LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, July 1, 2010
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Current Headlines
• Pro-Life Group Says Kagan Gave Incomplete Abortion Testimony, Wants Probe
• Committee Hears From Pro-Life Advocates Questioning Kagan's Abortion Memos
• Poll Shows Plurality Oppose Elena Kagan But Most Expect Senate to Confirm Her
• Senate Panel Likely to OK Kagan for Supreme Court Despite Abortion Issues
• Gallup Poll Showing Independent Voters Backing GOP Good News for Pro-Lifers
• Pro-Life Strategy After Pro-Abortion ObamaCare: Put Principle Over Party
• ABC and NBC Skip Tough Abortion Questions Elena Kagan Faced in Senate
• Pro-Abortion Group Wants Pregnancy Centers Removed From Internet Directories
• Pro-Lifers Burned With Spotlights Protesting Abortion at Jimmy Kimmel Studio
• Minnesota Abortions Fall for Third Straight Year to New Low, Pro-Lifers Elated
• Pennsylvania Poll Has Pro-Life Pat Toomey Leading Pro-Abortion Joe Sestak
• Nebraska Ban on Late-term Abortions Based on Fetal Pain May Not Get Lawsuit
• Spain Supreme Court Will Examine Lawsuit Filed to Stop Law Expanding Abortions
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Pro-Life Group Says Kagan Gave Incomplete Abortion Testimony, Wants Probe
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A national pro-life legal group that has been closely monitoring the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Elena Kagan is calling for a Senate investigation. Americans United for Life says Kagan was not forthcoming during her testimony in telling lawmakers how she lobbied two organizations to change their opinion.
Kagan is under fire for pressuring the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to change its opinion on a ban on partial-birth abortions.
She wrote a memo as a member of the Clinton administration seeking to alter the opinion of ACOG's medical experts who determined that there is never an instance in which the abortion procedure is necessary to protect the health of a woman.
But AUL says the Senate must investigate a "discrepancy" in Kagan's testimony during the Supreme Court nominee's Judiciary Committee hearing before taking further action on her nomination.
AUL says the problem is Kagan did not divulge how she also pressured the American Medical Association to alter its opinion that partial-birth abortions are medically unnecessary.
"The American people deserve to have all of the facts before their representatives consider a lifetime appointment to the nation s highest court," Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest said in an email to LifeNews.com. "Evidence from Kagan s time in the White House indicates that she may have been more involved in lobbying medical groups on partial-birth abortion than she admitted [Wednesday] under oath."
Kagan was questioned about those 1996 memos during Wednesday's confirmation hearing by Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who said he was "stunned by what appears to be a real politicization of science." Full story at LifeNews.com
Committee Hears From Pro-Life Advocates Questioning Kagan's Abortion Memos
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee heard from two pro-life advocates who informed the four members of the panel who showed up to hear from the witnesses that Elena Kagan has not fully informed the committee of her extensive abortion lobbying as a member of the Clinton administration.
They pointed out that Kagan attempted to lobby two different medical organizations to change their opinion on partial-birth abortions to justify Bill Clinton's veto of a ban on them.
The Supreme Court ultimately cited the views of the organizations as a reason to initially declared partial-birth abortions ban unconstitutional in a 2000 case, before later reversing itself in a decision upholding a national ban.
"Kagan s appointment as the record shows she was willing to manipulate the facts to pursue her own personal political agenda while serving as an advisor to President Clinton. Indeed, she demonstrated a pattern of behavior of letting her passion for a particular policy in this case partial-birth abortion overwhelm her judgment," Yoest said, adding Kagan will be an "agenda-drive justice."
"I urge this Committee to officially investigate the discrepancies that have arisen this week between Ms. Kagan s testimony and the written record about her actions related to lobbying the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists during her tenure in the Clinton White House. The questions surrounding this period are troubling and call into question Ms. Kagan s ability to adopt an impartial judicial temperament," Yoest added. Full story at LifeNews.com
Poll Shows Plurality Oppose Elena Kagan But Most Expect Senate to Confirm Her
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Rasmussen Reports poll released today shows a plurality of Americans oppose the nomination of pro-abortion activist Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, but it also reveals a large majority of Americans believe the Senate will confirm her to replace pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens.
The survey of likely voters shows that the plurality (42%) still opposes Kagan s confirmation to the Supreme Court while just 36 percent support her.
