Smithsonian 'Celebrates' Planned Parenthood Founder, Anarchist Smithsonian 'Celebrates' Eugenicist, Anarchist, Pro-Bolshevik Journalist, and Liberal Feminists A new, federally funded photography exhibit at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery features 90 women described by the curator as "significant to 20th century America." They include a eugenicist, an anarchist, a pro-Bolshevik journalist, a number of liberal feminists and a 1960s counter-cultural rock singer, who died of a drug overdose. Only a few distinctively conservative women are featured in the exhibit. The exhibit, "Women of our Time: Twentieth-Century Photography," which opens Friday, Oct. 10, features Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, anarchist Emma Goldman, pro-Communist journalist Louise Bryant, 1960's counter-culture rock singer Janis Joplin, and actress Judy Garland, among dozens of other women. One of the few conservatives featured is Clare Booth Luce, an influential journalist and author. The collection "celebrates women who have challenged and changed America over the past century," according to photography curator Ann Shumard. "We are looking to represent individuals who have had a significant impact on the nation as a whole," as well as having been "significant figures in their chosen fields," Shumard told CNSNews.com in a preview of the exhibit. In the book accompanying the Smithsonian exhibit, "Women of Our Time: 75 Portraits of Remarkable Women," Sanger is described as being notable for pursuing her goal of helping women "whose health had been devastated by excessive child-bearing" despite being imprisoned and attacked for advocating birth control. But Sanger, who opened hundreds of birth control clinics across the country, was also well-known for her support of eugenics and abortion. In an article published in her journal Birth Control Review, entitled "The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda," Sanger said that the uncontrolled breeding of the "unfit" is "the greatest present menace to civilization." When CNSNews.com asked whether the exhibit intended to celebrate Sanger's ideas, Shumard refused to answer. "I am not a biographer of Margaret Sanger, and cannot speak to those ideas," she said. "Her inclusion is important because, prior to the movement that she led, information on birth control was not available and it was criminalized in many areas. She made an impact on the 20th century in a significant way. I don't think you can tell the story of the 20th century without discussing the degree to which family planning impacted women's entry into the work place." Emma Goldman, once described as being "one of the most dangerous extremists in America," was an anarchist and socialist who often resorted to violence, the exhibition's background information noted. An advocate of "free love," Goldman once attempted to assassinate a Carnegie Steel executive. Bryant – described as "a journalist who left her husband for socialist radical journalist John Reed" -- covered Russia at the time of the Bolshevik coup d'etat – and was regarded as sympathetic to the Bolsheviks, who formed the Soviet Union and were led by communist dictators Vladimir Lenin and later, Joseph Stalin. Janis Joplin, described as a hard-drinking rock-and-roll singer who overdosed on heroin at age 27, was noted for her music, the gallery curator said. "She was an extraordinary talent," Shumard said. "Clearly, she was someone who was a substance abuser, she died of an overdose, her performances were fueled by copious amounts of alcohol, but she had an extraordinary voice, and an extraordinary connection with the public. She was a remarkable woman as a performer, and that's her contribution. Her music is still considered as emblematic of that era." Photos of well-known women, such as Helen Keller, Marilyn Monroe, Katharine Hepburn, Eleanor Roosevelt, Clare Booth Luce, Mahalia Jackson and Amelia Earhart, were included in the collection. Others were celebrated for contributions to their "field" – including feminist activists Kate Millet, Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem; civil rights activists Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer; poets Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton; authors Margaret Wise Brown, Willa Cather, and Gertrude Stein; artists Georgia O'Keefe and Grandma Moses; fashion editors Helen Gurley Brown and Diana Vreeland; playwrights Lillian Hellman and Wendy Wasserstein and athletes Althea Gibson and Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Religion was represented by Catholic social activist Dorothy Day and Pentecostal preacher Aimee Semple McPherson. Contact: Mary Jane O'Brien Source: CNSNews.com Source URL: www.CNSNews.com Publish Date: October 9, 2008 Click here to view this article Click here for more articles like this one.
