LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, April 14, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• House De-Funds Planned Parenthood, Senate Allows Funding
• House Strips Funding From Obamacare Law, Senate Votes No
• Obama Cuts Women s Health Care, Funds Planned Parenthood
• Catholic Bishops Join Pro-Life Groups: De-Fund Planned Parenthood
More Pro-Life News
• 40 Days for Life: Couple Leaves Planned Parenthood With No Abortion
• Pro-Life Group: Obama OK With Massive Black Abortion Rate
• Ron Paul Starts Organization to Test the Waters for 2012
• Idaho Governor Signs Fetal Pain-Based Abortion Ban
• Oklahoma Sends Fetal Pain Abortion Ban, Obamacare $ Ban to Falin
• Obama Administraton Catigates Vatican Over Family Planning
• Illinois House Defeats Bill on Abortion Center Regulations
• Utah Health Department: Abortion Numbers Drop to 10 year Low
• Updating the Stem Cell Research Wars: A Non-Scientist Primer
• Martin Sheen Sheds Light on Reasons for His Pro-Life Views
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House De-Funds Planned Parenthood, Senate Allows Funding
The House of Representatives voted today for the Continuing Resolution funding the federal government that contains a ban on abortion funding in the nation s capital. House lawmakers also supported efforts to de-fund Planned Parenthood, but senators voted no.
On a 260-167 vote, lawmakers approved a funding bill that reinstates the abortion funding ban in the District of Columbia that President Barack Obama and Democrats overturned in their budget bills last year.
Following that vote, House members voted 241-185 for a resolution that would prohibit the Planned Parenthood abortion business from qualifying for family planning funds. The vote saw almost all Republicans supporting de-funding while Democrats generally opposed it. (See vote tallies below.)
After the House voted, members of the Senate voted 58-42 against the resolution to de-fund Planned Parenthood. The vote was mostly partisan with Republicans supporting de-funding and Democrats voting no though pro-abortion Republicans Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Mark Kirk of Illinois, and Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine voted no as well.
The vote also saw three self-declared pro-life Democrats, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Joe Manchin of West Virginia all vote to allow tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to continue flowing to the nation s biggest abortion business. Their votes will likely cost them them support from pro-life organizations and pro-life voters in the 2012 elections as they each face difficult re-election campaigns.
In addition to the ban on DC abortion funding, the continuing resolution also cuts funding to the pro-abortion UNFPA (United Nations Family Planning Agency) that has worked hand-in-hand with Chinese population control officials who have enforced the one-child rule with forced abortions and other human rights abuses. Republicans trimmed funding for the agency from the $55 million President Barack Obama put in place to $40 million. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact members of the House at http://www.house.gov and members of the Senate at http://www.senate.gov
House Strips Funding From Obamacare Law, Senate Votes No
On a 240-185 vote today, with all Republicans supporting and all but three Democrats in opposition, the House of Representatives voted to strip the Obamacare health care law of its federal funding.
The Senate voted immediately afterwards 53-47, on a party-line vote, and defeated the Obamacare de-funding measure. However, the House vote is an indication of the way Americans strongly oppose the Obamacare law, which contains loopholes allowing federal taxpayer funding of abortion and presents rationing concerns for pro-life groups.
The Senate vote had all three of the self-declared pro-life Democrats, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, vote against de-funding the pro-abortion, pro-rationing Obamacare law.
In fact, according to a new Associated Press poll, support for Obama s health-insurance expansion has slipped to 35 percent, while opposition stands at 45 percent and another 17 percent are undecided. Among seniors, support for the Obamacare measure has slipped to under 30 percent for the first time.
Meanwhile, a Rasmussen Reports poll shows a majority of voters still favor repeal of the health care law with 51% of Likely Voters at least somewhat favoring repeal of the health care law, including 41% who Strongly Favor it. Forty-one percent (41%) oppose repeal, with 28% who are Strongly Opposed.
Since Democrats passed the law in Congress in late March of last year, support for repeal has ranged from a low of 50% to a high of 63%. At the same time, the number of voters who oppose repeal has ranged from 33% to 43%. Republicans consistently have been strongly in support of repeal, while Democrats have overwhelmingly opposed it. This week, among voters not affiliated with either major party, 53% favor repeal and 37% oppose it. Full story at LifeNews.com
Obama Cuts Women s Health Care, Funds Planned Parenthood
President Barack Obama is facing criticism from a conservative group for cutting women s health care while holding steadfast to funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
Obama refused repeated requests from pro-life House Speaker John Boehner to agree to cut funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business. However, his administration didn t raise a stink about the elimination of $600 million for Community Health Centers.
Planned Parenthood, and its defenders, like Obama have used the argument against cutting its funding that women s health would suffer because the funding cuts would supposedly cut or eliminate legitimate health care programs for women offered by the abortion business. However, the community health centers facing the cuts offer real health care services for women that Planned Parenthood doesn t provide.
While an expose revealed Planned Parenthood doesn t provide mammograms and its own figures show relatively few women receive pre-natal and post-natal care (about 95 percent of pregnant women get abortions at Planned Parenthood), community health centers provide both.
In an email LifeNews.com received from the conservative American Principles Project, community health centers helped 320,000 women with mammograms, while Planned Parenthood provided none.
Coating its ideology in flowery language about women s health and alleged Republican mean-spiritedness, liberal Democrats refused to cut one dime out of Planned Parenthood s plump federal purse during the budget debate, APP president Frank Cannon said. All the while a sharp knife was being taken to community health centers that actually perform full-scale exams for the needy. These health centers offer prenatal care to women and their babies 480,000 times in 2009 alone. Planned Parenthood? Their 850 clinics average less than one prenatal visit a month, in other words, it s not their line of work. Full story at Lifeews.com
Catholic Bishops Join Pro-Life Groups: De-Fund Planned Parenthood
When members of Congress vote today on revoking taxpayer funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business, the nation s Catholic bishops are joining pro-life organizations in urging a yes vote.
