LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Mississippi Personhood Amendment Loses by Lopsided Margin
• Senate Vote Expected Soon on Four Key Abortion Issues
• Planned Parenthood Charges Dropped as Sebelius Destroyed Records
• Judges Orders Two Abortion Centers Closed in Michigan
More Pro-Life News
• Obama Admin s Targeting of Pro-Lifers Shows Pro-Abortion Bias
• Virginia Pro-Lifers Pick Up Senate, Defeat Abortion Activist
• Mississippi Didn t Need Personhood Amendment to Ban Abortion
• New York Court Gives Choose Life License Plate a Victory
• Pro-Abortion Group Tries to Redefine Health as Abortion at UN
• Ohio Voters Approve Measure Opposing Pro-Abortion Obamacare
• Vatican Hosts International Conference on Stem Cell Research
• Students for Life Honors China One-Child Policy Opponent
• Tennessee to Vote in 2014 on Amendment to Stop Abortions
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Mississippi Personhood Amendment Loses by Lopsided Margin
Mississippi voters on Tuesday made the Magnolia State the second to reject a personhood amendment that would have put the state on record as defining human life beginning at conception.
The amendment was controversial as it pitted some pro-life advocates supporting it against others who recognized the amendment would not ban abortions and would perhaps give a pro-abortion dominated Supreme Court or lower courts a chance to reaffirm the Roe v. Wade decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions in 1973.
With 1559 of 1876 precincts counted, the amendment failed by a 58 to 42 percentage point margin.
Mississippi follows Colorado, which also rejected the amendment twice in both 2010 and 2008. The 2010 amendment lost by a 70-30 percentage point margin as Amendment 62 failed to gain a majority in any Colorado county. Colorado voters defeated Amendment 48 in 2008 by a 73-27 percentage margin with 1,605,978 voters rejecting it compared to 585,561 who were supportive. The 2010 Colorado personhood amendment received the support of more than 100,000 fewer voters than in 2008.
The amendment would define unborn children as persons under the law starting at the point of conception and would, if upheld, sponsors claim it would essentially prohibit abortions in the state. However, top pro-life attorneys and organizations said they didn t expect the amendment to be upheld in court and they say, even if it does survive a legal challenge, the amendment likely won t ban any abortions. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/08/mississippi-personhood-amendment-loses-by-lopsided-margin/
Senate Vote Expected Soon on Four Key Abortion Issues
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote soon on four key abortion issues of interest to pro-life advocates and they affect whether taxpayer dollars will pay for abortions and go to pro-abortion groups.
The Senate is expected to vote as soon as tomorrow, but more likely next week, on the second minibus bill that contains the State/Foreign Operations, Energy and Water, and Financial Services appropriations measures. Four amendments are expected to help deter the federal government from financing abortions and the abortion industry.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, will offer a pro-life amendment to strike language in the bill sponsored by pro-abortion Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey that prohibits any future presidential administration from reinstituting the Mexico City Policy that pro-abortion President Barack Obama removed via executive order during his first week in office.
The policy, which President Barack Obama ditched during his first week in office, has been in place when pro-life Republican presidents have held office starting with Ronald Reagan and has been revoked by pro-abortion Democrats Obama and Bill Clinton. Planned Parenthood is one of the major recipients of millions of dollars through the State Department and the USAID program and the abortion business refused to stop doing abortions or lobbying other nations to change their pro-life laws during the Bush administration so it could receive funds for non-abortion family planning services. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/senate-vote-expected-soon-on-four-key-abortion-issues/
Planned Parenthood Charges Dropped as Sebelius Destroyed Records
A Kansas judge ordered some of the 107 charges filed against Planned Parenthood for engaging in illegal abortions and covering up those cases thanks to the destruction of records that took place during the Sebelius administration.
The case with 107 charges against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri came about when former state attorney general Phill Kline brought the charges after obtaining evidence in patient records showing Planned Parenthood committed illegal late-term abortions and then manufactured documents to cover up their crimes. The charges allege the abortion business potentially engaged in illegal abortions and violated state record-keeping laws.
Kline, as the then Johnson County District Attorney, filed 107 charges, including 23 felonies, against the abortion business for allegedly violating state law.
However, news surfaced last month when AP reported that the Kansas health department in 2005 destroyed the state late-term abortion reports at the heart of the felony charges against Planned Parenthood. The pre-trial hearing for felony false-writing charges had been scheduled for Monday Oct. 24, Since the original reports have now been discovered as destroyed, the Johnson County District attorney s office had asked for a delay so they could engage other witnesses to verify the authenticity of copies of the state reports. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/planned-parenthood-charges-dropped-as-sebelius-destroyed-records/
Judges Orders Two Abortion Centers Closed in Michigan
A Michigan judge has responded to a lawsuit the state attorney general filed seeking the closure of two abortion centers in the state by issuing a ruling saying they must be shut down while he examines the issues further.
As LifeNews reported, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed a lawsuit in Eaton County Circuit Court to permanently close two abortion centers, the Health Care Clinic in Delta Township and the Women s Choice Clinic in Saginaw. Both of the abortion clinics had been operating without a valid license and the state s top attorney has said the licensing is required of any private physician offices in which at least half of the patients get an abortion.
To ensure accountability and patient safety, Michigan law requires medical facilities to be incorporated with a licensed medical professional at the helm, he said. Strict enforcement of the law ensures medical clinics cannot put profit ahead of responsible patient care.
Today, in response to the lawsuit, Eaton County Circuit Court Judge Calvin Oosterhaven signed a temporary restraining order closing the two abortion facilities. Right to Life of Michigan indicates the order requires the abortion centers to remain closed at least until a scheduled hearing on November 21. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/judges-orders-two-abortion-centers-closed-in-michigan/
Obama Admin s Targeting of Pro-Lifers Shows Pro-Abortion Bias
Two July 2011 incidents have converged to reveal the pro-abortion bias of Eric Holder s Department of Justice.
