LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Democrats Attack Pro-Lifers Ahead of Blunt Amendment Vote
• Washington Bill Forcing Abortion Coverage Moves Ahead
• Romney Wins GOP Election Victories in Michigan, Arizona
• House Cmte Votes to Repeal IPAB, Obama s Death Panels
More Pro-Life News
• Obama Killing Women s Health Program to Fund Planned Parenthood
• Mitt Romney Supports Blunt Amdt to Overturn Obama Mandate
• Obama Mandate Panel Never Considered Conscience Clause
• Exit Polling: Republicans Pro-Life, Want Abortion Illegal
• As More Planned Parenthood Centers Close, Abortions Decline
• 911 Calls Show Botched Abortions Severely Injured Women
• Pro-Abortion Snowe Retires, Will Pro-Lifers Win the Senate?
• Setting the Record Straight on Ultrasounds and Abortion
• Attacking Religion: Obama s Birth Control Bait and Switch
• Nigerian Man Arraigned, Did Forced Abortion on Girlfriend
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Democrats Attack Pro-Lifers Ahead of Blunt Amendment Vote
Leading Democrats are aggressively attacking pro-life advocates and lawmakers who want a vote on the Blunt Amendment tomorrow to mitigate the problems associated with the new mandate pro-abortion President Barack Obama put in place.
Leading pro-life organizations are continuing to push the Blunt amendment in the Senate to respond to the mandate the Obama administration issued that forces religious groups to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions for employees.
But, yesterday, pro-abortion Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, while agreeing to a vote on the amendment, attacks Republicans for wanting to protect religious liberty essentially calling them Neanderthals for wanting it.
It s hard to understand why my Republican colleagues think this topic deserves to be debated in the first place, Reid told reporters. Once we put this extreme, distracting proposal behind us, I m hoping my Republican colleagues will stop living in the past and join us this year, 2012, and help us create jobs. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/democrats-attack-pro-lifers-ahead-of-blunt-amendment-vote/
Washington Bill Forcing Abortion Coverage Moves Ahead
The bill the Washington state House approved that would require that any insurance policy sold to state residents for maternity coverage also require policyholders to pay for coverage of abortions has been approved by a state Senate committee.
The measure forces all individuals to purchase and all businesses sell abortion insurance coverage on a maternity plan. The Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2330 passed from the House floor 52-46 and then passed through several Senate hurdles to end up in the Ways and Means committee.
Monday evening, the Senate Ways and Means Committee passed ESHB 2330 to the Senate Rules Committee without recommendation. It passed along party lines with the 13 Democrats supporting it and 8 Republicans voting no. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/washington-bill-forcing-abortion-coverage-moves-ahead/
Romney Wins GOP Election Victories in Michigan, Arizona
Mitt Romney pulled out two election victories Tuesday night in the Republican primary election for the right to take on pro-abortion President Barack Obama this November winning in both Michigan and Arizona.
The southwestern state that normally trends for Republicans in the general election was the first to be called on this election night and the former Massachusetts governor won the state with the support of 50 percent of GOP voters there. With 43 percent of the vote counted, Rick Santorum placed second with 23 percent, Newt Gingrich pulled a third place finish with 17 percent and Ron Paul finished fourth with 8 percent.
Exit polling in Arizona showed 38 percent of voters said electability was the candidate quality that matters most. Twenty percent said strong character was the most important, while 22 percent said the having the right experience, and 16 percent said being a true conservative. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/romney-wins-gop-election-victories-in-michigan-arizona/
House Cmte Votes to Repeal IPAB, Obama s Death Panels
Lawmakers on a House health subcommittee began the process of reversing one of the more contentious parts of Obamacare today as they approved bipartisan legislation to repeal the cost control board that has been derisively called death panels by detractors.
The Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee voted 17-5, according to a report in The Hill, with pro-abortion lawmakers Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Rep. Edolphus Towns joining with Republicans to vote to end the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Votes in full committee and on the House floor to repeal the board from Obamacare are expected by the end of March.
Rep. Joe Pitts, a pro-life Pennsylvania Republican, opened the subcommittee hearing meeting, the Hill report indicated, by arguing that the IPAB would make it more difficult to administer Medicare policy, saying, Supporters of IPAB tell us there is nothing wrong with having 15 unelected bureaucrats making binding decisions about Medicare policy. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/house-cmte-votes-to-repeal-ipab-obamas-death-panels/
Obama Killing Women s Health Program to Fund Planned Parenthood
The Obama Administration is showing its loyalties. And it is not to women. It is to Planned Parenthood.