While Political Abortion Rhetoric Picks at Tender Wounds, a New Outreach Offers Hope New York Subway Ads to Reach Millions Struggling After Abortion According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, approximately 1 out of 3 women in the United States will have had an abortion by age 45. It's fair to say that the majority of Americans have either had an abortion or know someone who has experienced one. As the election cycle heats up, so does the political rhetoric surrounding abortion. Labels, judgment, and debate may bring up a range of emotions for the millions of men, women, family members and friends touched by abortion. One new outreach is taking a different approach. "The political language surrounding abortion can pick at tender wounds," says Michaelene Fredenburg, author of Changed: Making Sense of Your Own or a Loved One's Abortion Experience, "It can be an extremely difficult time for someone like myself who has been there." Fredenburg created the Abortion Changes You outreach as a safe place away from politics, labels and debate to meet the needs of men and women who have shared their abortion stories, and their frustration with the cultural climate, with her. "One young man named Zach told me 'I can't talk to those who are liberal because abortion is supposed to be okay. And the people on the Right are scary.'" says Fredenburg, "I kept thinking, what is there for people like Zach?" Eye-catching transit ads will appear today throughout the New York City subway system. The ads were unveiled last month at Fordham University. Recognizing that the New York City population largely uses mass transit for transportation, Fredenburg hopes these ads will resonate with those who have been touched by abortion - either their own or that of someone close to them. The Abortion Changes You national outreach is an invitation for men, women, grandparents, siblings, other family members and friends to know that they are not alone and that healing resources are available. The 22-inch subway placards feature images of men and women and their "voices", inspired by real, personal abortion experiences. An Asian female shares, "I thought life would be the way it was before," while a tattooed male inspired by Zach says, "I often wonder if there was something I could have done to help her." One thousand subway cards featuring these voices will run for four weeks beginning October 9, 2008 and will direct people to the Abortion Changes You Web site. On AbortionChangesYou.com visitors will be able to participate in interactive content where they can learn how to build a support system, explore a range of emotions, identify unhealthy behaviors, and anonymously share about their experiences through stories, artwork, poetry, and songs. "We know how to shout about abortion, but we don't know how to have a compassionate conversation," says Fredenburg, "It is my hope that in the midst of this volatile political season we might hear something different." Contact: Ashley Walker, Christine Schicker Source: The Maximus Group Source URL: http://www.abortionchangesyou.com Publish Date: October 9, 2008 Click here to view this article Click here for more articles like this one.
New Study Shows 26% in Oregon Who Requested Suicide Were Experiencing Depression People in Washington State need to be aware that if the I-1000 assisted suicide Initiative is passed, people who experience depression will not be protected under "Oregon Style" guidelines. The recently published study by Ganzini et al. proves that 26% of people in Oregon who requested assisted suicide were experiencing depressive disorders. Even though many of those people were incompetent or unable to "freely choose" assisted suicide, they were nevertheless given a prescription for lethal drugs and died by ingesting those drugs. The study by Linda Ganzini, Elizabeth R. Goy, and Steven K Dobscha states in its conclusion: "Our study suggests that most patients who request aid in dying do not have a depressive disorder. However, the current practice of the Death with Dignity Act in Oregon may not adequately protect all mentally ill patients, and increased vigilance and systematic examination for depression among patients who may access legalized aid in dying are needed. Tools for screening for depression such as those used in our study are easy to administer and may help to determine which patients need further evaluation by a mental health professional. Further study is needed to determine the effect of treatment of depression on the choice to hasten death." What is important about this study is that Ganzini et al. do not oppose physician assisted suicide, but are rather concerned about the implications of such a law. The Oregon assisted suicide law was enacted to allow assisted suicide for adults who are competent, terminally ill, and voluntarily choosing to end their life. Therefore this study is important, based on the fact that a person who is depressed is usually incompetent or unable to freely choose to end their life. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition believes that physician assisted suicide directly threatens the lives of the most vulnerable in our society. That doesn't mean that, when legal, only vulnerable people die by assisted suicide, but rather a vulnerable person, which includes but is not limited to people who are experiencing symptoms of depression, are more likely to die by assisted suicide than the general population of terminally ill people. Ganzini et al. studied 58 patients in Oregon who requested assisted suicide. Most of these people were dying of cancer or ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease. Of the 58 people who participated in the study, 26% (15) were independently diagnosed with depression. The study stated: "Among patients who requested a physician's aid in dying, one in four had clinical depression. However, more than three quarters of people who actually received prescription for lethal drugs did not have a depressive disorder. Our findings also indicate that the current practice of legalized aid in dying may allow some potentially ineligible patients to receive a prescription for a lethal drug; two of those who ultimately died by lethal ingestion had depression at the time that they received a prescription for a lethal drug and died by ingesting the drug. A third patient was depressed at the time that she requested a physician's aid in dying and probably received her prescription; she was successfully treated for her depression before she died by lethal ingestion." Addressing the concern that in Oregon people with depressive disorders are dying by assisted suicide, Ganzini et al. acknowledge: "In a study of 321 psychiatrists in Oregon only 6% were very confident that in a single evaluation they could adequately determine whether a psychiatric disorder was impairing the judgement of a patient requesting assisted suicide. In a study of 290 US forensic psychiatrists, 58% indicated that the presence of major depressive disorder should result in an automatic finding of incompetence for the purpose of obtaining assisted suicide." Proponents of assisted suicide will say that since their are safeguards in Oregon that mandate that someone who has a depressive disorder or mental illness must receive a psychiatric or psychological assessment before receiving a prescription for a lethal drug, that these few cases simply represent an oversight by the physician. The reality is that of the 49 cases of assisted suicide in Oregon last year, none of them were referred for a psychiatric or psychological assessment. In other words, safeguards in Oregon are either ignored or completely ineffective and Ganzini et al proves it. Click here to view the abstract in the British Medical Journal - BMJ 2008;337:a1682 Click here to view the article in the Oregon Public Broadcasting - OPB News Contact: Alex Schadenberg Source: LifeSiteNews.com Source URL: www.lifesitenews.com Publish Date: October 8, 2008 Click here to view this article Click here for more articles like this one.
