LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Monday, May 30, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Congressman Chris Smith: Replace Obama With Pro-Life President
• AmeriCorps Boots Participants Lobbying at Planned Parenthood
• Pepsi Ignores Criticism on Use of Aborted Cells in Research
• Elderly Patients Dying of Thirst, British Doctors Prescribe Water
More Pro-Life News
• When Tapes Show Sex Abuse Coverups, Abortion Agenda Becomes Clear
• Overpopulation is a Myth: Plenty of Food and Space Exists
• Rosie O Donnell Show Compares Post-Abortion Guilt to Blaming Rape Victims
• John Stamos to Join Beach Boys at Terri Schiavo Foundation Concert
• California Pro-Lifers Try to Stop Redwood City Planned Parenthood
• Good News and Bad News for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
• Philippines Senate Debates RH and Pro-Life Bills Next Week
• France to Keep Strong Limits on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
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Congressman Chris Smith: Replace Obama With Pro-Life President
Congressman Chris Smith, the head of the pro-life caucus of lawmakers in the House of Representatives, says voters must replace pro-abortion President Barack Obama with a pro-life president when they vote in the 2012 elections.
I do think we need a man or woman who is totally committed to the culture of life and not just in name only or symbolically but somebody who really believes in the family and in the preciousness of all life, including the child in the womb, the New Jersey congressman told the Catholic News Agency.
Having previously called Obama out on his lengthy pro-abortion record, Smith says giving him another four years in the White House would be a disaster for women and unborn children by allowing him a chance to further entrench abortion, abortion funding and international promotion of abortion.
President Obama is the abortion president. If he gets in for four more years he ll be untethered, Smith told CNA. Obama will pack the Supreme Court too. The only realistic way that Roe v. Wade will be repealed is through the courts. If he gets a chance to put one or two more judges on (the bench), then a generation will be lost and over a million kids a year will suffer the cruelty of abortion.
Look at the stand Obama took on the threat to withdraw funding for the International Planned Parenthood Federation from the U.S. budget, Smith explained. He said, I ll shut down the government before I don t fund Planned Parenthood. So his priorities couldn t have been clearer. His priority will be to fund all pro-abortion, non-governmental organizations to the max. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/30/congressman-chris-smith-replace-obama-with-pro-life-president/
AmeriCorps Boots Participants Lobbying at Planned Parenthood
The national volunteer service program AmeriCorps has booted two women who face accusations that they broke the program s rules by lobbing for the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
Though the program does not prevent participants from working at Planned Parenthood, it bans providing abortion services or referrals for such services. However, a Wall St. Journal report indicates the women, who were participants in NYC Civic Corps, a part of AmeriCorps, allegedly violated rules on attempting to influence legislation and organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes.
Although they were one month away from completing a 10-month stint, the women were told not to return on Tuesday and they are reportedly deciding between abandoning the AmeriCorps program or taking another placement.
The WSJ indicated mayoral spokesman Marc LaVorgna responded to the decision, saying, We disagree with the opinion because all applicable regulations were followed. But out of an abundance of caution, the Civic Corps members were relocated.
Neither NYC Civic Corps worker was involved with providing abortions, and neither engaged in political activities during their official hours, LaVorgna said.
Officials involved in the decision said new York City will use private money to pay for the $1,270 monthly stipend and $5,350 educational award because of the rules violations. ACTION: Contact AmeriCorps at http://www.americorps.gov/about/contact/index.asp to urge it to prevent any of its participants from working at Planned Parenthood. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/30/americorps-boots-participants-lobbying-at-planned-parenthood/
Pepsi Ignores Criticism on Use of Aborted Cells in Research
PepsiCo is ignoring criticism from pro-life advocates upset that the company contracts with a research firm that uses fetal cells from babies victimized by abortions to test and produce artificial flavor enhancers.
Last week, dozens of pro-life groups called for a boycott of Pepsi because of information that came to light in March showing biotech company Senomyx was found to be testing their food additives using fetal cells from abortions. Senomyx ignored a letter from the pro-life group Children of God for Life, which complained about its practices.
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.
Debi Vinnedge, of the pro-life group Children of God for Life, explained, What they don t tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors. They could have easily chosen animal, insect, or other morally obtained human cells expressing the G protein for taste receptors.
After contacting Pepsi with their concerns, the beverage and food products company responded via email to pro-life advocates with an unsigned form response from Pepsi Consumer Relations.
Thank you for contacting us to share your sincere concerns, the PepsiCo response says. Please be assured that PepsiCo is committed to using only the highest ethical methods in all aspects of our research. This is something we take very seriously, and we hold ourselves and all of our research partners to the same high standards as the world s leading research centers. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/30/pepsi-ignores-criticism-on-use-of-aborted-cells-in-research/
Elderly Patients Dying of Thirst, British Doctors Prescribe Water
Sadly, this news article in the London Daily Mail about medical and treatment conditions for elderly patients in England is going to become altogether too common.
As populations of most countries see baby boomers move into their 70s and 80s and become increasingly reliant on support from government or families, and as the quality of life ethic continues taking hold in the world of medicine and mainstream culture, the elderly will suffer more as the pro-euthanasia mentality becomes one of neglect.
From the story:
Doctors are prescribing drinking water for neglected elderly patients to stop them dying of thirst in hospital. The measure to remind nurses of the most basic necessity is revealed in a damning report on pensioner care in NHS wards. Some trusts are neglecting the elderly on such a fundamental level their wards could face closure orders.
