LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Appeals Court Holds Hearing on Decision Overturning Obamacare
• New Head of Democratic Campaign Cmte Ran Abortion Business
• Senate Judiciary Cmte to Vote on Pro-Abortion Judicial Pick
• Notre Dame Trustee Quits After Criticism of Pro-Abortion Donations
More Pro-Life News
• Mitt Romney Reasserts His Pro-Life Position on Abortion
• New Billboard Ads Focus on How Abortion Targets Hispanics
• Texas: Hospitals Can t Get Tax Funds if They Do Abortions
• California Budget Battle May Soon Include Abortion Debate
• South Carolina Abortions Drop in 2009, Lowest Since 2005
• Iowa House Passes Abortion Ban at 18 Weeks of Pregnancy
• North Carolina House Approves Choose Life License Plates
• North Carolina House OKs Right to Know Bill on Abortion
• Maine House Defeats Three Pro-Life Bills Limiting Abortion
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Appeals Court Holds Hearing on Decision Overturning Obamacarell
A federal appeals court today held a hearing on a judge s ruling declaring the entire Obamacare law unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, in January, ruled the individual mandate is unconstitutional and, therefore, the entire law is as well.
The individual mandate is a portion of the law independent and conservative voters most strongly oppose because it requires Americans to purchase health insurance, that could fund abortions with taxpayer funds or premiums, whether they want to or not. The case the state of Florida and more than two dozen others made to Judge Vinson is that the individual mandate is unconstitutional and the Constitution does not allow Congress to regulate financial inactivity.
Leading pro-life groups opposed the Obamacare bill because of loopholes allowing abortion funding and rationing issues.
In March, Vinson issued a second opinion as he noted with quite a bit of consternation that it had been more than a month since his original ruling and the Obama administration has not filed any papers related to its appeal.
Today, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments from Florida officials and the Obama administration and the Associated Press indicates they seemed responsive to the concerns Florida outlined about the unconstitutional provisions of the government-run health care program.
This is the third federal appeals court to take a case challenging Obamacare as a three-judge federal appeals court panel in Cincinnati listened to arguments last week about the individual mandate and a federal appeals court based in Virginia heard a case that state brought forward. Although the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue the final decision in one bundled case, the appeals court decisions are important to set up that battle. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/appeals-court-holds-hearing-on-decision-overturning-obamacare/
New Head of Democratic Campaign Cmte Ran Abortion Business
Rep. Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania is one of the fastest rising stars in the Democrat Party, taking on a recently announced leadership role at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Schwartz, a four-term suburban Philadelphia congresswoman, is taking on the position left vacant by Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz who was just tapped to chair the Democratic National Committee.
One fact that has gone unmentioned in all the media reports trumpeting Schwartz s ascendancy is that Allyson Schwartz, besides having a perfect pro-abortion record in Congress, co-founded and acted as Executive Director of an abortion clinic in Philadelphia for 13 years (1975-1988).
The clinic was called the Elizabeth Blackwell Center which is ironic because Blackwell, the first female physician in the U.S., was pro-life.
The clinic was not without its troubles. The Philadelphia Daily News quoted a call from a Republican candidate that detailed an assortment of lawsuits against the clinic: 18 lawsuits have been filed against Miss Allyson Schwartz s clinic, including assault, battery, negligence, perforated bowels and uteruses, the woman said, and even abortions performed without consent of her patients. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/new-head-of-democratic-congressional-campaigns-ran-abortion-biz/
Senate Judiciary Cmte to Vote on Pro-Abortion Judicial Pick
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on another pro-abortion judicial nominee President Barack Obama has put forward for a federal appeals court position.
Obama has nominated Steve Six, a pro-abortion former Kansas state attorney general to serve on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, setting up another battle over abortion and a top judicial pick.
Perhaps because of concerns from home-state pro-life groups over Six s record of supporting the abortion industry, Sen. Pat Roberts and Sen. Jerry Moran, two pro-life Republican senators from Kansas, have not yet taken a position on his nomination. However, they have also not stepped in to stop the nomination from getting to the point of a hearing and vote in the Judiciary Committee.
