LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, May 26, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Sarah Palin Bus Tour Stokes 2012 Campaign Speculation
• House Republicans File Bill to Cut Pro-Abortion UNFPA Funding
• Majority Say Abortion Morally Wrong, But Call Themselves Pro-Choice
• Democratic Chair: Pro-Life Republicans Anti-Woman, Not Pro-Life Dems
More Pro-Life News
• Rick Perry Tempted by 2012 Campaign, But Likely Not Running
• Pro-Abortion Obama Judge Pick Goodwin Liu Withdraws Nomination
• Indiana: Planned Parenthood Mixes Medicaid Funds With Abortion Money
• Pro-Life Advocates Take Over NARAL Senate Photo Petition
• Gallup: Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin Lead GOP Presidential Race
• Health Department Closes New Orleans, Louisiana Abortion Biz
• Illegal Babies Abducted by Chinese Population Control Officials
• Planned Parenthood Resumes Abortions in Columbia, Missouri
• UN Youth Conference Gets Pro-Life Statement From Young People
• Nebraska Passes Bill for Parental Consent on Teen Abortions
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Sarah Palin Bus Tour Stokes 2012 Campaign Speculation
Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been seen for months as potentially unlikely to run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination to face pro-abortion President Barack Obama. Today, speculation is running rampant that she will run.
The new guesswork comes as the political action committee set up by the former governor announced she will unveil a feature-length film about herself that will premier next month in Iowa, the first caucus state, and tout her work as governor and the conservative record she built there. Palin has also reportedly purchased a home outside Phoenix, Arizona from which some political observers speculate she will base a presidential campaign.
But nothing is stoking speculation more than news unveiled today that she will embark on a bus tour that will take her across the country and have Palin in New Hampshire, home of the first presidential primary election. According to the SarahPAC website, Palin will start the tour in Washington, D.C. at the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally and the tour will take her to numerous states over several weeks.
Starting this weekend, Sarah Palin will embark on a One Nation Tour of historical sites that were key to the formation, survival, and growth of the United States of America, the statement reads. The tour will originate in Washington, D.C. and will proceed north up the east coast.
Palin commented on the tour in commented posted to the PAC web site today.
Our nation is at a critical turning point. As we look to the future, we are propelled by America s past. It s imperative that we connect with our founders, our patriots, our challenges and victories to clearly see our way forward. A good way to do this is to appreciate the significance of our nation s historic sites, patriotic events and diverse cultures, which we ll do in the coming weeks on our One Nation tour, she said. We ll celebrate the good things that bring Americans together; those things that will give us the needed strength to meet the heady challenges ahead. I ve said many times that America doesn t need a fundamental transformation, instead we need a restoration of all that is good and strong and free in America! So, together let s prepare ourselves for the days ahead by reminding ourselves who we are and what Americans stand for. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/sarah-palin-bus-tour-stokes-2012-campaign-speculation/
House Republicans File Bill to Cut Pro-Abortion UNFPA Funding
Spurred on by a public vote in which pro-life advocates said cutting funding for the pro-abortion UNFPA agency was their top desire, Congressional Republicans have filed legislation to yanks millions from the UN organization.
Earlier this month, LifeNews.com reported on a public vote House Republicans were taking, seeing input from American voters on which one of three ideas for saving taxpayer dollars was the most attractive and should become the next bill pushed in Congress. With thousands of pro-life advocates encouraged to vote, legislation cutting UNFPA funding won out and will now become the next piece of legislation Republicans will advance.
The vote at the popular YouCut web site makes it so the public will be able to track the progress of the legislation as it moves through the legislative process.
Rep. Renee Ellmers, of North Carolina, will be introducing legislation soon.
This is going to save American taxpayers $400 million dollars over a 10 year period and it s just another part of what we re doing here in Washington to cut wasteful spending that we see happening, she said in a new video introducing the bill. And I am very excited to be part of this program and each week we will have more cuts coming forward.
The legislation would result in cutting the funding President Barack Obama put in place for the UNFPA, an agency that promotes abortion and works hand-in-hand with family planning officials in China enforcing the one-child, forced-abortion policy. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/house-republicans-file-bill-to-cut-pro-abortion-unfpa-funding/
Majority Say Abortion Morally Wrong, But Call Themselves Pro-Choice
A second national poll released this week has voters confused about the way in which they term their own views on the issue of abortion saying they are pro-choice when they actually oppose abortion.