First, alleging that he had stood on a sidewalk near a metro Washington Planned Parenthood facility, forcing those entering to walk around him, Holder s DOJ sued an eighty-year old Catholic pro-life counselor. DOJ stakes the claim that standing still on a sidewalk so that others must go around you violates the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Second, that same sidewalk counselor that had just been sued by DOJ carried on his pro-life speech activities on July 14. As he approached a woman walking toward the Planned Parenthood, the elderly gentleman offered pro-life literature to her. The woman immediately threatened, I don t want to hear anything from you, or I ll pepper spray you. Despite the warning, the sidewalk counselor continued his offer of help. To his complete surprise, the woman began spraying him in the face with pepper spray.
These two instances, to this point, do not evidence bias. Not until you discover which target Holder s DOJ gave a sweetheart deal to, you would be right to doubt any alleged bias. You see, when the pepper spray assault incident came up for trial this week, the United States rolled over and played dead. Ms. Gregg was offered a plea arrangement that will lead to dismissal of the criminal charges for her violent attack. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/obama-admins-targeting-of-pro-lifers-shows-pro-abortion-bias/
Virginia Pro-Lifers Pick Up Senate, Defeat Abortion Activist
Pro-life advocates in Virginia experienced a major election victory last night as they captured the Virginia State Senate, which had been a thorn in the side for years preventing the passage of life-saving legislation on abortion.
The victory was made possible by pro-life candidate Bryce Reeves defeating long-time pro-abortion state Senator Edd Houck, hose position as chairman of the powerful Education and Health Committee allowed him to prevent pro-life legislation from reaching the Senate floor making him, what SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser calls a consistent ally to the pro-abortion movement.
Bryce Reeves win tonight is a tremendous victory for the pro-life movement and for the people of Virginia, said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, told LifeNews. Senator Houck has stood in opposition to countless pro-life legislation, preventing much of it from even reaching the floor for debate. With the election of Mr. Reeves, we expect that common sense pro-life legislation will now be able to move through the Senate and signed into law.
The Susan B. Anthony List spent $25,000 in radio, print and mail campaigns to help ensure the defeat of Houck. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/virginia-pro-lifers-pick-up-senate-defeat-abortion-activist/
Mississippi Didn t Need Personhood Amendment to Ban Abortion
The range of opinions within the pro-life movement in reaction to the defeat of the personhood amendment is wide with some pro-life advocates upset the amendment failed and others saying it would not have banned abortions.
What many of the leading pro-life advocates and organizations agree on today, however, is that the defeat of the amendment did not stop efforts to provide legislative and legal protection for unborn children from abortions. In fact, some leading pro-life observers say the amendment wasn t necessary to ban abortions in Mississippi.
John McCormack, a pro-life writer at the Weekly Standard, a conservative publication, says the defeat of the personhood amendment should not be taken as a major setback for abortion opponents in part because it did not have the backing of major pro-life groups, such as National Right to Life Committee and Americans United for Life, or major religious institutions, such as Mississippi s Catholic bishops, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ..
Mississippi s personhood amendment was counterproductive, imprudent, and ill-defined. Had it passed, it wouldn t have stopped a single abortion and would have merely given the Supreme Court another opportunity to re-affirm Roe v. Wade, McCormack says. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/mississippi-didnt-need-personhood-amendment-to-ban-abortion/
New York Court Gives Choose Life License Plate a Victory
A federal appeals court today ruled that the state of New York violated the First Amendment when it rejected a pro-adoption group s application to sponsor a Choose Life specialty license plate. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/new-york-court-gives-choose-life-license-plate-a-victory/
Pro-Abortion Group Tries to Redefine Health as Abortion at UN
Special Rapporteur Anand Grover has been using his position to redefine the right to health as including access to abortion. His argument is two fold. First, unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal mortality and is more likely in countries where abortion is criminalized. Second, because unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal mortality, and because criminalization is a contributing factor to unsafe abortion, access to abortion falls under the right to health. His ideas are not just his own, however. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/pro-abortion-group-tries-to-redefine-health-as-abortion-at-un/
Ohio Voters Approve Measure Opposing Pro-Abortion Obamacare
Ohio voters on Tuesday night sent a strong message to pro-abortion President Barack Obama by approving a ballot measure intended to keep government from requiring Ohioans to participate in any health care system. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/ohio-voters-approve-measure-opposing-pro-abortion-obamacare/
Vatican Hosts International Conference on Stem Cell Research
Don t ever let anyone tell you that the Catholic Church is anti-science or against stem cell research. Actually, she is very much in favor of stem cell research, so long as tiny human beings are not created, used and destroyed in the process, and now she s putting her money where her mouth is with regard to that support. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/vatican-hosts-international-conference-on-stem-cell-research/
Students for Life Honors China One-Child Policy Opponent
Students for Life of America has chosen Chai Ling, gendercide awareness activist and founder of pro-life and social justice organization, All Girls Allowed, to receive our 2012 Defender of Life Award during the 2012 Students for Life of America National Conference. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/students-for-life-honors-china-one-child-policy-opponent/
Tennessee to Vote in 2014 on Amendment to Stop Abortions
Following Tuesday s defeat of a personhood amendment in strongly pro-life Mississippi, some pro-life Tennesseans may be confused or discouraged. The reality is, however, that many dedicated Right to Life advocates throughout the nation have expressed sincere concerns about the personhood strategy and potential unintended consequences of the amendment language. Such concerns almost certainly contributed to yesterday s defeat in Mississippi. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/09/tennessee-to-vote-in-2014-on-amendment-to-stop-abortions/
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