Adult stem-cell research helps cerebral palsy child Adult stem-cell research has paid off for a Denver-area family. Chloe Levigne is two years old now -- happy, walking, playing, and doing the things a child typically does, but it has not always been that way. Early in Chloe's life, her parents Jenny and Ryan Levigne noticed her right hand always clenched in a fist and that she tended to drag herself across the floor rather than crawl. Denver television station KCNC talked with the parents, and Jenny Levigne said doctors performed tests to figure out the problem. "And we discovered she had a stroke in utero, which caused brain tissue to stop developing," Jenny explains. Chloe's parents were devastated to discover their daughter had cerebral palsy. "Being a mom, I couldn't kiss it and make it better," Jenny adds. At birth though, the Levignes paid for storage of umbilical blood stem cells. The cells were transported to Duke University where an experimental procedure was done using those cells -- and results were evident only two days later. "She began saying words that we had worked weeks and weeks to try to get her to say, one being her nickname 'Coco,'" Jenny says. "That was just music to our ears." Chloe is about as close to normal as possible for a child her age, according to Jenny. Duke University has done only 40 of the procedures with adult stem cells, and most patients have seen positive results. Contact: Charlie Butts Source: OneNewsNow Source URL: www.OneNewsNow.com Publish Date: October 9, 2008 Click here to view this article Click here for more articles like this one.
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. Moms Cited Outside Abortion Clinic Vows Appeal Julie Bird says she held her baby in one arm, with a diaper bag slung over a shoulder, as she distributed leaflets outside the a Salt Lake abortion clinic. But in February 2007, she says she was accused of assault outside the Utah Women's Center, and cited by police (This is why pro-lifers at abortion clinics must have someone recording everything with a video camera). The charge, which turned into a disorderly conduct infraction, finally went to Salt Lake Municipal Court this week, and Julie was found guilty. Her lawyer, Frank Mylar, says she was ordered to pay a $750 fine and was placed on probation for 12 months. Another woman, also represented by Mylar, received the same sentence for trespassing. “We were there in a very peaceful, gentle, loving manner,” said Julie, adding her presence was not part of a protest or demonstration. “Our purpose was simply to offer information and whether or not people took it was up to them.” Click here to read the entire article online Australian doctors oppose anti-conscience abortion bill Archbishop Hart opens crisis pregnancy center The Archbishop of Melbourne opened a crisis pregnancy center on Wednesday, saying the womb had become an endangered area. His action came as a group defending the conscience rights of doctors criticized an Abortion Law Reform Bill pending in the parliament of the Australian state of Victoria which could force medical professionals to take part in abortions. The group Doctors in Conscience against Abortion Bill recently formed to advocate for the rejection of the bill. Its membership includes almost 200 doctors as well as nurses, psychologists, and pharmacists. The group represents people of various faiths and people professing no faith. Click here to read the entire article online New Versatile Stem Cells an Alternative to Embryos Cells taken from men's testicles seem as versatile as the stem cells derived from embryos, researchers reported Wednesday in what may be yet another new approach in a burgeoning scientific field. The new type of stem cells could be useful for growing personalized replacement tissues, according to a study in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. But because of their source, their highest promise would apply to only half the world's population: men. Click here to read the entire article online `Dr. Death' Kevorkian Goes Green; Runs for Congress Seat Jack Kevorkian, the euthanasia enthusiast, is a man of little appetite or need. He lives alone, disavows God and subsists on less than 500 calories a day. Reducing his footprint further still, Dr. Death has gone green, having recently purchased an electric car. It's not that he wants to save the human race, since he has little regard for the human race. Rather, Kevorkian says he doesn't need a gas guzzler since he doesn't stray far from his rundown apartment complex. Click here to read the entire article online Supreme Court Denies Review Of Several Abortion-Related Cases The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday indicated that it will not review several abortion-related rulings by lower courts, including a New Jersey Supreme Court decision that state law does not require a physician to tell a woman that a first-trimester abortion would result in the "killing of an existing human being," BNA Health Care Daily reports. In September 2007 the state Supreme Court ruled in Acuna v. Turkish that a state appellate court was incorrect in ruling that it was a jury question whether the woman, Rosa Acuna, received sufficient information prior to receiving an abortion from physician Sheldon Turkish. Click here to read the entire article online Parents Demand Abortion Clinic's Patient Records When a 14-year-old girl showed up at a Cincinnati abortion clinic in 2004, accompanied by a 21-year-old who was not her relative, clinic officials should have suspected statutory rape, an attorney for the girl's parents told the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday. Instead, Planned Parenthood performed the abortion without alerting the girl's parents or the authorities. The girl's parents are suing Planned Parenthood, alleging that the nonprofit organization has systematically ignored evidence of abuse against girls who visit Planned Parenthood's 37 Ohio clinics for abortions. Click here to read the entire article online
