Thursday, October 21, 2010

LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 10/21/10

LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, October 22, 2010

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

Current Headlines

Obama Approval Rating Hits New Low, Voters Say He's Wrong Kind of Change
Early Voting in Colorado, Nevada Strongly Favors Pro-Life Republican Candidates

Obama, Democrats Turn to Women to Aid Trailing Pro-Abortion Candidates
Senator Places Hold on Obama Military Nominee Over Abortions at Base Hospitals
Eighth-Month Forced Abortion in China Causes Stir as Victims Speak Out
Breast Cancer Surgeon Explains How Abortion Elevates Risk for Women
Pro-Life Groups Tell United Nations: Don't Push for International Abortion
Media, Skeptics Miss Rick Santorum's Pro-Life Values on Abortion, Family
God Used Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity to Save 32 Babies From Abortions
Philosophers Debate Abortion on Ivy League Campus as Baby in Audience Cries
South Carolina Pro-Life Candidate Nikki Haley Leads Democrat Sheheen

---> LifeNews.com is pleased to present our comprehensive pro-life voting guide for the 2010 congressional elections. The
guide contains a list of both national and state-by-state information linking to you endorsements and voting information
from pro-life and pro-family groups.

Obama Approval Rating Hits New Low, Voters Say He's Wrong Kind of Change
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In an election that is turning out to be focused on the liberal, pro-abortion agenda of the Obama administration, a new Gallup poll shows Americans give President Barack Obama the lowest approval ratings of his presidency.

Meanwhile, another national poll shows voters say Obama has either not changed the political culture of Washington at all or he's brought the wrong kind of change to the nation's capital.

Gallup's polling data says Obama averaged 44.7% job approval during the seventh quarter of his presidency.

"His average approval rating has declined each quarter since he took office, falling by more than two percentage points in the most recent quarter to establish a new low," the polling firm notes.

'The seventh quarter included Obama's new low three-day average approval rating of 41% in mid-August. His approval rating has recovered somewhat since then, with his latest three-day average at 46% for" earlier this week, it added. Full story at LifeNews.com

Early Voting in Colorado, Nevada Strongly Favors Pro-Life Republican Candidates
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The early voting in Colorado and Nevada -- two of the top battleground states in the 2010 midterm congressional elections -- appears to favor the pro-life republican candidates the pro-life movement is supporting.

Both have clear races pitting pro-abortion and pro-life candidates against each other: pro-life Ken Buck against pro-abortion Michael Bennett in Colorado and pro-life Sharron Angle versus pro-abortion Harry Reid in Nevada.

As a result, an influx of Republican voters and independents, who are trending towards Republicans this election cycle, portends a potentially strong election night for the pro-life community. And that is exactly what the numbers in both states currently show.

More Republicans than Democrats have cast ballots in early voting in Colorado since early voting began on Monday.

According to The Hill, the Colorado secretary of state's office indicated 81,545 Republicans have cast early ballots compared with just 71,325 Democrats. Some 41,000 unaffiliated voters have also cast ballots and, if they voted the way polls show, Buck will likely defeat Bennet on November 2.

In Nevada, information compiled by George Mason University's Michael McDonald shows Democrats underperforming in key parts of the state when it comes to turnout.

In Clarke County, the location of Las Vegas, McDonald's numbers show 46 percent of early ballots are Democrats compared with 38 percent from Republicans. That's lower than the 52-30 percentage point split in the 2008 election and is bad news for Reid since he is relying on Las Vegas to make up for the more strongly Republican vote elsewhere in the state. Full story at LifeNews.com

Obama, Democrats Turn to Women to Aid Trailing Pro-Abortion Candidates
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are turning to women voters to help some of the candidates currently trailing in the polls in key races for the House and Senate.

In a last-ditch effort to prevent what is shaping up to be a landslide election for the pro-life movement, Obama and his Democratic allies are looking to woo women voters for candidates who may find themselves on the losing end of the vote.

They're getting support from "women's groups" like NARAL and Emily's List who take particular umbrage with pro-life women candidates who dare oppose abortion while seeking elected office.

In Seattle today, according to an AP write-up, Obama told local women and others that "how well women do will help determine how well our families are doing as a whole." He surrounded himself with women at the campaign stop for pro-abortion Sen. Patty Murrary, who is facing a challenge from pro-life candidate Dino Rossi.

But Obama's words are just the tip of the sword as he and Democrats relies on new television commercials, mailers, Internet ads and other communications to reach women voters, who are more reliable Democratic voters but who are being lobbied on abortion even as polls show a majority of women are pro-life. Full story at LifeNews.com

Senator Places Hold on Obama Military Nominee Over Abortions at Base Hospitals
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Sen. Roger Wicker, a pro-life Mississippi Republican, has placed a senatorial hold on President Barack Obama's nominee for the Pentagon's top health policy position over a debate on abortion.

Wicker placed the hold on Obama's nomination of Jonathan Woodson because the current military funding bill the Senate is considering contains an amendment that would overturn the longstanding policy prohibiting abortions at taxpayer-funded military base hospitals.

Democrats are expected to push a bill in the Senate after the elections that would authorize the abortions after pro-abortion Sen. Roland Burris, an Illinois Democrat, won committee approval for an amendment overturning the policy.

