HELP Committee Dems Block Pro-Life Provisions In Health Reform Markup
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Monday rejected several Republican abortion-related amendments to the committee' health overhaul bill but adopted a Democratic amendment allowing health care providers who oppose abortion to contract with health plans, CQ HealthBeat reports. The committee voted mostly along party lines to reject an amendment by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that would have prohibited abortion coverage in a health care exchange for participants who receive government-subsidized coverage. Democrats said that the language could have been used to restrict abortion coverage in private insurance plans. The amendment failed in an 11-12 vote, with Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) crossing party lines to support it. The committee also voted 11-12 to reject an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) that would have specified that federal health reform legislation could not override state laws on parental notification when minors seek abortion services.
Click here for the full article.
Arizona Governor Signs Pro-Life Legislation
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law significant pro-life legislation Monday, signaling a positive new direction from her predecessor and long-sought victory for life advocates.
While former Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed every abortion-limiting bill sent to her during six years in office, Brewer has already signed several pro-life measures in her first year as governor. These new laws include a ban on partial-birth abortion, a ban that prevents medical professionals other than doctors from performing surgical abortions, and a bill that protects the conscience rights of healthcare workers to refuse participation in an abortion.
Click here for the full article.
Venezuelan Bishops Denounce Bill to Legalize Abortion and "Homosexual Marriage"
Venezuela's Catholic bishops are denouncing a proposed legal reform that is likely to result in the legalization of abortion and homosexual "marriage" nationwide.
The bishops state that although the bill currently under consideration by the Venezuelan Congress claims to promote such values as equality and solidarity, "we have well-founded reasons to affirm that within it serious violations and irreparable damage is committed against fundamental rights and structures of Venezuelan society recognized and guaranteed in our Constitution."
The new law, they continue, "seriously offends rights that are consecrated and protected by our National Constitution, specifically the institutions of marriage and the family, and the superior interests of boys, girls, and adolescents consecrated in articles 75, 76, 77, and 78 of the Constitution, by legitimizing same-sex unions, awarding them the same juridical and patrimonial effects as those of matrimony."
Click here for the full article.
Pro-Life Group Disputes Sotomayor's View that Roe v. Wade Is 'Settled Law'
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that she considered Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, to be "settled law."
When Sotomayor was asked how she felt about Roe v. Wade, she said "there is a right of privacy. The court has found it in various places in the Constitution," specifically, in the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure and the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection of the law.
Click here for the full article.
Health care bill drawing bipartisan fire over abortion funding
As Congress prepares to consider President Obama's health care reform this week, the legislation is drawing opposition from both sides of the aisle. At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, ten lawmakers warned that the current draft of the health care bill will force taxpayers, businesses and insurance providers to pay for abortions.
Reaction from Democrats first became public when a group of 19 congressmen, some of them "Blue Dog Democrats," sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the end of June.
In their letter, the group of 19 warned Pelosi that they would not vote for any health care reform bill that either mandates government coverage for abortion or allows the Health Benefits Advisory Committee to recommend abortion services be included under covered benefits or as part of a benefits package.
Click here for the full article.
Obama's science czar does not support coercive population control, spokesman says
The office of President Obama's "science czar" John Holdren has responded to concerns Holdren co-authored a book which allegedly contained comments supporting coercive population control measures. A spokesman for the department said that Holdren disavowed such policies at his confirmation hearing.
Holdren is currently Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
In 1977, he co-authored the 1,000 page book "Ecoscience" with Paul and Anne Ehrlich. The book included several descriptions of possible population control measures, including the addition of "sterilants" to the water supply to prevent human conception.
Click here for the full article.
