LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, March 1, 2012
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Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Senate Defeats Blunt Amendment to Stop Obama HHS Mandate
• Thirteen Catholic Senators Vote Against Religious Liberty
• Conservative Media Icon Andrew Breitbart Passes Away
• Virginia Senate Sends Ultrasound Bill to Gov McDonnell
More Pro-Life News
• Planned Parenthood Closes Webcam Abortion Centers in Iowa
• Sebelius: Fewer Babies Born Will Save Health Care Costs
• CNN Covers for Obama on Supporting Infanticide, Censors Info
• Pro-Life, Pro-Abortion Groups Split on Outcome of Blunt Amdt
• Georgia State House Passes Fetal Pain Based Abortion Ban
• After-Birth Abortions and Infanticide, Where Does it End?
• Man Rides Bicycle Every Day 20 Miles to Protest Abortion
• UN Security Guards Confiscate Pro-Life Fliers from Students
• Catholic Church Not Unsympathetic to Infertile Couples
• Alaska: Teen Abortions Down, Usage of RU 486 Drug Increases
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Senate Defeats Blunt Amendment to Stop Obama HHS Mandate
The Senate voted today against an amendment to restore the religious liberty protections for employers who don t want to be forced to pay for birth control or drugs that may cause abortions in their employee health plans.
Leading pro-life organizations called on the Senate to vote for the amendment to the mandate the Obama administration issued, but Democrats banded together against Republicans to defeat it on a 51 to 48 margin by adopting a motion to table, or kill, it.
Key pro-abortion senators, including Clare McCaskill of Missouri and Jon Tester of Montana, voted against the amendment which will energize pro-life advocates against their re-election campaigns this November. On the other side, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Ben Nelson of Nebraska were three Democrats who crossed sides and voted with Republicans to support the amendment.
Pro-abortion Republican Olympia Snowe, a Maine senator who recently announced her retirement, was the only GOP lawmaker to oppose the Blunt amendment. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/senate-defeats-blunt-amendment-to-stop-obama-hhs-mandate/
Thirteen Catholic Senators Vote Against Religious Liberty
The Senate today voted against the Blunt Amendment that would have protected the rights of religious employers from having to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions.
Although the Catholic Church and leading pro-life Catholic groups strongly supported the amendment and one Cardinal warned how the Obama HHS mandate might have devastating effects for Catholic health care possibly shutting down hospitals Catholic senators didn t appear to get the message. Thirteen of them voted against the amendment.
By consenting to the disastrous HHS mandate, the U.S. Senate has taken the unprecedented step to deny our religious liberties instead of defending the Constitution, said Matt Smith, president of Catholic Advocate. It is disappointing to witness a group of senators misled on this issue at the expense of one of our key founding principles. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/thirteen-catholic-senators-vote-against-religious-liberty/
Conservative Media Icon Andrew Breitbart Passes Away
Conservative media icon and pro-life advocate Andrew Breitbart passed away at the age of 43 this morning, dying in Los Angeles.
Breitbart s website bigjournalism.com and his other media entities that he put together after serving as the editor of the Drudge Report have pushed the pro-life cause and helped organizations like Live Action expose and bring attention to abuses at the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
Breitbart s website, Big Government, announced the news Thursday morning.
With a terrible feeling of pain and loss we announce the passing of Andrew Breitbart, the report reads. Andrew passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles. We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior. Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love. Andrew is at rest, yet the happy warrior lives on, in each of us. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/conservative-media-icon-andrew-breitbart-passes-away/
Virginia Senate Sends Ultrasound Bill to Gov McDonnell
The contentious pro-life bill 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 is finally headed to Governor Bob McDonnell to sign.
After the Senate approved the bill, the House voted 61-35 for final approval of HB 462 and it now moves to McDonnell s desk. Contact the governor here to ask him to sign the bill.
Abortion advocates in Virginia have come under heavy criticism for equating the ultrasound legislation there would allow women to see before an abortion to rape. Yet, while abortion backers say having an ultrasound is like getting raped, a 2003 study shows 99% of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities do them beforehand.
Virginia Society for Human Life is grateful that the majority of the members of both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly have supported the right of women to have access to this critical and relevant medical information about their own bodies and their unborn children before they make the irreversible decision for an abortion, said Olivia Gans, President of VSH. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/virginia-senate-ultrasound-bill-heads-to-gov-mcdonnell/
Planned Parenthood Closes Webcam Abortion Centers in Iowa
The Planned Parenthood abortion business is closing two centers that engage in telemed or webcam abortions where women get the dangerous abortion drug but are denied an in-person medical examination from a physician as suggested by the FDA.
40 Days for Life campaign director Shawn Carney announced the closures yesterday and will join local pro-life advocates at those centers in prayer during the national campaign going on now.
