NEWS SHORTS FOR TUESDAY
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.
Remarkable Pro-Life Women Share Their Stories
Feminists for Life (FFL), which counts Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin among its members, is rolling out a series of seven videos featuring Remarkable Pro-Life Women.
The videos will premiere one by one during the coming school year on FFL's Web site.
The first video features Melissa Ohden, who survived an abortion at just 5 months' gestation. Today, she works for a social welfare agency in the Midwest.
Click here to read the entire article online
Congress Renews Federal Funding for Abstinence Education
The U.S. Senate passed a bill Saturday that extends Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) through September 2009.
Recipients of CBAE funds — the largest funding stream for abstinence education — include pregnancy centers throughout the country and charitable organizations.
Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said this is good news for U.S. students.
Click here to read the entire article online
Open letter asks King of Spain not to sign decree allowing aborted babies to be ground up
Father Joan Manuel Serra, a priest of the Diocese of Sant Feliu de Llobregat, has asked King Juan Carlos of Spain not to sign a royal decree that would modify mortuary policies and would make it legal to use “baby crushing machines” that would be used on the remains of babies aborted up to the seventh month of pregnancy in abortion clinics.
In an open letter, Father Serra recalled that current policy “obliges abortion ‘clinics’ to consider the remains of an abortion as cadavers, when they are human remains ‘of a sufficient entity,’ that is, at eleven or twelve weeks of pregnancy, and transfer them to a cemetery for their posterior dignified incineration or burial.”
Click here to read the entire article online
Justices Simply Refuse to Hear Pro-Life Free Speech Case
The Supreme Court has rejected for the third time an appeal by anti-abortion activists to undo a multimillion-dollar verdict for their use of "wanted" posters to identify abortion clinic doctors. The justices did not comment Monday in turning down a dozen individuals and two groups that oppose abortion. The court turned down similar appeals in 2003 and 2006. Four "physicians" and abortion clinics sued in 1995 after the activists released a Wild West-style poster that named a dozen abortion doctors underneath the headline, "Wanted."
In 1999, a jury awarded the "doctors" and clinics more than $100 million under racketeering laws and a 1994 federal law that makes it illegal to incite violence against abortion doctors. Courts reduced the judgment to more than $16 million. The activists say the verdict violated their free speech rights under the Constitution. The case is American Coalition of Life Activists v. Planned Parenthood, 07-1546.
Click here to read the entire article online
Pro-Lifers Fear Libel Suit Fees
Last month, a Kane County judge dismissed two counts of a libel lawsuit filed against Planned Parenthood by local pro-life activists. Now, those activists might have to pay more than $300,000 in Planned Parenthood's legal fees associated with the suit. And Eric Scheidler, communications director of the Pro-Life Action League, says that amount may "bankrupt us and shut us down." The lawsuit alleges that Planned Parenthood of Illinois, and its president and CEO, Steve Trombley, libeled local anti-abortion activists in a letter to elected officials, and in subsequent newspaper ads. Trombley's letter, the suit says, painted local activists as violent, despite peaceful protests at Planned Parenthood's new facility on Aurora's New York Street. Lawyers for Planned Parenthood successfully argued that those letters and ads were protected speech under the Citizens Participation Act.
Click here to read the entire article online
Exceptions In Abortion Ban Proposal Key, Scholars Say
If the abortion measure fails in South Dakota, it might be defeated by voters who are angry the issue is on the ballot again, a political science professor says. An important group of voters will be those who might lean toward abortion limits, but "they're mad that it's back again," said Northern State University political science professor Ken Blanchard. Those voters, he said, "may be the ones who sink the initiative this time if it fails."
Click here to read the entire article online
