LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, March 3, 2011
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Current Headlines Top Stories
• Obama Admin Ignores Planned Parenthood Sex Trafficking Videos
• Senate Asked to Approve Bill De-Funding Planned Parenthood
• Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty for Abortionist Gosnell
• Calls Show Abortion Centers Hiding Statutory Rape, Skirting Law
More Pro-Life News
• Haley Barbour Again Opposes Abortion-Social Issues "Truce"
• New York City Council OKs Bill Attacking Pregnancy Centers
• Abortion Practitioner Pulling Gun on Pro-Lifers Goes to Trial
• New York City: Poll Finds 64% Say Too Many Abortions Occur
• Ex-Louisiana GOP Gov. Buddy Roemer May Run for President
• Abortion Practitioner Charged for Illegally Prescribing Drugs
• Catholic Seattle University Backs Planned Parenthood Internships
• Michigan Committee Approves Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
• Nebraska OKs Bill to Remove Abortion Funding From Obamacare
• British Doctors Giving Women Bad Advice on Abortion
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Obama Admin Ignores Planned Parenthood Sex Trafficking Videos
Lila Rose, the head of the Live Action organization that released videos showing Planned Parenthood centers helping undercover investigators posing as sex traffickers, says the Obama administration is ignoring the potential crimes. The videos showed Planned Parenthood abortion centers in three states and the District of Columbia assisting alleged sex traffickers in arranging abortions and STD testing for underage girls victimized by the sex trade. One staffer has already been fired in New Jersey over her actions logged on camera and the House of Representatives approved an amendment de-funding the national abortion business.
But the Obama administration is taking a different approach.
The FBI launched an investigation after Planned Parenthood tipped off the federal government before the release of the videos in an action that Rose says was an attempt to cover itself before the national controversy began over the actions of its employees.
Yet Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama administration would not prosecute anyone involved in assisting the alleged sex traffickers.
"It is my understanding that the FBI actually has looked at that matter" and "prosecution was declined in that matter," Holder said, according to the TPM web site, during a House subcommittee hearing.
TPM indicates Rose has responded and said she is disappointed the Obama administration is ignoring the evidence her group presented.
"An untold number of women, and possibly underage girls, are being exploited and likely in danger and the Justice Department is looking the other way," Rose said in a statement. Full story at LifeNews.com Senate Asked to Approve Bill De-Funding Planned Parenthood
Now that Congress has approved a Continuing Resolution funding the federal government for two additional weeks, pro-life advocates are calling on the Senate to approve the House-passed funding bill that de-funds Planned Parenthood. The House already approved a long-term spending measure that funds the federal government and includes the Pence Amendment de-funding Planned Parenthood. After passage, pro-life House Speaker John Boehner mapped out the strategy for moving the de-funding provisions further and he told CBN News he didn't think the two-week Continuing Resolution would be the best vehicle to secure long-term support for the Pence Amendment.
That yielded some backlash from pro-life groups over strategy as they wanted Boehner to press for including the Pence Amendment in the short-term bill — but he said that could lead to a government shutdown for which Republicans would be blamed. Boehner said the best chance at promoting the Pence Amendment beyond the House-approved long-term Continuing Resolution is for the Senate to take up the bill or to include the amendment in a similar bill funding the federal government.
With the short-term CR completed and the focus coming back to the longer-term government funding bill, Americans United for Life is calling on the Senate to do what Boehner suggested.
Americans United for Life Action president Charmaine Yoest called on the Senate to advance the Pence Amendment and said the long-term funding bill "which would cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood and passed with bi-partisan support in the House in February — has the support of the overwhelming majority of Americans who do not want to subsidize abortion." Full story at LifeNews.com
Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty for Abortionist Gosnell
Prosecutors in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania announced today they will seek the death penalty for abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell, who faces charges related to killing a woman in a botched abortion and killing babies in infanticides. Gosnell was charged along with several family members and staffers who worked at his abortion center and were involved in either the failed abortion, the infanticides (which number in the hundreds but for which Gosnell and company have been charged on seven counts), or in relation to covering up and crimes and hiding obstructing justice.
