LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Planned Parenthood Prez Gets Grant for Pro-Abortion Catholic Group
• Pro-Life Ex-Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Announces GOP 2012 Campaign
• Abby Johnson Joins LifeNews.com as Guest Pro-Life Blogger
• Gingrich Also Hits Romney on Not Signing Pro-Life Pledge
More Pro-Life News
• Minnesota Planned Parenthood to Close Six Locations in August
• NAACP Denounces Pro-Life Billboards Decrying Black Abortions
• Democrats File Bill for Tax-Funded Abortions at Military Bases
• Ron Paul Staffer Blasts Romney on Not Signing Pro-Life Pledge
• Georgia Right to Life Starts New Pro-Life Billboard Campaign
• Where s the Casey Anthony Outrage When it Comes to Abortion?
• Vatican Puts $1 Million Behind Adult Stem Cell Research
• First College-Based Maternity Opens at Belmont Abbey College
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Planned Parenthood Prez Gets Grant for Pro-Abortion Catholic Group
The president of the Planned Parenthood Breton business is facing accusations she used her position on the board of directors of the Ford Foundation to enable a grant for a heretical pro-abortion organization that bills itself as a Catholic group.
The Ford Foundation gave a grant to Catholics for Choice to the tune of $300,000 to provide general support to assist Catholic policy makers, groups that empower women of color and others disproportionately impacted by public policies that affect reproductive health care options.
Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards was named a trustee of the Ford Foundation last February and chairs the board s Finance Committee. Ford trustees serve six-year terms, and may be re-elected to the board for a second term. The 15-member board of trustees sets broad policy related to the foundation s issue areas and geographic focus and oversees its investments and grants.
David Schmidt of Live Action, the pro-life group that exposed practices at Planned Parenthood like covering up cases of sexual abuse and helping sex traffickers arrange abortions for their victims, condemned the grant.
Catholics for Choice is an organization that advocates for the right to abort one s child against established Catholic church teaching. While the organization has twice been condemned as a fraud by U.S. Catholics bishops but they boast a significant budget funded mostly by a select group of foundations, he said.
Schmidt said he was not surprised that Richards steered the grant to Catholics for Choice given that the Ford Foundation s finance committee is influential in determining the final recipients of grants. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/20/planned-parenthood-prez-gets-grant-for-pro-abortion-catholic-group/
Pro-Life Ex-Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Announces GOP 2012 Campaign
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a moderate Republican who has a pro-life record on the issue of abortion, announced his campaign for the Republican nomination for president today. With a speech in New York City at the State of Liberty, Huntsman sounded pro-America themes.
Standing in the shadow of the famous statue as his former boss Ronald Reagan did before him, Huntsman launched his campaign for the White House.
For the first time in our history, we are about to pass down to the next generation a country that is less powerful, less compassionate, less competitive and less confident than the one we got, he said. This is totally unacceptable and totally un-American.
And it need not, must not, will not be our permanent condition! We will not be the first American generation that lets down the next generation, Huntsman continued. What we need now is leadership that trusts in our strength. Leadership that doesn t promise Washington has all the solutions to our problems, but rather looks to local solutions in our cities, towns and states. Leadership that knows we need more than hope, leadership that knows we need answers
Behind me is our most famous symbol of the promise of America. President Reagan launched the 1980 general election here in an earlier time of trouble and worry. He assured us we could make America great again, and under his leadership we did. I stand in his shadow as well as the shadow of this magnificent monument to our liberty, the former Obama ambassador to China said. We re not just choosing new leaders. We re choosing whether we are to become yesterday s story or tomorrow s. Everything is at stake. This is the hour when we choose our future. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/21/pro-life-ex-utah-gov-jon-huntman-announces-gop-2012-campaign/
Abby Johnson Joins LifeNews.com as Guest Pro-Life Blogger
Abby Johnson is well-known as the former director of a Planned Parenthood abortion center in Bryan, Texas.
She has quickly become a celebrated figure within pro-life circles traveling around the country motivating pro-life organizations, writing a best-selling book about her experiences, and working with respected groups like Live Action and 40 Days for Life to push the pro-life cause.
Now, Abby is donning a new hat as a contributing guest blogger with LifeNews.com, the international pro-life news service whose news and opinion is read each and every week by more than 500,000 people across the globe. Johnson will join a talented team of bloggers that includes Kristan Hawkins, Dr. David Prentice, Dr. Gerard Nadal, Andrew Blair, Luis Zaffirini, and Bill Saunders.