A new Rasmussen Reports survey has a plurality of voters saying they consider themselves pro-choice but most still consider abortion morally unjust most of the time. Some 49 percent of those polled in the Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters say they are pro-choice while 41% classify themselves as pro-life.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Democrats consider themselves pro-choice, while 62% of Republicans and 51% of voters not affiliated with either major political party are pro-life.
At the same time, 52% believe abortion is morally wrong most of the time while just 32 percent disagree and 17 percent are unsure. Forty-two percent (42%) of voters say it s too easy to get an abortion in the United States while just 16 percent say it is too hard and 26 percent it s about right. Another 16 percent don t know if it is too hard.
Consistent with past findings, 49% say there should be a waiting period before a woman can get an abortion. Thirty-six percent (36%) disagree with this assessment, and another 15% are not sure, the poll found.
Rasmussen also survey voted on the important of abortion in the 2012 election and found, When it comes to voting in the next Congressional election, 56% of voters consider abortion at least somewhat important in terms of how they will vote. That includes 29% who consider this issue Very Important. Among pro-life voters, 48% consider the issue Very Important. Only 17% of pro-choice voters share that intensity. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/majority-say-abortion-morally-wrong-but-call-themselves-pro-choice/
Democratic Chair: Pro-Life Republicans Anti-Woman, Not Pro-Life Dems
The new chair of the national Democratic Party made eyebrow-raising statements today about abortion when she decided to excoriate Republicans for their efforts to stop funding abortions and Planned Parenthood.
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, recently installed by pro-abortion President Barack Obama as the head of the Democratic National Committee, said this morning that Republicans are anti-woman and are waging war on women with an extremely radical social agenda, according to comments reported by John McCormack in the Weekly Standard.
It s just so hard for me to grasp how they [Republicans] can be as anti-woman as they are, she said, according to the Weekly Standard. I think that the pushback and the guttural reaction from women against the Republicans agenda out of the gate, the war on women that the Republicans have been waging since they took over the House, I think is not only going to restore but help us exceed the president s margin of victory in the next election.
When asked during her appearance at a press briefing sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, if her Democratic colleagues who have voted pro-life by supporting efforts to stop funding abortion were also anti-women, Wasserman Schultz said no. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/democratic-chair-pro-life-republicans-anti-woman-not-pro-life-dems/
Rick Perry Tempted by 2012 Campaign, But Likely Not Running
Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he is tempted by the prospects of a 2012 Republican bid for president but the signs point to him sticking with his past comments saying he will not become a candidate.
On Greta Van Susteren s Fox News show last night, Perry admitted the temptation exists to toss his name in the hat for the Republican primary but said he is currently focused on the legislature.
With all your level of disappointment, for lack of a better word, with the federal government taking care of these issues, you say you don t want to run for president, Van Susteren said, to which Perry responded, Right.
Why not? Are you tempted? she asked.
At the end of the day, for the next week, I ve got a legislative session to focus on. My hope is that person will come forward that can win the presidency that we can all get behind, Perry said. I can t say I m not tempted, but the fact is: this is something I don t want to do. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/rick-perry-tempted-by-2012-campaign-but-likely-not-running/
Pro-Abortion Obama Judge Pick Goodwin Liu Withdraws Nomination
Following a Senate vote upholding the filibuster Republicans mounted against the nomination of pro-abortion activist Goodwin Liu for a federal appeals court position, Liu has submitted a letter to President Barack Obama withdrawing his nomination.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Liu s nomination for the federal appeals court in the western United States in April on a 10-8 party line vote. Last week, the Senate voted 52-43 against stopping the Republican filibuster with Republican senators Lindsay Graham, Dick Lugar, John McCain, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Scott Brown all voting to stop the nomination from moving forward. Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska joined them while pro-life Democrats Bob Casey and Joe Manchin voted to allow the nomination of the abortion activist to move ahead.
Lisa Murkowski, a pro-abortion Republican, was the lone GOP vote for ending the filibuster.
