LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Obama Forces New Hampshire to Fund Planned Parenthood
• Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz De-Funded in Tennessee
• Pro-Life Republicans Win Congressional Bids in Nevada, New York
• Father Pavone Still a Priest in Good Standing, Celebrates Mass
More Pro-Life News
• Pro-Life Advocate Defies Obama Anti-Free Speech Lawsuit
• Fatherhood Begins in the Womb, New Pro-Life Billboards Say
• Collin Raye to Become Spokesman for Terri Schiavo Foundation
• Don t Worry NARAL, Obamacare Still Funds Abortion in Insurance
• Pregnancy Center Group Expands to Help Women in Latin America
• European Court of Human Rights Hears Italian Bioethics Case
• Operation Rescue Supports Father Pavone of Priests for Life
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Obama Forces New Hampshire to Fund Planned Parenthood
Late Tuesday, the Obama administration made a decision to force New Hampshire taxpayers to fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business after the state s Executive Council voted to revoke a $1.8 million contract.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it will provide the contract for family planning with Planned Parenthood directly from the federal government to the abortion business rather than routing the money through the state and letting New Hampshire officials determine who should receive the Title X grants. The council voted against funding because Planned Parenthood does abortions and its top officials earn big six-figure salaries.
The Obama administration, according to a Concord Monitor report, will award Planned Parenthood of Northern New England $1 million which, although it won t fund abortions, frees up money the abortion business would otherwise have to spend on family planning to pay for staff, facilities and advertising promoting and performing abortions. Administration officials did not provide any competitive process for other non-abortion agencies to compete for the $1 million grant, and the newspaper said HHS officials indicated that was done because Planned Parenthood was the sole grant recipient previously.
Jennifer Frizzell, a senior policy advisor for Planned Parenthood, told the paper that the abortion business will wind up with 16 months of the 18 month grant it would have received has the Executive Council renewed the contract. Planned Parenthood will receive the grant in monthly disbursements from the Obama administration.
Councilor David Wheeler, one of the three members of the council, called the decision by the Obama administration one of arrogance because the will of New Hampshire officials was not followed. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/obama-forces-new-hampshire-to-fund-planned-parenthood/
Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz De-Funded in Tennessee
The last county in Tennessee to provide taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood has chosen to send its state family planning grant money elsewhere making it so the abortion business has been almost totally de-funded.
Shelby County Health Department director Yvonne Madlock announced on Tuesday that, after significant lobbying from pro-life advocates, another recipient has been chosen to receive almost $400,000 in taxpayer funds to promote family planning efforts. Tennessee Right to Life and other pro-life groups have been pushing for the county to revoke funding because Planned Parenthood is an abortion business.
The bid was awarded, and it was not Planned Parenthood, Madlock said, telling the Commercial Appeal newspaper that Christ Community Health Services will receive the $397,000 contract as long as the County Commission signed off on the decision. The newspaper indicates Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell expects the county board to vote by the end of the month on making the change.
The money comes from the Title X family planning grants states are given by the federal government and Davidson County, the location of Nashville, made the decision earlier this year to move the recipient of its funding elsewhere from the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Because Shelby County was the lone holdout, pro-life advocates focused their efforts on persuading the county government to de-fund Planned Parenthood.
A number of organizations and entities and individuals have expressed dissatisfaction with this, Madlock acknowledged yesterday. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/planned-parenthood-abortion-biz-de-funded-in-tennessee/
Pro-Life Republicans Win Congressional Bids in Nevada, New York
Republicans dealt two major blows to President Obama last night with victories in two special elections, in New York and Nevada. Both races captured national attention and revealed weaknesses for President Obama in 2012.
In New York, Republican Bob Turner defeated Democrat David Weprin in the race to fill the seat left vacant by pro-abortion, disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner. Despite voting en masse for Obama and Weiner in previous election cycles, the district with its vibrant Jewish community, turned against Weprin citing opposition to Democratic policy on Israel. Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat, endorsed Republican Bob Turner noting, My support for Mr. Turner is intended to send a message to President Obama that he cannot throw Israel under the bus with impunity.
