LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Monday, August 15, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Rick Perry Becomes Latest Pro-Life Republican 2012 Hopeful
• Iowa Straw Poll Results Show Pro-Life Message Still Matters
• Pro-Life Gov. Tim Pawlenty Leaves Republican Presidential Race
• More 911 Calls Show Women Victimized by Botched Abortions
More Pro-Life News
• Rick Perry Admits Mistake on Gardasil-HPV Vaccine Decision
• Santorum Gets Boost After 4th Place Finish in Iowa Straw Poll
• Bachmann and Perry Will Headline Pro-Life Gala in November
• Full Text of Governor Rick Perry Announcement Speech
• Study Confirms Abortion Not Needed to Halt Maternal Mortality
• Coin Toss Abortions When Twins Are Reduced to One
• Pro-Life Catholic View: Use Technology Without Destroying Life
• International ProLife Youth Conference Heads to Los Angeles
• Connecticut Pours Millions Into Embryonic Stem Cell Research
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Rick Perry Becomes Latest Pro-Life Republican 2012 Hopeful
On Saturday night, Texas Gov. Rick Perry became the latest Republican hopeful seeking to secure the GOP nomination to take on pro-abortion President Barack Obama. Perry enters on the heels of polls showing him to be a top-tier contender for the nomination.
Perry told a gathering of conservative activists meeting at a conference sponsored by the Red State blog in South Carolina and he told them, I full well believe I m going to win.
Perry started the speech with pointed criticism of President Obama, saying, this President s unbridled fixation on taking more money out of the wallets and pocketbooks of American families and employers and giving it to a central government.
But of course, now we re told we are in recovery. Yeah, he continued. But this sure doesn t feel like a recovery to more than nine percent of Americans out there who are unemployed, or the sixteen percent of African Americans and 11 percent of Hispanics in the same position, or the millions more who can only find part-time work, or those who have stopped even looking for a job.
Page one of any economic plan to get America working is to give a pink slip to the current resident in the White House, he continued.
While Perry spent most of his speech on economic issues that are at the forefront of the minds of voters, he has received A grades from the two top pro-life organizations in Texas and the head of a third gives him high marks as well. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/14/rick-perry-becomes-latest-pro-life-republican-2012-hopeful/
Iowa Straw Poll Results Show Pro-Life Message Still Matters
The results of last weekend s Iowa Straw Poll are encouraging news for leaders of two pro-life organizations who say they show the pro-life message still retains significance within the Republican Party. That s because each of the top candidates holds a pro-life view and signed one pro-life group s presidential pledge.
The Susan B. Anthony List congratulated Iowa Straw Poll winner Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and recognized that the top three performers Representative Ron Paul, Governor Tim Pawlenty, and Senator Rick Santorum, all joined Bachmann in signing the group s pledge.
It is no surprise that the top four vote getters of the Iowa Straw Poll are also signers of our Pro-Life Presidential Leadership Pledge, said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. Pro-life politics have long played a crucial role in Republican primaries and this election cycle will be no different. Republicans understand the importance of defeating President Obama, the most pro-abortion President in history, with a strong leader dedicated to protecting women and unborn children.
Dannenfelser told LifeNews that, because public opinion is more pro-life than ever, the 2012 election will feel the abortion issue influence even more.
The first ever Presidential Pro-Life Leadership Pledge provides a minimum bar and measuring stick that clearly resonates with voters, she said. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/15/iowa-straw-poll-results-show-pro-life-message-still-matters/
Pro-Life Gov. Tim Pawlenty Leaves Republican Presidential Race
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has become the first casualty of the Republican primary election campaign deciding to drop out after a third place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll.
I wish it would have been different, but obviously the pathway forward for me doesn t exist so we are going to end the campaign, Pawlenty said after huddling with top advisers Sunday morning following the event in the first primary battleground state.
Pawlenty officials indicated the governor was not willing to risk plunging the campaign into debt merely to soldier on in a race that, from all appearances, would not likely result in victory.
The candidate told ABC News he would endorse a fellow Republican eventually and that he wasn t interested in a Vice-Presidential slot at this time: I ve been down that road before. That s not something I m even going to consider.
Governor Pawlenty excited pro-life advocates early on in the campaign who appreciated his extensive pro-life record as the governor of Minnesota combined with his experience as governor and a former state legislator, his knowledge of public policy issues and a conservative platform on fiscal and foreign policy issues. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/14/pro-life-gov-tim-pawlenty-leaves-republican-presidential-race/
More 911 Calls Show Women Victimized by Botched Abortions
A pro-life group has obtained more copies of 911 calls made by two abortion businesses in Albuquerque, New Mexico concerning eight more women who have been victimized by botched abortions. State officials are already looking into the problems.
A series of botched abortions in New Mexico have prompted state officials there to launch investigations into three late-term abortion practitioners exposed by Operation Rescue.
After the release of the original calls, involving Southwestern Women s Options, an abortion clinic in Albuquerque, and UNM Hospital, which operates its own abortion business, the UNM Center for Reproductive Health, OR told LifeNews it has been notified by the New Mexico Board of Physicians that three Albuquerque abortion practitioners are under investigation. Shelley Sella and Susan Robinson, late-term abortion practitioners who formerly worked for the nation s largest late-term abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas, prior to its closure in 2009 are two of the three facing probes. Texas-based abortion practitioner Curtis Boyd, who owns Southwestern Women s Options in Albuquerque, where the 911 calls originated is the third.
Now, Operation Rescue has obtained eight new 911 recordings that reveal a further pattern of botched abortions at the two Albuquerque abortion clinics. Together with five 911 calls released last month, the 13 calls show that life-threatening abortion complications requiring emergency assistance occur at the rate of one every 10 weeks, the group says.
