Monday, February 20, 2012

LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 2/20/12

LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, February 17, 2012

For pro-life news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com.

Current Headlines

Top Stories
• Santorum Bashes Obama Over Abortions on Disabled Babies
• 2,500 Religious Leaders Sign Letter Protesting Obama Mandate

• Arizona Pro-Life Group Backs Rick Santorum for President

• State Supreme Court: Overturn Roe, Unborn Have Right to Life

More Pro-Life News
• Obama s 99% Birth Control Figure So Wrong the Washington Post Notices
• Obama Faces More Lawsuits Over Pro-Abortion HHS Mandate
• Obama to Catholics: Leave the Bedroom But Pick Up the Cost
• Probe of Sebelius Admin Abortion Record Destruction a Failure
• Boy Survives With Heart Outside Body, Parents Rejected Abortion
• Chinese Forced Abortion Opponent Collapses From Home Detention
• More People Die in Switzerland Via Assisted Suicide in 2011
• Jewish Community Should Join Catholics Against the Mandate
• Abortion Activist: Pro-Lifers Just Want to Dominate Women
• Ireland Statistics: 94% of Pregnant Women Reject Abortion
• Woman May be Charged for Killing Unborn Baby in Shooting

---> Tell Obama: Stop This Pro-Abortion Mandate - Sign the Petition and pass it on!


Santorum Bashes Obama Over Abortions on Disabled Babies
In a weekend interview, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum bashed pro-abortion President Barack Obama not just on the issue of abortion he went further and says Obama is exacerbating the number of abortions on disabled babies.

Appearing on Face the Nation on CBS, Santorum said Obama is essentially pushing abortions on babies diagnosed before birth with conditions like Down syndrome by pushing for free prenatal tests during pregnancy.

I have a child that has Trisomy 18. Almost 100 percent of Trisomy 18 children are encouraged to be aborted, so I know what I m talking about here, Santorum said. While he affirmed that mother s have a right to have a test if they want one, he said, but to have the government force people to provide it free just . . . is a bit loaded. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/santorum-bashes-obama-over-abortions-on-disabled-babies/

2,500 Religious Leaders Sign Letter Protesting Obama Mandate
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins led a news conference today during which he is unveiling a new letter signed by more than 2,500 Catholic, evangelical, Protestant, Jewish and other religious leaders opposing the new Obamacare mandate.

The leaders are urging President Obama to reverse his mandate decision and protect the conscience rights of those who have moral and religious opposition to funding or providing contraceptives and abortifacients.

It took just three weeks, but every single Catholic Bishop in America has officially condemned the President s mandate. Even though the media has mostly buried this fact, one hundred percent of them oppose the rule that orders faith-based groups to pay for drugs that destroy pregnancies or prevent them. It s a formidable group, and today, they do not stand alone, Perkins said. Every pocket of religious America is linking arms at the front lines of this war on religious freedom. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/2500-religious-leaders-sign-letter-protesting-obama-mandate/

Arizona Pro-Life Group Backs Rick Santorum for President
With the Arizona Republican presidential primary taking place next week, one of the largest pro-life organizations in the state announced today that it is backing GOP hopeful Rick Santorum for president.

The Arizona Right to Life Political Action Committee told LifeNews today that it is announcing its endorsement of Rick Santorum in the Republican presidential primary based on his strong pro-life record and his leadership over the years.

The pro-life group is happy that Santorum authored the law banning partial-birth abortions, as well as the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, providing appropriate care for infants who survive an abortion. it pointed out the former Pennsylvania senator was a member of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, and also sponsored legislation related to end of life issues and it said Santorum continues to be an outspoken opponent of federal funding of abortion.

The AZRTL PAC considered Santorum s support of those priority issues in deciding to endorse him, according to Michelle Clements, president of Arizona Right to Life. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/arizona-pro-life-group-backs-rick-santorum-for-president/

State Supreme Court: Overturn Roe, Unborn Have Right to Life
A former Planned Parenthood employee continues to make the case publicly that the abortion business had a routine policy defrauding government and is pressing a lawsuit against her former employer.

Karen Reynolds, a former Health Center Assistant at the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC), in Lufkin, Texas, talked recently with the Lufkin, Texas newspaper about what she saw:

The updated complaint, filed in October 2011, alleges that while Reynolds was employed as a health center assistant, she was instructed by the organization to maximize billing revenue when the government was fitting the bill through Medicaid and the Women s Health Program.

She claims this was the procedure in all 12 Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast locations across Texas and Louisiana. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/state-supreme-court-overturn-roe-unborn-have-right-to-life/

Obama s 99% Birth Control Figure So Wrong the Washington Post Notices
The Washington Post and its Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, gave the media a rating of two pinocchios for failing to verify a claim made by President Obama and repeated by others including the press concerning the number of Catholic women using birth control.