In October, 2007, District Attorney Phill Kline filed 107 charges including 23 felonies, against the Planned Parenthood abortion business for allegedly violating state law. Kline alleged the abortion business potentially engaged in illegal abortions and violated state record-keeping laws by changing abortion data in an attempt to cover up late abortions done outside Kansas law.
After Kline filed the charges, Six, who was appointed by pro-abortion ex-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (now the Obama Secretary for Health and Human Services), placed a gag order on a state judge who allowed Kline access to Planned Parenthood abortion files needed to prove his case. Anderson was told not to comply with the District Attorney s subpoenas by Six s office even though two judges determined that the files show probable cause that the abortion business violated state abortion laws and falsified medical records. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/senate-judiciary-cmte-to-vote-on-pro-abortion-judicial-pick/
Notre Dame Trustee Quits After Criticism of Pro-Abortion Donations
A member of the Board of Trustees for the University of Notre Dame has resigned her position following criticism from pro-life Catholics following revelations that she made substantial donations to an extreme pro-abortion group.
In May, Catholic educational watchdog Cardinal Newman Society discovered that Roxanne M. Martino, a newly-appointed member of the trustees board, contributed $16,150 to the pro-abortion group EMILY s List between 2005 and 2008. The watchdog group also uncovered information showing Martino gave donations to the Chicago Foundation for Women, which supports various pro-abortion groups including Planned Parenthood.
Martino has given a total of somewhere between $3,250 and $5,996 to the pro-abortion Chicago Foundation for Women between 2004 and 2011, CNS notes.
Martino, president and chief executive officer of Aurora Investment Management, a Chicago firm, told WGN today she is stepping down.
I dearly love my alma mater and remain fully committed to all aspects of Catholic teaching and to the mission of Notre Dame, she said in a statement. I had looked forward to contributing in this new role, but the current controversy just doesn t allow me to be effective.
Richard C. Notebaert, chairman of the university s Board of Trustees, told CNS that Martino did not realize Emily s List was a pro-abortion group that only supported candidates who back taxpayer funding of abortions and oppose any limits on abortions, including late-term abortions. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/notre-dame-trustee-quits-after-criticism-of-pro-abortion-donations/
Mitt Romney Reasserts His Pro-Life Position on Abortion
The year on the calendar may be different but former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney faces some of the same questions on the issue of abortion that hounded him during the 2008 version of his Republican presidential campaign.
Romney campaigned for and won election to the highest office in the liberal New England state by saying he supported abortion and that he would not change the law on abortion as the state s governor. However, when confronted with legislation state legislators passed that would have promoted embryonic stem cell research and the destruction of human life for scientific research, Romney has said he was forced to reevaluate his position and that he ultimately came down on the side of protecting human life.
In an interview last night with Piers Morgan on CNN, Romney reiterated that story of how he became pro-life.
When I ran for governor, I believed I could keep the law as it was. And I said I d keep the law as it was, he explained. Then when I became governor, a piece of legislation came to my desk which would have led to the creation of new life for the purposes of destroying it. And I simply couldn t sign it.
And I I met with my staff and said, look, I ve got to write why I have changed my view in this regard. It was one thing to talk about it philosophically, it s another thing, as governor, to sign a piece of legislation that will take human life. I wrote that op-ed while I was governor and became pro-life and I continue to be pro- life, Romney added.
Romney originally articulated his change of heart on abortion to Kathryn Lopez of the pro-life conservative news outlet National Review in December 2006. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/mitt-romney-reasserts-his-pro-life-position-on-abortion/
New Billboard Ads Focus on How Abortion Targets Hispanics
Billboards across the nation have focused on how abortions and the abortion industry target black Americans and new a new billboard campaign in Los Angeles will show how abortion hurts the Latino community.
Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, talked with the Daily Caller about the new campaign to feature a jumbo billboard in Los Angeles.
It s clear that Latinos are being targeted by organizations that promote abortion like Planned Parenthood, he said. Many of their clinics are in Latino neighborhoods and communities.
