The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Hands First Amendment Victory to Orange County-Based Center for Bio-Ethical Reform

Group's Free Speech Rights Were Violated After Aborted Fetus Pictures Were Removed From Campus

LOS ANGELES,  July 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- A federal appellate panel ruled Wednesday that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department violated the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform's (CBR) free speech rights when two CBR associates were forced to move a mobile billboard display of enlarged photos of early-term aborted fetuses away from a Rancho Palos Verdes middle school campus.

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR), a non-profit pro-life educational foundation, sued the LA County Sheriff's Department and an assistant principal at Dodson Middle School, claiming civil rights and First Amendment violations. The mobile billboard truck was part of the group's Reproductive Choice Campaign, which seeks to "expose as many people as possible to the realities of abortion."

The Thomas More Law Center, based in Ann Arbor, MI, represented CBR.

CBR Statement

We are grateful to God for granting the Founding Fathers the wisdom to create appellate courts which can rectify the mistakes of trial court judges. In this case, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals almost totally reversed the trial judge on almost every issue. This is a huge win for the First Amendment. This is an even larger win for middle school and high school students who are being lied to about abortion and who will now learn the truth as our billboard trucks drive past their schools displaying large aborted baby photos.

The First Amendment means nothing if it doesn't mean the right to show people things they don't want to see. It is frightening to realize that our children are being taught their most basic Constitutional rights by teachers who either don't understand the Constitution, or don't respect it. This legal victory will also teach the students at Dodson Middle School important lessons about the Constitution.

The ultimate irony concerning attempts by teachers to censor our display of aborted baby photos is that those same teachers rightly realize the importance of showing their students equally horrifying photos of black people being beaten to their knees or even lynched for merely trying to register to vote. There are some realities which can not be adequately communicated with words alone. Students who are old enough to have an abortion are old enough to see an abortion. -- Gregg Cunningham, Executive Director, Center for Bio-Ethical Reform

For more information contact Gregg Cunningham at 949-206-0600 or cbr@cbrinfo.org

Elderly Woman Rescued by Family from NHS Dehydration Order

Deemed "due to die" by doctors in February, Ellen Westwood is now home and recovering

By Hilary White

BIRMINGHAM, UK, July 2, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "Ellen Westwood was due to die in February but her family's Catholic and for them, life is sacred." So begins the television coverage by the BBC of a battle by a Birmingham family to prevent the NHS from dehydrating their mother to death.

According to the BBC's report, doctors decided on a Friday in February that Mrs. Westwood was "due to die" by the following Monday, but the family, with the intervention of their priest, fought the order to remove the woman's hydration.

Mrs. Ellen Westwood, 88, was in Birmingham's Selly Oak Hospital for two months after she had been admitted into Birmingham's Royal Orthopaedic Hospital for routine shoulder surgery. The woman ended up being treated for dementia and C.difficile, which Westwood's daughter alleges she contracted at the Orthopaedic Hospital after the surgery. The bacterial infection soon spread to her cheeks, face and throat, making it difficult for her to swallow.

Doctors at Selly Oak Hospital then told the family that all food, fluids and hydration were to be stopped and that Mrs. Westwood would be given morphine "because she is dying".

Ellen's daughter, Kathleen Westwood, told the BBC that the decision had been taken because it was "a capacity ruling" and that under current UK law, the family's wishes do not enter into the equation.

"If you deem somebody to have lost capacity, then the doctors can act in the best interests," she said.

The family had an interview with doctors on a Friday afternoon, in which they were told that Mrs. Westwood was going to die.

"In [the doctors'] view the best interests was for my mother to die - and clearly by Monday she would have been dead," Kathleen told BBC.

The family, however, brought the woman food and water. Hospital officials responded by threatening to report the family to social services for feeding Mrs. Westwood.

"We said we don't want this to happen and they said 'it's happening, sorry'. I had to fight very, very hard to get it stopped."

Eventually the family obtained a second opinion and Mrs. Westwood was able to go home, where she is recovering well and is celebrating her 89th birthday today.

A statement from the NHS said, "We have met with the family and are investigating these issues via our normal internal channels." The NHS has said that it followed national guidelines in making its decision.

Under the UK's Mental Capacity Act, passed in 2005, patients deemed to be incapable of making decisions in their own "best interests" can have all fluids withheld until they die. The family can do little to stop this process once doctors have made their decision.

While active euthanasia officially remains illegal in Britain, some are saying that the NHS standard procedure of issuing elderly and vulnerable patients with an "end of life plan" that includes dehydration, is simply euthanasia under a different name. And it is becoming common. A packed meeting this week in Stafford organised by a group called Cure the NHS, heard the stories of families who had been forced to bring in priests and lawyers to stop similar orders from killing their loved ones, even though the patients sometimes are not terminally ill.