PRO-LIFE EVENTS Right to Life of Adams County Respect Life Dinner Right to Life of Adams County cordially invites you to our RESPECT LIFE DINNER Where: Knights of Columbus/Fr. McGivney Hall 700 South 36th Street Quincy, Illinois When: Monday, October 20, 2008 - Reception: 6:00 p.m. - Dinner: 6:30 p.m. Keynote Speaker: Scott Klusendorf, President of Life Training Institute presents: “The Art of Pro-Life Persuasion” This year's dinner promises to be an evening of good food and camaraderie, coupled with a very valuable pro-life presentation by our guest speaker. We are proud to announce that we have booked Scott Klusendorf of Atlanta, GA, President of the Life Training Institute, as our main speaker. Acknowledged to be one of the best pro-life presenters in the United States, Mr. Klusendorf has a long and successful record of challenging all in his audiences to defend the sanctity of human life, and of preparing them to persuasively defend their views to others. $10.00 per person, $17.00, 2 persons, $65.00 table of 8 All proceeds to benefit Right to Life Programs For more information, please call: 217-224-5483 Arms of Love Pregnancy Resource Center Walk for Life The Arms of Love Pregnancy Resource Center in Alton, IL is having their Walk for Life event on Sat. Oct. 25 beginning at 9 a.m. at Haskell Park on Henry and 12 Streets. For more information, please call Ron Wenzel (Walk Director) at 618-466-1690 Pro-Life Pastors Dinner Knox County Right to Life will honor Pro-Life Pastors and other dedicated pro-lifers at this dinner on October 25. It will be at 7:00 p.m. at the Corpus Christi Parish Center. The evening will include a dinner and a short presentation by Kenneth McCaughey, who is the father of the Iowa Septuplets. Many pro-life materials and information will be available that evening. Reservations are necessary for this dinner. For more information, please call Pat at 309-343-2852 or Helen at 309-342-4383. Festival of Life featuring Kenneth McCaughey Father of the Iowa Septuplets “The Seven from Heaven” Come early to see the presentation by Galesburg Christian School at 6:30 p.m. Sunday October 26, 2008 Bethel Baptist Church 1196 N. Academy St., Galesburg, IL *Admission is Free and Refreshments will be served Sponsored by Knox County Right to Life Click here to download a flyer If you know of, or are part of a pro-life organization having an event or attending an event including county fairs, please let us know about it and we will post in this newsletter and our website reaching over 250,000 people a month. Just click here to e-mail us
NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY 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. Arizona Gets Go-Ahead for Pro-Life License Plates Arizona drivers will be able to put a pro-life license plate on their cars, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal on the case. For six years, the Arizona Life Coalition has sought to create a "Choose Life" license plate. In January, the notoriously liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a lower-court ruling and decided the plates are constitutional. Click here to read the entire article online Feds Take Away Pro-Life Student's Free Speech Rights A Detroit middle school did not violate a student's free speech rights when it prohibited him from distributing anti-abortion leaflets in school hallways, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a ruling by a federal judge in Detroit who had issued an injunction stopping Jefferson Middle School authorities from interfering with the First Amendment rights of an eighth-grade student and awarded the student nominal damages of $1. The appeals court ruled the school did not bar the student's freedom of expression but merely regulated it. "The school district ... is entitled to put time, place, and manner restrictions on hallway speech so long as the restrictions are viewpoint neutral and reasonable," the court said. Byron Babione, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, which defends religious speech and represented the student, said he is considering an appeal. "The student in this case was censored because of his pro-life message," Babione said. The 2007 lawsuit was filed by Michael's parents after the 14-year-old participated in a "Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity," organized by the national group Stand True in October 2006. Click here to read the entire article online Ohio Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over Juvenile Abortion Records When a 14-year-old girl showed up at a Cincinnati abortion clinic in 2004 