LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Pelosi Tells Pro-Abortion Dinner: GOP Waging War on Women
• Company Uses Cells From Abortions to Test Artificial Flavors
• Abortion Biz Calls FBI on 40 Days for Life Pro-Life Advocates
• Santorum: Abortion to Blame for Some Social Security Problems
More Pro-Life News
• Abortions & Funerals, Bishops & Politicians: The Dance of Death
• Pro-Lifers Back Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser
• Kansas Abortions Drop 12 Percent in 2010, Lowest Since 1988
• Michigan Atty General Sues to Close Unlicensed Abortion Center
• Kansas: Fetal Pain-Based Abortion Ban Sent to Gov. Brownback
• Florida Committee Passes Abortion Bill Infoming on Fetal Pain
• Philippines: Battle on Reproductive Health Bill Renews in May
• On Bills Limiting Abortions, Pro-Choice Isn t Pro-Choice
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Pelosi Tells Pro-Abortion Dinner: GOP Waging War on Women
Using militaristic terms at a dinner sponsored by one of the nation s most polemic pro-abortion groups, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi condemned Republicans who want to de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
At a Monday gala sponsored by NARAL at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco, Pelosi condemned what she called the Republican war on women the de-funding effort that she said was the biggest attack on abortion since Roe v. Wade. Pelosi told the 700 pro-abortion activists that Republicans clamoring for abortion funding cuts are engaging in an ideological harangue not just against abortion, but family planning, and they need a lesson in the birds and bees.
If you don t want to terminate a pregnancy, you might want to prevent it. Family planning funding? People really get this. Does that give you any picture of how insulting their mentality is? she said.
NARAL president Nancy Keenan also attacked pro-life Republican members of Congress, saying, Republicans are not only going into the personal lives of women and families they re overstepping into the private sector.
She also said she doubted the sincerity of a handful of pro-abortion Republicans who have said they may vote against efforts to cut off taxpayer funding for the nation s biggest abortion business.
It s not what they say, she said. It s how they vote. And what you re seeing at the end of the day is a vote to defund Planned Parenthood and that s wrong. Full story at LifeNws.com
Company Uses Cells From Abortions to Test Artificial Flavors
A pro-life group that monitors the use of cells from babies victimized by abortions is today highlighting a biotech company, Senomyx, which it says produces artificial flavor enhancers using aborted fetal cell lines to test their products.
The group Children of God for Life is calling for a public boycott of major food companies partnering with Senomyx.
Debi Vinnedge, the director of the pro-life organization, tells LifeNews.com today that, in 2010, her group wrote to Senomyx CEO Kent Snyder and pointed out that moral options for testing their food additives could and should be used. But when Senomyx ignored her letter, the group wrote to the companies Senomyx listed on their website as collaborators warning them of public backlash and threatened boycott. They included food giants PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Campbell Soup, Solae and Nestlé. (See update below.)
The company s key flavor programs focus on the discovery and development of savory, sweet and salt flavor ingredients that are intended to allow for the reduction of MSG, sugar and salt in food and beverage products, the Senomyx web site says. Using isolated human taste receptors, we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor.
Vinnedge says a boycott is important because the collaborating companies provide Senomyx with research and development funding plus royalties on sales of products using their flavor ingredients.
UPDATE: Within hours of its press statement to LifeNews.com, the pro-life group received notice from Campbell Soup that the company has severed its ties with Senomyx. Juli Mandel Sloves, Senior Manager of Nutrition & Wellness Communications at Campbell Soup Company, told Vinnedge, We are no longer in partnership with Senomyx. This fact was discussed during the Senomyx conference call with its investors earlier this month. Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortion Biz Calls FBI on 40 Days for Life Pro-Life Advocates
An abortion business that recently was caught in an undercover investigation violating Texas abortion laws called the FBI on pro-life advocates participating in the 40 Days for Life campaign there. Shawn Carney, the director of the national event, says a pro-life stalwart named Elizabeth has led many successful 40 Days for Life campaigns in the most pro-abortion city in the Lone Star State.
This is one of several updates that again show the tremendous power of a few humble souls gathered together in prayer in front of the places where there is such despair and destruction, he says.
According to Elizabeth, she received what she describes as a very friendly courtesy call from the FBI. The agent reported that the Whole Woman s Health abortion center in Austin has made several complaints about the peaceful presence of 40 Days for Life.
Her reaction? What a blessing!
She said the abortion center s complaint is just the type of confirmation that we always pray for. We now know how much of an impact we are having on their clients, their abortion numbers, and on their workers! Elizabeth is also aware of four women who were scheduled for abortions at that facility, but who changed their minds during this 40 Days for Life campaign.
Thank God for the work He is doing inside of that abortion clinic, she said. Our presence is working! Full story at LifeNews.com
Santorum: Abortion to Blame for Some Social Security Problems
Rick Santorum the former Pennsylvania senator who is eying a bid for the Republican nomination for president, blamed part of the insolvency problems related to social security on abortion. He says the system would be stronger if not for the 53 million abortions that have robbed the nation of potential workers who would be contributing to the program. Santorum s comments came during an appearance at an event in New Hampshire, the site of one of the first primary election battles.
The social security system, in my opinion, is a flawed design, period, Santorum said in an interview with WEZS Radio in Laconia, New Hampshire. But having said that, the design would work a lot better if we had stable demographic trends. Santorum cited the abortion culture and said we don t have enough workers to support the retirees. Well, a third of all the young people in America are not in America today because of abortion.