On March 1, Planned Parenthood s failed telemed abortion facilities in Storm Lake and Knoxville, Iowa are closing forever, thanks in part to the hard work and prayers of hundreds of faithful Iowa pro-lifers who participated in 40 Days for Life campaigns outside each facility s doors, said David Bereit, national director of 40 Days for Life.
Bereit, along with Carney, will speak at events celebrating the closure of the Planned Parenthood telemed abortion facilities in Storm Lake and Knoxville today and tomorrow. They will also visit 40 Days for Life campaigns in the Des Moines area. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/planned-parenthood-closes-webcam-abortion-centers-in-iowa/
Sebelius: Fewer Babies Born Will Save Health Care Costs
At a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Secretary of HHS Kathleen Sebelius confirmed the fears of many pro-life advocates who worry that the recent HHS mandate requiring all insurance plans to cover contraception and sterilization, regardless of an employer s moral objection, is just the beginning.
The same statutory authority of the Administration to mandate contraception could just as easily mandate abortion on demand. The Administration believes in essence that employers are not really paying for contraceptives or abortion since they would be cheaper than providing for prenatal care, childbirth or child care.
In an exchange with pro-life Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA), Sebelius claimed, The reduction in a number of pregnancies compensates for the cost of contraception. To which Murphy responded, So you re saying by not having babies born, we re going to save money on healthcare? The exchange becomes just another example of the Obama Administration s willingness to trample on basic rights of conscience in order to pay for the massive 2010 federal healthcare law and expand abortion. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/sebelius-fewer-babies-born-will-save-health-care-costs/
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CNN Covers for Obama on Supporting Infanticide, Censors Info
On February 28 CNN s Wolf Blitzer tried to play gotcha with Newt Gingrich regarding Gingrich s statement during a recent Republican debate that the mainstream media had failed to scrutinize presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008 regarding his opposition as state senator to the Illinois Born Alive Infant Protection Act.
Blitzer, attempting to prove that at least CNN had covered the story, played a clip of special contributor David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network interviewing Obama on the topic.
No surprise, the particular clip by which CNN chose to vindicate itself also appears to vindicate Obama, or at the very least question National Right to Life s portrayal of Obama s opposition to BAIPA http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/cnn-covers-for-obama-on-supporting-infanticide-censors-info/
Pro-Life, Pro-Abortion Groups Split on Outcome of Blunt Amdt
Leading pro-abortion and pro-life groups are split as far apart as possible in their reactions to today s vote in the Senate to defeat the Blunt Amendment protecting religious employers that do not want to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions for their employees. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/pro-life-pro-abortion-groups-split-on-outcome-of-blunt-amdt/
Georgia State House Passes Fetal Pain Based Abortion Ban
The Georgia state House has approved a measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the scientific evidence showing unborn children feel pain.
Known as the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, HB 954 would ban abortions in the state after 20 weeks of pregnancy and it includes an exception to protect the life of the mother. Similar bills have been approved in six other states. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/georgia-state-house-passes-fetal-pain-based-abortion-ban/
After-Birth Abortions and Infanticide, Where Does it End?
On February 23, two ethicists published an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics arguing for after-birth abortion. In their words, killing a newborn should be permissible in all cases where abortion is [permissible], including cases where the newborn is not disabled. . http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/after-birth-abortions-and-infanticide-where-does-it-end/
Man Rides Bicycle Every Day 20 Miles to Protest Abortion
Today our national director, David Bereit, and I leave home at 4 a.m. to fly to Iowa, where not one but TWO Planned Parenthood sites are CLOSING after one or more 40 Days for Life campaigns. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/man-rides-bicycle-every-day-20-miles-to-protest-abortion/
UN Security Guards Confiscate Pro-Life Fliers from Students
Youth attending a UN conference on women s issues this week say UN security officers confiscated their backpacks after discovering pro-life literature. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/un-security-guards-confiscate-pro-life-fliers-from-students/
Catholic Church Not Unsympathetic to Infertile Couples
The Catholic Church is often portrayed as unsympathetic to infertile couples. Because the Church finds IVF wrong, others mistakenly believe that the Church has no compassion for the pain and heartbreak of infertility. That is simply untrue. In fact, recently the Pope called for more research into the causes of infertility so that life could be created where it is supposed to be created, in a mother s womb and not in a lab. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/catholic-church-not-unsympathetic-to-infertile-couples/
Alaska: Teen Abortions Down, Usage of RU 486 Drug Increases
The number of abortions performed in Alaska, including abortions on teens, dropped in 2011, according to the annual report from the Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics. The bureau s figures are based on reports from abortion clinics across the state. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/01/alaska-teen-abortions-down-usage-of-ru-486-drug-increases/
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