accompanied by a 21-year-old who was not her relative, clinic officials should have suspected statutory rape, an attorney for the girl's parents told the Ohio Supreme Court. Instead, Planned Parenthood performed the abortion without alerting the girl's parents or the authorities. The girl's parents are suing Planned Parenthood, alleging that the nonprofit organization has systematically ignored evidence of abuse against girls who visit Planned Parenthood's 37 Ohio clinics for abortions. The case took a detour from the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas to the Ohio Supreme Court to decide one issue: Should Planned Parenthood be compelled to turn over medical records albeit with names left out -- for dozens of other girls who may have been victimized? Click here to read the entire article online Calif. Insists U.S. Keep Paying for 'Free' Taxpayer-Financed Birth Control and Family Planning Services for Illegals California's congressional delegation is asking the federal government to reverse its new policy created to deny illegal immigrants free, taxpayer-financed birth control and family planning services long offered in the state. For nearly a decade California has spent hundreds of millions of dollars a year to provide poor residents with free birth control and other family planning services at clinics throughout the state. Nearly 2 million people "benefit" annually from the mostly federally funded Family Planning Access Care and Treatment Program (Family PACT), many of them illegal immigrants. The letter also reminds the feds that Family PACT has helped "avoid" hundreds of thousands of pregnancies that saved the federal and state governments nearly half a billion dollars. Therefore, the legislators write, continuation of the program under its current form (of serving illegal immigrants) will mean ongoing savings for the federal government as well as California. Click here to read the entire article online Celebrity Hospital In Abortion Row The catholic Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, which has a maternity unit popular with celebrity mothers such as Kate Moss, Cate Blanchett and Emma Thompson, does not ban GPs at the hospital from referring women for abortions or prescribing contraception and the morning-after pill. The ban on abortion referrals was omitted from the North London hospital's code of ethics because it was thought that it would have brought GPs into conflict with their NHS contracts. Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, who authorised the code, has now been criticised for ignoring Catholic teaching. Click here to read the entire article online Men Grieve Too: Abortion and Men Forgotten Victims of Choice How abortion affects men remains largely a story unexamined and untold. In modern abortion practice, gender discrimination is rampant; women may choose, fathers may not. By law, fathers are excluded from participating in the abortion. Click here to read the entire article online
What would change under an 'Obama' Supreme Court? A group that promotes constitutionalist judicial nominees warns that the top priority of a Barack Obama Supreme Court would be to require taxpayers to fund unlimited abortion rights. Curt Levey, executive director of the Committee for Justice, says given Obama's opposition to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, the nation's highest court under an Obama administration would likely reverse the federal ban on partial-birth abortion. According to Levey, two of the top ten priorities of an Obama Supreme Court would be to find that there is a constitutional right to taxpayer-funded abortions, and to order all 50 states to "bless" homosexual "marriage." "Ten Commandments would be removed all over the place. 'Under God' would be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance. The death penalty would be banned," says Levey. "There'd probably be constitutional rights to all sorts of new things like human cloning and physician-assisted suicide. Racial preferences would proliferate." Levey says an Obama Supreme Court would also likely do away with a decision that said federal banking laws preempt state and local laws. Such a move, the attorney says, would be felt in liberal states and localities like the District of Columbia. "DC says that you have to make risky subprime mortgage loans to minority communities even if they're a bad business decision. So I think given the importance of that issue right now, I think an Obama Supreme Court would reverse that decision," he predicts. "You'd have all these liberal banking laws take effect -- and the very problem that led to the [current] financial crisis would actually be required under law." And it is a given, he says, that the composition of the Supreme Court would change under an Obama administration. In his blog, Levey suggests that three liberal judges currently on the Supreme Court -- Ruth Bader Ginsberg (age 75), John Paul Stevens (88), and David Souter (69) -- are the most likely to retire should Obama win in November. But those three, he adds, may well hold out for the next four years if John McCain becomes president. Contact: Jim Brown Source: OneNewsNow Source URL: www.OneNewsNow.com Publish Date: October 8, 2008 Click here to view this article Click here for more articles like this one.
