NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY
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About 250 Gather to Remember Slain Pro-Lifer
More than 250 people, including family members, friends and allies, gathered Wednesday to remember an anti-abortion protester who was killed in a drive-by shooting.
James Pouillon, 63, was gunned down on Friday while standing with a sign depicting a dead fetus at his usual spot across the street from Owosso High School, about 70 miles northwest of Detroit. He was the first of two people shot dead that day by 33-year-old trucker Harlan Drake, prosecutors said.
The service began with a prayer led by Pastor Elmer Cox of Lansing, who asked that Drake "be forgiven for what he has done."
Several people attending the service wore shirts with anti-abortion messages on them. The service was held at the high school stadium instead of a funeral home to accomodate the crowd.
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HHS Gives Millions to States for Adoption
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $35 million to 38 states and Puerto Rico. The Adoption Incentives program is part of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.
Kathleen Strottman, executive director of the nonpartisan Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, said her group has been working to have this important program reauthorized.
"I think it's a wonderful step forward," she said. "It shows an incredibly important first sign from the Obama administration that this is an issue that they care about."
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HHS Sec. Sebelius Discusses Health Reform, Support For Abortion Rights In Washington Post Interview
In an interview published in Tuesday's Washington Post, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that she supports President Obama's comment in his recent health reform speech that a health overhaul will not include federal funding for abortion. When asked if she thinks the federal government should provide some federal funding for abortion services, Sebelius said that the president "has made it pretty clear that Congress and the new health insurance plan will not provide federal funds for abortions," adding, "I am the secretary of Health and Human Services, and I will support the president's proposal moving forward."
Sebelius also discussed her experiences as a Roman Catholic who supports abortion rights, specifically an instance when the Kansas City, Mo., archbishop asked that she not present herself for Holy Communion. Sebelius said that it was "one of the most painful things I have ever experienced in my life," adding that she is a "firm believer in the separation of church and state." She said that her "actions as a parishioner are different than my actions as a public official" and that the "people who elected me [as governor] in Kansas had a right to expect me to uphold their rights and their beliefs even if they did not have the same religious beliefs that I had." She continued, "And that's what I did: I took an oath of office, and I have taken an oath of office in this job and will uphold the law".
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Negotiations Continue As Senate Finance Committee Prepares To Release Health Reform Bill
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Monday said the bipartisan "Gang of Six" negotiating group needs more time to discuss several outstanding details of its health reform bill, The Hill reports. The measure will now be released on Wednesday, a day later than originally anticipated, Baucus said.
According to the AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, members of the negotiating group emerged from a Monday meeting having "narrowed their differences on a host of difficult issues" -- such as prohibiting federal subsidies for undocumented immigrants to obtain health coverage and prohibiting federal dollars from being spent on abortion services -- in their bid to reach a bipartisan agreement on the bill.
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FDA Approves New Swine Flu Vaccine
The Food and Drug Administration approved the new swine flu vaccine Tuesday, a long-anticipated step as the government works to start mass vaccinations next month. Limited supplies should start trickling out the first week of October - about a week earlier than expected, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told Congress. Then about 45 million doses should arrive around Oct. 15, followed by more shipments each week.
She said they'll be available at up to 90,000 sites, including schools and clinics, across the U.S. that state health departments have chosen as best at getting the shots out fast.
Eventually, "we will have enough vaccine available for everyone," Sebelius said.
Studies in children and pregnant women are continuing to settle on the right dose for those populations.
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Pro-Life Group Needs Money, Close to Shutting Down
Operation Rescue, one of the nation's highest-profile groups in the anti-abortion movement, has told its supporters it is facing a "major financial crisis" and is very close to shutting down unless emergency help arrives soon.
The group's president, Troy Newman, blamed the economic downturn for its money woes in a desperate plea e-mailed Monday night to donors. But the Wichita-based organization has also been under attack from both fringe anti-abortion militants and abortion rights supporters since the May 31 shooting death of Dr. George Tiller.
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Two Abortion-Rights Groups File Lawsuits Against Arizona Law Restricting Abortion Access
On Monday, two abortion-rights groups filed lawsuits in Arizona and federal courts in an attempt to block a new state law that imposes several restrictions on abortion, the AP/Yuma Sun reports. Planned Parenthood Arizona filed its lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court, while the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a separate but related lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of plaintiffs that include Tucson abortion providers. Suzanne Novak, a senior staff attorney at CRR, said both groups were aware of each other's lawsuits but did not coordinate their efforts.
The suits challenge several provisions in the law, which was signed on July 13 and is scheduled to take effect on Sept. 30. Among the provisions being challenged are requirements that only physicians may perform surgical abortions, that abortion providers give patients specific information about procedures, risks and alternatives 24 hours prior to the procedure; that physicians provide the information in person; and that women are prohibited from paying for health services on the same day of the abortion consultation. The law also expanded the ability of health care workers to refuse to "facilitate" an abortion or access to emergency contraception.
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