LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, November 20, 2009
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Current Headlines
• Pro-Life Groups: Reid's Senate Health Care Bill Contains Massive Abortion Funding
• Reid's Senate Health Care Bill Contains Monthly Abortion Premium for Taxpayers
• Senate Confirms David Hamilton, Obama's First Pro-Abortion Judicial Nominee
• Senate's First Health Care Vote Saturday, Pro-Life Democrat Holds Abortion Key
• Lawmaker, Women's Group Challenges Pro-Life Democrats on Senate Health Bill
• Another Poll Shows Majority Oppose Abortion Funding in Health Care Legislation
• President Barack Obama's Approval Ratings Reach New Lows in New Polling
• Bioethicist Wesley Smith: Senate Health Care Bill is Assisted Suicide Friendly
• Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) Responds to Pro-Life Critics
• Abortion Advocates NARAL, Boxer, DeGette Love New Harry Reid Health Care Bill
• UNFPA Report Uses Popular Green-Environment Campaign to Promote Abortion
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Pro-Life Groups: Reid's Senate Health Care Bill Contains Massive Abortion Funding
The Senate health care bill does not contain the Stupak amendment the House approved that stops abortion funding under the public option and affordability credits.
Instead, the measure contains a slightly-reworded version of the much-maligned Capps amendment, which a House committee approved on a partisan vote and which pro-life groups say is an accounting scheme to hide government-funded abortions.
"Reid has rejected the bipartisan Stupak-Pitts Amendment and has substituted completely unacceptable language that would result in coverage of abortion on demand in two big new federal government programs," National Right to Life legislative director Douglas Johnson assured LifeNews.com late Wednesday.
"Reid seeks to cover elective abortions in two big new federal health programs, but tries to conceal that unpopular reality with layers of contrived definitions and hollow bookkeeping requirements," he continued. Full story at LifeNews.com
Reid's Senate Health Care Bill Contains Monthly Abortion Premium for Taxpayers
"Just like the original 2,032-page, government-run health care plan from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's massive, 2,074-page bill would levy a new 'abortion premium' fee on Americans in the government-run plan," he notes.
Beginning on line 7, p. 118, section 1303 under "Voluntary Choice of Coverage of Abortion Services" the Health and Human Services Secretary is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run health plan.
Reid's plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Exchange covers abortions (line 13, p. 120). "What is even more alarming is that a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run health plan," Boehner says.
He says the premium is mentioned on line 11, page 122, section 1303, under "Actuarial Value of Optional Service Coverage." "The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account – and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services," he explained. Under the bill, Americans will be required to pay at least $1 a month to cover the cost of abortions. Full story at LifeNews.com
Senate Confirms David Hamilton, Obama's First Pro-Abortion Judicial Nominee
With less than 60 votes, the Senate could have defeated the nomination had lawmakers voted Tuesday to sustain the filibuster pro-life advocates launched against Hamilton.
The vote saw all but one Republican, Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar, who is nominally pro-life, vote against Hamilton while all Democrats supported his nomination except two who were not present for the vote. However, the cloture vote saw no Democrats joining the 29 pro-life Republicans who supported it and a defection of some of the more liberal Republicans in the caucus.
Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest said Hamilton should have been defeated because "judges should uphold Constitutional restrictions on abortion." Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Call 202-224-3121 to tell your senators your thoughts on how they voted on the Hamilton nomination. Results of the confirmation vote appear here.
Senate's First Health Care Vote Saturday, Pro-Life Democrat Holds Abortion Key
The Senate will vote Saturday night on a Motion to Proceed, a vote that would allow the Senate to begin debating the bill. But, because of the massive abortion funding and other problems with the bill, all 40 Republican lawmakers are expected to vote to sustain the filibuster. That means just one vote is needed to prevent the Senate from debating the bill.
Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, told Fox News this afternoon that if the current pro-abortion language is not changed he will support the filibuster to prevent the bill from getting a final vote, but whether he will support a filibuster on the Motion to Proceed is another question.
In its current form, Nelson opposes the bill because of its abortion funding. "We have looked at the language," Nelson told The Hill. "That language is not language that I would prefer." "I think you need to have it eminently clear that no dollars that are federal tax dollars, directly or indirectly, are used to pay for abortions and it needs to be totally clear. [It's] not clear enough, I don't think," Nelson said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Lawmaker, Women's Group Challenges Pro-Life Democrats on Senate Health Bill
Sen. Mike Johanns took to the floor for the Senate this morning with a challenge for the pro-life and more moderate Democrats in the chamber.
His comments appeared to be directed to Sen. Ben Nelson, a pro-life Democratic lawmaker and his Nebraska colleague.
