LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
| For pro-life news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com. |
Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Obama Loses 20 Points in Five Weeks in National Approval Poll
• Tim Pawlenty: I Would Sign Ban on Planned Parenthood Funding
• Gallup: Churchgoers More Likely to be Pro-Life on Abortion
• Man Faces Lawsuit for Billboard on Girlfriend s Abortion
More Pro-Life News
• Santorum Plugs Pro-Life View at Iowa Pregnancy Center Event
• MSNBC Allows Planned Parenthood President to Mislead on Abortion
• Death Row Inmate Execution Pain an Issue, Abortion Pain Ignored
• Ohio Senate: No Abortions in Public Hospitals, Insurance Plans
• Pennsylvania Senate OKs Cutting Obamacare Abortion Funding
• Texas Officials: Abortion Center Broke Law With Illegal Dumping
• Pro-Life Group Takes on Baltimore Law Hitting Pregnancy Centers
• Tennessee Pro-Lifers: Haslam Can Stop Planned Parenthood Funds
• Maine Senate Defeats Bill to Protect Pregnant Women, Unborn
• UN: World Faces Overpopulation Despite Population Declines
---> Do you have a list of pro-life friends who might like to receive pro-life news from LifeNews.com? Please send those in to us at news@LifeNews.com and we will send them a gift subscription.
Obama Loses 20 Points in Five Weeks in National Approval Poll
President Barack Obama has lost 20 percent of his approval rating in the course of five weeks in a national poll conducted by the Washington Post. The survey shows that Obama s bounce he received after Osama bin Ladin s death has dissipated.
Five weeks after receiving a net positive 18 percent approval rating in the Washington Post poll following the killing of the terrorist mastermind, Obama s approval rating returned to its pre-bin Ladin status. Obama s approval rating from the last poll was 56-38 positive versus negative. Now, 47 percent of the American public approves of his job performance while 49 percent disapprove almost identical to the 47-50 percentage point split Obama saw in mid-April.
That 20 percent decline represents a short-term memory of the bin Ladin killing and, according to the Washington Post, is an indicator that the negative economy is driving public opinion.
The survey portrays a broadly pessimistic mood in the country this spring as higher gasoline prices, sliding home values and a disappointing employment picture have raised fresh concerns about the pace of the economic recovery, the Post reports. By 2 to 1, Americans say the country is pretty seriously on the wrong track, and nine in 10 continue to rate the economy in negative terms. Nearly six in 10 say the economy has not started to recover, regardless of what official statistics may say, and most of those who say it has improved rate the recovery as weak.
Overall, about six in 10 of those surveyed give Obama negative marks on the economy and the deficit. Significantly, nearly half strongly disapprove of his performance in these two crucial areas. Nearly two-thirds of political independents disapprove of the president s handling of the economy, including for the first time a slim majority who do so strongly, the Post indicated. In another indicator of rapidly shifting views on economic issues, 45 percent trust congressional Republicans over the president when it comes to dealing with the economy, an 11-point improvement for the GOP since March. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/obama-loses-20-points-in-five-weeks-in-national-approval-poll/
Tim Pawlenty: I Would Sign Ban on Planned Parenthood Funding
In a radio interview today, Governor Tim Pawlenty weighed in on one of the top priorities for the pro-life community by saying he would, if elected president, sign a ban on taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.
Pawlenty s position stands in contrast with that pro-abortion President Barack Obama, who said he would not sign a bill the House approved earlier this year to revoke taxpayer funding for the abortion business and who resisted appeals from pro-life Speaker John Boehner to include a provision de-funding Planned Parenthood in the budget bill Congress approved several weeks ago.
The former Minnesota governor and GOP presidential hopeful interviewed on the Jordan Sekulow show and the host, and son of the founder and Chief Counsel for the ACLJ, a leading pro-life law firm, asked him, If you were president and Congress would pass a law in the House and Senate to de-fund Planned Parenthood, would you sign the law?
Yes, Pawlenty responded, adding, I have been strongly pro-life. In fact, the National Review Online, which is of course a conservative publication, did an article about the 2012 candidates and the headline was the point of the article was that, based on results and not just rhetoric, I m the most pro-life candidate running in the race.
