LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, November 4, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• CEO of Planned Parenthood Accused of Medicaid Fraud Retires
• DNC Chair: Saying Life Begins at Conception Extreme
• Democrats Attack Romney for Supporting Pro-Life Measure
• Planned Parenthood Closes 12 Clinics After Texas De-Funding
More Pro-Life News
• UN Used Baby 7 Billion to Promote Population Control
• Pro-Lifers Right to Reject Violence to End Abortion Violence
• Kentucky: Gov. Beshear Gets $4K From Abortion Practitioners
• Ohio Gov. Kasich Signs Pro-Life Parental Consent Abortion Bill
• Kansas Medical Board Considers Revoking Abortionist s License
• Massachusetts Catholic Cardinal: Oppose Assisted Suicide Measure
• Freedom of Expression Tolerated Unless It s Pro-Life Speech
• Spain Elections May Lead to Pro-Life Laws on Abortion
• European Court Upholds Austria Ban on In-Vitro Fertilization
---> Please inform others of President Barack Obama's pro-abortion record, link to it on your web site.
CEO of Planned Parenthood Accused of Medicaid Fraud Retires
The head of the Texas-based Planned Parenthood abortion business facing accusations of massive Medicaid fraud related to billing for abortions and birth control retired this past weekend. On Saturday the president of Planned Parenthood flew to Houston to participate in a swanky gala for retiring Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast CEO Peter Durkin.
As LifeNews.com reported yesterday, a former employee of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast has filed a whistleblower s complaint with the Attorney General of Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice. The PPGC employee alleges that the abortion business engaged in an elaborate Medicaid fraud scheme.
According to a report on the Culture Map website, Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and daughter of the late former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, flew into Houston from New York to participate in a farewell bash for Durkin. Houston Mayor Annise Parker issued a proclamation declaring the day as Peter J. Durkin Day in Houston and the event featured a presentation by pro-abortion U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
Durkin will eventually retire in April, but pro-life blogger Jill Stanek, who first noted the whistleblower lawsuit related to the Medicaid fraud, says he has numerous questions to answer now.
After 26 years as CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Peter Durkin has announced he will retire in April 2012, she said. The timing works out well for Durkin to avoid publicly having to deal with a complaint filed by former PPGC employee Karen Reynolds alleging massive Medicaid fraud. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/ceo-of-planned-parenthood-accused-of-medicaid-fraud-retires/
DNC Chair: Saying Life Begins at Conception Extreme
The chair of the national Democratic Party has issued a statement on a vote taking place next week in Mississippi on an amendment saying human life begins at conception or fertilization. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democratic congresswoman chosen by President Barack Obama to head the party, called making such a statement an extreme and radical step, according to a new CNS News report.
For the vast majority of Americans, including people on both sides of the abortion issue, this is an extreme and radical step, she told reporters on a conference call and adding that it is supposedly a divisive, dangerous, and destructive attack on women.
To American women, their reproductive health and choice is an intensely personal and private issue between themselves, their families, and their doctors, the DNC chairwoman said. But Republicans in Washington and across the country have tried to limit these rights, with their assault on Planned Parenthood in Congress and restrictive laws in the states being among several examples.
Now, she said, according to CNS News, the effort by the far right [is] to pass these so-called personhood amendments divisive, dangerous, and destructive laws which would cripple a woman s right to choose, limit access to birth control, and put the lives of women with difficult pregnancies at risk. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/dnc-chair-saying-life-begins-at-conception-extreme/
Democrats Attack Romney for Supporting Pro-Life Measure
The national Democratic Party is attacking Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for supporting a pro-life measure in Mississippi that would define human life as starting at conception or fertilization.
Romney, in an interview recently on the Mike Huckabee show on Fox News, said she supports the statewide ballot amendment in Mississippi that would amend the state constitution to say that the legal definition of a person is at the beginning of human life, i.e. conception. As the Washington Post indicates, the Democratic National Committee has released a letter attacking Romney and the amendment.
Patrick Gaspard, the executive director of the DNC calls the amendment a radical measure that would elevate a fertilized human egg to the status of a legal person.
They would ban IUDs, the morning-after pill, in-vitro fertilization, and all abortions with no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest or in cases where the life of a woman is at stake, he falsely claims.
About Romney, he says: In other words, a leading candidate for the GOP nomination for president is on the record in favor of a law that would classify literally all abortions and even many forms of birth control as murder. To be clear: This is the most radical position any of the Republican candidates have taken on this issue, and may be the most radical position any of them have taken on any substantive issue in the race for the nomination so far. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/democrats-attack-romney-for-supporting-pro-life-measure/
Planned Parenthood Closes 12 Clinics After Texas De-Funding
A new confirmed total of 12 Planned Parenthood facilities have been shut down in Texas since the end of the 82ndlegislative special session, which dealt the abortion industry a $64.2 million blow.
Without government funding, Planned Parenthood facilities are withering on the vine. New funding priorities set by the legislature detail that any facility associated with the abortion industry is given the lowest priority for family planning funds. As a result, three Planned Parenthood affiliates have been forced to close several of their facilities in order to reduce operating costs.
