Proposal to de-fund Planned Parenthood adds to health care abortion controversy
Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN)
speaking today on the House floor
As debate continues about de facto federal funding for abortion in proposed health care legislation, U.S. Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) has filed an amendment which would deny federal funding to Planned Parenthood through Title X Family Planning.
A backgrounder from Rep. Pence's office says the amendment would withhold annual appropriations of Health and Human Services' Family Planning funds from Planned Parenthood.
In Wednesday remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives, Rep. Pence said "The time has come to deny any and all federal funding to Planned Parenthood of America. The largest abortion provider in America should not also be the largest recipient of federal funds under Title X."
Expressing confidence his proposed amendment will be "widely supported," he asked the House Rules Committee to place it in the voting order.
Rep. Pence said that Planned Parenthood performed more than 305,000 abortions last year and received nearly $350 million of federal taxpayer money from 2007 to 2008.
He also cited state investigations into cases of Planned Parenthood staffers apparently encouraging underage girls to lie about their ages to avoid mandatory state reporting laws on statutory rape.
Title X money given to organizations that provide both abortions and family planning services, Pence pointed out, can be used to offset operational costs and free up money to "promote and provide abortions."
"Again I say, the time has come to deny any and all federal funding to Planned Parenthood of America. The largest abortion provider in America should not also be the largest recipient of federal funds under Title X. It's time to pass the Pence Amendment to keep taxpayer money out of the hands of Planned Parenthood."
Source: CNA Publish Date: Jul 22, 2009 Link to this article.
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New 'Science Czar' is From a Different Planet
May Forecast Things to Come With 'Obamacare'
As the debate over President Obama's socialized healthcare plan heats up, the depth of his radicalism is becoming more evident. John Holdren, Obama's recent choice for "Science Czar," provides the latest and perhaps most troubling example of extremism. In the name of population control, Holdren has advocated both forced abortion and compulsory sterilization through government-administered tainting of the water supply.
In a 1977 book he co-authored, called "Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment," Holdren called for a "Planetary Regime" to enforce mandatory abortions for population control and limit the use of natural resources. Holdren wrote: "There exists ample authority under which population growth could be regulated. It has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society."
Holdren writes that "a comprehensive Planetary Regime could control the development, administration, conservation, and distribution of all natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable. The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries' shares within their regional limits." He states that "sterilizing women after their second or third child" may be more practicable than sterilizing men and proposes a "long-term sterilizing capsule that could be implanted under the skin" at puberty and then "might be removable, with official permission, for a limited number of births."
He queried: "Why should the law not be able to prevent a person from having more than two children?" He wrote "that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution."
Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: "The new science czar's scheme for a 'Planetary Regime' that would force pregnancy and coerce abortion under some bureaucratic population control master plan is beyond extreme. Where in the world does President Obama find these people? No wonder Secretary of State Hillary Clinton refused to condemn China's inhumane one-child policy. The people with whom the President has surrounded himself are the most extreme abortion advocates on the planet. We cannot continue on this path of human destruction. God is just, and His justice will not sleep forever."
Contact: Liberty Counsel Public Relations Department Source: Liberty Counsel Publish Date: July 22, 2009 Link to this article.
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'Common ground' has become an idiom for 'fund abortionists'
Today Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut) announced that they will again sponsor the "Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act." Though advertised as "common ground," the bill re-hashes approaches that have been tried, funded, and failed to reduce abortions. This time it is packaged as "a unique approach" inspired by "the spirit of President Barack Obama's call to find common ground between the pro-choice and pro-life communities."
"The Ryan/DeLauro bill will fund abortion groups and programs such as 'comprehensive sex-ed' -- which has no evidence of reducing abortions. No pro-life group with a proven track record backs this bill. 'Common ground' has become an idiom for 'fund abortionists,'" stated Concerned Women for America President Wendy Wright.
"The supporters are nearly all hard-core abortion groups. It includes a smattering of groups with names that people assume to be pro-life but are fronts for abortion activists, and a few religious leaders who back the social programs but have valid doubts or lack of knowledge on how funding programs like Title X and 'comprehensive sex-ed' fails to reduce abortions. None of the people backing this bill are considered recognized and experienced pro-life leaders by the pro-life community. Regrettably, Tim Ryan, who used to be pro-life, was recently kicked off the Democrats for Life board for undermining and obstructing pro-life efforts. The Culture Program Director for Third Way, the group that drafted the bill, is the former general counsel for Planned Parenthood. This bill is a 'sheep in wolf's clothing' to direct more tax dollars and clients to groups like Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the nation.
"President Obama and liberals in Congress are feeling the heat from pro-lifers over the massive health care bill which includes abortion mandates and funding. The timing of this bill appears to be an attempt to distract people from the larger bill that will impose the Freedom of Choice Act by stealth. But pro-lifers are not fooled -- a vote for either Ryan/DeLauro or the health care bill is a vote to increase abortions."
