Clinic reg bill nearly passes IL House, abortion-backing legislator attacks effort

     
     (Click image to enlarge)

Yesterday, in a surprise move, the Illinois House debated and voted on "HB 3156," a Thomas More Society-drafted bill that amends the state's Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center Act to ensure that surgical abortion clinics are held to the same standard as any other outpatient surgical center. Only 5 abortion clinics in Illinois - less than 25% statewide - meet these standards, which ensure that outpatient surgeries are performed in the safest and cleanest environments - and that, when complications occur, emergency personnel can get in and help get patients to a hospital as quickly as possible.

The debate on the bill was lengthy and vociferous. In an incredible moment, Rep. Naomi Jakobsson (D-Urbana), an ACLU and Planned Parenthood-backed 5-term veteran of the legislature, attacked the Thomas More Society by name on the floor of the House for TMS' role in pushing the bill.

The bill lost by three votes, but the sponsor, Rep. Darlene Senger (R-Naperville), smartly invoked a procedural maneuver that delays final consideration, in order to provide a final chance for pro-lifers to swing the necessary three votes. Seven representatives voted "present" - the equivalent of a "no" vote - and the votes are very fluid on the measure. Pro-life Illinoisans are asked to call state House members immediately and ask them to "support HB 3156"

Source: Illinois Review

Illinois Senators Vote Against Defunding Planned Parenthood

     

U.S. Senators Richard Durbin (D) and Mark Kirk (R) both voted against a bill that would have de-funded the Planned Parenthood yesterday. The bill failed on a 42-58 vote. In addition to Kirk, Republicans voting against the amendment to de-fund Planned Parenthood were: Scott Brown (MA), Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Olympia Snowe (ME). No Democratic Senators voted for the bill.

Illinois Review comments:

  No one ever doubted radical left extremist Dick Durbin would vote against an effort to push Planned Parenthood from the federal gravy train, but there was hope that Illinois' brand new Republican senator Mark Kirk would support his Republican House colleagues' effort to stop special interest tax doleouts to Planned Parenthood. He did not.

  Kirk has traveled throughout Illinois warning people at town hall meetings about the budget disaster America is facing because of uncontrolled spending. He has publicly boasted that the era of congressional earmarks is over. He told an audience downstate that he was for a 10 % across the board budget cut, including a 10% slice from Planned Parenthood's budget.

  Because of all those factors there was hope that Kirk, who now represents the whole state of Illinois rather than the socially-liberal 10th Congressional District, would consider moderating his historical pro-abortion stance. There was hope that for the sake of budget cuts and the pending economic disaster he warns us against, consider voting to eliminate the morally-repugnant Planned Parenthood earmark.

  We're not surprised with Senator Kirk's vote, but we're disappointed with it. He and Senator Durbin failed not only Illinoisans, they failed all American hard-working, self-sacrificing taxpayers.

Writing at his blog, Republican News Watch, conservative activist Doug Ibendahl comments:

  Frankly no one should be surprised.

  But Republicans, take note. It's certainly true that Mark Kirk has no problem saying he's pro-choice (yeah no kidding, as a U.S. Congressman he even voted in favor of partial birth abortion).

  However on multiple occasions during last year's campaign he would add a caveat to his otherwise 100% pro-abortion stance. Kirk repeatedly said he opposed federal funding of abortion.

  So score yesterday's vote as just one more lie by Mark Kirk. Add it to the list of countless dishonest things Kirk has said over the years in order to keep gullible voters and reporters in his camp.

  Someone please remind me again, what was supposedly the difference between Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias?

  Oh that's right, I remember. Both are very liberal – Kirk arguably more so.

  But Mark Kirk brings that liberalism into our Republican Party – combines it with a rather disturbing inability to tell the truth – and continually undermines and dilutes the GOP brand from within.

  Yeah, thank goodness the Democrats didn't elect their "mob banker" Giannoulias.

My observation continues to be that no matter how fiscally conservative one is, if he's a social liberal, then socially liberal measures will take precedence over fiscal conservatism every time.

