LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, July 14, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Congress Should Probe Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz
• Abortion Backers Oppose Health Regs Despite Clinic Violations
• Bachmann Leads Third Iowa Poll Over Romney, Pawlenty Third
• Bishops Must Rebuke Pro-Abortion Catholic Groups in 2012 Election
More Pro-Life News
• Senate Judiciary Cmte Doesn t Vote on Pro-Abortion Steven Six
• Judge Rules for Pro-Life Girls Shackled, Strip Searched
• Left-Wing Groups Pressure TOMS Shoes to Ditch Pro-Life Group
• ACT Starts Dangerous Human Trials of Embryonic-Like Cells
• Pro-Lifers to Rally in New Hampshire for Planned Parenthood De-Funding
• Georgetown Beats Notre Dame When It Comes to Backing Abortion
• UNFPA Launches Misleading Campaign Against Overpopulation
• Innovative Pro-Life Law Uses Phones, Computers to Help Women
• Missouri Gov. Nixon Lets Late-Term Abortion Ban Become Law
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Congress Should Probe Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz
Several members of the U.S. House had a message for their colleagues and the Obama administration today: Congress should investigation the Planned Parenthood abortion business over multiple abuses.
The taxpayer-funded abortion business was featured in a new Americans United for Life report that prompted a press conference today. The report featured a groundbreaking analysis of the nation s largest abortion business and saying it has uncovered evidence of systemic financial irregularities within the abortion giant, which receives more than $363 million in federal and state taxpayer funding, and that Congress should investigate.
AUL staff combed through 20 years of Planned Parenthood financial data and the report documents the known and alleged abuses by Planned Parenthood, including the misuse of federal health care and family planning funds, failure to report criminal child sexual abuse, failure to comply with parental involvement laws, assisting those in engaged in prostitution and/or sex trafficking, and dangerous misuse of the abortion drug RU-486.
Today,AUL officials held a press conference with Rep. Renee Ellmers, a North Carolina Republican, and Rep. Randy Hultgren, an Illinois Republican, who have invited other members of Congress to join them in calling for a congressional probe of the abortion giant.
Congressman Doug Lamborn, a Colorado Republican, Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, and Rep. Bill Huizenga, a Michigan Republican, joined the event as well. Unfortunately, the pro-life lawmakers said they didn t expect much action from the Obama administration on holding Planned Parenthood accountable. We re talking about those things, Ellmers said. We are going to continue this fight. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/congress-should-investigate-planned-parenthood-abortion-biz/
Abortion Backers Oppose Health Regs Despite Clinic Violations
Two recent events in Pennsylvania have helped highlight the abortion industry s corruption, while underscoring the urgent need for change.
On May 26, the state Department of Health inspected Allentown Medical Services, an abortion clinic, and found the following violations.
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/abortion-backers-oppose-health-regs-despite-clinic-violations/
Bachmann Leads Third Iowa Poll Over Romney, Pawlenty Third
A third straight poll in Iowa shows pro-life Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota leading and clearly becoming the front-runner in the state that leads off the Republican presidential campaign with a straw poll and caucus.
The new survey from Mason Dixon Polling and Research has 32 percent of Iowa Republicans saying Bachmann is their favorite Republican candidates and it, as two other polls did, had Romney coming in second place. The former Massachusetts governor, campaigning as a pro-life advocate, has the backing of 29 percent of Iowa GOP voters.
Bachmann was also at the top of two recent surveys by the American Research Group and the IowaRepublican.com web site. Three hundred likely Iowa GOP caucus goers were questioned by telephone from July 5-7 in the new mason Dixon poll and it has a sampling error of plus or minus 5.7 percent.
As was the case in another poll, pro-life former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty comes in third, moving up in the results from lower single digits to score the support of 7 percent of Iowa Republicans. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who is also pro-life, fares fourth with the support of 6 percent in the Mason Dixon poll.
Each of the other candidates places in low single digits, including pro-life businessman Herman Cain, whose campaign seems to have sputtered in the face of losing staff in Iowa and New Hampshire and who took flack from some pro-life advocates for not signing the Susan B. Anthony List pro-life pledge. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/bachmann-leads-third-iowa-poll-over-romney-pawlenty-third/
Bishops Must Rebuke Pro-Abortion Catholic Groups in 2012 Election
Every four years the Catholic bishops publish a document entitled Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. If tradition holds, a new version of Faithful Citizenship is due to be approved at the bishops annual Baltimore meeting in November.
We re told that no substantial edits are being made to the 2008 version of the document, so that we can expect the 2012 version to be roughly the same as its predecessor.
If so, this is a problem and needs to be remedied. The 2008 version of Faithful Citizenship contains several passages (Sections 34-37) that are capable of overly broad interpretation. Groups like Catholics United and Catholic Democrats cherry-picked the following passage from Section 35 for prominent display on their web sites and in their printed materials.
There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate s unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons. Voting in this way would be permissible only for truly grave moral reasons, not to advance narrow interests or partisan preferences or to ignore a fundamental moral evil.
This passage was also cited in discussions of Faithful Citizenship held across the nation s parishes in 2008. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/bishops-must-rebuke-pro-abortion-catholic-groups-in-2012-election/
Senate Judiciary Cmte Doesn t Vote on Pro-Abortion Steven Six
Yet another meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee came and went without a vote on a pro-abortion appeals court nominee President Barack Obama put forward, Steven Six. The former Kansas Attorney General has not had a vote ever since his two home state senators announced their opposition.
Opposition has built to Six as pro-life groups have ratcheted up the campaign against him due to his ties to the abortion industry and his efforts to delay or stop an investigation into potentially illegal late-term abortions at a Planned Parenthood facility in Kansas, where Six was the state attorney general. The abortion business was accused of making up illegitimate reasons for the abortions and doctoring paperwork to justify them.