A whopping 22 percent of Americans are still undecided -- perhaps because the confirmation process hasn't been portrayed in the media as contentious despite revelations that Kagan pressured two medical groups to change their views on partial-birth abortions.
Whether they want to see it happen or not, most voters continue to see Kagan s nomination as inevitable as 87 percent say it s at least somewhat likely Kagan will be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice.
That number in the Rasmussen poll includes 59% who say it s very likely, the highest result yet in any of its prior surveys on Kagan.
"Voters support for Kagan s confirmation has changed little over the month of June, falling into a range of 33% to 36%. Meanwhile, the number of voters who are opposed to her confirmation has ranged from 41% to 42% during the same period," Rasmussen notes.
While 62% of Democrats favor Kagan s nomination, nearly the same number of Republicans (65%) oppose it. Voters not affiliated with either major political party are more evenly divided, but the plurality (49%) opposes. Full story at LifeNews.com
Senate Panel Likely to OK Kagan for Supreme Court Despite Abortion Issues
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Despite her extreme pro-abortion views and questions about whether or not she manipulated the opinion of two medical organizations on partial-birth abortions, Elena Kagan appears headed towards a supportive confirmation vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
However, once her nomination reaches the floor, at least one senator says a filibuster is possible because of her abortion support and for other political reasons.
As LifeNews.com reported Wednesday, members of the panel queried Kagan on a memo she wrote during the Clinton administration that appeared to have her pressuring ACOG to adopt new language on partial-birth abortions.
Kagan eventually admitted she wrote the memo, after initially appearing to not know which document to which Senator Orrin Hatch was referring. But she denied either altering or coercing ACOG into changing its opinion saying partial-birth abortions are never necessary to protect the medical health of women.
Kagan has also come under fire from the pro-life group Americans United for Life for emails suggesting she and other Clinton administration officials took part in an effort to persuade the American Medical Association to change its view that partial-birth abortions are never medically indicated for women. Full story at LifeNews.com
Gallup Poll Showing Independent Voters Backing GOP Good News for Pro-Lifers
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Gallup poll released today finds independent voters backing Republican candidates for Congress by double digits. That's good news for the pro-life movement as it seeks to defeat abortion advocates and return control of Congress to pro-life lawmakers.
Gallup finds that, by an average 10 percentage-point margin since March, 45% to 35%, independent registered voters have consistently preferred the Republican to the Democrat when asked which congressional candidate they would vote for in their district.
"Independents' preference for Republicans has been generally consistent over this time, with the gap in favor of Republicans increasing slightly since March, from 8 to 12 points," Gallup notes.
The data is based on monthly averages of Gallup Daily tracking, including interviews with more than 6,000 registered voters each month. According to Gallup, independents, as they often do, will determine the fate of the 2010 Congressional elections.
"Typically, Republican and Democratic identifiers show a high degree of loyalty to their party's candidate in voting for Congress. Since March, an average of 92% of Democrats and 94% of Republicans have said they would vote for their party's candidate if the election were held today," it said. "As such, the voting preferences of independents are a key component in determining overall preferences leading up to Election Day, and the eventual outcome of the election." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Strategy After Pro-Abortion ObamaCare: Put Principle Over Party
by Marjorie Dannenfelser
Just days before a group of House Democratic leaders strode across the Capitol plaza to an alleged cascade of taunts at the climax of the health care debate, Rep. Bart Stupak and his wife were barraged with profane phone calls at their home in Menominee, Michigan.
The nine-term Stupak was sautéed in liberal hatred because of his partnership with Pennsylvania s Joe Pitts in a comprehensive amendment to prevent government subsidies for abortion in his party s health care reform bill.
As everyone now knows, by Sunday, March 21, the living hell of pressure to which Stupak was subjected finally got to him. Flayed and fried by the angry Left, Bart Stupak caved on the pro-life amendment he had stood by for months. First, on the Friday before the final vote on the House floor, he severed contact with groups like ours. On Saturday rumors emerged that he was working with the Obama White House on an executive order that purported to enforce the terms of his amendment.