Contact: Paul
Source: Lake County Right to Life Blog

Carol Tobias elected Nat'l Right to Life president

    

On Saturday, April 9, Carol Tobias was elected president of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the national federation of 50 state affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters. Tobias, who becomes the 8th NRLC president since Roe v. Wade, succeeds Wanda Franz, Ph.D. of West Virginia.

"I am extremely humbled and honored to be elected president by the National Right to Life board, which represents our nationwide network of state affiliates and local chapters," said Mrs. Tobias. "As the late pro-life Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois said, National Right to Life 'is the flagship of the pro-life movement.' I'm looking forward to the opportunity to help our pro-life network in its continuing effort to educate the public and pass laws protecting mothers and their unborn children."

A native of North Dakota, Tobias has served on the NRLC board of directors since 1987. From 1983 to 1991 she was executive director of North Dakota Right to Life and in 1991 was hired as NRLC political director, a position she held until 2005. During her tenure as NRLC political director, pro-life majorities were elected to both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. In both 2000 and 2004, she oversaw the efforts of NRLC's political action committee on behalf of George W. Bush.

Mrs. Tobias was elected by the NRLC board of directors at its spring board meeting. The board of directors is comprised of representatives from each of NRLC's 50 state affiliates and 8 directors elected at-large. NRLC is the nation's pro-life organization which is representative of the country's grassroots pro-life citizens and activists.

"The pro-life movement is the greatest social cause of our time," added Tobias. "I am eager to continue National Right to Life's educational, legislative and political efforts to advance the right to life of the most vulnerable members of our human family - the unborn, the elderly, and the medically dependent and disabled."

Other officers and executive committee members elected at the spring board meeting include: Executive Vice-President: Anthony J. Lauinger of Oklahoma; Vice-President for International Affairs: Jeanne E. Head, R.N. of New York; Vice-President for Medical Ethics: John Wayne Cockfield, USMC Ret. of South Carolina; Secretary: Holly Gatling of South Carolina; Treasurer: Rev. Dennis C. Day of Idaho; Chairman of the Board: Hon. Geline B. Williams of Virginia; Vice-Chairman of the Board: Hon. Lynda Bell of Florida; and Chet Rucinski of Wisconsin.

Illinois' Parental Notice Law Gets Nearly Doubled New Support from State's Attorneys

Thomas More Society Asks the Appellate Court to Note Support from Ten New "Friends of the Court" in the 15-Year Battle for Parental Rights and Against Secret Abortions

Yesterday, the Thomas More Society filed a motion in the Illinois Appellate Court to add a bipartisan group of ten Illinois State's Attorneys to the Society's "friend of the court" brief, urging the rejection of the American Civil Liberties Union's latest attack on the constitutionality of the Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995. In the fall of 2010, the Thomas More Society filed the original brief on behalf of 11 Illinois State's Attorneys, and today's filing brings that total to 21 State's Attorneys from counties all over the state, who together represent millions of Illinoisans. The Appellate Court, First District, will hear oral argument on the ACLU's appeal on Thursday, April 14, 2011, at 9:30 a.m.

"Today's filing shows bipartisan momentum in support of the rights of Illinois parents to be notified before their minor daughters are taken for abortions," said Peter Breen, executive director and legal counsel for the Thomas More Society. "This Act will put a stop to the practice of 'secret' abortions, where sexual predators from surrounding states are able to cover up their crimes by bringing their underage victims to Illinois."

The parental notice law requires an abortion doctor to notify a parent, grandparent, or stepparent living in the household or legal guardian before performing an abortion on a minor, unless the minor states in writing that she is a victim of abuse or secures a confidential "judicial bypass." Although the Illinois General Assembly enacted the current parental notice law on a bipartisan basis more than 15 years ago, the law has not gone into effect because of the ACLU's federal and state court challenges. In the pending state court appeal, the ACLU contends that the Act violates the privacy, due process, and equal protection guarantees in the Illinois Constitution of 1970. Though upheld by both the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and the Cook County Circuit Court, the law's enforcement has been "stayed" by agreement of the ACLU and Attorney General, pending a final ruling on the ACLU's appeal. Illinois is the Midwest's only state without a parental notice or consent law in effect.