Six, in his position as the leading attorney in the state, did everything possible to delay the investigation and tried to have the state Supreme Court deny prosecutors access to the patient files and other evidence they needed to prove their case.
Kansans for Life which has been leading opposition to Six, has again urged votes against him. Kathy Ostrowski, its legislative director, responded to the decision to defer the vote again.
The Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary committee once again deferred a vote on the court of appeals nomination of Steve Six, which is great news for prolifers in the 10th circuit states of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, and dismal news for the abortion interests suing new pro-life laws in those states, she told LifeNews. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/senate-judiciary-cmte-doesnt-vote-on-pro-abortion-steven-six/
Judge Rules for Pro-Life Girls Shackled, Strip Searched
A federal judge has ruled in favor of pro-life advocates, including college-aged girls, who were shacked and strip searched after peacefully protesting abortion in Maryland in 2008. The multi-faceted case has been ongoing for years and some of the defendants have settled.
Maryland state troopers handcuffed and arrested 18 pro-life advocates for sharing a peaceful pro-life message along a Bel Air, Maryland public street in August 2008. Among those arrested were three young women who were later shackled, strip-searched, and detained overnight by other police.
On Tuesday, Hon. Richard D. Bennett of the federal district court for the District of Maryland issued a 49-page opinion in a civil rights action filed by attorneys with the American Catholic Lawyers Association in 2009. The decision, following extensive motions for summary judgment by both plaintiffs and defendants, holds that the First and Fourth Amendment rights of the seven pro-life advocates who are the plaintiffs (as well as two pro-life advocates represented by the Alliance Defense Fund) were violated when the state troopers arrested and jailed them.
The plaintiffs First and Fourth Amendment claims against the Troopers will proceed to a jury trial for the assessment of damages only, according to pro-life attorney Christopher Ferrara, who is handling the case.
[A] reasonable police officer faced with the facts confronted by the Defendants would have known that, in ordering the demonstrators to leave Harford County, he would violate the Plaintiffs First Amendment rights, the court ruled. Moreover, arresting the Plaintiffs for exercising those rights was a violation of the Plaintiffs Fourth Amendment rights. In engaging in this manifestly unlawful behavior, the individual officers could not have reasonably misapprehended the law, nor can it be said that they made a bad guess in a gray area. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/judge-rules-for-pro-life-girls-shackled-strip-searched/
Left-Wing Groups Pressure TOMS Shoes to Ditch Pro-Life Group
Conservatives have typically done well when it comes to boycotting companies such as those corporations giving financially to the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Now, left-wing groups are hitting back.
With fewer companies headed by pro-life or Christian executives or that provide corporate contributions to pro-life or conservative causes,liberals and abortion advocates can more easily bad together against them. Brands like Chick-fil-A, Dominos Pizza, and Curves have been targeted by left-wing groups in recent years and now they can claim victory in getting one other company to back down TOMS shoes.
The head of the California-based company known for giving away free shoes to disadvantaged people across the globe has decided to apologize for agreeing to speak at an event and for giving an interview to the president of Focus on the Family, the evangelical organization known for its pro-life and pro-family views. Blake Mycoskie, 34, an evangelical Christian, founded the shoe company in 2006 and it took off by focusing on fair labor and free shoes for children which gave it a draw for some liberals who enjoyed that focus.
But, according to Christian Century, when news of the interview surfaced, liberals quickly organized a boycott that has culminated with an apology on his blog, where Mycoskie says, Had I known the full extent of Focus on the Family s beliefs, I would not have accepted the invitation to speak at their event. It was an oversight on my part and the company s part and one we regret. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/left-wing-groups-pressure-toms-shoes-to-ditch-pro-life-group/
ACT Starts Dangerous Human Trials of Embryonic-Like Cells
The embryonic stem cell and human cloning company, Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), has begun two experiments on human patients with the injection of embryonic stem cell derivatives into the eyes of two patients. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/act-moves-ahead-on-dangerous-human-trials-of-embryonic-like-cells/
Pro-Lifers to Rally in New Hampshire for Planned Parenthood De-Funding
Two pro-life organizations are sponsoring a rally on Friday in New Hampshire in support of a decision by the Executive Council there to revoke a $1.8 million taxpayer-funded contract with the Planned Parenthood abortion business. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/pro-lifers-to-rally-in-new-hampshire-for-planned-parenthood-de-funding/
Georgetown Beats Notre Dame When It Comes to Backing Abortion
As a son of Georgetown University, I laughed at the pathetic Irish of Notre Dame when they made news for putting on their board Roxanne Martino, who gave a measly $27,000 to EMILY s List, a group that works to elect pro-abortion politicians. That s a trifle by Georgetown s standards. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/georgetown-beats-notre-dame-when-it-comes-to-backing-abortion/
UNFPA Launches Misleading Campaign Against Overpopulation
Messaging tied to a major new UN campaign reveals that the catastrophic fears common among population experts in the past 40 years regarding overpopulation and global population growth never came to pass and are now obsolete given new global population realities. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/unfpa-launches-misleading-campaign-against-overpopulation/
Innovative Pro-Life Law Uses Phones, Computers to Help Women
An innovative new law in Louisiana required abortion practitioners to post signs at abortion centers providing women information about abortion risks and alternatives but one aspect of the law relies on new technology to help women. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/innovative-pro-life-law-uses-phones-computers-to-help-women/
Missouri Gov. Nixon Lets Late-Term Abortion Ban Become Law
Missouri Gov, Jay Nixon, who supports legalized abortion, let a ban on late-term abortions become law today without either signing the bill or issuing a veto of it likely because the legislature approved it on a wide margin. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/missouri-gov-nixon-lets-late-term-abortion-ban-become-law/