Then came Sunday afternoon s climactic House vote and there was Stupak, live on all the networks, standing alongside a half-dozen other pro-life Democratic hold-outs in the House press gallery, announcing their retreat. I sat on the steps of the Rayburn House Office Building and listened over a cell phone to the press conference where our Democratic champion handed us the most spectacular defeat since Roe. Full story at LifeNews.com
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ABC and NBC Skip Tough Abortion Questions Elena Kagan Faced in Senate
by Scott Whitlock
Wednesday's evening news shows and Thursday's morning programs continued to minimize or leave out important moments of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings. ABC's Good Morning America, for instance, has offered only 67 seconds of coverage over three days.
Today and The Early Show each provided a single ten second news brief on Thursday.
It's not as though the second day of testimony lacked interesting developments. The New York Times on July 1 reported the intense questioning by Senator Orrin Hatch on an abortion memo written by then-Clinton White House Counsel Kagan.
Hatch demanded, "Did you write that memo?...But did you write it? Is it your memo?"
Kagan's memo worried that a American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) report on abortion could be a "disaster" for the Clinton administration. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Abortion Group Wants Pregnancy Centers Removed From Internet Directories
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- They say they support choice, but the pro-abortion activists at NARAL want to leave women in unplanned pregnancy situations with one option: abortion. In a letter to its members today, NARAL president Nancy Keenan announced she is asking two Internet directories to remove pregnancy center listings.
If NARAL is successful, that means millions of people who visit the two prominent directories every year will not see listings for pregnancy centers that provide women with abortion alternatives.
"Today, my team sent our letter with more than 59,000 signatures to YellowPages.com and SuperPages.com asking them to remove misleading CPC ads from their sites," Keenan said this afternoon. "But anti-choice CPCs are still blanketing buses, billboards, and even the airwaves with their falsehoods."
LifeNews.com has contacted but not received a response from representatives of both directories to determine whether they will bend to NARAL's pressure to remove these pro-woman agencies from their listings.
Even if NARAL is successful in censoring information about pregnancy help centers in the directories, they want to go further.
"Now we must take the next step. We need a federal bill to put an end to deceptive CPC ads everywhere," Keenan said, using false claims to support such a bill. "Many CPCs do whatever it takes to block women from choosing abortion. We've heard it all: lies about abortion and condoms, guilt-trips, and harassing follow-up phone calls." Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact the directors at http://www.yellowpages.com/about/contact-us and http://www.superpages.com/about/feedback.html and tell them to ignore NARAL's request to remove pregnancy center ads.
Pro-Lifers Burned With Spotlights Protesting Abortion at Jimmy Kimmel Studio
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A group of pro-life advocates who decided to protest abortion at the Hollywood studio of television talk show host Jimmy Kimmel were met with high intensity commercial spotlights. Members of Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust led a demonstration holding pro-life signs and sharing their message to Kimmel.
Members of Kimmel's crew reportedly responded by hurling insults and taunts at young people standing on the public sidewalk in Hollywood.
After the Survivors members refused to leave, members of the crew turned these powerful spotlights on the teenagers in an attempt to get them to leave the sidewalk.
Ryan Bueler was one of the people holding the signs and he was in an area where a light crew had stationed themselves to spot a stunt scheduled to happen later that afternoon by the Jimmy Kimmel Live show.
The Kimmel crew "assaulted" Bueler, the group says, by turning two spotlights on him from only a few feet away.
Bueler, who estimates that he was under the lights for around 15 minutes, did not sustain threatening or serious injuries; however, his skin was noticeably darker on the areas where the lights hit. The heat from the lights was hot enough to partially melt Bueler's bracelet and the sign he was holding. Full story at LifeNews.com
Minnesota Abortions Fall for Third Straight Year to New Low, Pro-Lifers Elated
St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) -- Although every abortion is a tragedy and Minnesota pro-life groups want to see the day when all unborn children are protected, they are celebrating the news today that abortion totals in the state have fallen for the third straight year. They're looking to drive down those numbers even further.
The latest report on abortion issued today by the Minnesota Department of Health reveals the decrease is part of a three-year trend of fewer abortions statewide since the Positive Alternatives program has funded efforts to help pregnant women in need.
The annual Abortion Report shows abortion businesses in the state reported a total of 12,388 abortions in 2009 compared with 12,948 the previous year.
Positive Alternatives is one of several pro-life legislative efforts by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) to offer women life-affirming alternatives to abortion and to significantly reduce the number of unborn babies aborted each year.