Assistant District Attorneys Joanne Pescatore and Christine Wechsler confirmed to the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper that they are looking at pursuing the death penalty related to Gosnell and former Gosnell employees Lynda Williams, Steven Massof and Adrienne Moton. The three are accused of assisting Gosnell in the infanticide "abortions" where unborn children late in pregnancy were purposefully birthed in order to kill them by using medical scissors to "snip" their spinal cords.
Gosnell himself will likely face a potential death penalty as the prosecutors notified his attorney, Jack McMahon, that they will seek death by lethal injection if a jury finds Gosnell guilty of first-degree murder in the counts he faces. Gosnell faces a third-degree murder charge 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.
Tasha Jamerson, spokeswoman for Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams indicated prosecutors will file formal notice today that they are considering seeking the death penalty but it is not a final decision that the death penalty will be pursued. Although the state of Pennsylvania has 217 death-penalty convictions on record, no one since Gary Heidnik in 1999 has been executed under the state law, according to Fox News. Full story at LifeNews.com
Calls Show Abortion Centers Hiding Statutory Rape, Skirting Law
Yesterday, a pro-life group revealed new information about a months-long undercover investigation of several abortion businesses in Texas that were found to have illegally dumped patient records and medical waste. The probe also found abortion centers hiding cases of statutory rape and skirting parental involvement laws.
The court process for judicial bypass takes 2-3 days but, by the end of the call, the abortion center staff assures the male caller that she will not report him to anyone.
In another call, an investigator posing as a 15-year old girl spoke with a clinic employee named Melissa at Whole Women's Health in San Antonio. The call reveals the ease with which an underage girl who is a victim of statutory rape can get a judicial bypass for just about any reason. Full story at LifeNews.com
Haley Barbour Again Opposes Abortion-Social Issues "Truce"
Haley Barbour, the Republican governor of Mississippi who is mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, has said again that he opposes any talk of a truce on social issues like abortion.
Barbour got himself in a bit of trouble last year when he made comments that put him in line with the controversial truce fellow governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana advocated, and he seemed to think pro-life issues would not be helpful in the 2010 mid-term elections – even though they drove conservative turnout and resulted in the election of the most pro-life House of Representatives since Roe v. Wade in 1973.
Barbour then shifted gears in an interview with LifeNews.com — backing away from any talk of an abortion truce and saying he did not believe social issues like abortion had to be set aside or put on the back burner — "I don't believe that at all. Social issues do matter."
In a speech today at a breakfast hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, Barbour said the federal government's "first priority" should be "economic growth and job creation."
"That's got to be the main thing," he said, according to a report in The Hill.But Barbour said social issues like abortion can occupy the same level of priority and The Hill indicated "Barbour also said he wasn't concerned by the House GOP majority taking up issues like abortion and healthcare despite the condition of the economy."
"I think we can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time," the governor said. Full story at LifeNews.com
New York City Council OKs Bill Attacking Pregnancy Centers
Despite massive opposition from pro-life advocates and supporters of centers helping pregnant women, the New York City council passed a bill today attacking pregnancy centers.
On a 39-9-1 vote, council members approved an 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.
Christine Quinn, the City Council speaker, and Councilwoman Jessica Lappin sponsored the measure, which Mayor Mike Bloomberg will definitely sign and which is expected to be the subject of a lawsuit from pro-life advocates.
"Let me be clear. In this legislation we are not targeting pregnancy centers in order to shut them down or interfere with any counseling that they want to provide," Quinn claimed. "We just want them to be honest and to say what their services are, and not to deceive women and make women believe, based on all logical information, that they are in a doctor's office when they are not."
Queens Councilman Dan Halloran opposed the measure, according to a NY1 report.