The amicus brief argues that:

• The Illinois Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. On the contrary, the 1970 Constitutional Convention referred abortion issues to the legislature.
   
• Numerous other federal and state courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have repeatedly upheld parental notice as constitutional.
   
• The Illinois General Assembly properly found that parental consultation prior to an abortion promotes many legitimate state interests.

The ten State's Attorneys joining today include the following:

• Robert J. Berlin, State's Attorney, DuPage County
   
• John J. Boyd, State's Attorney, Kankakee County
   
• Henry Dixon, State's Attorney, Lee County
   
• Gregory Minger, State's Attorney, Woodford County
   
• Kevin S. Parker, State's Attorney, Jasper County
   
• Terence M. Patton, State's Attorney, Henry County
   
• David N. Stanton, State's Attorney, Perry County
   
• Nicole Vilani, State's Attorney, Jefferson County
   
• Mark Vincent, State's Attorney, Brown County
   
• William Yoder, State's Attorney, McLean County

The original eleven State's Attorneys include the following:

• Stewart Umholtz, State's Attorney, Tazewell County
   
• Edward Deters, State's Attorney, Effingham County
   
• Charles H. Burch, State's Attorney, Calhoun County
   
• Michael McIntosh, State's Attorney, Logan County
   
• Matthew S. Wilzbach, State's Attorney, Marion County
   
• Thomas R. Wiseman, State's Attorney, Crawford County
   
• Joseph P. Bruscato, State's Attorney, Winnebago County
   
• James A. Mack, State's Attorney, Putnam County
    
• Patrick Windhorst, State's Attorney, Massac County
   
• Albert G. Algren, State's Attorney, Warren County
   
• Scott McClintock, State's Attorney Henderson County

Here is a LINK to what was filed today, and here is a LINK to what was originally filed.

Contact: Tom Ciesielka
Source: Thomas More Society

Stem-cell researchers: Mum's the word

The first spinal-injury patient to receive embryonic stem-cell therapy has come forward with details about his treatment, but one doctor thinks his case is being used to give attention to an ineffective method of therapy.

 

Alabama nursing student Timothy Atchison, 21, was paralyzed from the chest down after he was in a car accident in September. Within two weeks of the crash, he gave doctors permission to inject him with the stem cells. But Dr. David Prentice of the Family Research Council (FRC) tells OneNewsNow that no more information has been given about the results of Atchison's treatment because researchers do not want to talk about them.
 
"It's too early to know whether he will be developing tumors," Dr. Prentice explains. "It's actually too early, if ever...[to] know whether the embryonic stem cells had any effect, because a lot of spinal cord injury patients show spontaneous recovery during the first 12 months."
 
But he believes this case is being used as media hype to keep the public open to the idea of embryonic stem-cell research, even though it has yet to produce any positive results. "In the meantime, we're not hearing about the dozens of patients with spinal cord injury who actually have been improved with adult stem cells, as documented by the published science," Prentice laments.
 
He points out that success with that method, which does not involve killing a human embryo, is continuously overlooked, and he concludes that the publicity over Atchison's case is just another way of promoting a research method that leaves nothing but empty promises.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

U.S. House Defunds Planned Parenthood; Senate Balks

For the second time this year, the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to stop sending taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood. The U.S. Senate, however, was quick to run in the opposite direction, with 58 senators voting in favor of funding the nation's largest abortion business.

The House voted 241-185 on the measure, and 240-185 to defund the widely unpopular health care law. The Senate voted 47-53 on the health care funding bill.

On a measure that would fund the government through September, representatives voted 260-167, and the Senate voted 81-19.

Kellie Fiedorek, staff counsel at Americans United for Life, said the flurry of votes in both chambers was significant.

"This is truly a historic time because this is the first time the Senate is being forced to go on record with where they stand on whether federal funds should be going to Planned Parenthood," she said.

Fiedorek said the debate over abortion funding will continue as Congress begins negotiating spending for 2012.

Pro-life groups had hoped this year's short-term spending bill would include cutting off Planned Parenthood.