Contact: Demi Bardsley Source: Concerned Women for America Publish Date: July 23, 2009 Link to this article.
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Mexican Government Promotes "Morning After Pill," Condom Use, to 10-Year-Olds
The Mexican government is distributing millions of pamphlets to children and adolescents in public schools, informing them of their "right" to receive the abortifacient "morning after pill," after sexual intercourse.
Mexican children between the ages of 10 and 19 years are receiving medical "passports" containing their vaccination records from the Secretariat of Education, which contain two pages of material advocating the drug.
"If you had unprotected sexual relations and no more than 72 hours have passed, you can request emergency contraception. Protect yourself, it's your right!" the passport states.
"Emergency contraception," also known as the "morning after pill," can cause abortions by preventing the implantation of the newly fertilized human life in the uterine wall of the mother.
The pamphlets also tell the children how to obtain and use condoms. Sexual abstinence until marriage, the only certain way of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, is not mentioned.
In addition to the school campaign, the Secretariat of Health is also running radio public service announcements encouraging teenagers to use condoms.
In one spot, an adolescent enters a pharmacy and asks for condoms. The pharmacist gives him the condoms and thanks him, and is joined by an elderly woman, an adolescent girl, and others. "Because by taking care of yourself, you care for everyone," the narrator says.
In another, a young male enters a nightclub and is searched by the bouncer. "Let's see, what's this, a cell phone, fine, a wallet...what is this? What is this, kid?" the bouncer says, revealing several condoms.
"But they're just some condoms!" the adolescent protests.
"Well I only need to tell you thanks," says the bouncer, who is joined by others thanking the young man.
Eusebio Rubio, the ex-president of the World Sexual Health Association and the current Director of the Mexican branch of the organization, cheered the government's school initiative in an interview with the Mexican newspaper Reforma, and said that he believes 10 year olds are capable of understanding sexual topics.
"An understanding of what happens in the sexual life of adults has almost been reached in the majority of cases," Rubio told Reforma. "It's something that begins to be concretized from the age of 8 years, and intellectual development permits them to integrate the complexity of the sexual life, which does not convert them into efficient and capable individuals who can experience the complexity of human sexuality, but yes to comprehend it."
However, the National Parents' Union (UNPF) is denouncing the campaigns.
"The National Health Passport contains affirmations that are not only worrisome, but also promote anti-values, and create health risks instead of protecting health," said the organization's National President, Guillermo Bustamante Manilla.
Bustamante Manilla also denounced the Secretariat of Health's pro-condom campaigns, accusing the organization of promoting the transmission of venereal diseases. Condoms have a 10% failure rate according to the United Nations Organization.
"Language is used implying that from the age of 10 years old, they [the children] will be making their own decisions, without taking their fathers or mothers into account. The family is not taken into account," said Bustamante Manilla. "The distribution of contraceptive methods implies genital relations, this is what they are promoting."
Contact: Matthew Cullinan Hoffman Source: LifeSiteNews.com Publish Date: July 21, 2009 Link to this article.
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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.
Dr. Alveda King to Join African American Leaders in Calling for No Abortion in Health Care Bill
Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will join with other African American leaders Monday at 10:00 AM in front of the Cannon House Office Building to demand that abortion and Planned Parenthood be excluded from any health care reform legislation.
"Our message is clear – abortion is neither health care nor a benefit. It's genocide," said Dr. King. "Give us procreative reproductive rights. Repair our communities with life affirming programs. My fellow civil rights workers and I will be on Capitol Hill to say that if President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, or anyone else truly wants to reduce the number of abortions, they will not coerce Americans to pay for them and they will not subsidize Planned Parenthood, the billion-dollar business that has killed more black children than the KKK."
Click here for the full article.
Anti-Lifers Want Justice Department to Spend Taxpayer Dollars to Protect Abortion Clinics
An abortion group said Wednesday that doctors and clinics that perform abortions in six states "are routinely targeted" for legal and physical harassment, including death threats, and called on the Justice Department to do more to protect clinic workers. In a report, the Center for Reproductive Rights said that women seeking to terminate pregnancies in those states face a dwindling supply of providers as threats and intimidation take their toll. Nancy Northup, the center's president, said the number of physicians and clinics providing abortions has fallen by 25 percent since the 1990s. Two of the states, Mississippi and North Dakota, have only one abortion provider. The other studied states were Missouri, with three, Alabama, with seven, Pennsylvania, with about a dozen, and Texas, with about 40.
Click here for the full article.
Anti-Lifers Defend Obama Health Care Plan
Administration officials defended Obama's broad health care proposals on Sunday and urged a skeptical public not to judge the Democrats' overhaul until Congress writes a final version. "This is a work in progress," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, trying to calm nervous lawmakers whose re-elections could hinge on the legislation. "More will be done. The House and the Senate are committed to working with the president to get this done."