It is widely known that Obama is currently facing tough times in regard to his popularity with independent voters. But in New York, a core group of his Democratic base, Jewish voters, also appear to be pulling away. In several key states like Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania, which have larger Jewish populations, Obama may be vulnerable.
In Nevada, pro-life Republican Mark Amodei trounced pro-abortion Democrat Kate Marshall by a margin of 22 points (58%-36%). Amodei was supported by National Right to Life PAC and Nevada Right to Life PAC while Marshall touted the endorsement of EMILY s List.
Amodei versus Marshall represents a generic Republican versus a generic Democrat in a region hit hard by the economic downturn. Obama virtually tied McCain in the district in 2008, losing by just 88 votes. Amodei s impressive showing seriously calls into question Obama s ability to win in key swing areas. It also puts a damper on Democratic plans to retake the US House. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/pro-life-republicans-win-congressional-bids-in-nevada-new-york/
Senate Panel OKs Bill Funding Abortions in Nation s Capital
While House Republicans have approved a government funding measure that keeps the ban on taxpayer funding of abortions in the District of Columbia, a panel controlled by Senate Democrats has moved in the opposite direction.
Today, the Financial Services Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee passed the FY12 Financial Services funding bill which would essentially scrap the Dornan amendment, a pro-life provision that prevents the nation s capital from funding abortions at taxpayer expense. The D.C. Hyde amendment, as reinstated in the FY11 spending bill, ensures that no congressionally appropriated funds (federal or local) are used to fund elective abortions in the District of Columbia.
Tomorrow, the full Senate Appropriations Committee will consider legislation and there is no word yet on whether any of the pro-life members of the panel will try to attach language similar to the House provision banning abortion funding. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, the ranking Republican on the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, did not know if any of the members would offer the amendment. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/senate-panel-oks-bill-funding-abortions-in-nations-capital/
Father Pavone Still a Priest in Good Standing, Celebrates Mass
Priests for Life has released a new statement responding to some of the misreporting in the mainstream media making it appear its director Father Frank Pavone has been suspended as a Catholic priest or from the organization.
The pro-life movement has been abuzz with the news that Amarillo Bishop Patrick J. Zurek of the Diocese of Amarillo has asked him to come back to serve in the diocese and has temporarily prevented him from exercising his duties as the head of Priests for Life. Zurek alleges, with little supporting evidence, that there are financial irregularities at Priests for Life despite annual audits from one of the nation s top accounting firms.
Pavone has arrived in Texas to be obedient to the call from the bishop and Priests for Life indicated he celebrated Mass today with parishioners.
In a new statement to LifeNews, Priests for Life said it was widely misreported in various Catholic and secular media that the Most Reverend Patrick Zurek, Bishop of Amarillo, had suspended Rev. Frank Pavone, a priest of his diocese, and put him on leave.
This is absolutely false, notes Father David Deibel, JD, JCL, Chief Canonist for Priests for Life. Father Pavone is and has been a priest in good standing. Moreover, the canonical language of suspension in this regard is a mistake. Father Pavone has not in any way incurred any ecclesiastical penalty. Nor is Father Frank under the threat of any penalty. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/father-pavone-still-a-priest-in-good-standing-celebrates-mass/
 Announcing: National Association of Pro-life Nurses announces its 2011-2012 scholarship for student nurses. Scholarship application deadline is Feb. 15, 2012. Application can be found online at http://www.nursesforlife.org |
Pro-Life Advocate Defies Obama Anti-Free Speech Lawsuit
An elderly pro-life man is defying a lawsuit the Obama administration has filed against him to stop him from providing abortion alternatives information to women outside a Planned Parenthood in the nation s capital.
Maryland resident Richard Retta has been accused of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by doing nothing more than exercising his First Amendment rights when he presents information to and talks to women considering abortions. For more than 10 years, he has helped women heading to the Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington abortion center find the kind of alternatives the abortion business never provides.
But the Justice Department s Civil Rights Division sees the gentle man as some sort of terrorist. It has filed a lawsuit claiming Retta is one of the most vocal and aggressive anti-abortion protestors. How so? The Obama administration claims, On one occasion, defendant walked so closely to a patient that he stepped on the patient s shoe and broke the shoe strap.