The Texas Legislature and Governor Rick Perry have authorized the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to continue the Medicaid Women s Health Program (WHP). The program, which the HHSC points out provides preventative health services to more than 100,000 low-income women annually, is set to expire in March 2012. Those services include contraceptives, STD testing, and screening for hypertension, diabetes, and breast and cervical cancers,
The HHSC has applied to the Obama Administration for an extension of the program through 2013, with the condition that no funding go to organizations that perform or promote elective abortions or are affiliated with such organizations. Of the more than 1,000 certified WHP providers across the state, this rule excludes fewer than 100 Planned Parenthood providers. The State has an interest in not promoting abortion when it promotes birth control. the fact that Planned Parenthood performs many thousands of elective abortions every year in its 14 abortion facilities in Texas was not lost on the Legislature. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/obama-killing-womens-health-program-to-fund-planned-parenthood/
Mitt Romney Supports Blunt Amdt to Overturn Obama Mandate
A reporter tried to trip up Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney today with a question that falsely described the Blunt Amendment that pro-life groups are pushing for in the Senate tomorrow to stop Obama s HHS mandate.
Jim Heath, a reporter for ONN-TV in Ohio, sent a message on Twitter causing a ruckus claiming Romney did not support the mandate, saying, ALERT: Mitt Romney tells ONN he would not vote for senate bill which would allow employers to deny coverage for birth control.
Romney told Heath, I m not for the bill. But, look, the idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a woman, husband and wife, I m not going there.
However, according to the Washington Post, which ran an erroneous headline claiming, Romney comes out against Blunt amendment posted the question Health asked. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/mitt-romney-supports-blunt-amdt-to-overturn-obama-mandate/
Obama Mandate Panel Never Considered Conscience Clause
During a Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday night, Representative Sandy Adams questioned Dr. Linda Rosenstock, chair of the Preventive Services for Women Committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), about the Obama administration s Health and Human Services (HHS) controversial mandate.
At the request of the HHS Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, the IOM assembled a committee to provide information and to recommend preventative services for women to be included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 a committee on which Dr. Rosenstock served.
Rosenstock admitted that the IOM panel that put together the mandate that targets religious liberties admitted that it never considered adding a conscience clause.
During the hearing, Dr. Rosenstock admitted to Adams that meetings which were instrumental in shaping the Obama administration s unconstitutional HHS mandate were held behind closed doors and that transcripts from the meeting have not been made public, Adam said. Additionally, Dr. Rosenstock confessed that the committee did not consider any conscience clause or religious exemptions during its meetings. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/obama-mandate-panel-never-considered-conscience-clause/
Exit Polling: Republicans Pro-Life, Want Abortion Illegal
Exit polling data from both Michigan and Arizona show Republicans are strongly pro-life and want to see most or all abortions made illegal. The results are consistent with polls taken in previous elections. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/exit-polling-republicans-pro-life-want-abortion-illegal/
As More Planned Parenthood Centers Close, Abortions Decline
Karen Hildebrand, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of West Texas, claimed that we are gonna see an increase in abortion rates upon the closing of a Planned Parenthood facility in Odessa, Texas. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/as-more-planned-parenthood-centers-close-abortions-decline/
911 Calls Show Botched Abortions Severely Injured Women
New evidence obtained through an open records request indicates an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama downplayed the seriousness of the conditions of two women who suffered from botched abortions and required emergency vehicles to transport them to the hospital. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/911-calls-shows-botched-abortions-severely-injured-women/
Pro-Abortion Snowe Retires, Will Pro-Lifers Win the Senate?
Late Monday afternoon, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) sent shockwaves through Washington when she announced she would not seek reelection to the US Senate in November. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/pro-abortion-snowe-retires-will-pro-lifers-win-the-senate/
Setting the Record Straight on Ultrasounds and Abortion
The media has grossly misrepresented the Women s Right to Know Act (House Bill 1077) in Pennsylvania. When a woman faces a decision as grave and irrevocable as abortion, she deserves to have the full range of information relating to her pregnancy and her unborn child ahead of time. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/setting-the-record-straight-on-ultrasounds-and-abortion/
Attacking Religion: Obama s Birth Control Bait and Switch
With the exception of Catholics and others in the religious community that closely follow such issues, few people took note of the Obama administration s rhetorical shift from freedom of religion to freedom of worship in 2010. This seemingly innocuous modification carried with it significant implications, however, as Ashley Samelson of the Becket Fund explained in an article for First Things. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/attacking-religion-obamas-birth-control-bait-and-switch/
Nigerian Man Arraigned, Did Forced Abortion on Girlfriend
A 25-year-old Nigerian man was brought before the Chief Magistrates Court in Abuja, Nigeria on Monday to face charges for conspiracy and for performing a forced abortion on his girlfriend. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/29/nigerian-man-arraigned-did-forced-abortion-on-girlfriend/
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Leading pro-life organizations are continuing to push the Blunt amendment in the Senate to respond to the mandate the Obama administration issued that forces religious groups to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions for employees.
Planned Parenthood is spewing misguided rage towards Texas governor Rick Perry, claiming he is to blame for the recent Medicaid revocation in the state that will impact 130,000 Texas women.
The Virginia state Senate approved a bill today that allows women a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child that is routinely performed before an abortion but the results of which is not always provided to them.
Members of Congress heard from pro-life advocates today who told them in a hearing of the laundry list of problems associated with the new mandate the Obama administration put in place.
The National Right to Life Committee is calling for quick approval of a bill that would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board established by the controversial Obamacare legislation that funds abortions and prompts rationing concerns.