The former senator and House member made the comments in response to a caller to the radio station who made the same point about abortion hurting Social Security and Medicare and the Catholic Republican said he was absolutely right.
We have seven children, so we re doing our part to fund the Social Security system, Santorum added.
Leading pro-life advocates have made the argument for years that abortion has contributed to some of the instability of the Social Security systems. Steve Mosher, the president of the Population Research Institute and a demographics expert made the point in an article in 2009. Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortions & Funerals, Bishops & Politicians: The Dance of Death
I ve seen so much death, corpses in the hundreds. Friends, family, neighbors, parishioners, friends relatives, classmates. There is a finality in a corpse that is chilling. It s over for that individual, their destiny sealed for all eternity. It s over.
Wakes and funerals cause me to reflect on my own mortality, and at age fifty, I think it s safe to say that I have lived more years than I have remaining. My self-reflections take on an added urgency when they take place in that context. I don t want anything to do with God s Justice when I die, just His Mercy. Who among us could withstand His Justice? When I go, I m hoping for lots of sustained prayer for my passage through purgation, and so it is that I find myself increasingly loathe to deny people such as Ted Kennedy and Geraldine Ferraro Masses that are meant to ask for God s Mercy on their souls. It s over.
If anyone in the pro-life movement gloats over their death, or wishes them anything less than God s Love and Mercy, then such a person is in fearful danger of losing their own salvation and has no grasp of the Gospel message. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Lifers Back Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser
The political action committee associated with the Family Research Council s lobbying group is launching a radio ad campaign to support Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser in his re-election bid. The ad will run on 34 radio stations across Wisconsin between now and Election Day, on April 5. FRC Action becomes the second pro-life group to support Prosser, following Wisconsin Right to Life.
Prosser is running against Joanne Kloppenburg, who has the support of liberal, pro-abortion groups hoping to use the Supreme Court to strike down legislation passed by the Wisconsin legislature and signed by the governor.
Connie Mackey, chairwoman of the Faith Family Freedom Fund, which is the FRC-related PAC running the ads, told LifeNews.com that Kloppenburg s supporters want to use the Wisconsin Supreme Court to advance their liberal agenda and also recall any elected official who stands in their way.
Faith Family Freedom Fund will advocate for these duly elected officials and work to protect the courts from judicial activism, she said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kansas Abortions Drop 12 Percent in 2010, Lowest Since 1988
The number of abortions in Kansas fell 12 percent last year, according to a preliminary report from the state health department. They are now at their lowest point since 1988.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced Tuesday that there were 8,338 reported abortions in 2010, which represents a substantial drop from the number of abrtions in 2009. The number of abortions dropped 1,136 from the previous year totals and they are down 32.4 percent when compared with the 2000 figures.
The new numbers show the number of women living in state received slightly more abortions than those living out of state and coming across the border to places like Overland Park, Kansas for abortions. Some 4,188 women from Kansas got abortions in Kansas while 4,150 came from another state. Of the out of state residents, 98.2 percent lived in neighboring Missouri who traveled to abortion centers on the Kansas side of the Kansas City border. Abortions reached a high of 12,445 in Kansas in 1999. Full story at LifeNews.com
Michigan Atty General Sues to Close Unlicensed Abortion Center
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has filed a lawsuit seeking to closed a troubled abortion center in the Detroit area that Schuette says is not properly licensed. Schuette and the Michigan Department of Community Health filed a lawsuit concerning the Lathrup Village-based WomanCare of Southfield that state officials say has been operating without a valid license since last summer. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kansas: Fetal Pain-Based Abortion Ban Sent to Gov. Brownback
The Kansas state legislature has sent two pro-life bills to Governor Sam Brownback including one that will ban late abortions based on the scientific evidence showing unborn children can feel pain beginning at 20 weeks of pregnancy. Today, the House concurred on the final version of HB 2218, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, by a 94-28 margin and the Abortion Reporting Accuracy and Parental Rights Act, HB 2035, by a 100-22 margin. Full story at LifeNews.com
Florida Committee Passes Abortion Bill Infoming on Fetal Pain
Add Florida to the list of states where legislatures are advancing a bill concerning late abortions based on the scientific evidence showing unborn children feel pain during an abortion. State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, a Miami Republican, filed a bill that uses significant research to ban abortions after 20 weeks or more of pregnancy and the bill is called the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. He previously said by 20 weeks after fertilization there is substantial evidence that an unborn child has the physical structures necessary to experience pain. Full story at LifeNews.com
Philippines: Battle on Reproductive Health Bill Renews in May
As I write, there is a battle royal underway in the Philippine Congress. On the one side are the Planned Parenthood types, backed by well-funded international organizations, who are attempting to ram through legislation that would cripple the Filipino birth rate. On the other side stand those who believe that the most precious resource of the Philippines is its people, and who object to the use of what some call human pesticides to control the Filipino population. As you might suspect, the U.S. foreign aid establishment, emboldened by the anti-people mentality of the Obama administration, is on the wrong side of this crucial battle for Life. Full story at LifeNews.com
On Bills Limiting Abortions, Pro-Choice Isn t Pro-Choice
Pro-choice has such a nice ring to it. It sounds like freedom and respect, and as though those on the other side are forcing women into something unspeakable. Full story at LifeNews.com
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