LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Obama Chief of Staff: New Pro-Abortion Mandate Here to Stay
• GOP to Combat Obama Mandate With Hearings, Legislation
• Obama Admin Implements Original Pro-Abortion Mandate
• White House: Obama Mandate Violated Religious Rights
More Pro-Life News
• Obama s Latest Attacks on Pro-Lifers Woke a Sleeping Giant
• Figure That 98% of Catholic Women Use Birth Control Debunked
• Archbishop Chaput: Obama HHS Mandate Insulting, Dangerous
• Abortion Groups Employ Sexist, Anti-Catholic Mandate Defense
• Supreme Court Told ObamaCare Makes Americans Fund Abortions
• Roe v Wade: Protecting Women s Rights or Sex-Selection Abortion?
• NARAL Launches $250,000 Radio Ad Applauding Obama Mandate
• Wrongful Birth and Wrongful Life Lawsuits Just Plain Wrong
• Washington Bill Forcing Abortion Coverage Gets Vote Soon
• Texas Ultrasound Law a Victory for Women, Babies, Pro-Lifers
• South Carolina Senate Asked to Stop Abortion $ in Obamacare
• Virginia House OKs Bill Saying Life Begins at Conception
---> Tell Obama: Stop This Pro-Abortion Mandate - Sign the Petition and pass it on!
Obama Chief of Staff: New Pro-Abortion Mandate Here to Stay
President Barack Obama s right hand man said over the weekend that the revised mandate the administration put into place requiring insurance companies to distribute birth control and abortion-causing drugs to women at no cost is here to stay.
The Obama administration has revised its controversial mandate that had forced religious employers to pay for health insurance coverage that includes birth control and drugs like Plan B, the morning after pill, and ella that can cause abortions.
The revised Obama mandate will make religious groups contract with insurers to offer birth control and the potentially abortion-causing drugs to women at no cost. It will have religious employers refer women to their insurance company for coverage that still violates their moral and religious beliefs. Under this plan, every insurance company will be obligated to provide coverage at no cost.
Despite strong objections from the Cathodic bishops and pro-life groups, Jacob Lew told Fox News Sunday that the Obama administration believes the revised mandate addresses objections from pro-life and Catholic groups and is consistent with the president s very deep belief that a woman has a right to all forms of preventive health care, including contraception. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/obama-chief-of-staff-new-pro-abortion-mandate-here-to-stay/
GOP to Combat Obama Mandate With Hearings, Legislation
Republicans are moving swiftly with legislation, amendments, and potential hearings on the mandate the Obama administration has put in place that forces religious employers to pay for birth control and abortion-inducing drugs for their employees.
Congress will do what it can to fight back, starting this week, as pro-life Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, puts together a hearing on conscience rights.
If this is what the President is willing to do in a tough election year, imagine what he will do in implementing the rest of his health care law after the election, Issa said.
Rep. Dan Lipinski, a pro-life Illinois Democrat, and a host of Republicans from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), will hold a hearing entitled, Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience? on Thursday, February 16th at 9:30AM in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/gop-to-combat-obama-mandate-with-hearings-legislation/
Obama Admin Implements Original Pro-Abortion Mandate
PAfter significant Sturm und Drang resulting from a Friday announcement by President Barack Obama that he would revise his original mandate forcing religious employers to pay for insurance coverage including birth control and abortion-inducing drugs, the Obama administration has implemented the original mandate.
Writing at National Review, Ed Haislmaier and Jennifer A. Marshall indicated Obama officials put the original mandate in place late Friday despite a massive debate over the revisions Obama announced earlier in the day.
Despite what President Obama said at his White House press conference, the actual regulations make permanent the interim final regulations issued August 3, 2011 the ones that sparked the furor in the first place, they note. Prefaced by 17 pages of the kind of rhetorical squid ink that President Obama defensively deployed at his press conference, the words that have the force of law appear on pages 18 to 20. That s where the actual amendments to the Code of Federal Regulations are made by three departments Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services that Congress previously granted joint oversight of employer health plans. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/obama-admin-implements-original-pro-abortion-mandate/
White House: Obama Mandate Violated Religious Rights
Freudian slip or candid omission? The full transcript of an interview White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew gave to Fox News Sunday yesterday gained most of its attention for Lew not backing down on Obama s revised mandate.
However, Joel Gehrke of the Washington Examiner noticed that Lew made one mistake or admission about the original mandate Obama put forward that drew significant condemnation because of its clear violations of First Amendment religious rights.
No institution that has non-profit institution that has religious principles that we violated has to pay for or directly offer these services, Lew said. But women have access to the kinds of care that they are entitled to. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/white-house-obama-mandate-violated-religious-rights/
Obama s Latest Attacks on Pro-Lifers Woke a Sleeping Giant
While condemning the recent compromise and decision by the Obama administration to force the funding of contraception and abortifacients through employer-provided medical insurance, Human Life International (HLI) President Father Shenan J. Boquet said President Obama s decision may have had a positive effect in motivating the public to stand up for life and religious liberty.