Killed abortion survivor finally gets funeral On Oct. 14, little Shanice Osbourne will finally be laid to rest 27 months after she was allegedly killed on the day she was aborted alive, July 20, 2006, by abortion clinic owner Belkis Gonzalez at A Gyn Diagnostics Center in Hialeah, Fla. In addition, notice of intent to initiate a civil lawsuit for medical negligence, wrongful death and personal injury has been filed against Gonzalez, abortionist Pierre Jean-Jacques Renelique and their conglomerate of four Dade County abortion clinics by Pennekamp Law in conjunction with the Thomas More Society. Finally, some semblance of peace and justice? On a hot summer day a little over two years ago, Sycloria Williams was in the throes of an induced-labor abortion of 22-week-old Shanice when the baby delivered alive. A clinic worker, along with Williams, witnessed Gonzalez cut the cord and place the moving, breathing baby in a biohazard bag partially filled with chlorine bleach and zip it shut. It was that worker who developed a conscience and allegedly called police to report the crime, after which Gonzalez tossed the baby in the bag on top of the mill roof so police couldn't find her. For nine days, the baby baked in the Florida sun until Gonzalez, thinking the coast was clear, retrieved her only to have the worker call police again, who this time found the baby. DNA evidence linked Shanice to Sycloria. And then the case hit a wall – because the murder victim had been aborted. While the Miami-Dade County medical examiner determined Shanice was born alive, he concluded her death was "natural" due to "extreme prematurity," since no one could know exactly why she died – burning, drowning, suffocation, or on her own? The examiner was clearly biased. If one strangles a dying 2-year-old, one still has committed murder. If one shoots a person midair who has just leapt to her death, one has still committed murder. But if one burns, drowns and suffocates a dying premature aborted baby, the death was natural? Shanice's short life and death demonstrate the need for the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. While it was legal to kill Shanice pre-birth, it was "wrongful death" to do so after, even if she wasn't viable. (This is exactly the age baby Barack Obama as state senator fought against giving legal personhood status.) To date, the Miami Dade district attorney has not filed criminal charges against Gonzalez or Renelique, who was negligently absent from the premises when Sycloria delivered, and so the two still roam free – and abort – in the Miami area. Contact: Jill Stanek Source: WorldNetDaily.com Source URL: www.wnd.com Publish Date: October 8, 2008 Click here to view this article Click here for more articles like this one.
Electing Obama goes against life, family and the U.S. Armando Valladares, a leader in the human rights arena, has said that electing Barack Obama as the next U.S. President, would go against "the values, principles and ideals that have shaped this great nation," because the Democrat candidate strongly supports abortion, promotes the adoption of children by gay couples and advocates to terrorists. Valladares, Cuban and a former U.S. ambassador under the Reagan and George Bush Sr. administrations, published a Spanish-written article entitled "Obama Presidente" in the Journal of the Americas. He wrote that what is happening with Obama, "reminds me of what happened to Fidel Castro and later what happened with Chavez. When our friends warned Venezuelans that the price of this 'change,'" could cost their freedom, they accused us of empty threats. However, "we were right, but it is already too late." Valladares spent 22 years in a Cuban prison before moving to the United States, where he currently resides. According to him, Obama is governed by the Marxist belief that "the end justifies the means." The Latino leader said that if Obama wins the election, "more than ever, our society will be in great danger. One of his objectives is the dissolution of the family and its values. Obama supports marriage between same-sex partners. He wants to bring it to the Constitution. Obama is in favor of the adoption of children by gay couples. Rather than favoring prayer in schools, he advocates the distribution of condoms." The greatest concern of Valladares is Obama's relationship with terrorists. "William 'Bill' Ayers was one of the founders of the leftist organization ‘The Weatherman.’ It was this group that put the bomb at the headquarters of the police department in New York back in 1970. Additionally, the bombings at the Capitol in Washington in 1971 and at the Pentagon in 1972 are among their other terrorist acts." "Obama and Ayers served together in the extreme leftist organization, Woods Fund Board, from 1999 to 2002. Ayers introduced his terrorist friends to Obama and organized parties at his house to raise money for Obama's campaign to the Senate in Illinois. They appeared together many times in public lectures, panels. Ayers was a donor to the Obama campaign in 2001." According to Valladares, if Obama is elected, Ayers would have a place in his administration. Mr. Valladares currently serves on the board of directors for the Human Rights Foundation, whose president Thor Halvorssen stressed to CNA that the organization does not make political endorsements, and that Valladares was speaking only in a personal capacity. Contact: None Source: Catholic News Agency Source URL: www.catholicnewsagency.com Publish Date: October 7, 2008 Click here to view this article Click here for more articles like this one.