And so I don t think taxpayer money should be used to fund organizations that are involved in performing abortions. I think most Americans would agree with that and I strongly would agree with that and would lead those efforts, Pawlenty said about the bill. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/tim-pawlenty-i-would-sign-ban-on-planned-parenthood-funding/
Gallup: Churchgoers More Likely to be Pro-Life on Abortion
A new Gallup analysis of polls it has conducted on abortion from 2008-2011 finds churchgoers are much more likely to be pro-life on abortion than those who never attend or rarely attend religious services.
Regardless of whether the person surveyed by Gallup is a Democrat or Republican, the poll found those who attend weekly religious services are about twice as likely to self-identify as pro-life compared with respondents who say they seldom or never attend church services.
Looking at Republicans, weekly churchgoers say they are pro-life on abortion by an 84-11 percentage point margin. That 73 percent pro-life majority drops to a 66-29 percent pro-life split when Republicans who attend nearly weekly are considered. But, among Republicans who seldom or never attend church, the pro-life majority drops to one percent as those Republicans identify as pro-life versus pro-choice on a 47-46 percent split.
Although Democrats in the new Gallup analysis are almost as strongly pro-abortion as Republicans are pro-life, the Gallup survey compilations show Democrats who are weekly churchgoers are actually pro-life saying so on a slim 48-40 percentage point margin.
Yes, as church attendance levels fall among Democrats, as was the case with GOP voters, so does support for the pro-life position. Those who attend church almost weekly say they are abortion backers by a 60-36 percentage point spread while Democrats who seldom or never attend religious services are massively pro-abortion, saying so 77 percent of the time compared with just 19 percent who say they are pro-life. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/gallup-churchgoers-more-likely-to-be-pro-life-on-abortion/
Man Faces Lawsuit for Billboard on Girlfriend s Abortion
A New Mexico man faces a lawsuit form his former girlfriend over a public billboard he paid for that exposed the abortion decision she made and his grief that it robbed him of his child.
Greg Fultz erected the billboard weeks ago with the words, This Would Have Been A Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child! The billboard shows a picture of Fultz holding an outline of a an infant.
My original intentions when I started this campaign were quite simple, Fultz said. I just wanted to shed the light on pro-life issues and fathers rights. I have had no closure over my own personal loss and that s where the billboard came into play.
Now, Fultz s girlfriend has sued and claiming the billboard violates her right to privacy and a local court has suggested that the billboard be removed. Fultz and his attorney have appealed the restraining order saying that his rights to free speech are abridged by it.
As distasteful and offensive as the sign may be to some, for over 200 years in this country the First Amendment protects distasteful and offensive speech, attorney Todd Holmes said about the billboard. In an AP article, he cites the Westboro Baptist Church decision allowing offensive protests at military and other funerals to make his case for the billboard.
Very unpopular offensive speech, he told the Alamogordo Daily News. The Supreme Court, in an 8 to 1 decision, said that is protected speech.
Fultz said he will fight this until I have no other options.
I m standing up for what I believe in, he told ABC. I m hoping it doesn t come to that, but I will do whatever I have to do to keep my legal message up there. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/man-faces-lawsuit-for-billboard-on-girlfriends-abortion/
Santorum Plugs Pro-Life View at Iowa Pregnancy Center Event
Fresh from his announcement that he is officially seeking the Republican presidential nod to take on pro-abortion President Barack Obama, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum visited an Iowa pregnancy center.
At the grand opening of the West Des Moines s Informed Choices Medical Clinic, which offers women considering an abortion a free ultrasound, counseling and tangible pregnancy assistance and support, Santorum articulated his pro-life views and said he had the record to back them up.
According to the Iowa Independent, Santorum said he prefers to be known as the strongest, most-principled, authentic conservative candidate seeking the GOP nomination.
It s one thing to go in front of a pro-life group and say you re pro-life, Santorum told media outlets after visiting with staff and volunteers at the center. (But) it s another thing to go out and actively work as an elected official to make real changes to culture when it comes to this issue.
The liberal publication said Santorum believes abortion is an issue that can separate him from other candidates seeking the Republican nomination, even though some of them like governors Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman have pro-life records and others like Herman Cain have been vocally opposed to abortion. However, Santorum is generally seen as more strongly pro-life than candidates like Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney, to which he may have been referring.