For 8 years, I was a student of the pro-life movement. Part of my job was to follow the latest legislative updates and trends, Johnson said about joining LifeNews. Never in my life would I have believed I would one day be contributing to the most popular pro-life news source in our country. I am very excited about the opportunity to write about issues that matter to me and also give others an insider s perspective into the abortion industry.
I firmly believe pro-lifers need to be fully engaged in all aspects of this movement; advocacy, outreach, and ministry, Johnson added. Utilizing a trustworthy news source like LifeNews.com is one way to find out what we can do to become better engaged in this battle for life. I look forward to providing information that will expose the myths and deceit sold to so many who are involved in our abortion culture. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/20/abby-johnson-joins-lifenews-com-as-guest-pro-life-blogger/
Gingrich Also Hits Romney on Not Signing Pro-Life Pledge
Add Newt Gingrich to the list of Republican presidential candidates hitting Mitt Romney over his decision to not sign a pledge the Susan B. Anthony List sponsored on four key pro-life issues.
Gingrich follows Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul in tagging the former Massachusetts governor for not signing the pledge.
As LifeNews.com reported, the Susan B. Anthony List unveiled the pledge on Friday and indicated Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul signed it. The pledge has the candidates promising to support only judicial nominees who won t interpret the Constitution in a way that supports Roe v. Wade, select pro-life Cabinet members on positions affecting abortion policy, supporting legislation to stop taxpayer funding of abortions and Planned Parenthood, and to support a fetal pain bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Romney did not sign the pledge and his officials said it was because he worried the de-funding legislation would also revoke funding for hospitals, though the legislation currently pending in Congress does not do so. He also said the pledge is overly broad and would have unintended consequences.
Romney also released a pro-life statement of position at National Review saying he is pro-life and essentially committing to much of the same pro-life initiatives the SBA List outlined in its pledge.
Today, in an interview with conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham, Gingrich, the former House Speaker, said Romney made excuses for not signing the pledge that he thought made perfect sense.
According to a report in The Hill, Gingrich said people have to make that decision on your own, in terms of how they react to Romney s decision and reasoning and added that, while Romney might have his excuses for not signing it, I thought it was a pretty clear-cut pledge. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/21/gingrich-also-hits-romney-on-not-signing-pro-life-pledge/
Hands That Helped Abortions Now Extend to Unborn Children
If you are on this site, you probably know my story. I participated in an ultrasound guided abortion, where I was holding the ultrasound probe. I watched a baby struggle for its life during the abortion. That s why I do what I do now.
After the abortion was over, I stood there in shock almost numb. Then I looked down at my hands. There they were. One on the probe one resting on the woman s belly the place where life once was.
A startling reality hit me. My hands had helped to kill thousands of children. These nicely manicured hands were responsible for the loss of life. My hands suddenly seemed disgusting like they needed to be separated from me. But they couldn t be. This was me. I was this person. These hands that held my most precious possession in the world the minute after she was delivered from my womb had robbed that moment from countless other women. These were the same hands that held my baby close when she cried. The same hands that that held on to hers when she was learning to walk. Were these really the same hands holding on to this ultrasound probe? Yes, they were. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/21/hands-that-helped-abortions-now-extend-to-unborn-children/
Minnesota Planned Parenthood to Close Six Locations in August
The Minnesota affiliate of the Planned Parenthood abortion business says it will close six locations on August 1 thanks to the Title X budget cuts Congress approved in its most recent budget this past Spring.
Minnesota Planned Parenthood CEO Sarah Stoesz says locations in Thief River Falls, Brainerd, Red Wing, Owatonna, Albert Lea and Fairmont will be closing. None of them do abortions or give out the dangerous abortion drug to women, but all of them make abortion referrals.
She said the plan to cut the centers comes on the heels of a 5.5 percent cut to Title X funding during the 2011 congressional budget debate. The cut is retroactive to September of last year, and therefore represents an 11 percent cut to Planned Parenthood s current budget.
These cuts were driven by ideological attacks on women s health, not by a desire to fix the economy, she claimed.
