LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• White House: Obama Would Veto Bill Banning Tax-Funded Abortions
• Obama Approval Only Gets Modest Bump After bin Ladin Killed
• Tax-Funded Abortion Ban Would Cut Abortion From Obamacare
• Democrats Want Senate Vote on Pro-Abortion Judicial Pick McConnell
More Pro-Life News
• On Mother s Day, Honor Moms Who Chose Adoption Over Abortion
• Catholic Colleges Drop Abortion, Planned Parenthood Links
• Huntsman Launches PAC, Precursor to Possible GOP 2012 Bid
• Texas Provision Ensures Planned Parenthood Denied Funding
• Nebraska Bill Banning Webcam, Telemed Abortions Passes Cmte
• Iowa Lawmakers Send Fetal Pain Abortion Ban to Senate Floor
• Canada: Conservatives Win Majority of Parliament in Elections
• Maine Committee Holds Hearing on Pro-Life Bills on Abortions
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White House: Obama Would Veto Bill Banning Tax-Funded Abortions
The White House said today that President Barack Obama would add to his lengthy pro-abortion record by vetoing legislation the House will vote on tomorrow that bans taxpayer funding of abortions across the board.
Obama would veto HR 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, should Congress approve the legislation, with the White House saying the president opposes the bill because it would supposedly make it tougher for women to obtain abortion coverage from private insurance companies thereby expanding the current Hyde Amendment, which only limits tax-funded abortions under Medicaid, beyond its current reach.
The Administration will strongly oppose legislation that unnecessarily restricts women s reproductive freedoms and consumers private insurance options, the White House said in a statement. If the President is presented with H.R. 3, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.
Although Obama would veto the bill, the question beyond Wednesday House vote where Republicans and a handful of Democrats are expected to vote for the legislation is whether it could get beyond the Senate and land on Obama s desk. With pro-abortion Democrats strongly opposing the bill, Republicans would have to find another piece of legislation to attach the measure to and would likely need to overcome a very difficult 60-vote threshold to do so.
Meanwhile, pro-life groups have engaged in an active lobbying effort to secure more votes for the tax-funded abortion ban in the House. Full story at LifeNews.com
Obama Approval Only Gets Modest Bump After bin Ladin Killed
President Barack Obama has received only a modest bump in his presidential approval ratings following the killing of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Ladin.
Some conservative political observers worried the action would make it impossible for any of the potential pro-life Republican presidential candidates to defeat the pro-abortion stalwart in 2012 because of a potentially sizable boost in Obama s standing with the American people.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows 56 percent of Americans say they approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president, an increase of nine percentage points over the same April poll. The 56 percent mark is the highest approval rating for the president since 2009. On the question of handling terrorist, Obama scored a 60 percent approval rating and he recorded a career high of 69 percent on the question of his approval rating on terrorism in general. But on the economy, Obama still sits at 40 percent approval, a career low.
The numbers are in the same neighborhood as the six point bump President George W. Bush received when Saddam Heussein was captured in Iraq in 2003. As was the case then, independent voters showed the most movement towards the president.
While the Post poll shows Obama getting a 9 percent bump, a new CNN survey shows the bin Laden raid bringing only a small bounce to Obama of one percent well within the poll s margin of error. CNN has Obama s approval rating up to 52 percent from 51 percent in its survey prior to the raid. Interviews with 700 adult Americans conducted by telephone by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN yesterday shows a 52-43 percent approval split compared with a 51-46 percent split on April 29. Full story at LifeNews.com
Tax-Funded Abortion Ban Would Cut Abortion From Obamacare
The House of Representatives will vote Wednesday on legislation that would ban taxpayer funding of abortions through all federal governmental departments and programs. But one pro-life group says the legislation does more than that.
The bill will also mitigate concerns about abortion funding in the various loopholes in the Obamacare national health care bill that various pro-life organizations warned about during debate on the law. The legislation did not contain language banning funding of abortions in its provisions and HR 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, that the House will consider Wednesday, would fix that problem.
The National Right to Life Committee sent a letter to House members urging support for the legislation that explains how the bill will help:
Regrettably, however, the 111th Congress enacted the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). During consideration of that legislation, language was proposed (the Stupak-Pitts Amendment) to apply the principles of the Hyde Amendment to the multitude of programs created by the bill, and the House initially approved that language but no such provision was part of the enacted law, due to opposition from President Obama and the Senate majority. Consequently, the enacted PPACA contains multiple provisions authorizing funding of abortion and funding of health plans that cover abortion.
H.R. 3 would codify the principles of the Hyde Amendment on a permanent, government-wide basis, applicable to both longstanding federal health programs and to the new programs created by the PPACA. A Member s vote on H.R. 3 will essentially define his or her position, for or against federal funding of abortion, for the foreseeable future. NRLC will include the vote on final passage of H.R. 3 in our scorecard of key right-to-life votes of the 112th Congress. Full story at LifeNews.com
Democrats Want Senate Vote on Pro-Abortion Judicial Pick McConnell
Senate Democrats want a vote soon on a pro-abortion activist President Barack Obama selected for a federal district court position in Rhode Island, Jack McConnell.
McConnell s nomination to the District Court for the District of Rhode Island cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee recently on a party-line 11-7 vote and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing for a vote. Today, Reid filed a cloture petition to bring the nomination to the Senate floor over the filibuster objections of Republicans.
