Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.
Aurora Planned Parenthood Clinic Open A Year
It's been a year since Planned Parenthood opened a clinic in Aurora, and people on both sides of the abortion debate say they have seen success in that time. Planned Parenthood of Illinois CEO Steve Trombley says demand for medical services has been greater than expected, and less than 10 percent of those services are abortion-related. On the other side, Pro-Life Action League spokesman Eric Scheidler says "sidewalk counselors" offering information have succeeded by sustaining protests for more than a year.
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Taxpayers Could Pay the Bill for Abortion Ban Fight, Even if State Gets Pro-Bono Legal Team
Without an agreement to cover the state's legal fees, even Representative Carl Wimmer admits an abortion ban he'll sponsor next session is doomed to fail. "Well let's put it this way, I don't think we can get the bill passed in a time where we are seeing budget cuts," he says. "I don't' think we can get the bill passed unless we have a provision in there that says it will be funded from an outside source." However, Wimmer says a contract won't be necessary to protect taxpayers from footing the bill to fight challenges to the law. Wimmer also says a Washington DC organization has agreed to fight the case pro-bono. However, Walter Weber with DC-based-American Center for Law and Justice says consulting is a more typical arrangement. And he says even consulting is usually formalized in a contract.
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`Designer Babies' Raise The Spectre of Genetic Manipulation
Two cases of parents claiming the right to choose the genetic makeup of their babies before birth raise serious ethical issues according to a British doctor. Dr Paul Veys, a consultant at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital voiced his fears over the case of an American couple who used genetic screening to give birth to a "genetically designed" baby with the characteristics to provide cells to help his sick older sister.
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Does Speech Law Trample On Rights?
Citizen Participation Act being misused, some say
It was meant to protect the little guy, the resident speaking out at a town hall meeting against a corporate giant. But some say the Citizen Participation Act—signed into law in Illinois last year—goes too far, trampling on the rights of people to protect themselves from defamation. Just ask Eric Scheidler and the Pro-Life Action League of Aurora. Scheidler sued Steve Trombley, president of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, alleging libel for saying to the Aurora City Council, and in an ad in a local newspaper, that the league has "a well-documented history of violence." Planned Parenthood used the Citizen articipation Act as its defense, saying the statements were made in a political context and therefore protected by law.
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Pope Commends Knights of Columbus for their Pro-Life Work
Pope Benedict XVI expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Board of Directors of the Knights of Columbus, on the occasion of their recent pilgrimage to Rome, for their tireless efforts in promoting the culture of life.
"I express my appreciation of your efforts to provide a solid formation in the faith for young people, and to defend the moral truths necessary for a free and humane society, including the fundamental right to life of every human being," said the Holy Father.
Pro-life initiatives launched by the Knights of Columbus during election campaigning in both Canada and the US include a radio ad that features the sound of a 10-week-old unborn child's heartbeat. The voice of a woman muses, "Listening to this makes me wonder - why would anyone question that her life has begun?"
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Legislators Seek Abortion-on-Demand for Every State in Mexico
Liberals seek to legalize abortion throughout country; conservatives propose stronger pro-life legislation
In the wake of a Supreme Court ruling affirming the constitutionality of Mexico City's abortion law, which allows a woman to kill her unborn baby for any reason during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, liberal lawmakers are seeking to extend abortion-on-demand to every state in Mexico.
The Social Democratic Party (PSD) recently announced that it will be introducing legislation to legalize abortion in 28 different legislatures, and urged federal lawmakers to legalize the practice at the national level, something they have thus far refused to consider.
Parroting the rhetoric of the international pro-abortion movement, Nuevo Leon state party president Juan Gamboa said that the measure isn't "a promotion of abortion, it's a promotion of the right of women to decide."
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