The eight newly obtained calls were placed between November, 2008 and December, 2009, with six originating from Southwestern Women s Options, owned by Curtis Boyd, and the UNM Center for Reproductive Health, the abortion training grounds for the University of New Mexico. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/15/more-911-calls-show-women-victimized-by-botched-abortions/
Rick Perry Admits Mistake on Gardasil-HPV Vaccine Decision
On his first day on the campaign trail, Texas Gov. Rick Perry admitted he made a mistake on the sole issue some pro-life advocates bring up as a concern despite his sterling pro-life record.
Perry, in a conversation with a New Hampshire voter, walked back his decision to mandate the vaccine Gardasil to 11-year old girls. According to a Politico report, a voter confronted him on the issue explaining his remorse for the decision and indicating he put an opt-out provision in place allowing parents to decide not to have their young girls receive the vaccine.
Perry explained that, in his zeal to protect children, he went too far.
I signed an executive order that allowed for an opt-out, but the fact of the matter is I didn t do my research well enough to understand that we needed to have a substantial conversation with our citizenry, he said. I hate cancer. Let me tell you, as a son who has a mother and father who are both cancer survivors.
I hate cancer. And this HPV, we were seeing young ladies die at the early age. What we should have done was a program that frankly should have allowed them to opt in, or some type of program like that, but here s what I learned when you get too far out in front of the parade they will let you know. And that s exactly what our legislature did.
The explanation and apology seems to be going over well with pro-life advocates so far, as Joshua Mercer of CatholicVote.org praised Perry in a blog response, calling Perry s decision to address the issue head on with an apology good housecleaning. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/15/rick-perry-admits-mistake-on-gardasil-hpv-vaccine-decision/
Santorum Gets Boost After 4th Place Finish in Iowa Straw Poll
Rick Santorum was not expected to coming in 4th place in the Iowa Straw Poll on Saturday ahead of better-known and better-funded candidates. And with the Republican presidential race partly becoming an expectations game, Santorum gets a boost by performing much better than expected.
Santorum came in fourth behind expected winner Michele Bachmann and expected second place candidate Ron Paul, both of whom turned out their evangelical and libertarian supporters. Tim Pawlenty, who lost the expectations game, placed third and withdrew from the race over the weekend.
Now, Santorum hopes the strong finish will boost his fundraising and allow him a better chance to compete with top tier Republican candidates, including Mitt Romney and Rick Perry who did not compete in the Iowa poll.
I am incredibly grateful for the overwhelming support our campaign received today, said Senator Santorum in a statement to LifeNews. The press and pundits had written us off and chose to ignore our message. But voters rallied around our message, that America will be great again if we elect a President who has the record of results through proven leadership. The people of Iowa sent shock waves through the political establishment and our success though does not end here in Ames today, but moves forward to the Caucuses and beyond. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/15/santorum-gets-boost-after-4th-place-finish-in-iowa-straw-poll/
Bachmann and Perry Will Headline Pro-Life Gala in November
Two of the pro-life Republican presidential candidates will head up a gala sponsored by Americans United for Life this November to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the legislative and political organization.
National leaders and political luminaries will join together in November to mark the anniversary of one of the premier pro-life legal groups that works to advance pro-life legislation on the state and federal level. AUL undertakes educational efforts and waded into the 2012 congressional elections with advertising discussing the records of candidates on abortion issues.
The event will feature an impressive list of pro-life leaders serving as honorary hosts of the much-anticipated evening and they include Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, both competing for the support of pro-life advocates looking to defeat pro-abortion President Barack Obama next year.
AUL president Charmaine Yoest noted that the anniversary gala would mark the accumulated pro-life victories AUL has earned through years of public service and the people who made them possible. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/15/bachmann-and-perry-will-headline-pro-life-gala-in-november/
Full Text of Governor Rick Perry Announcement Speech
The following is the full text of the speech pro-life Texas Gov. Rick Perry gave at the Saturday night Red State gathering of conservative activists, where he made his Republican presidential campaign official. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/14/full-text-of-governor-rick-perry-announcement-speech/
Study Confirms Abortion Not Needed to Halt Maternal Mortality
A study released last week by Human Rights Watch, entitled Stop Making Excuses: Accountability for Maternal Health Care in South Africa, highlights nearly the same facts that a MCCL Global Outreach white paper ( How South Africa is failing women and children ) stated back in January. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/15/study-confirms-abortion-not-needed-to-halt-maternal-mortality/
Coin Toss Abortions When Twins Are Reduced to One
The August 10, 2011 edition of New York Times Magazine featured a column titled, The Two Minus One Pregnancy. I read the article with clenched teeth, an extraordinary sense of incredulity and rising blood pressure. The article focused on how women carrying twins reduce the number of unborn babies they carry from two to one. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/15/coin-toss-abortions-%E2%80%93-when-twins-are-reduced-to-one/
Pro-Life Catholic View: Use Technology Without Destroying Life
We continue our study today of a little-known and little-studied 1974 document from the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith entitled: http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/15/pro-life-catholic-view-use-technology-without-destroying-life/
International ProLife Youth Conference Heads to Los Angeles
The first-ever International ProLife Youth Conference is heading to Los Angeles, California this November as pro-life group from around the world are making plans to attend and show that the future global leaders support human rights for unborn children. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/15/international-prolife-youth-conference-heads-to-los-angeles/
Connecticut Pours Millions Into Embryonic Stem Cell Research
You may have missed it, given that such occurrences have sadly become all too common, but another state has wasted good taxpayer dollars, pouring more money on unethical and unsuccessful embryonic stem cell research and ignoring life-saving adult stem cell research. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/15/connecticut-pours-millions-into-embryonic-stem-cell-research/
