LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, February 17, 2012
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Sebelius Admin Escapes Charges Over Destroying Abortion Files
• Every Catholic Bishop Opposes Obama Mandate, Lutherans Too
• Rick Santorum Gets Endorsement From Pro-Life Women s Group
• Obama Admin Wants Lawsuit Dismissed Against HHS Mandate
More Pro-Life News
• Insurance Companies: Obama Mandate Will Drive Up Costs
• Komen Survey: Still Considering De-Funding Planned Parenthood
• Obama s Imaginary Mandate Compromise: Don t Hope for Change
• Casting Crowns Wears Its Pro-Life Views on Its Sleeves
• Studies: Birth Control, Contraception Don t Cut Abortions
• Planned Parenthood Prez: Komen Battle Ended Wonderfully
• Ford Foundation s Ties to Planned Parenthood Run Deep
• House Panel OKs Bill to Ban Sex-Selection, Race-Based Abortions
• Media Bias: Networks Give One-Sided Coverage of Obama Mandate
• Facebook Censors Pro-Life Image, OKs DIY Abortion Instruction
• Santorum Slams Media for Contraception Gotcha Question
• Judge Halts Tennessee Bid to Cut Planned Parenthood Grant
---> Tell Obama: Stop This Pro-Abortion Mandate - Sign the Petition and pass it on!
Sebelius Admin Escapes Charges Over Destroying Abortion Files
No charges will be filed in connection with a national scandal involving the destruction of Planned Parenthood records during HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius time as governor of Kansas.
The Obama official has come under heavy fire from pro-life groups who are pointing out how a state attorney general she appointed in Kansas destroyed documents related 107 criminal charges former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline filed against the abortion business. The charges alleged that planned Parenthood failed to report cases of child rape on children on whom Planned Parenthood did abortions, that it failed to test whether an unborn child was viable (as required by state law) before doing a late-term abortion, and that it manipulated records it submitted to the state to cover up those crimes.
Because former attorney general Steve Six, the Sebelius appointee, destroyed the documents, a court dismissed all of the felony charges filed against Planned Parenthood because the evidence supporting those charges had been destroyed.
Late Friday, Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor said he will not file charges, according to the Associated Press. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/sebelius-admin-escapes-charges-over-destroying-abortion-files/
Every Catholic Bishop Opposes Obama Mandate, Lutherans Too
Every one of the 181 Catholic bishops in the United States have now issued individual comments, statements or opinion columns condemning the new mandate pro-abortion President Barack Obama put in place forcing religious employers to pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs.
Thomas Peters, who runs the American Papist blog, has been compiling the statements from each bishop since Obama first put the mandate in place last month.
From Portland, Maine to San Diego, California; From Miami, Florida to Seattle, Washington, Peters writes. Every single Roman Catholic bishop in the United States has condemned in public the Obamacare HHS mandate all 181 bishops who lead dioceses in the U.S. have spoken. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/every-catholic-bishop-opposes-obama-mandate-lutherans-too/
Rick Santorum Gets Endorsement From Pro-Life Women s Group
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was won another pro-life endorsement today picking up the support of the Susan B. Anthony List, the nation s largest pro-life women s political organization.
This is the first time the pro-life organization has issued an endorsement in a Republican presidential primary.
Among the field of strong pro-life candidates in the GOP primary, one stands out as a proven leader in this great human and civil rights cause of our time, said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA List. Rick Santorum communicates the vision and has exhibited the strategic and tactical prowess the pro-life movement must have in order to succeed. Women and children deserve his leadership, grounded as it is in affirming the dignity of every person.
At this inflection point in the primary process and a tipping point in history on the abortion issue, the Susan B. Anthony List endorses Rick Santorum for the Republican nomination for President, she told LifeNews in a statement. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/rick-santorum-gets-endorsement-from-pro-life-womens-group/
Obama Admin Wants Lawsuit Dismissed Against HHS Mandate
The Obama administration has asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the Obama administration over its mandate to force religious employers to pay for coverage for birth control and drugs that can cause abortions.
This was its first opportunity to explain to the court and the country why the mandate is not illegal and unconstitutional. The Obama administration did not defend the constitutionality of the mandate, but said the lawsuit should be thrown out because the administration plans to revise the mandate to make it on insurance companies to pay for coverage rather than employers, who will still have to make referrals.
Plaintiff s challenge to the preventive services coverage regulations is not fit for judicial review because defendants [Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius] have indicated that they will propose and finalize changes to the regulations that are intended to accommodate plaintiff s religious objections to providing contraception coverage, the Department of Justice (DOJ) wrote in its brief to the Washington, D.C. District Court. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/obama-admin-wants-lawsuit-dismissed-against-hhs-mandate/
Insurance Companies: Obama Mandate Will Drive Up Costs
While most of the attention in the debate over the Obama mandate focuses on the divide between Obama, pro-abortion forces and pro-life and religious groups over conscience issues, insurance companies say they are concerned as well.