But pro-life advocates say McConnell is a pro-abortion stalwart who doesn t deserve a place in the federal courts. In fact, McConnell disclosed in his public questionnaire that he was director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island from 1997 until 2001.
Jack McConnell made multiple donations to EMILY s List, a group whose sole purpose is to support pro-choice Democratic female candidates. According to OpenSecrets, Jack McConnell made a $1,000 donation to EMILY s List in 2008 and another $1,000 donation in 2005, says Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council. McConnell s close involvement with Planned Parenthood and EMILY s List would cloud his objectivity on abortion related cases.
McClusky also says McConnell s view of law falls outside of the mainstream and indicates that he is incapable of being fair and impartial and would legislate from the bench. Full story at LifeNews.com
On Mother s Day, Honor Moms Who Chose Adoption Over Abortion
Mother s Day is just around the corner and this year be sure to honor all mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and birthmothers. Amanda Lord, Field Coordinator with Students for Life of America explains the importance of reaching out to all mothers, including birthmother s this year:
Nearly every American can tell you why we celebrate Mother s Day. People use it as a day to honor their mother, grandmother, stepmother, or someone else they view as a mother figure.
But there is one type of mother that is commonly forgotten. These mothers watch as other women receive handmade cards, flowers, breakfasts in bed, and family brunches. On Mother s Day, they don t receive a card made by their child, no burnt pancakes covered in maple syrup, and there isn t a single flower to put into a vase.
Some of these forgotten mothers will spend this May 8th in tears.
The mothers I m speaking of are Birthmoms, women who place a child for adoption. Generally, these mothers are not celebrated on Mother s Day. It s not because people are cold-hearted or thoughtless toward birthmoms. Rather, most don t know how to respond. They think it might be insensitive to say anything to a birthmom on Mother s Day. Others are simply unaware of the birthmoms around them. Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic Colleges Drop Abortion, Planned Parenthood Links
After a report from the Cardinal Newman Society confirmed numerous Catholic colleges and universities engaging in promotion of the Planned Parenthood abortion business and pro-abortion groups, 29 of the original 150 cases of abortion promotion have been corrected.
The initial Internet search, conducted by CNS and issued as a report on April 11, found more than 150 current and past connections at various Catholic colleges to Planned Parenthood. But the report generated outrage from pro-life Catholics and prompted students, alumni and concerned Catholics to contact the colleges and ask them to remove links on web sites or other connections to the abortion business.
CNS indicates some of the schools dropping those links include Edgewood College in Wisconsin, Marquette University Law School, Mount St. Mary s College in California, the University of San Francisco, Dominican University of California, St. Edward s University in Texas, Saint Leo University in Florida, the University of Dayton, Georgetown University Law Center, John Carroll University, St. Catherine University in Minnesota, the University of San Diego, Gonzaga University School of Law and Saint Louis University. Full story at LifeNews.com
Huntsman Launches PAC, Precursor to Possible GOP 2012 Bid
Former two-term Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who recently stepped down from his position as ambassador to China to possibly launch a bid for the Republican nomination for president, has started a federal political action committee.
The move is seen as a precursor for a possible Republican bid for president in 2012 against pro-abortion President Barack Obama.
Huntsman, who is pro-life and supported and signed into law various pro-life bills, would be able to travel and raise money in the weeks ahead as he decides whether to take the next step in the process of becoming a candidate. Huntsman filed paperwork with the Federal Election Committee to begin H PAC, which would function eventually as the full-fledged campaign committee should he decided to move ahead further.
Huntsman spokesman Tim Miller told Politico the former governor will not use the testing the waters or exploratory committee that most other potential candidates have used to move step-by-step towards an official primary election campaign.
This is a paperwork step, Miller said. He s doing the organizational things required by campaign finance law. When he wants to make an announcement he will make an announcement. Full story at LifeNews.com
Texas Provision Ensures Planned Parenthood Denied Funding
Pro-life legislators in Texas approved a provision in a bill concerning women s health to ensure the measure does not allow state taxpayer funds to go to the Planned Parenthood abortion business. The Senate Health and Human Services committee approved the measure to fund health programs for poor women on a 5-1 vote and the bill now includes a provision sponsored by Sen. Bob Deuell, a Greenville Republican, making it so none of the funds authorized under the program would be available for any groups that perform abortions, like Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion business in the nation. Full story at LifeNews.com
Nebraska Bill Banning Webcam, Telemed Abortions Passes Cmte
A bill that would ban the use of webcam, or telemed abortions, has received the support of a state legislative committee and now heads to the full Nebraska Senate for consideration. Full story at LifeNews.com
Iowa Lawmakers Send Fetal Pain Abortion Ban to Senate Floor
Iowa state senators successfully obtained enough signatures to get a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the concept of fetal pain to the Senate floor. Full story at LifeNews.com
Canada: Conservatives Win Majority of Parliament in Elections
Conservative Party candidates in Canada won a majority of the seats in Parliament in Tuesday s elections, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper s party defeating Liberals and gaining 164 of 308 seats. Full story at LifeNews.com
Maine Committee Holds Hearing on Pro-Life Bills on Abortions
The Maine legislature is not a place where pro-life legislation typically gets a chance to be heard, but the Maine Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary held a hearing today on three pro-life bills under consideration. Full story at LifeNews.com
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