Pro-life advocates in Britain deplored the Labour government's "Mental Capacity" legislation, calling it "the end of the Hippocratic tradition of medical ethics in Britain". In January 2005, Baroness Chapman, a disabled peer, said that the Mental Capacity bill failed to make patients safe and left them open to abuse. Speaking during the House of Lords second reading debate on the bill, she said, "The bill ignores the fact that people have a basic right to life."

Youtube Censors PRI Investigative Video

FRONT ROYAL, Va., July 2 /Christian Newswire/ -- YouTube.com, in what the Population Research Institute (PRI) is calling a case of blatant censorship, has removed a video from its website for the sole reason that it criticizes a pro- abortion journalist.

The video, edited and posted by the Catholic News Agency, shows PRI affiliate Carlos Polo in conversation with pro-abortion activist Eve Reinhardt. Reinhardt had obtained an interview with Polo by assuring him that she was impartial and balanced. Polo, however, discovered that she was affiliated very closely with a hard-left, pro-abortion documentary project, entitled The Decency Gap. Polo brought his own cameraman to the interview and confronted Reinhardt, accusing her of deliberately misleading him.

Shortly after this video was posted, the website for The Decency Gap vanished, and the video was taken down by YouTube. YouTube cited vague "terms of use violations" as their reason for censoring the video.

"As the editor of a news agency that strives to provide people around the world the truth about the Catholic Church and issues of concern to Catholics, I find it frustrating that The Decency Gap project is able to convince YouTube to remove a factual video without any explanation," David Uebbing, executive editor of the Catholic News Agency told PRI.

"None of the information provided in the video has been contradicted by The Decency Gap," he continued. "Additionally, the project's links to the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Marie Stopes International, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the Peruvian pro-abortion association PROMSEX have not been disproven."

According to Uebbing, censorship of this kind is nothing new on YouTube. He points to the example of a video posted by American Life League, which was taken down for supposedly "inappropriate content." This video criticized clips from two online Planned Parenthood ads. But while YouTube removed ALL's video, it left the original Planned Parenthood ads online.

Catholic News Agency has since reposted the video, labeling it "The Decency Gap / Eve Reinhardt Censored Version," as well as posting a version on Google Video as well. The now-defunct link to the original video can be found here.

"Stop censoring people with whom you disagree," PRI President Steve Mosher told YouTube. "This is America, not the People's Republic of China."

The Population Research Institute (PRI) was founded in 1989 by Fr. Paul Marx, OSB, PhD and is dedicated to: (1) ending human rights abuses committed in the name of "family planning", (2) opposing outdated social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of overpopulation, (3) informing the public about the social and economic benefits of moderate population growth, and (4) promoting pro- natal and pro-family attitudes and policies worldwide. Steven Mosher is the author of numerous books, including A Mother's Ordeal.

Minnesota Abortion Statistics Again Show Disproportionate Impact on African Americans Says Dr. Alveda King

ATLANTA, July 2 /Christian Newswire/ -- The release of Minnesota's annual abortion statistics report once again shows that blacks appear to be a target market for abortionists, Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life, said today.

"While African Americans comprise only 4.5 percent of Minnesota's population, black received almost 25 percent of the abortions performed on Minnesotans," stated Dr. King. "Nationally, black women are 4.8 times more likely to have an abortion than white women. It's hard to believe, as the abortion lobby would have you believe, that this discrepancy is caused strictly by economics."

"Abortion has been a scourge on all Americans, but particularly African Americans," added Dr. King. "The numbers speak for themselves. The abortion industry has targeted minority neighborhoods for years. It's not only time that our leaders investigated why this is happening, it's time they stopped indirectly subsidizing these killings by giving our money to businesses that do abortions."

Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro- life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