"It is time for the left to realize that if you want true choice, it means two sides to an equation," he said. "That's what we're here for and that's what my colleagues and I will stand up against. And believe me, this will not end here today. I have no delusion that the speaker has lined up sufficient votes to make this happen. But the courts will speak tomorrow, and the courts will say, this is not constitutional. This is an abridgement of our First Amendment rights, and we're not going to stand for it." Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortion Practitioner Pulling Gun on Pro-Lifers Goes to Trial
The abortion practitioner who brandished a gun when heading to do abortions at the Charleston Women's Medical Center abortion facility in West Ashley, South Carolina in October is headed to trial. Charleston County Associate Chief Magistrate James B. Gosnell Jr. issued a ruling at a preliminary hearing today that enough evidence exists for the case against Gary Boyle, 62, of Blountville, Tennessee, to move forward. Boyle lives in Tennessee but does abortions at the facility near Charleston. Apparently upset at the fact that local pro-life advocates had been participating in the national 40 Days for Life campaign, Boyle met their peaceful presence by pulling a gun. Full story at LifeNews.com
Ex-Louisiana GOP Gov. Buddy Roemer May Run for President
Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer is expected to announce on Thursday that he will be forming an exploratory committee to potentially seek the Republican nomination for president against pro-abortion President Barack Obama. Roemer was a four-term member of Congress from the Pelican State before winning an election to a term as governor in 1987. He decided to switch parties to become a Republican in 1991 and was rewarded by losing the gubernatorial primary election to former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke. Full story at LifeNews.com Abortion Practitioner Charged for Illegally Prescribing Drugs
An abortion practitioner in Florida was arrested and charged with enriching himself by illegally writing and selling prescriptions for powerful painkillers. Zvi Harry Perper faced a hearing in court yesterday where a judge set bail for $900,000 and set other conditions for Perper, including house arrest. Perper is the son of Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper and records show he remained in the Palm Beach County Jail on Tuesday night — apparently unable to post bail. Should Perper be able to post bond, he agreed to not practice medicine or write prescriptions while his criminal case is pending. According to the Palm Beach Post, he faces charges of racketeering, conspiracy and drug trafficking related to his work for Delray Pain Management, founded by one of the drug smugglers the sting operation snared. Perper was the only doctor registered to prescribe drugs at the center. Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic Seattle University Backs Planned Parenthood Internships
Seattle University, a Catholic educational institution, is coming under fire from a pro-life group for offering students internships with the local Planned Parenthood abortion business. "Should Catholic universities aid Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups?" asks the pro-life group TFP Student Action. "The answer is obviously no. However, Seattle University – a Catholic institution – offers students the option of interning for Planned Parenthood of Western Washington on its web site." Full story at LifeNews.com
Michigan Committee Approves Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
Michigan could be the next state to ban partial-birth abortions following a Supreme Court decision in April 2007 upholding a federal ban on them. States are banning the abortions to allow local officials to assist federal authorities in enforcing the law and in case the federal law is ever repealed. The Senate Judiciary Committee reported out Senate Bills 160-161 on Tuesday and the bills would prohibit partial birth abortions (SB 160) and provide sentencing penalties for anyone convicted of violating the law (SB 161). Both measures received a 3-1 vote to move on to the next stage of the legislative process — the full state Senate. Full story at LifeNews.com
Nebraska OKs Bill to Remove Abortion Funding From Obamacare
Nebraska is on its way to becoming the next state to use the option given to states under the Obamacare health care reform law to opt out of paying for any abortions under the state exchanges the bills create. LB 22, sponsored by Sen. Beau McCoy of Omaha received a 36-to-9 vote in favor and still faces two more rounds of voting before it can head to the governor. The measure would ass Nebraska to a list of five other states that will prohibit insurance companies from using taxpayer funds under the exchanges to pay for abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
British Doctors Giving Women Bad Advice on Abortion
According to a Fox News story published online this weekend, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is now requiring that all women considering abortion be told that most women do not suffer any psychological harm following abortion, and that "abortion is generally safer than continuing a pregnancy to term." Full story at LifeNews.com
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