"We don't need 40 Democrats to stand up for what's right. We need just one," Johanns said. "If just one pro-life Democrat would say I will not vote to move this bill until it's fixed, until it's truly pro-life, that would happen. So those who say they are pro-life but refuse to take that stand, I worry are not standing up for life." "I ask for a pro-life senator to come down here and stand up on this bill. Pro-life Americans are waiting, and they aren't fooled," he said.
Although Nelson will likely support an amendment to remove the abortion funding, his comments late Wednesday make it appear he will support the motion to proceed. "There's no opportunity to amend (if) you oppose the motion to proceed," he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Another Poll Shows Majority Oppose Abortion Funding in Health Care Legislation
A new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life finds 42% in favor and 39% opposed to the health care bill.
Pew asked: "If the government health care reform plan guarantees certain medical benefits for all Americans, do you think that abortion should or should not be included as one of those benefits?"
A 55% majority of Americans say that abortion should not be included as a guaranteed medical benefit if the government health care reform plan passes. Only 28 percent say it should be included while 11 percent said it "depends" and 6 percent did not know.
That follows a CNN poll showing 61 percent of Americans saying abortion funding should not be included. Full story at LifeNews.com
President Barack Obama's Approval Ratings Reach New Lows in New Polling
A Rasmussen survey released today shows, of those who hold the most passionate views, 27% of the nation's voters strongly approve of Obama performance while 41 percent strongly disapprove. That -14 rating matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for Obama by Rasmussen.
Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance, according to the new poll while 52 percent now disapprove.
Meanwhile, a newly released Quinnipiac University poll finds 48 percent approve of Obama's job performance while 42 percent disapprove. That is the first time the polling institute has found Obama's approval rating below 50 percent. The poll also showed an overwhelming number of American voters say they like President Obama as a person but disapprove of most of his policies. Full story at LifeNews.com
Bioethicist Wesley Smith: Senate Health Care Bill is Assisted Suicide Friendly
Smith, an attorney and author, says the only reference to assisted suicide in the new bill from Senate leader Harry Reid appears on page 364. "That's it. In other words, it is a conscience clause protecting medical professionals who don't commit assisted suicide. There is no prohibition on promoting it or having it paid for under the plan," he says.
Smith also notes the language under the section 1323 of the bill creating the public option (p. 183), beginning at page 186.
It reads: "(F) PROTECTING ACCESS TO END OF LIFE CARE.—A community health insurance option offered under this section shall be prohibited from limiting access to end of life care."
"If assisted suicide, or even euthanasia, are legally considered forms of 'end of life' care in a particular state–as it is now in Oregon, Washington, and Montana–it seems to me that the area's community health insurance option would be required to provide access to it under this clause," he says. "How else can the provision be read?" Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) Responds to Pro-Life Critics
by Deal Hudson
CCHD's woes began last year, when its grants to ACORN were terminated following the allegations of voter fraud and embezzlement brought against them during the 2008 election.
Since then, a growing number of other CCHD grantees have been found to advocate either abortion or same-sex marriage -- or both. Rob Gaspar of Bellarmine Veritas Ministry, Stephanie Block of the Catholic Media Coalition, American Life League, and Human Life International have published damaging evidence about many grantees and are leading an effort to boycott the collection.
The organization has not been unresponsive to the criticism. Bishop Roger Morin, chairman of the USCCB subcommittee on the CCHD, published a memo to all the bishops on October 2 about Bellarmine Veritas Ministry's investigation. CCHD's internal investigation resulted in the defunding of two organizations (one had already been defunded), while two others were exonerated. Full story at LifeNews.com
Abortion Advocates NARAL, Boxer, DeGette Love New Harry Reid Health Care Bill
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, said today she is encouraged that the Senate bill does not include the limits on taxpayer-funding of abortions that are included in the House bill.
On Monday, Keenan delivered a petition with 97,218 signatures to Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, calling on the Senate to keep the Stupak amendment out of the bill.
Keenan claims those signatures made the difference and vowed to continue to mobilize her organization's members to fight for the bill and its language forcing Americans to pay for abortions. She said abortion advocates are "speaking up loudly and clearly" and said NARAL's goal is to ensure abortion advocates "do not lose ground in the new health-care system and that attempts to expand existing restrictions on abortion are defeated." Full story at LifeNews.com
UNFPA Report Uses Popular Green-Environment Campaign to Promote Abortion
Critics see the report as a thinly-veiled attempt to harness popular environmental concerns in service of population control.
The report, "Facing a Changing World: Women, Population and Climate," asserts that achieving "universal access to reproductive health" would both contribute to declines in fertility and "help reduce green-house gas emissions in the long run." It calls upon nations to "fully fund family planning services and contraceptive supplies." Full story at LifeNews.com
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