wade and end the scourge of abortion, Huckabee went on to say. Full story at LifeNews.com
One Year Later, Abortion Funding in Obamacare Still a Concern
Three one-year anniversaries for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) fall this month: the Act s passage in Congress (March 21), President Obama s signing it into law (March 23), and President Obama s issuance of his Executive Order (March 24). The House of Representatives repudiated the PPACA ten months after its enactment, but a vote to repeal failed in the Senate. Meanwhile, the latest poll shows ever-growing public opposition to the PPACA now at 56%,[1] up from 49% one year ago.[2]
Among the many serious defects of the PPACA is the absence of any comprehensive prohibition against the use of federal funds for abortions. The Executive Order addresses only two provisions in the law: it requires strict compliance with the law s accounting gimmick for the new health insurance exchanges (set to begin in 2014) and purports to prohibit abortion funding by the additional funding for Community Health Centers. HHS has failed to issue regulations restricting abortion for Community Health Centers.
However, this opens possibilities, which were realized during this past year, to fund abortions through other funding streams and various loopholes. Furthermore, the PPACA creates new broad mandate authorities for federal agencies and officials, which have been used to advance abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pregnancy Center in New York City Burglarized, Trashed
Vandals burglarized and virtually destroyed a pregnancy center in the South Bronx, just days after Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a city council bill into law that targets such centers with heavy restrictions. Chris Slattery, founder and president of Expectant Mother Care-EMC FrontLine Pregnancy Centers emailed LifeNews.com about the incident.
Our main office in the South Bronx was burglarized again. This is the second time this has happened in the past 12 months, he said. They broke into our facility through the second story window, stole over $5,000 worth of equipment, and virtually destroyed the office.
Pictures Slattery sent show property and possessions at the center strewn about the office and the vandals ripped up wooden planks from the floor and tossed them around the center.
The rampage of these heartless criminals shattered windows, stole all of our audio visual equipment, destroyed displays and supplies, tore up the ceiling, doors, and floor, he said. They even broke into our supply closet and stole our Pampers. Full story at LifeNews.com
Adult Stem Cells Help Patients with Aggressive Multiple Sclerosis
A team of scientists from Thessaloniki, Greece, have shown that chemotherapy followed by adult stem cell transplant can stop progression of aggressive multiple sclerosis (MS).
The team observed a group of 35 patients who received transplants of their own bone marrow adult stem cells after being treated with chemotherapy to wipe out the rogue immune cells that were attacking their nervous system and causing their MS.
An average of 11 years after their transplants, 25% of the patients in Greece have not seen their disease progress, the researchers report. Among patients with active lesions on MRI scans before their transplants, indicating that they were in an inflammatory phase of the disease, 44% have not progressed. For 16 people, symptoms improved by an average of one point on their disability scale after the transplant, and the improvements lasted for an average of two years. Full story at LifeNews.com
Alabama Committee Holds Hearing on Fetal Pain-Abortion Bill
An Alabama state House committee held a hearing Wednesday on a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy because scientific evidence from several peer-reviewed studies shows unborn children feel pain. With Republicans controlling the state legislature, pro-life advocates have a chance to pass pro-life bills that would begin making progress in lowering the number of abortions in the state. That was the question Cheryl Ciamarra, the director of Alabama Citizens for Life, asked lawmakers. Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic Universities on Front Lines of Abortion Culture
When I speak with supporters of Students for Life, they often ask how many pro-life student groups we have at Catholic universities. Many believe that our nation s Catholic universities are all pro-life and supportive of our pro-life student groups. However, this is not always case. Everyday, pro-life students face discrimination and resentment from both their peers and administration on these campuses and, some of these campuses are even, shockingly, advocates for abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com
Ohio: Pro-Life Republican Ken Blackwell Mulls Senate Bid
Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, a firm advocate for the right to life, is reportedly mulling a run for Senate in Ohio in 2012. A recent Public Policy Polling survey showed Blackwell garnering 21% of Ohio primary voters. These positive numbers peaked Blackwell s interest and he told POLITICO, I will definitely take a serious look at it. I feel those numbers are worthy of further examination. I believe that constitutional conservatism is on the rebound. I think getting a conservative Republican majority is very important. Full story at LifeNews.com
NYC Gets Second Lawsuit Over Law Attacking Pregnancy Centers
New York City is now officially facing a second lawsuit over a new ordinance the city council approved and Mayor Mike Bloomberg signed that places hefty restrictions on pregnancy centers. The city council approved the bill on a 39-9-1 vote and the ordinance that would place stringent limits on the advertising pregnancy centers use and require them to post signs designed to dissuade women from seeking their abortion alternatives services. Full story at LifeNews.com
Arkansas Cmte OKs Bill to License Centers Using Abortion Drug
An Arkansas legislative committee has approved a bill that would require any medical center giving out the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug to women to be licensed by the state health department.
The drug is responsible for the deaths of at least 13 women worldwide and potentially as many as 30 or more, and, according to 2006 FDA figures, has injured at least 1,100 women requiring everything from hospitalization to blood transfusions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Princeton Student Accused of Racism for Fliers on Black Abortions
A Princeton Theological Seminary student is facing accusations of racism for passing out fliers on campus talking about the way in which abortion disproportionately targets black women and unborn children. Full story at LifeNews.com
Milwaukee Pro-Life Sidewalk Counselor Sees False Charges Dropped
Today in Milwaukee, Wisconsin municipal court, the Thomas More Society secured justice for a pro-life sidewalk counselor who was falsely arrested and charged with disorderly conduct last August. Full story at LifeNews.com
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