The Obama administration is suing Retta for $10,000 for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, and is ordering him to pay compensatory damages of $5,000 each to three supposed victims of Retta handing out information and telling women to not have an abortion. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/pro-life-advocate-defies-obama-anti-free-speech-lawsuit/
Fatherhood Begins in the Womb, New Pro-Life Billboards Say
A new pro-life billboard campaign in California has a clear message for the African-American community: Fatherhood begins in the womb. That s what a group of black pro-life advocates want people to know.
Walter Hoye, a pro-life African-American pastor, teamed up with Radiance Foundation founder Ryan Bomberger, a LifeNews blogger who is a black pro-life and adoption advocate, for the new professional billboard campaign.
The Radiance Foundation, partnering with the Issues4Life Foundation, announces a powerful new billboard/web campaign to illuminate the crisis of fatherlessness. The new TooManyAborted.com billboards, Fatherhood begins in the womb , have been placed in Sacramento, California, the state that has aborted 214,190 of its children in the last reported year, Bomberger says.
When a child is conceived, a father is born, Bomberger told LifeNews.
The abortion industry has created a culture of abandonment. Responsibility has become someone else s concern, and death the solution to unplanned pregnancies the natural result of sexual behavior, Bomberger explains. There s nothing natural about an industry that generates over $200 million, annually, by killing a child left defenseless by the absence of a father. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/fatherhood-begins-in-the-womb-new-pro-life-billboards-say/
Collin Raye to Become Spokesman for Terri Schiavo Foundation
Country music star Collin Raye has agreed to become the national spokesman for Terri Schiavo s Life & Hope Network, the foundation Terri s family established to help disabled people like her obtain lifesaving medical care.
Raye, who is pro-life, will represent the foundation created by her parents and siblings following her death by starvation in 2005, and he said, I am truly honored and humbled to be representing those who have no voice and appreciate the opportunity to help families and loved ones who are in similar situations like those of Terri Schiavo.
There has been a growing number of families faced with the same situations as Terri s family in recent years and the number is sure to continue to grow as the passage of Obamacare takes away medical decision from families and doctors and put them into the hands of bureaucrats, said Raye. This is about the future of what s going on in this country and how we can help the disabled, the physically and cognitively impaired, and the elderly. Every life is precious.
Raye shares his own, personal family experience with end of life issues in the heartbreaking death of his 10-year-old granddaughter, who died last year as a result of an undiagnosed neurological condition. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/collin-raye-to-become-spokesman-for-terri-schiavo-foundation/
Don t Worry NARAL, Obamacare Still Funds Abortion in Insurance
Nancy Keenan s recent email was frantic. The President of NARAL Pro-Choice America writes to supporters that they are running out of time.. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/dont-worry-naral-obamacare-still-funds-abortion-in-insurance/
Pregnancy Center Group Expands to Help Women in Latin America
The Heartbeat International pregnancy center ministry knows thousands of pregnancy centers in the United States stand ready to help women with abortion alternatives, but it also understands that women needing help aren t restricted to North America. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/pregnancy-center-group-expands-to-help-women-in-latin-america/
European Court of Human Rights Hears Italian Bioethics Case
On June 7th 2011, the second section of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has communicated to the Italian government the case Rosetta Costa and Walter Pavan v. Italy (no. 54270/10) challenging the ban of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in Italy. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/european-court-of-human-rights-hears-italian-bioethics-case/
Operation Rescue Supports Father Pavone of Priests for Life
Operation Rescue has released the following statement supporting Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, who is being prevented from exercising his duties as the national director of the pro-life organization. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/14/operation-rescue-supports-father-pavone-of-priests-for-life/
Kansas Hearing: Abortionist Violated Standard of Care
The Kansas Board of Healing Arts intends to prove that abortionist Ann Kristin (Kris) Neuhaus failed to meet the standard of care when supplying late-term abortion referrals to George Tiller in 2003. The charges were filed in April 2010 and the hearing began Monday in Topeka. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/13/kansas-hearing-abortionist-violated-standard-of-care/
Liechtenstein Battling EU Pressure to Legalize Abortion
This week the Principality of Liechtenstein will decide by national referendum whether to ratify a draft bill which would lead to the depenalization of abortion in the tiny Middle-European country. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/13/liechtenstein-battling-eu-pressure-to-legalize-abortion/
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