"Is it perfect? No," said House Speaker John Boehner, who negotiated the deal with Senate Democrats and President Obama. "I'd be the first to admit it's flawed. But welcome to divided government."

Contact: Jennifer Mesko

Source: CitizenLink

URGENT ACTION ALERT HB 786

URGENT

Please contact your state representatives and urge them to vote YES on HB 786 (Ultrasound Opportunity Act - requires that a woman be offered the right to see an ultrasound before she can get an abortion -- it is her choice whether to see the ultrasound or not).

You can contact your representative or senator through the Capitol Switchboard in Springfield at 217-782-2000 or online by clicking here.

ACTION ALERT ON HB 3156

There is a pro-life bill that would shut down several abortion clinics in Illinois that is only 3 votes from passing the IL House of Representatives. Fortunately, there is a re-vote on HB3156 coming today or tomorrow! Can you make the call right now? It will only take a few minutes!

This bill would make sure that abortion clinics have the same standards as all other surgical clinics.

Only *5* out of Illinois' 22 abortion clinics meet the uniform standards that HB 3156 would hold them to!

They say they want equality for women through abortion, but they don't want equal safety for women when they do the abortions! Planned Parenthood is more worried about their pocket book than women's safety. They are complaining that it would cost them $1 million to get their substandard clinics up to speed.

The ACLU is complaining that HB 3156 WOULD CAUSE SOME ABORTION CLINICS TO CLOSE IN ILLINOIS! 

This is a HUGE opportunity and we are so close! 

Immediate Action Needed:

Contact your State Representative and ask them to vote YES on HB 3156 and HB 786 (the ultrasound bill).

Step 1:  Click here and look up the phone number of your State Representative

Step 2:  Make the call and ask your Rep to vote YES on HB 3156 and HB 786

Step 3:  Call these reps who unofficially voted 'present' and get them to commit to protecting women by voting YES

   Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park)    (217) 782-0515

          Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora)    (217) 558-1002

 

          Rep. Rita Mayfield (D-Waukeegan)    (217) 558-1012

 

          Rep. Michael J. Zalewsk (D-Summit)    (217) 782-5280

 

          Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago)    (217) 782-8077

 

          Rep. Andre M. Thapedi (D-Chicago)    (217) 782-1702

 

          Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago)    (217) 782-5350

Step 3:  Spread the word and get your pro-life friends to make the call, forward this email to everyone!

A floor vote is coming soon, so please act now! 

U.S. Senate to Vote on De-Funding Planned Parenthood and the Obama Health Care Law

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on Thursday, April 14, or Friday, April 15, on two special bills that are strongly supported by National Right to Life.  Please follow the guidance below to call the offices of your two U.S. senators immediately to urge them to support these bills.

The first Senate vote will occur on House Concurrent Resolution 35, which would remove funding for the entire Obama health care law that was enacted in 2010.  The Obama health care law contains multiple provisions that will, if fully implemented, result in government-imposed rationing of lifesaving medical care.  In addition, the Obama health care law contains multiple provisions authorizing funding of abortion and funding of health plans that cover abortion.

The second Senate vote will occur on House Concurrent Resolution 36, which would cut off federal funds to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its affiliates.  (This bill is similar to the Pence Amendment that was adopted by the House of Representatives on February 19; this will be the first time that the Senate has voted on this issue.)  PPFA is the nation's largest abortion provider, reporting 332,278 abortions in 2009. It appears that abortion accounts for roughly one-third of the aggregate income generated by PPFA-affiliated clinics.

For more information on these two issues, please see the letter sent to the Senate by National Right to Life on April 12, posted here.  (Note:  The Senate cannot vote on the two bills until after the House of Representatives passes them, but that is likely to happen on April 14.)

Please call your senators today!  Simply use the "Take Action Now" or "Call Now" box in this alert.  When you enter your zip code, you will be shown the correct phone numbers to call for your two U.S. senators.  You will also be shown a few short suggested "talking points" to use in your conversations with the senators' staff persons.  In addition, you will be given an opportunity to easily send a short e-mail to National Right to Life, if you wish to do so, to report on how your call went.

Please call today, and ask your like-minded friends to do the same!

Click here to take action now!