NEWS SHORTS FOR THURSDAY

NEWS SHORTS FOR THURSDAY 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. ADF rebuts NY hospital's claim that pro-life nurse can't sue ADF attorneys respond to claims of Mount Sinai Hospital Alliance Defense Fund attorneys submitted a brief in federal court Monday in response to the claim of New York's Mount Sinai Hospital that a pro-life nurse who sued the hospital has no right to defend herself in court. ADF filed suit after the hospital forced senior nurse Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo to participate in a late-term abortion procedure. "Pro-life nurses shouldn't be forced to assist in abortions against their beliefs. Nonetheless, Mount Sinai Hospital is multiplying its injustices against nurse Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo," said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. "First it disregarded Cathy's conscience; now it argues she can't go to court to defend her rights. Mount Sinai Hospital does not have the right to disregard federal law and then refuse to face the consequences of its actions." Click here for the full article. Oklahoma AG To Appeal Anti-Abortion Decision The Oklahoma Attorney General's office has decided to appeal a judge's decision to overturn an anti-abortion law. Charlie Price, a spokesman for Attorney General Drew Edmondson, said Wednesday the appeal will be filed with the Oklahoma State Supreme Court. Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki Robertson on Tuesday ruled that Senate Bill 1878 was unconstitutional because it covered more than subject. Click here for the full article. Statewide Campaign Against Tax-Funded Abortion Launched in California Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust announced they will be organizing with pro-lifers throughout California to campaign against tax-funded abortion in Obama's Healthcare Reform bill. The campaign, which starts Thursday, Aug. 20th, will feature demonstrations and protests in cities across California, asking elected officials to guarantee that tax-funded abortion will specifically be excluded from the bill. Currently the Healthcare Reform bill includes wording that will allow for tax money to pay for abortion as "reproductive care." "Abortion is not health care," said Jeff White, founder of Survivors, "And the majority of Americans don't want to pay for it." He cites a recent Zogby poll which indicates that 71% of those polled did not want tax money paying for abortions. Click here for the full article. Susan B. Anthony List on President Obama's Health Care Conference Call Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser released the following statement in response to President Obama's remarks on his health care reform conference call with faith leaders today: "Public support for abortion is on decline, and the President knows that openly advancing an abortion mandate in health care reform is unpopular with the American people. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Obama's statements conflict with the proposed legislation. Americans demand an explicit exclusion of abortion coverage, not more obfuscation and confusion from the President and his allies." Click here for the full article. FRC Action ramps up effort to exclude abortion from health care reform Just ahead of President Obama's evening teleconference to promote his health care reform initiative to some faith-based groups, Tony Perkins, the president of the group Family Research Council Action, held a conference call with reporters to discuss the need to prevent abortion from being funded by the government under the guise of health care reform. Referring to the current legislation being considered by Congress, Perkins said, "We readily acknowledge that if you do a word search of the thousand-plus-page bill, you won't find the word 'abortion.' You also won't find the word 'tonsilectomy,' nor will you find the word 'bypass.' "But you will find 'essential health care services,' and when you follow the trail to how this administration defines that, they include reproductive health care, which this administration readily admits includes abortion," Perkins stated to reporters. Click here for the full article. Planned Parenthood President Slams U.S. Bishops on Abortion, Healthcare The president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, has penned a scathing editorial, published today in the Huffington Post, in which she sets her sights on the U.S. Catholic bishops, slamming them for their opposition to the abortion mandate in the Obama health care bill, and to abortion in general. "Does anyone else see the irony in the U.S. bishops wanting to define universal health care as covering everything except for what they don't support?" writes Richards. "Since when does universal health care mean denying comprehensive reproductive health care supported by the majority of Americans?" Richards then goes on to accuse the bishops of endangering "millions" of women's lives around the globe with their "hard-line opposition to women's rights." "The effort to criminalize access to safe abortion endangers most women in the developing world -- the very women that you would think the bishops would be concerned about," says Richards. The U.S. bishops, while expressing support for healthcare reform in general, have been adamant in their stance that healthcare reform must not include mandated abortion coverage - something that the current legislation would do if passed.  Click here for the full article.