(It s) not because they don t check the box I think they can say they re all pro-life, and that s a good thing and I m glad the candidates out there are pro-life. But none of them have really taken the role of leadership on those issues, he said, citing his leadership in passing the federal partial-birth abortion ban in Congress. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/santorum-plugs-pro-life-view-at-iowa-pregnancy-center-event/
MSNBC Allows Planned Parenthood President to Mislead on Abortion
Martin Bashir tossed softballs at Planned Parenthood head Cecile Richards on his eponymous MSNBC program on Monday, letting his guest spout her talking points in defense of her abortion-providing organization. Bashir even went so far to use a phrase in vogue with the pro-abortion left in one of his questions: Do you think this is, in effect, a war on women?
Matthew Balan's pictureThe anchor brought on Richards to discuss Indiana s new law which blocks Planned Parenthood branches within its boundaries from receiving federal funds. Right off the bat, he mouthed one of Planned Parenthood s own arguments and played up the potentially large cost of defending the legislation before he introduced Richards: Governor Mitch Daniels signed the bill last month, even though it could leave thousands of women without health care, and the legal showdown could cost Indiana an estimated $4.3 billion.
Bashir then gave a warm welcome to the Planned Parenthood president ( I am delighted to say that she joins us. ) and made a misleading claim in his first question: Did Governor Daniels decide to do this because even though the organization spends 97% of its funds on female reproductive health issues, he felt that that 3%, the 3% on abortions, was just too much? http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/msnbc-allows-planned-parenthood-president-to-mislead-on-abortion/
Death Row Inmate Execution Pain an Issue, Abortion Pain Ignored
Even from death row, you can change history and save lives.
Two death-sentenced Kentucky prisoners have a grievance which the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear. In the case of Baze v. Rees, the inmates argue that the method of execution most commonly used that is, lethal injection violates the Eighth Amendment s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. In fact, at least half of the death row inmates facing an imminent execution in the last two years have filed suit challenging the chemicals used in lethal injections.
The fact that the high court has agreed to hear this case has caused many states to halt executions until the decision is rendered sometime in 2008.
At issue is not the constitutionality of the death penalty itself, but rather a specific question raised by the type of chemicals used and the method of application. In the 1980s, most of the states that have capital punishment switched over from electrocution to lethal injection, on the theory that injecting a cocktail of poisons would be more painless and humane. Since capital punishment was reinstated three decades ago, nearly 900 of the 1,056 U.S. executions carried out through 2006 were by lethal injection. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/death-row-inmate-execution-pain-an-issue-abortion-pain-ignored/
Ohio Senate: No Abortions in Public Hospitals, Insurance Plans
The Ohio state Senate today approved two amendments requested by a statewide pro-life organization seeking to protect Buckeye State residents from having to fork out taxpayer funds to pay for abortions. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/ohio-senate-no-abortions-in-public-hospitals-insurance-plans/
Pennsylvania Senate OKs Cutting Obamacare Abortion Funding
The Pennsylvania state Senate today approved legislation that would have the state opt out of the abortion funding allowed under the Obamacare health care law President Barack Obama signed. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/pennsylvania-senate-oks-cutting-obamacare-abortion-funding/
Texas Officials: Abortion Center Broke Law With Illegal Dumping
The Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has determined that an abortion center in south Texas broke the law when it engaged in the improper disposal of the remains of the bodies of unborn children killed in abortions. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/texas-officials-abortion-center-broke-law-with-illegal-dumping/
Pro-Life Group Takes on Baltimore Law Hitting Pregnancy Centers
A leading pro-life organization has filed legal papers defending a judge s decision to strike down a Baltimore, Maryland ordinance that attacks pregnancy centers providing abortion alternatives to women. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/pro-life-group-takes-on-baltimore-law-hitting-pregnancy-centers/
Tennessee Pro-Lifers: Haslam Can Stop Planned Parenthood Funds
Tennessee Right to Life continues to press Governor Bill Haslam to take steps to yank the taxpayer funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business receives from the state. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/tennessee-pro-lifers-haslam-can-stop-planned-parenthood-funds/
Maine Senate Defeats Bill to Protect Pregnant Women, Unborn
Federal law and the laws of more than two dozen states offer protection and justice for pregnant women and unborn children who are victims of violent crimes by holding criminals accountable for killing or injuring both. But the Maine Senate rejected the measure. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/maine-senate-defeats-bill-to-protect-pregnant-women-unborn/
UN: World Faces Overpopulation Despite Population Declines
You will be glad to learn that we all have official permission from the UN people-counters to panic about about overpopulation yet again. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/07/un-world-faces-overpopulation-despite-population-declines/
Encourage Friends to Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