Each closing is a victory for women and for the unborn. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/planned-parenthood-closes-12-clinics-after-texas-de-funding/
UN Used Baby 7 Billion to Promote Population Control
Newborn babies took center-stage last Monday in a global campaign conducted by United Nations officials on Halloween to trumpet the birth of the 7 billionth person in the world. Worldwide, officials declared babies born in their country as the symbolic 7 billionth person.
Reporters snapped pictures as babies were greeted with cheers and presents. With the stage set, UN and government leaders then gave statements warning of over-burdening the world with consumers.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon marked the birthday at a press conference at UN headquarters in New York. Plenty of food, but one billion people go hungry. Lavish lifestyles for a few, but poverty for too many others, he stated.
United Nations officials chose Halloween as the milestone birthday despite demographers stating that it is impossible to know the arrival of the 7 billionth person. And it is unclear if they intended to emphasis this on the scariest day of the year. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the world s population won t reach 7 billion until March of 2012. Other scholars calculate November 2012 and even into 2013 or 2014, since population growth rates are falling in nearly every country. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/un-used-baby-7-billion-to-promote-population-control/
Pro-Lifers Right to Reject Violence to End Abortion Violence
On October 22nd, Jewels Green wrote a great article offering a compelling personal story illuminating why true pro-lifers don t use violence to fight abortion. But abortion defenders refuse to drop their fixation on anti-choice violence, so it s worth saying a bit more about the subject.
We all know how pro-aborts twist the crimes of lone fanatics into indictments of the whole pro-life movement. But over the years, I ve repeatedly encountered a less inflammatory, though no less dishonest, spin on anti-abortion violence: If you think fetuses are people, then why wouldn t you use force to save them from execution? Wouldn t violence be justified to save live, say, during the Holocaust?
On the surface, it seems like a powerful question with uncomfortable implications. Is there a disconnect between our rhetoric and our actions? Does our unwillingness to wage war for the unborn mean we don t really consider them our equals, or that we re simply too cowardly to get our hands dirty? http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/pro-lifers-right-to-reject-violence-to-end-abortion-violence/
Kentucky: Gov. Beshear Gets $4K From Abortion Practitioners
According to an online search at the Kentucky Registration of Election Finance, the two abortionists who are the principle officers of Louisville s only freestanding abortion clinic, have contributed over $4000 to the political campaigns of Governor Steven Beshear and his running mate, former Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson.
The clinic, EMW Women s Surgical Center, was the subject of an undercover investigation by Lila Rose and Jackie Stollar of Live Action on June 23, 2008. In that investigation, Live Action found that EMW clinic staff were willing to help minors obtain a judicial bypass in order to avoid parental knowledge of a minor s abortion even with the understanding that the child was in a sexually abusive relationship.
In the state of Kentucky, sex between a 14-year-old and a 31-year-old is rape in the third degree and would reasonably be considered sexual abuse of a child which must be reported to law enforcement immediately. The EMW clinic failed to ask the questions necessary to file a child sexual abuse report and did not communicate to Rose about the illegal or dangerous nature of her sexual relationship. The clinic also gave misleading information about fetal development, apparently in order to encourage Rose to have the abortion. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/kentucky-gov-beshear-gets-4k-from-abortion-practitioners/
Ohio Gov. Kasich Signs Pro-Life Parental Consent Abortion Bill
Governor John Kasich of Ohio has signed into law a bill meant to strengthen the parental consent law in place that prohibits teens from getting an abortion without their parents consent is moving along in the legislative process. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/ohio-gov-kasich-signs-pro-life-parental-consent-abortion-bill/
Kansas Medical Board Considers Revoking Abortionist s License
Today the Kansas state Healing Arts Board reconvened proceedings to revoke the already-restricted medical license of abortionist Kris Neuhaus. Attorneys for the state medical board and Neuhaus will meet for final arguments January 17. It will then be up to the presiding officer to present recommendations within 30 days to the Board for a vote in February. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/kansas-medical-board-considers-revoking-abortionists-license/
Massachusetts Catholic Cardinal: Oppose Assisted Suicide Measure
Cardinal Seán P. O Malley of Boston is urging Catholic voters in Massachusetts to reject a statewide initiative would promote assisted suicide in the Bay State. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/massachusetts-catholic-cardinal-oppose-assisted-suicide-measure/
Freedom of Expression Tolerated Unless It s Pro-Life Speech
A couple of weeks ago, I was privileged to speak at a conference in Vienna concerning the role of freedom of expression in a healthy democracy. The conference, organized by the Federalist Society, sought to spark a dialogue among 50 young European lawyers from a dozen countries. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/freedom-of-expression-tolerated-unless-its-pro-life-speech/
Spain Elections May Lead to Pro-Life Laws on Abortion
We have to remember an important point about laws legalizing abortion: they are not set in stone. America had pro-life laws for generations until Roe v. Wade in 1973. Then the law changed. It can change again. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/spain-elections-may-lead-to-pro-life-laws-on-abortion/
European Court Upholds Austria Ban on In-Vitro Fertilization
Yesterday,the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has delivered its final judgment. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/04/european-court-upholds-austria-ban-on-in-vitro-fertilization/
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