HLI Humanae Vitae Priests: Benedict XVI and Contraception, Part 1

		Humanae Vitae Priests
		Human Life International e-Newsletter for Priests, Deacons, and Seminarians Volume 01, Number 16 | Thursday, July 03, 2008
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		Nick Bagileo is Associate Dean for Programs and Administration for the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, at the Catholic University of America. This article is the first of three installments. Benedict XVI and Contraception, Part 1 By Nick Bagileo The overwhelming affection for Pope Benedict XVI during his recent visit to the U.S. surprised many people. The positive reaction to the Holy Father was a result of his unmistakable spiritual depth and humility. It is hoped this initial attraction leads many people to discover the Holy Father's beautiful vision of the moral life, which is, equally penetrating and genuine. Benedict XVI's comprehensive pastoral approach to so-called hard issues like contraception and related topics might astound many people. As a teacher and apostle he is second to none in his ability to proclaim the truth in a holistic fashion. Despite spending the majority of his adult life as an academic and Vatican official, the Holy Father is a master of evangelization not only to intellectuals but to the common man as well. In a 1996 interview with Peter Seewald, then Cardinal Ratzinger was asked about the issue of contraception. Seewald asked him if he understood why most people today do not understand the Church's teaching on contraception. Cardinal Ratzinger replied he did understand people not understanding the issue since it is complicated and that we "ought to look less at the casuistry of individual cases and more at the major objectives that the church has in mind." Benedict's genius is to view an issue like contraception through these fundamental objectives with the mind of the Church, which allows us to see the totality of the problem and not just an isolated aspect of it. This way the relationship between contraception and the good and happiness of the human person is revealed. The major objectives are: First, children are a great blessing not a threat or burden. Secondly, once you separate sexual expression from procreation the action harms not only the male-female relationship but also the individuals. Finally, our age tries to solve moral problems through technology rather than realizing that moral flourishing rests upon pursuing an integral way of life reached through life decisions based on true freedom. Authentic freedom "is linked to a yardstick, the yardstick of reality - to truth." Christ proclaimed, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." (Jn 14:6) What is true and what is good cannot be separated. As Benedict reminds us "truth and love are identical." More recently the Holy Father was interviewed in preparation for his Papal trip to Bavaria. The reporter noted that while the Pope was in Valencia, Spain for the World Meeting of Families, the Holy Father never mentioned the words "homosexual marriage" nor did he speak about abortion or contraception. The reporter then asked Benedict XVI if "clearly your idea is to go around the world preaching the faith rather than as an 'apostle of morality'." The Holy Father's response is a remarkable blueprint for parents, teachers and all who work in diocesan and parish apostolates. Benedict responded: "obviously, yes. Actually, I should say I had only two opportunities to speak for 20 minutes. And when you have so little time you cannot immediately begin with 'no'. Firstly, you have to know what we really want, right? Christianity, Catholicism, is not a collection of prohibitions: it is a positive option. It is very important that we look at it again because this idea has almost completely disappeared today. We have heard so much about what is not allowed that now it is time to say: we have a positive idea to offer, that man and woman are made for each other, that the scale of sexuality, eros, agape, indicates the level of love and it is in this way that marriage develops, first of all as a joyful and blessing-filled encounter between a man and a woman, and then, the family, which guarantees continuity among generations and through which generations are reconciled to each other and even cultures can meet."
	Copyright 2008 - Human Life International Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required. Human Life International 4 Family Life Lane -- Front Royal, VA 22630 U.S.A. Phone: (540) 635-7884 Fax: (540) 622-6247 E-mail: hli@hli.org Website: www.hli.org

Jill Stanek Column:

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Obama's biggest lie about supporting infanticide

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Posted: July 02, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

© 2008

On June 25, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked conservative commentator Bill Bennett what question he would ask Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama if he could.

Bennett said he would ask Obama:

Why are you to the left of NARAL, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein when it comes to abortion? Are you really there? ... I got to question the guy's moral judgment who doesn't see a problem with killing a baby after it's been born. … What is the answer to that question?

Read the rest here:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68556

UNPFA Loses $235 Million Due to Pro-Life Group's Efforts

FRONT ROYAL, Va., July 2 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Bush administration has once again withheld nearly $40 million from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), marking the seventh consecutive year that the U.S. government has refused the organization. The Population Research Institute applauds this decision, which honors the Kemp-Kasten amendment of 1985 forbidding tax dollars from going to programs of forced abortion.

The groundwork for this decision was laid by the Population Research Institute, headed by Steven W. Mosher, which has sent teams of investigators to China over the years. These investigations have found that the UNFPA was deeply involved in programs of forced abortion and coercive sterilization in that country. The evidence presented to the U.S. Congress and the White House, left no doubt that the UNFPA was operating in China in violations of the Kemp- Kasten Amendment.

Reacting to PRI's findings, President Bush in 2001 decided to redirect $34 million away from the UNFPA's coercive family-planning programs into child survival programs, anti- trafficking programs, and other programs. The UNFPA's subsequent efforts to cover- up its involvement in China, have been to no avail. No U.S. population funds have gone to the UNFPA for the past seven years, costing the organization a total of $235 million.

"The evidence demonstrates that the UNFPA continues to aid and abet China's barbaric one-child policy," says PRI's President Steven Mosher. "It doesn't deserve one penny of U.S. money."

Mosher is the author of the newly published Population Control--Real Costs, Illusory Benefits, which documents the undeclared war that the Chinese government has carried out on its own population. His book is available at PRI's web site: www.pop.org, and at bookstores everywhere.

The Population Research Institute (PRI) was founded in 1989 by Fr. Paul Marx, OSB, PhD and is dedicated to: (1) ending human rights abuses committed in the name of "family planning", (2) opposing outdated social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of overpopulation, (3) informing the public about the social and economic benefits of moderate population growth, and (4) promoting pro- natal and pro-family attitudes and policies worldwide. Steven Mosher is the author of numerous books, including A Mother's Ordeal, available in 11 languages.