In a letter the nation s bishops sent to members of Congress yesterday, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston urged lawmakers to vote for a resolution to ban federal funding of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In the midst of a budget debate involving shared sacrifice and hard choices, Cardinal DiNardo wrote, Whether to fund the largest abortion network in the country is not one of those hard choices.
DiNardo, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), cited a March 4 letter to Congress from Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, California, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, which expressed the hope that funds now provided to organizations that perform abortions will be redirected to meeting the basic needs of the poor.
Cardinal DiNardo offered additional reasons for supporting de-funding:
First, it is indisputable that Planned Parenthood Federation of America is by far the largest provider and promoter of abortions nationwide, performing about a third of all abortions (332,278 abortions in Fiscal Year 2008-9). Abortions also account for over a third of Planned Parenthood s income. The organization has aborted over 5 million unborn children since 1970, he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
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40 Days for Life: Couple Leaves Planned Parenthood With No Abortion
There is so much momentum heading into the closing weekend of 40 Days for Life! Tonight, I am speaking in Los Angeles at a 40 Days for Life event. Then tomorrow, I head back to the east coast for a closing event outside of a late-term abortion facility in Maryland.
With just a few days left, are you getting a little tired? If so, please remember to pray and prepare your hearts as we enter into what Fulton Sheen called the week that changed the world. Next week, our commemoration of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus reassure us of victory over death.
SO are you ready for a few more stories of the Lord s amazing blessings? Here goes! Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Group: Obama OK With Massive Black Abortion Rate
A pro-life organization says President Barack Obama is, ironically, allowing the high rate of abortions on black women and children to continue by refusing to de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion business in the United States, doing hundreds of thousands of abortions, more than 27 percent of the 1.2 million that take place annually.
A February report the Centers for Disease Control issued showed abortions fell in 2007 to their second lowest level in the last 10 years. But, looking at the women from the 25 areas that reported abortions and cross-classified race/ethnicity data for 2007, black women accounted for 34.4% of all abortions despite being less than 20 percent of the national population of women. The CDC found black women had the highest abortion rates (32.1 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 44 years) and ratios (480 abortions per 1,000 live births). The report found black mothers get abortions at a 300 percent higher per capita rate and an overall rate 2.5 times that of non-blacks.
Another report shows sixty percent of the abortions in New York City are performed on black women, and new abortion centers Planned Parenthood recently built in Houston, Portland and Chicago are located in the heart of minority communities. The Washington Examiner reported in 2009 that 41 percent of all pregnancies in predominately black Washington, DC end in abortion.
In Georgia in 2006, 57.4 percent of abortions are performed on African-American women even though blacks comprise just 30 percent of the general population. In Texas, abortions on black women comprise nearly 25% of all state abortions even though they only constitute 12.7% of the female population (ages 15-44). Every other racial demographic shares a smaller percentage of statewide abortions than their respective percentage of total population. Full story at LifeNews.com
Ron Paul Starts Organization to Test the Waters for 2012
Congressman Ron Paul has quietly put together an organization to start testing the waters to see if the 2008 Republican presidential candidate wants to make another attempt at getting the GOP nod to run for president.
Paul has not set up an exploratory committee like other potential candidates such as Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, and Herman Cain, but he has created a so-called testing the waters account that allows him to start raising money towards a potential bid and could eventually become his main campaign account.
Jesse Benton, director of Paul s LibertyPAC, told Politico that the pro-life Texas congressman is expected to announce next month whether he will take a more formal position on running for the Republican nomination, but that the new account was opened with the expectation of creating an exploratory committee. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have also opened testing the waters accounts but have stopped short of a formal exploratory committee.
Dr. Paul continues to use LibertyPAC to fund his activities while he explores his political options for 2012, Benton told Politico. He remains undecided on what his plans will be, but as a final decision draws closer, his team has put the pieces in place for him to flip a switch and hit the ground running if he decides to run for president. Full story at LifeNews.com
Idaho Governor Signs Fetal Pain-Based Abortion Ban
Add Idaho to the list of states that have followed the trend Nebraska started and banned abortions based on scientific evidence clearly showing unborn children experience pain in the womb. Full story at LifeNews.com
Oklahoma Sends Fetal Pain Abortion Ban, Obamacare $ Ban to Falin
Two pro-life bills the state legislature gave final approve to on Wednesday are on their way to Governor Mary Falin and are expected to be signed into law soon. Full story at LifeNews.com
Obama Administraton Catigates Vatican Over Family Planning
The contrast between the priorities of the developed and developing world was as clear as night and day. It is detrimental to not have adequate family planning resources, a visibly US delegate told the room. Why is there a resistance to acknowledging access to family planning as a necessity? Full story at LifeNews.com
Illinois House Defeats Bill on Abortion Center Regulations
Illinois House lawmakers defeated a bill yesterday that would protect women by putting more regulations of abortion centers in place, but the pro-life measure may have another chance to pass. Full story at LifeNews.com
Utah Health Department: Abortion Numbers Drop to 10 year Low
A new report from the Utah Department of Health finds the number of abortions in the western state has dropped to a 10 year low, which is good news for the pro-life advocates who have put laws limiting abortions in place. Full story at LifeNews.com
Martin Sheen Sheds Light on Reasons for His Pro-Life Views
Actor Martin Sheen has gone against the grain of Hollywood for years with his pro-life views and, in a new interview, he talked about some of the family machinations that led him to the pro-life perspective. Full story at LifeNews.com
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