The snapshot study, triggered by a Mail campaign, found staff routinely ignored patients calls for help and forgot to check that they had had enough to eat and drink.
Dehydration contributes to the death of more than 800 hospital patients every year.Another 300 die malnourished. The latest report by the Care Quality Commission found patients frequently complained they were spoken to in a condescending and dismissive manner.
The watchdog said three of 12 NHS trusts visited in the past three months were failing to meet the most basic standards required by law. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/29/elderly-patients-dying-of-thirst-british-doctors-prescribe-water/
When Tapes Show Sex Abuse Coverups, Abortion Agenda Becomes Clear
Multiple Planned Parenthood and National Abortion Federation clinics across the country including five in Alaska were targeted as part of a nationwide phone survey that revealed clinic staff encouraging a caller who said she was a 13-year-old girl to cover up statutory rape and child sexual abuse.
The audio recordings of those March 2002 calls were released earlier this month online.
The landmark survey by Life Dynamics was a precursor to and inspiration for the more recent undercover videos by pro-life group Live Action Films, which has drawn into question whether Planned Parenthood should continue receiving hundreds of millions in annual federal taxpayer dollars.
CIRCUMVENTING THE LAW
Life Dynamics was able to contact representatives from 813 facilities that either provide or refer for abortion across the nation, including five clinics in Alaska.
In each case, the caller identified herself as a 13-year-old girl who was pregnant by a 22-year-old man and wanting an abortion in order to conceal this sexual relationship from her parents and the authorities.
[T]he caller never said anything to suggest that her parents would become violent or abusive if they discovered her sexual activity, Life Dynamics explained. It was always made clear that the motivation for the abortion was to conceal this sexual activity.
However, in the vast majority of calls, including to the clinics in Alaska, there was no indication that authorities were going to be contacted about the possibility of statutory rape. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/30/when-tapes-show-sex-abuse-coverups-abortion-agenda-becomes-clear/
Overpopulation is a Myth: Plenty of Food and Space Exists
Proclamations of overpopulation have circulated for decades. Are they true? First off, what is meant by the word overpopulation ? It has nothing to do with the amount of people but rather to the resources and the capacity of the environment to sustain human activities.
To be overpopulated, a nation must have insufficient food, resources and living space.
With the world population at around 6.8 billion last year, food and living space are hardly a concern. In 1990, it was estimated that the world could feed up to 35 billion people. Most sources estimate that the global population will level out at around 9.2 billion in 2050, and then start to decline.
Indian economist Raj Krishna estimates that India alone is capable of increasing crop yields to the point of providing the entire world s food supply.
Lack of food is not the problem but rather the need for more efficient distribution.
Another supposed problem is living space.
In 2003, the entire population of the world could fit inside the state of Arkansas. The world may seem crowded, but it s because humans cluster together for trade and companionship, not for lack of room. Even so, there are those who insist that we will continue to breed exponentially, causing a population explosion. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/29/overpopulation-is-a-myth-plenty-of-food-and-space-exists/
Rosie O Donnell Show Compares Post-Abortion Guilt to Blaming Rape Victims
On Thursday s edition of Rosie Radio on XM/Sirius, Rosie O Donnell discussed talk show host and comedian Chelsea Handler s recent statement in a New York Times interview that she had an abortion when she was sixteen and still feels she made the right choice. Rosie and her executive producer Janette Barber agreed that it was courageous of Handler both to reveal the abortion and to say she doesn t regret it.
But when the Rosie crew took a call from woman who had several abortions in her late thirties and early forties and feels guilty about it, Barber really lost it, and compared that guilt to blaming a rape victim s outfit for rape:
JANETTE BARBER: To me, it s almost like saying, Yeah, why were you in that alley in short shorts when you got raped?
O DONNELL: Well, it s different, because one is preventable and one isn t, right? If you re in an alley and you re raped, you don t have any control
BARBER, not budging: But [people will say] your problem was you shouldn t have gone in the alley, you shouldn t have worn that outfit
You know it s bad when Rosie O Donnell sounds like the voice of reason. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/29/rosie-odonnell-show-compares-post-abortion-guilt-to-blaming-rape-victims/
John Stamos to Join Beach Boys at Terri Schiavo Foundation Concert
Actor, musician and Full House star John Stamos will join The Beach Boys during their June 12 performance for a benefit show supporting The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network that helps disabled patients. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/30/john-stamos-to-join-beach-boys-at-terri-schiavo-foundation-concert/
California Pro-Lifers Try to Stop Redwood City Planned Parenthood
Pro-life advocates in the Bay area are working to stop the Planned Parenthood abortion business from opening up a new center in Redwood City, that the city government recently approved. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/30/california-pro-lifers-try-to-stop-redwood-city-planned-parenthood/
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Good News and Bad News for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are adult cells that have been reprogrammed back to an embryonic-like (pluripotent) state without creating or destroying embryos. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/29/good-news-and-bad-news-for-induced-pluripotent-stem-cells/
Philippines Senate Debates RH and Pro-Life Bills Next Week
The Philippines Senate will debate two bills next week that touch on abortion issues as the Catholic Church and leading pro-life advocates continue opposing the RH bill because it would promote birth control that can sometimes cause abortions. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/30/philippines-senate-debate-rh-and-pro-life-bills-next-week/
France to Keep Strong Limits on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
France is poised to maintain its very strict limitations on ESCR. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/30/france-to-keep-strong-limits-on-embryonic-stem-cell-research/
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