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell at Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Ohio? After reversing the decision that would have allowed Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Ohio (PP) to keep secret their reports documenting whether or not PP is notifying authorities of instances of statutory rape of pregnant minors seeking abortion services at the Cincinnati clinic, the Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday to determine whether or not PP will indeed have to turn over their records. In the case of Roe v. Planned Parenthood, the parents of Roe have alleged that their daughter was taken to PP by the adult male who sexually abused her when she was 14- years-old, resulting in her pregnancy. They allege that not only did PP breach their duty when they failed to notify the proper authorities of their daughter's statutory rape but that PP breached their duty under Ohio's Parental Consent law by failing to get their consent for the abortion. Rather than turn over the records that could conceivably exonerate them, PP is instead crying "privacy," even though the attorneys for Roe are not seeking private or identifying information, agreeing during yesterday's hearing that such information should be redacted. Roe's attorneys are merely seeking to review records that document whether or not PP has reported any instances of statutory rape or notified any parent whose minor daughter sought abortion services at their Cincinnati clinic. This request has been made in light of the exhibits already attached to the pleadings in this case where it is alleged that PP's policy of "don't ask, don't tell" with regard to statutory rape is revealed. Attorney Brian Hurley was encouraged by the hearing yesterday, having stated previously about PP's contention that they follow mandated reporting requirements, "To me, their position is laughable." In speaking of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, Hurley said, "It came from their own files, from their own trainer." Contact: Dana Cody Source: Life Legal Defense Foundation Source URL: www.lldf.org Publish Date: October 8, 2008 Click here to view this article Click here for more articles like this one.
Barack Obama's Sweeping Agenda for Pro-Abortion Policy Changes Examined by NRLC's Douglas Johnson in 'National Review Online' NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and other NRLC staff persons are available for interviews on the subject of Mr. Johnson's new article on National Review Online, "Unholy Messaging," including radio debates with advocates for Barack Obama The Obama campaign and its allies have adopted an extensive "messaging strategy" that seeks to persuade religiously committed Americans that Obama has a middle-of-the-road position on abortion policy and will promote "abortion reduction." Douglas Johnson, longtime legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and author of an article published yesterday on National Review Online, titled "Unholy Messaging," calls the Obama effort "a brazen scam." "The scam depends on the Obama campaign, with cooperation from the mainstream news media, deflecting attention away from Obama's actual record, and from his extensive commitments to pro-abortion interest groups," Johnson said. "Barack Obama is firmly committed to an agenda of sweeping pro-abortion policy changes that, if implemented, will surely greatly increase the number of abortions performed." Johnson noted that a few short months ago, during his primary contest, Obama and his advocates were boasting about his record of leadership in opposition to legislation to ban partial-birth abortions, to protect infants born alive during abortions, and to require parental notification for minors seeking abortions, among other pro-life bills. "Those boasts were well-founded, and the current effort to re-package Obama as a moderate is a brazen scam," Johnson said. The Obama "messaging" campaign includes a recently launched "Faith, Family & Values Tour" that will visit Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin. In addition, various independent groups are disseminating advertising and literature that advances the same strategy. Among the specific Obama positions documented in Johnson's article (which contains extensive hyperlinks to documentation): -- Obama is a cosponsor of the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA, S. 1173), which Johnson calls "the most sweeping piece of pro-abortion legislation ever proposed in Congress." The FOCA is a bill that would make partial-birth abortion legal again, strike down restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortion, and nullify virtually every state and federal law or policy that would in any way "interfere with" access to abortion, including parental notification laws. In a letter sent to every member of Congress by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on September 19, Cardinal Justin Rigali wrote, "No one who sponsors or supports legislation like FOCA can credibly claim to be part of a good-faith discussion on how to reduce abortions. In a speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund on July 17, 2007, Obama said, "The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do." -- Obama advocates the nullification