In a February 10th press briefing, the President used a nearly 99 percent figure. This was repeated by Rep. Nancy Pelosi later when she said Ninety-eight percent of Catholic women, I am told by all of you [referring to the media], use birth control to determine the size and timing of their families. This misinformation follows the old adage that if you keep repeating a lie, people will actually believe it. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/obamas-99-birth-control-figure-so-wrong-the-washington-post-notices/

Obama Faces More Lawsuits Over Pro-Abortion HHS Mandate
The Obama administration is facing yet another lawsuit related to the controversial mandate President Barack Obama put in place that requires religious employers to pay for coverage for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions.

Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Gregory Baylor will join Geneva College President Ken Smith Tuesday at a press conference to announce a new federal lawsuit against the Obama administration over what ADF and the college call its unconstitutional mandate that religious employers provide abortifacients, sterilization, and contraception to employees regardless of religious or moral objections.

People of faith shouldn t be punished by the state for following that faith in making decisions for themselves or their organizations, said Baylor. Every American should know that a government with the power to do this to anyone can do this and worse to everyone. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/obama-faces-more-lawsuits-over-pro-abortion-hhs-mandate/

Obama to Catholics: Leave the Bedroom But Pick Up the Cost
It is time to do some fact checking about President Obama s compromise on attacking religious liberty.

First of all, telling Catholics to just close their eyes and keep paying their insurance premiums that will ultimately cover morally objectionable services is not addressing respect for conscience and religious liberty. No matter how you spin it, Catholic institutions will be paying for contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs. The end result is no different than the original Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate, since insurance companies are not going to just throw these services in for free.

President Obama also erroneously claims that access to these services is in the interest of women s health, although none of these services are necessary to prevent or cure a disease or pathological medical condition. Instead, they take a perfectly healthy reproductive system and render it dysfunctional and sterile. Hormonal contraceptives are also associated with increased blood pressure, blood clots and an increased risk for breast cancer. In addition, hormonal contraceptives have been shown to double the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. No medical association recommends the use of hormonal contraceptives as routine preventive care for healthy women. They are only used for the disruption of normal fertility. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/obama-to-catholics-leave-the-bedroom-but-pick-up-the-cost/

Probe of Sebelius Admin Abortion Record Destruction a Failure
Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor issued a statement Friday saying that there would be no criminal charges filed against Sebelius-era appointees in the destruction of critical evidence in a massive criminal case against Planned Parenthood. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/probe-of-sebelius-admin-abortion-record-destruction-a-failure/

Looking for a Pro-Life Speaker?
Looking for a pro-life speaker for your next banquet, conference or convention? LifeNews.com editor and CEO Steven Ertelt is available to speak to your pro-life group or crisis pregnancy center to present a message about how the pro-life community is winning the abortion battle. Mr. Ertelt can help you fill a spot for a keynote speaker or workshop presenter for your event and help you stay below budget at the same time. For more information, email news@LifeNews.com


Boy Survives With Heart Outside Body, Parents Rejected Abortion
After his parents rejected an offer from doctors for an abortion, Ryan Marquiss was born with his heart outside of his body. Although physicians didn t expect him to survive, the London Daily Mail newspaper reports today that Ryan is surviving this unique circumstance. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/boy-survives-with-heart-outside-body-parents-rejected-abortion/

Chinese Forced Abortion Opponent Collapses From Home Detention
The leading campaigner against forced abortions in China has collapsed outside his home because he has been repeatedly beaten and denied medical care after local population control officials have sentenced him to home confinement for exposing a massive forced abortion campaign. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/chinese-forced-abortion-opponent-collapses-from-home-detention/

More People Die in Switzerland Via Assisted Suicide in 2011
More people killed themselves via assisted suicide in Switzerland in 2011, according to new figures from the organization that runs the clinics that have come under so much controversy in Europe. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/more-people-die-in-switzerland-via-assisted-suicide-in-2011/

Jewish Community Should Join Catholics Against the Mandate
Initially, after the HHS mandate for employers to provide birth control for its employees was announced, the religious right flank of the Jewish community, the Orthodox Union (OU), came out strongly against the decision. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/jewish-community-should-join-catholics-against-the-mandate/

Abortion Activist: Pro-Lifers Just Want to Dominate Women
Because it s impossible for pro-aborts to claim the moral high ground when debating abortion on the procedure s merits, it s more common for them to shift the conversation to different criteria that superficially cast pro-lifers in a less sympathetic light. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/abortion-activist-pro-lifers-just-want-to-dominate-women/

Ireland Statistics: 94% of Pregnant Women Reject Abortion
Behind every statistic about human life there lies a human story, sometimes a great drama, and occasionally a bitter tragedy. As a general rule statistics are cold matter to have to deal with, and anyone who is using statistical information to deepen their understanding of issues such as childbirth and abortion would need to be aware of the great pressures that can weigh down upon a woman when she is faced with a pregnancy. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/ireland-statistics-94-of-pregnant-women-reject-abortion/

Woman May be Charged for Killing Unborn Baby in Shooting
A woman may be charged with murder for killing an unborn baby during a shooting in Alabama. Shronta Marie Clifton, 27, has been charged with assault for shooting another 27-year-old woman and Anniston, Alabama. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/woman-may-be-charged-for-killing-unborn-baby-in-shooting/

 

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