In light of last week s unsuccessful cloture vote I respectfully ask that you withdraw my nomination from further consideration by the United States Senate, Liu wrote to Obama in his letter, according to Politico. With no possibility of an up-or-down vote on the horizon, my family and I have decided that it is time for us to regain the ability to make plans for the future.
In addition, the Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit has noted the desperate need for judges to fill current vacancies, and it is now clear that continuing my nomination will not address that need any time soon, he said. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/pro-abortion-obama-judge-pick-goodwin-liu-withdraws-nomination/
Indiana: Planned Parenthood Mixes Medicaid Funds With Abortion Money
Democrats in the U.S Senate are attacking and the Indiana state government is defending a new law that revokes taxpayer funding for the Indiana Planned Parenthood abortion business.
Governor Mitch Daniels signed the law, which would cut off anywhere from $2 million to $3 million the Planned Parenthood abortion business receives in federal funds via the Indiana government through Medicaid.
The law also contains several pro-life provisions that directly affect abortion, such as banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on fetal pain and provisions to opt-out of abortion coverage in any state health exchanges required under the new federal health law, to require that women considering abortion be given full, factual information in writing, and to require doctors who do abortions, or their designees, to maintain local hospital admitting privileges in order to streamline access to emergency care for women injured by abortion.
Planned Parenthood challenged the constitutionality of the law and filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis just hours after Daniels signed the legislation into law. It alleges the law would violate contracts already in place between it and the state and that it forces Planned Parenthood to choose between doing abortions and getting taxpayer funding. However, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt declined to issue the injunction while she takes more time to analyze the legal issues involved in the lawsuit. That type of decision is usually an indicator that the judge will eventually issue a ruling against the party bringing the lawsuit.
The Indiana state government yesterday officially filed a memorandum of opposition to a motion for an injunction by Planned Parenthood of Indiana in an attempt to block three provisions of Indiana s newly-enacted law. Indiana essentially says Planned Parenthood does not try to segregate its funds to ensure the taxpayer money is not paying for abortions.
The state argues that there is no record that PPIN makes any effort to either segregate Medicaid reimbursements from other unrestricted revenue sources or to allocate the cost of its various lines of business, whether abortion, family planning, cancer screenings, or other services. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/indiana-planned-parenthood-mixes-medicaid-funds-with-abortion-money/
Pro-Life Advocates Take Over NARAL Senate Photo Petition
NARAL organizers yesterday announced a photo petition campaign to the U.S. Senate to show top lawmakers what pro-abortion Americans look like, but the web site was quickly overtaken by pro-life advocates who posted their own photos. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/pro-life-advocates-take-over-naral-senate-photo-petition/
Gallup: Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin Lead GOP Presidential Race
With Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump, and Mitch Daniels have decided against participating in the Republican presidential primary race, a new Gallup poll finds two familiar names lead the pack: Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/gallup-mitt-romney-sarah-palin-lead-gop-presidential-race/
Health Department Closes New Orleans, Louisiana Abortion Biz
The Louisiana health department, using a 2010 law that gives it more authority to close abortion centers that violate state health and safety standards, has closed the Gentilly Medical Group for Women abortion facility in New Orleans. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/health-department-closes-new-orleans-louisiana-abortion-biz/
Illegal Babies Abducted by Chinese Population Control Officials
As Beijing continues to vigorously pursue its infamous one-child policy, PRI has gathered evidence showing that Chinese villagers who cannot afford to pay these fines have their illegal children abducted and sold by Chinese population control officials. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/illegal-babies-abducted-by-chinese-population-control-officials/
UN Youth Conference Gets Pro-Life Statement From Young People
As negotiations begin this week on the initial draft resolution of the upcoming youth conference, a growing international youth coalition submitted a pro-life statement to the UN. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/un-youth-conference-gets-pro-life-statement-from-young-people/
Nebraska Passes Bill for Parental Consent on Teen Abortions
Nebraska has approved a bill making it so teenagers in the state can no longer get an abortion without first obtaining the consent of their parents or legal guardians, and the bill is now headed to the governor. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/26/nebraska-passes-bill-for-parental-consent-on-teen-abortions/
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