of state laws requiring parental notification or consent for a minor daughter's abortion, which would be one of the effects of the FOCA. Moreover, since entering the U.S. Senate, Obama has had two opportunities to vote directly on the question of parental notification for interstate abortions on minors, and he voted "no" on both occasions. -- Obama advocates repeal of the Hyde Amendment, the law that since 1976 has blocked almost all federal funding of abortion, even though both pro-life and pro-abortion analysts agree that this law has prevented many abortions. By even the most conservative estimate, there are more than one million Americans alive today because of the Hyde Amendment. "Because the Hyde Amendment must be renewed annually, a new president hostile to the Hyde Amendment could quickly place it in jeopardy," Johnson observed. The FOCA would also nullify all state laws restricting state funding of elective abortion. -- In a written response to a pro-abortion advocacy group, the Obama campaign said that Obama is opposed to continuing current federal funding for "crisis pregnancy centers," which provide needed assistance to many thousands of pregnant women. -- NRLC has thoroughly documented that in the Illinois state Senate, Obama led the opposition to legislation to protect babies who are born alive during abortions, and persisted in his opposition even after Congress had enacted a virtually identical federal bill without a single dissenting vote. Obama has in numerous ways actively misrepresented the content of this legislation, and his actions on it, but even when such misrepresentations were proved by NRLC and others, the major media simply let Obama abandon them and fall back to a different set of equally misleading claims. In his article, Johnson criticizes recent coverage in the "mainstream news media," which, he writes, "have, with few exceptions, been very compliant with Obama's recent efforts to downplay his hard-line pro-abortion history and policy commitments, for the purpose of winning the general election." Typically, journalists simply describe Obama's position as "supports abortion rights," without giving details regarding his advocacy of federal funding of abortion, invalidation of parental notification laws, and the rest. Contact: None Source: National Right to Life Committee Source URL: www.nrlc.org Publish Date: October 8, 2008 Click here to view this article Click here for more articles like this one.
U.S. aid blocked to abortion provider The Bush administration has cut off federal aid to a leading international provider of abortions because of the organization's alleged support of China's coercive population control program. The U.S. Agency for International Development, in informing Marie Stopes International of its decision, said aid to the London-based MSI would violate the 1985 Kemp-Kasten Amendment. That measure prohibits family planning money from going to any entity that, as decided by the president, "supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization." In a letter to MSI, Kent Hill, the assistant administrator of USAID's Bureau for Global Health, described Maries Stopes as "the major implementing partner" of the program in China operated by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The Bush administration has refused for seven consecutive years to forward federal money to UNFPA because it concluded the organization's work in China has violated Kemp-Kasten. During that time, the administration has withheld a total of nearly $235 million from UNFPA. Officials in many parts of China have practiced a forced family planning program for nearly three decades in an attempt to curb the birth rate in the world's most populous country. The policy limits couples in urban areas to one child and those in rural areas to two, if the first is a girl. Penalties for violations of the policy have included fines, arrests and the destruction of homes, as well as forced abortion and sterilization. Infanticide, especially of females, also has been reported. Although Marie Stopes is not supported directly by USAID, it receives USAID-funded condoms and other contraceptives from some countries that are supported by the State Department agency, Hill said is his Sept. 26 letter to MSI. USAID has informed American missions in those countries to make certain MSI does not receive USAID-funded contraceptives from the governments of those countries, he said. MSI denied it supports forced abortion or sterilization, but it acknowledged in a news release it has partnered with UNFPA for 10 years to implement the U.N. organization's family planning program in China. MSI's "aggressive promotion of abortion and its longstanding collaboration with China's coercive program leave little doubt that it is not only aware of the massive human rights abuses that have resulted in that country, but is actively collaborating with it," Steven Mosher said in an Oct. 2 commentary for LifeNews.com. The president of the Population Research Institute, Mosher is considered an expert on China's population control policy. The amendment invoked by the State Department to block funding to UNFPA is named after Republican Reps. Jack Kemp of New York and Robert Kasten of Wisconsin, who sponsored the measure. Contact: None Source: Baptist Press Source URL: www.bpnews.net Publish Date: October 7, 2008 Click here to view this article Click here for more articles like this one.