The revised Obama mandate would essentially force insurance companies to provide women with free birth control and abortion-causing drugs like ella and the Plan B morning after pill. Now, in a new survey released today from consulting firm Reimbursement Intelligence, which surveyed 15 pharmacy directors at health insurance plans, almost half of them expect costs to increases.
As the Washington Post notes, The White House has said this is a good deal for health insurance companies: Providing birth control is cost-effective, preventing more expensive pregnancies down the line. But health insurers don t seem totally sold: About 40 percent expect it to increase the cost of their drug benefits .About 20 percent expect the provision to be cost-neutral, while a third still don t know what the impact will be. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/insurance-companies-obama-mandate-will-drive-up-costs/
Komen Survey: Still Considering De-Funding Planned Parenthood
Susan G. Komen for the Cure recently emailed me a link to a survey, which reveals some interesting clues to Komen s thought process.
The survey is only available to those who received an email, but I took plenty of screenshots. The questions indicate that, while Planned Parenthood rejoices that they ve won the battle, Susan G. Komen is still weighing its options.
For starters, Komen is finally doing what it should have done long ago: measuring support for Planned Parenthood. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/komen-survey-still-considering-de-funding-planned-parenthood/
Obama s Imaginary Mandate Compromise: Don t Hope for Change
In its latest attempt to quell the broiling rebellion against Obamacare s obliteration of religious freedom, the Administration did, well, what it does. It issued another dissembling, contradictory press statement.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters Thursday that the President s full-subsidy mandate for morally objectionable pills and treatments was not intended to apply to employers who self-insure sort of. Whether it s an insured plan or self-insured plan that the employer who has a religious objection doesn t have to directly offer or pay for contraception, she said.
This would surely come as a surprise to the authors of the Obamacare, which specifically requires preventive services to be included in self-insured plans. It also makes the president s Feb. 10 press statements nonsensical, since his entire suggestion to avoid direct payment for religiously objectionable items was to entertain the fiction that insurers, rather than employers, would be forced to provide coverage. A self-insuring employer is its own insurer. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/obamas-imaginary-mandate-compromise-dont-hope-for-change/
Casting Crowns Wears Its Pro-Life Views on Its Sleeves
The Christian pop rock band Casting Crowns is known for taking a stand and, today, the ban put their money where their mouth is when it comes to supporting the right to life for unborn children.. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/casting-crowns-wears-its-pro-life-views-on-its-sleeves/
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Studies: Birth Control, Contraception Don t Cut Abortions
Contraception reduces unintended pregnancies has joined its fantastic make-believe friends death with dignity, the efficacy of embryonic stem cells, the certainty of man-made global warming, and the positive multiplier effect in the leftist vernacular. Hopeful that repetition supplants truth, choirs of liberal faithful are singing. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/studies-birth-control-contraception-dont-cut-abortions/
Planned Parenthood Prez: Komen Battle Ended Wonderfully
There s not much guesswork needed to see what Planned Parenthood thinks of the decision by Komen for the Cure to apparently reverse its initial decision in December to end funding to the abortion business. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/planned-parenthood-prez-komen-battle-ended-wonderfully/
Ford Foundation s Ties to Planned Parenthood Run Deep
Earlier this year I discussed some interesting ties between Planned Parenthood and the Rockefeller Foundation, and why came as no surprise the Foundation pushed to legalize abortion in Uruguay. The Ford Foundation was another advocate for the decriminalization of abortion there as well, but this shouldn t come as much of a shock, either. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/ford-foundations-ties-to-planned-parenthood-run-deep/
A U.S. House committee yesterday approved legislation that would ban sex-selection or race-based abortions. Congressman Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican who is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, has brought back the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/house-panel-oks-bill-to-ban-sex-selection-race-based-abortions/
Media Bias: Networks Give One-Sided Coverage of Obama Mandate
When ABC, CBS, and NBC finally got around to covering after two weeks of silence the controversy over the Obama administration s mandate that religious institutions provide health insurance for abortifacients, sterilization, and birth control, the networks downplayed the religious freedom component to the story, casting it instead as a political dogfight between liberals and conservatives. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/media-bias-networks-give-one-sided-coverage-of-obama-mandate/
Facebook Censors Pro-Life Image, OKs DIY Abortion Instruction
Facebook has apologized for censoring a post by pro-abortion activist Rebecca Gomperts in which she gave instructions for a do-it-yourself chemical abortion but is now facing criticism for censoring a pro-life image. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/facebook-censors-pro-life-image-oks-diy-abortion-instruction/
Santorum Slams Media for Contraception Gotcha Question
ick Santorum had to hear questions from the media all day yesterday and today about a joke from a supporter, Foster Freiss, the businessman supporting Rick Santorum s campaign efforts. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/santorum-slams-media-for-contraception-gotcha-question/
Judge Halts Tennessee Bid to Cut Planned Parenthood Grant
A federal judge has granted a request from Planned Parenthood for a temporary injunction preventing the state of Tennessee from halting a grant worth about $150,000 to the abortion business for HIV and syphilis testing. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/judge-halts-tennessee-bid-to-cut-planned-parenthood-grant/
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