We proudly served these communities for 40 years, and the decision to close our doors is heartbreaking, Stoesz said. We know that both state and federal governments are struggling to balance their budgets, but we also know that public funding for family planning services is a cost-saving and vital service for tens of thousands of women in our state, especially in rural areas. This was a short-sighted blow to a much-needed program.
The abortion business director said staff will be increased and evening and weekend hours will be added to Planned Parenthood clinics in Rochester, Mankato, Moorhead, Duluth and St. Cloud and the affiliate will continue to operate centers in 20 locations in Minnesota and South Dakota.
While Stoesz claims the Title X cuts are the reason for the closings, Bill Poehler, a spokesman for Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the statewide pro-life group, told KFGO there are other federally funded health clinics, Community-Based Health Centers, that offer legitimate medical care to women without having to go to an abortion business. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/21/minnesota-planned-parenthood-to-close-six-locations-in-august/
 "This book is an amazing story about life, family, and the evil of abortion," - Abby Johnson http://www.theintrusionbook.com |
NAACP Denounces Pro-Life Billboards Decrying Black Abortions
The NAACP is not happy with a new campaign sponsored by a black pro-life advocate that has new billboards placed in Atlanta, Georgia with the message Abortion Enslaves Us and The 14th Amendment Made Us Members. Abortion Dismembers.
The campaign is the brainchild of Ryan Bomberger, the head of the Radiance Foundation and the billboards were set up to celebrate Juneteenth (June 19th) and the liberation of black Americans from the shackles of slavery. They are meant to expose the epidemic of abortion.
The campaign invokes the Reconstruction Amendments and the abortion industry s dependence upon certain persons being classified as property, Bomberger explains. The landmark Roe v. Wade decision relied upon the perversion of the 14th Amendment, which finally ascribed full humanity to African-Americans, to justify stripping humanity from another group of individuals the unborn.
In NYC, where Planned Parenthood is headquartered, this dehumanization results in the abortion of 60% of all black pregnancies. Here in Georgia, nearly 60% of all abortions are on African-Americans, Bomberger continued.
But, in an interview with the liberal Huffington Post, Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington bureau of the NAACP, condemned the billboards. Comparing abortion to slavery certainly raises major concerns, he said. Women are not forced to have abortions the way they were in servitude. Slavery was about not having the right to make any decisions. Women were actually bred to produce children for the purposes of profit. This is so far removed from that, that if it weren t such a serious issue, it would almost be laughable. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/20/naacp-denounces-pro-life-billboards-decrying-black-abortions/
Democrats File Bill for Tax-Funded Abortions at Military Bases
Taxpayers should be on the hook for abortions done on women and unborn children at military base hospitals, according to new legislation several Senate Democrats filed in order to advance an agenda item they ve pushed in the past. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/20/democrats-file-bill-for-tax-funded-abortions-at-military-bases/
Ron Paul Staffer Blasts Romney on Not Signing Pro-Life Pledge
The campaign manager for Ron Paul is the latest to go after Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who decided against signing a pro-life pledge distributed by the Susan B. Anthony List. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/20/ron-paul-staffer-blasts-romney-on-not-signing-pro-life-pledge/
Georgia Right to Life Starts New Pro-Life Billboard Campaign
With respect for the humanity of unborn children leading to laws respecting them, Georgia Right to Life has embarked on a new campaign to educate Atlanta-area residents about the development of unborn children well before most abortions take place. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/21/georgia-right-to-life-starts-new-pro-life-billboard-campaign/
Where s the Casey Anthony Outrage When it Comes to Abortion?
How is it that we can obsess over the horror of the Casey Anthony trial and not see the parallels to abortion? There is national lament and outcry over the murder of a two year old, but thousands of unborn children are dismembered and thrown away every day through abortion, and our society turns a blind eye. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/20/wheres-the-casey-anthony-outrage-when-it-comes-to-abortion/
Vatican Puts $1 Million Behind Adult Stem Cell Research
The Catholic Church is teaming up with a biotech firm that is engaging in adult stem cell research helping prove its contention that it is supportive of stem cell research without destroying human life. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/20/vatican-puts-1-million-behind-adult-stem-cell-research/
First College-Based Maternity Opens at Belmont Abbey College
A collection of top pro-life leaders gathered today in North Carolina for the groundbreaking ceremony of what is being hailed as the first college-based maternity and after-care residential facility on a university campus. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/20/first-college-based-maternity-opens-at-belmont-abbey-college/
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