The 2009 total is the lowest number on record since 1975, showing a historic drop. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pennsylvania Poll Has Pro-Life Pat Toomey Leading Pro-Abortion Joe Sestak
Harrisburg, PA (LifeNews.com) -- Pat Toomey, the pro-life candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, has a small lead over his pro-abortion rival Joe Sestak. A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows Toomey with a 45-39 percentage point lead over Sestak, who defeated pro-abortion Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary.
The survey shows six percent of Pennsylvania voters prefer another candidate and 11 percent remain undecided with about four months left before they head to the polls.
The June 29 survey shows the race has changed little since the beginning of the month and a review of prior results highlights just how stable the huge Senate race has been to date.
Toomey s support has stayed in a very narrow range of 42% to 47%. Sestak s support has showed more movement, ranging from a low of 36% to a high of 46%.
Pollster Scott Rasmussen adds: "However, most of that movement came as he surged to victory over Specter in the Democratic primary. Other than polling conducted just before and just after the primary election, the Democratic nominee s support has remained between 36% and 38%." Full story at LifeNews.com
Nebraska Ban on Late-term Abortions Based on Fetal Pain May Not Get Lawsuit
Lincoln, NE (LifeNews.com) -- Pass a pro-life law limiting abortions in most any state and pro-abortion legal groups usually file an immediate lawsuit seeking to have it declared unconstitutional in courts. However, because the prospects of success are low and it could establish a strong pro-life legal precedent, one pro-life law may escape.
The law is the newly-minted one in Nebraska that bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the well-established concept of fetal pain.
By a vote of 44-5, the Nebraska unicameral legislature this morning gave final passage to the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act introduced by Speaker Mike Flood.
Caitlin Borgmann, a law professor at The City University of New York, recently told the Associated Press that there are potential legal drawbacks to challenging the new statute.
"It's a balancing act that anybody who wants to challenge the laws is going to have to assess, whether the strategic risks of bringing a lawsuit outweigh the likelihood of a victory," she said, adding it could be seen as "too risky" by abortion advocates. Full story at LifeNews.com
Spain Supreme Court Will Examine Lawsuit Filed to Stop Law Expanding Abortions
Madrid, Spain (LifeNews.com) -- The Supreme Court in Spain will take a look at a lawsuit the opposition political party has filed to prevent a new pro-abortion law from taking effect. The Spain Parliament this year approved the final version of a new law that expands abortions and provides no parental consent for teenagers wanting abortions.
Under the law, abortions are allowed for any reason to 14 weeks, they are allowed up to 22 weeks if an abortion practitioner certifies a serious threat to the health of the mother, or says the unborn child is disabled.
Beyond 22 weeks, abortions are only allowed in serious cases of fetal disability and in cases where the pregnancy threatens the mother's life.
The center-right Popular Party filed a lawsuit earlier this month and, now, just days before the law is slated to go into effect, the nation's highest court has agreed to hear the lawsuit. Full story at LifeNews.com
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In a June 29 letter, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston urged senators to remove this amendment on the grounds that it breaks with longstanding federal and military policies on government promotion of abortion. 
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan faced questions today about a memorandum she wrote during her time in the Clinton administration. The memo has Kagan altering the opinion of a major medical organization on partial-birth abortion, which it said was never medically necessary.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The pressure on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has jumped this week thanks to a memo she wrote during the Clinton administration showing her pressuring a medical group to change its position on partial-birth abortion. Now, new files indicated Kagan also pressured a second group.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Thirty years ago today, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Harris v. McRae, resolving a four-year legal battle to ensure that Congress may prohibit taxpayer dollars from funding abortions. Now, pro-life advocates are concerned Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan would scrap the decision.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- House Republican leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor announced today they will sign discharge petitions promoted by Reps. Steve King and Wally Herger that would force votes in the House on legislation seeking to undermine the pro-abortion health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law.
Jefferson City, MO (LifeNews.com) -- Missouri s Senate race is a close one, but a new Rasmussen poll has pro-life candidate Roy Blunt ahead of his pro-abortion opponent Robin Carnahan. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters has Blunt with 48 percent compared with 43 percent for Carnahan.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle, who is taking on pro-abortion Sen. Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the chamber, showed her pro-life views in a new radio interview. She said she opposes abortion cases of rape or incest and said God has a plan for women and children who have been victimized.
Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) -- A Texas court has again upheld a pro-life law that offers both protection of and justice for pregnant women and their unborn children who are victims of violent crimes. The law allows prosecutors to charge criminals with two crimes when they kill or injure both mother and child.