The aggressive lame duck session is expected because Democrats will likely lose a large number of votes in both the House and Senate -- or potentially control of one chamber or both -- on Election Day to pro-life Republican candidates. Full story at LifeNews.com

Eighth-Month Forced Abortion in China Causes Stir as Victims Speak Out
Beijing, China (LifeNews.com) -- The victims of a recent forced abortion are speaking out to the media about a recent forced abortion that involved a woman in her eight month of pregnancy. Construction worker Luo Yanquan has told media outlets his wife was taken kicking and screaming from their home by more than a dozen officials.

The forced abortion occurred on October 10 and local family planning officials detained the woman in a hospital for three days for the abortion after learning she had violated the Chinese policy against having more than one child.

There, the officials injected the unborn child with a drug that took the baby's life.

The Press Association indicates the couple were told they could not have the baby because they already have a nine-year-old daughter.

The case has received significant attention on the Internet because a YouTube video showed the harrowing ordeal the couple was forced to ensure. Full story at LifeNews.com

Breast Cancer Surgeon Explains How Abortion Elevates Risk for Women
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As breast cancer awareness month winds down, one leading breast cancer surgeon and professor has written a full explanation of one of the risks women need to keep in mind when talking with friends and family about the deadly disease -- abortion.

Dr. Angela Lanfranchi is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey.

She is a surgeon who, as the co-director of the Sanofi-aventis Breast Care Program at the Steeplechase Cancer Center, has treated countless women facing a breast cancer diagnosis. Lanfranchi was named a 2010 Castle Connolly NY Metro Area Top Doc in breast surgery.

In an article she wrote for the medical journal Linacre Quarterly, Lanfranchi talks about why abortion presents women problems and increases their breast cancer risk. Full story at LifeNews.com

Pro-Life Groups Tell United Nations: Don't Push for International Abortion
New York, NY (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- A joint brief submitted this week criticizes a UN committee's abuse of authority amid a back-door push for international abortion rights.

C-FAM and the Alliance Defense Fund together outlined why they oppose the committee's move to endorse a right to sexual and reproductive health. They acted in anticipation of a meeting called by the committee, one of many that oversee specific UN treaties, scheduled for next month in Geneva.

The committee, which monitors the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, scheduled the discussion as it prepares to endorse the right to sexual and reproductive health.

This week's petition makes two arguments. It contends the committee has no authority to suggest the treaty includes a right to sexual and reproductive health because the treaty does not mention the phrase. Second, assuming for the sake of argument that the treaty contained the language, the right to sexual and reproductive health does not include abortion. Full story at LifeNews.com

Media, Skeptics Miss Rick Santorum's Pro-Life Values on Abortion, Family
by Maria Vitale

The media missed the real story, once again.

When former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum appeared in Harrisburg the other night for the Celebrate Life Banquet benefiting the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, a reporter peppered him with questions about a possible Presidential run. After the story appeared on the Internet the next day, haters posted vile comments about Santorum and his ego.

Totally lost was a statement Santorum made during his banquet speech, that when he lost his Senate seat on election night a while back he felt nothing but gratitude."

He explained how he had been scheduling his life in five-minute increments and that, in defeat, he realized what he had been missing and what his children had been missing.

While he has been appearing as a contributor on Fox News, his focus the past two years has definitely been family. In May of 2008, he and his wife Karen were blessed with a little girl they call Bella. Full story at LifeNews.com


God Used Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity to Save 32 Babies From Abortions
by Bryan Kemper

Every year on the third Tuesday of October, I sit in my chair next to my computer waiting for messages to start pouring in. I know in advance that I will end up in tears several times that day.

This year was no exception; a little after lunchtime I got the first report of a baby saved from abortion this year and I started weeping. By the next afternoon I had received word of 31 babies who had been saved because of efforts this year. (Just before sending this to my editor to be proofed I got an e-mail about another saved baby, making 32)

While hearing about babies being saved is always amazing, this day is about so much more than just that. This day is about a generation taking a stand against the worst genocide that has ever plagued our planet. This is about young people who have decided to be a voice for the 1/3 of their generation who will never have one. Full story at LifeNews.com

Philosophers Debate Abortion on Ivy League Campus as Baby in Audience Cries
Princeton, NJ (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- A baby's cry, piercing the air from the back of an Ivy League academic hall, offered a disquieting counterpoint to a startling argument for abortion rights.

An infant has no moral status because he is not self-aware, said Peter Singer, a professor of bioethics.

Singer argued this point at an historic conference he co-organized at Princeton University last weekend, seeking new dialogue on the heated issue of abortion. Remarkably, for a conference examining abortion, there was virtually no discussion about the act of abortion itself.

We have to get rid of the idea of evil, said Frances Kissling, an abortion rights advocate turned bioethics scholar, who also organized the conference. Full story at LifeNews.com

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Looking for a pro-life speaker for your next banquet, conference or convention? LifeNews.com editor Steven Ertelt is a low-cost speaker who can entertain and educate your audience as well as help you with a fundraising pitch if necessary. For more information: news@LifeNews.com.

South Carolina Pro-Life Candidate Nikki Haley Leads Democrat Sheheen
Columbia, SC (LifeNews.com) -- Nikki Haley, the pro-life candidate for governor in South Carolina, continues to lead her Democratic rival Vincent Sheheen. However, her support has fallen to the lowest level of the year and Haley, for the first time, posts only a single-digit lead.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in South Carolina finds Haley, a state legislator, earning 47% support, while Sheheen picks up 38% of the vote.

Another 4 percent like another candidate in the race, and a sizable 11% remain undecided less than two weeks before Election Day.

The relative closeness of the race prompted Rasmussen to shift the race from a solid GOP hold to one that leans towards Haley winning. Full story at LifeNews.com

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