Aguilar has said, Twenty-two percent of abortions in the U.S., for example, are performed on Hispanic women, and they are 2.7 times more likely to have an abortion than non-Hispanic white women. Motivated by their warped eugenic views, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers are clearly going after racial and ethnic minorities in the country.
The new billboard will read, in Spanish and English, El lugar mas peligroso para un Latino es el vientre de su madre/The most dangerous place for a Latino is in the womb. the Daily caller indicates the ads are part of a kickoff for a Sunday event called Unidos por la Vida (United for Life) at the LA Sports Arena sponsored by the pro-life group Manto de Guadalupe. The event features Governor Rick Perry of Texas and pro-life activist Lila Rose of Live Action Films. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/new-billboard-ads-focus-on-how-abortion-targets-hispanics/
Texas: Hospitals Can t Get Tax Funds if They Do Abortions
Texas House members gave initial approval to an amendment to a Senate bill and it would make it so hospital districts that do abortions in the state would not qualify for receiving state taxpayer funds.
Senate Bill 7 passed with the pro-life provisions in place, Texas Alliance for Life director Joe Pojman explained. Two good amendments were also added: one by Rep. Zedler (R-Arlington) relating to more detailed reporting of information relating to abortions and one by Rep. Christian (R-Nacogdoches) to prevent tax funding for abortions by hospital districts. This was the preliminary vote in the House, the final vote in the House will be tomorrow.
Rep. Wayne Christian floated the hospital amendment, which also targets contracts with the Planned Parenthood abortion business or other abortion businesses and says hospital districts would lose state funding if they contract or affiliate with other organizations, agencies or entities that provide or refer for abortion or abortion-related services.
State House members approved the budget amendment 100-37 after Democrats attempted to use a procedural motion to block consideration of it. The Dallas Morning news indicates Democratic Reps. Guillen, T. King, Lozano, Martinez, Munoz and Pickett were the only ones to join Republicans supporting it. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/texas-hospitals-cant-get-tax-funds-if-they-do-abortions/
California Budget Battle May Soon Include Abortion Debate
With June 15 marking the constitutional deadline for legislators to pass the state budget, California lawmakers are set to engage in a battle over budget priorities and abortion may become part of that debate. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/california-budget-battle-may-soon-include-abortion-debate/
San Francisco Considering Law Attacking Pregnancy Centers
San Francisco is considered one of the most pro-abortion cities in the nation and the California town is setting out to prove that as a member of the city council is working up legislation targeting pregnancy centers helping women find abortion alternatives. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/san-francisco-considering-law-attacking-pregnancy-centers/
South Carolina Abortions Drop in 2009, Lowest Since 2005
The number of abortions occurring in South Carolina declined again in 2009 dipping to under 7,000 for the first time since 2005. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/south-carolina-abortions-drop-in-2009-lowest-since-2005/
Iowa House Passes Abortion Ban at 18 Weeks of Pregnancy
Upset that the state Senate turned back its efforts to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the pain unborn children experience during an abortion, the state House went even further. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/iowa-house-passes-abortion-ban-at-18-weeks-of-pregnancy/
North Carolina House Approves Choose Life License Plates
The North Carolina state House yesterday approved legislation to allow motorists in the Tar Heel State to purchase Choose Life license plates to adorn their vehicles and spread a pro-life, pro-adoption message. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/north-carolina-house-approves-choose-life-license-plates/
North Carolina House OKs Right to Know Bill on Abortion
North Carolina legislators approved a bill today that pro-life groups support to help women obtain information about abortion s risks and alternatives they may not otherwise receive before an abortion. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/north-carolina-house-oks-right-to-know-bill-on-abortion/
Maine House Defeats Three Pro-Life Bills Limiting Abortion
The Maine state House has defeated three pro-life bills that would have limited abortions and the votes follow one in the Senate defeating legislation to provide justice and protection for pregnant women and their unborn children when they are victims of violent crimes. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/08/maine-house-defeats-three-pro-life-bills-limiting-abortion/
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