As bad as it is to see the administration take this position, it s now actually calling us who stand for life and who really want to see the dignity of every person upheld, and religious freedom protected, [to get involved], said Fr. Boquet. This is our chance, this is our moment, and I really think they may have awakened a sleeping giant.
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/obamas-latest-attacks-on-pro-lifers-woke-a-sleeping-giant/
Figure That 98% of Catholic Women Use Birth Control Debunked
Abortion advocates and the White House are using a misleading figure to defend the new mandate the Obama administration put in place that requires insurance companies to offer birth control drugs that may cause abortions at no cost.
Both Obama administration officials and pro-abortion advocates like Planned Parenthood and NARAL are telling their members that 98% of Catholic women use contraception, a myth based on a misreading of a study published by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, a former Planned Parenthood affiliate.
Lydia McGrew has published a lengthy refutation of the figure that is drawing praise for its insight and accuracy.
The survey was limited to women between 15-44. Ah, well, that explains how we weren t including the elderly, but it also means that the silly percent of all Catholic women thing should be chucked out right from the beginning, she notes. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/figure-that-98-of-catholic-women-use-birth-control-debunked/
Archbishop Chaput: Obama HHS Mandate Insulting, Dangerous
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia is one of the most highly regarded Catholic bishops because of his ability to passionately defend the pro-life position. A new statement he released about President Barack Obama s pro-abortion, anti-conscience mandate is drawing rave reviews.
Chaput s statement follows in its entirety:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services refused on Jan. 20 to broaden the exception to its mandate that nearly all Catholic employers must cover contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization in their health-care plans.
An accommodation offered Friday by the White House did not solve the problem. Instead, it triggered withering criticism from legal scholars such as Notre Dame s Carter Snead, Harvard s Mary Ann Glendon, Princeton s Robert George, and Catholic University of America president John Garvey, along with non-Catholic scholars including Yuval Levin, the religious liberty law firm the Becket Fund, and numerous Catholic and other organizations. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/archbishop-chaput-obama-hhs-mandate-insulting-dangerous/
Abortion Groups Employ Sexist, Anti-Catholic Mandate Defense
On February 10, President Obama announced a revision to the HHS life-ending drug mandate. National Public Radio characterized the President s action as addressing concerns of the Catholic Church. In doing so, wittingly or not, NPR read from the pro-abortion script.. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/abortion-groups-employ-sexist-anti-catholic-mandate-defense/
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Supreme Court Told ObamaCare Makes Americans Fund Abortions
Several pro-life legal organizations filed legal briefs with the Supreme Court today telling the nation s highest court in advance of its consideration of the lawsuit challenging Obamacare that the controversial health care law compels Americans to fund abortions. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/supreme-court-told-obamacare-makes-americans-fund-abortions/
Roe v Wade: Protecting Women s Rights or Sex-Selection Abortion?
In the time leading up to the decision in Roe v. Wade, as well as the time right after, the argument was made that abortion would not become a post-conception contraceptive for mothers who simply decided they wanted a boy instead of a girl, or a child with brown eyes instead of blue ones, or a normal child instead of a handicapped one, and so forth. Instead, pro-life advocates were told abortion needed to be legal so that it could be a real option for situations where the mother s life was at risk, or in similar extreme and rare circumstances. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/roe-v-wade-protecting-womens-rights-or-sex-selection-abortion/
NARAL Launches $250,000 Radio Ad Applauding Obama Mandate
One of the biggest pro-abortion groups in the nation is delighted pro-abortion President Barack Obama put a revised mandate in place that forces insurance companies to provide women with free birth control and drugs that may cause abortions. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/naral-launches-250000-radio-ad-applauding-obama-mandate/
Wrongful Birth and Wrongful Life Lawsuits Just Plain Wrong
Wrongful birth and wrongful life lawsuits are just plain wrong. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/wrongful-birth-and-wrongful-life-lawsuits-just-plain-wrong/
Washington Bill Forcing Abortion Coverage Gets Vote Soon
A bill in the Washington state legislature that would require that any insurance policy sold to state residents for maternity coverage also require policyholders to pay for coverage of abortions will get a vote soonr. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/washington-bill-forcing-abortion-coverage-gets-vote-soon/
Texas Ultrasound Law a Victory for Women, Babies, Pro-Lifers
On Friday February 10, the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans unanimously denied a request by opponents of the Texas Sonogram Law to reconsider the decision of a three-judge panel on that court several weeks ago to completely uphold the law s constitutionality. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/texas-ultrasound-law-a-victory-for-women-babies-pro-lifers/
South Carolina Senate Asked to Stop Abortion $ in Obamacare
The South Carolina Senate has an historic opportunity to get abortion out of federal health care insurance in the Obamacare law Democrats in Congress passed but one pro-life group says time is running out. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/south-carolina-senate-asked-to-stop-abortion-in-obamacare/
Virginia House OKs Bill Saying Life Begins at Conception
The Virginia state House approved today a bill that says human life begins at conception, or fertilization, sponsored by pro-life state Rep. Bob Marshall. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/13/virginia-house-oks-bill-saying-life-begins-at-conception/
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