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The 6 Worst Abortion Arguments Jon Stewart Made to Mike Huckabee
In case you missed it, Jon Stewart recently hosted former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on his popular Comedy Central program "The Daily Show." Huckabee had previously been a guest, and Stewart invited him to return to discuss and issue of his choice. Mike chose the abortion issue. Click here to watch part 1 of the interview Click here for part 2 Click here for part 3. (If you haven't seen it, I would encourage you to consider watching it before reading this article.)
Click here for the full article.
"YouTube serially aborts pro-life videos"
By now you're likely one of 1.5 million people who have seen the graphic video of Neda Soltan dying after being shot in the chest on June 20, 2009, during protests in Iran following the presidential election.
The video shows Neda collapsing into the arms of 2 men, who try to stop her bleeding with their bare hands. Suddenly, Neda's eyes roll up and to the right, almost as if they are looking at the cell phone video camera chronicling her death. Blood begins pouring from her mouth and nose, into one eye and down her face. Cries erupt from the crowd, and you know Neda is dead.
I don't know how the tragic video of Neda's death is any less graphic than a video by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform showing the tragic, graphic deaths of children by abortion, but it is according to YouTube, which removed this video.
There's something about showing abortion that sets it apart from all other videos in the Big Brother eyes of YouTube.
YouTube allows almost any surgery video imaginable, like gastric bypass, gallbladder removal, toe amputation, appendectomy and brain tumor removal, and gross-out body parts videos like a buttock fecal fistula or peritoneal cancer - but not abortion.
Neither does YouTube have a problem with videos pertaining to the female anatomy like mastectomies, breast augmentations, hysterectomies or even baby deliveries - but not abortion, unless it is in the form of bloodless illustrations.
YouTube also seems to go out of its way to protect the abortion industry, particularly Planned Parenthood.
To date, YouTube has removed 8 videos posted by Lila Rose and Live Action Films shot undercover at PPs in several states....
But it's not only PP YouTube protects. It also provides cover-up for run-of-the-abortion-mill skanks....
Click here to view the WorldNetDaily article.
Contact: Jill Stanek
Source: jillstanek.com
Publish Date: July 22, 2009
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Walter Cronkite's Push for Abortion and Homosexuality, 1965-2003
"As long as the abortion laws remain unchanged, abortion will continue to be a critical problem," stated Cronkite in 1965.
Famed CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite has been lauded in the media since his death on Friday, at the age of 92, with tributes paid not only from secular media, but even Vatican Radio and other Christian news sources.
But while remembered by many as "the most trusted man in America," many of Cronkite's more radical, but lesser known views, would be considered repugnant even to many of his greatest fans.
For instance, up until his death Cronkite served as honorary chair of the Interfaith Alliance, an organization dedicated to countering the influence of conservative Christianity on federal politics. In 2007, the Alliance initiated a campaign to force Christianity out of the public sphere by promoting policies that would silence the Christian voice. They recommended that churches be prohibited from endorsing political candidates, that research and health policies should not be based on "religious doctrine," and that faith-based schools should be banned, among other things.
Part and parcel with Cronkite's campaign against religion in public life was his outspoken vocal support of abortion and same-sex marriage. In 2003-2004, for example, Cronkite wrote a column for King Features Syndicate, which was published in about 180 newspapers throughout the U.S. In the column he discussed 'Marriage and Abortion', expressing disregard for "conservatives" who oppose abortion and same-sex "marriage."
"It certainly is the right of the anti-abortionists and those who oppose gay marriages to defend, express and even propagandize their beliefs," he says, "but is it their right to impose their definition of morality on those who hold opposing views? The answer is a resounding 'no'. ... This columnist believes that among conservatives and liberals alike there is a majority who would put the sanctity of individual rights even above the sanctity with which some would endow the banning of abortion and gay marriage."
Cronkite served as anchor of CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, a time of great change in America. His tenure included the JFK assassination, the moon landing, the Vietnam War, and he helped to shape American sentiment on these landmark events. But his time as anchor also included the most devastating of landmarks in American history, as many American pro-life activists would see it - the legalization of abortion.
And, no less than with the moon landing or the Vietnam War, Walter Cronkite shaped American sentiment on abortion. Despite such overwhelming praise from sources Christian and secular, Cronkite's views on abortion and his role in its legalization ought not to be forgotten.
In 1965, before abortion was made legal in the U.S., Cronkite made CBS the first network in America to feature a documentary on abortion when he hosted the hour-long episode of CBS Reports entitled 'Abortion and the Law', which can be found on the CBS News website.
The documentary claimed to tackle the controversial issue impartially, dealing with the "legal, moral and medical aspects," but in fact, it amounts to an hour-long argument in favour of legal abortion. Amidst a barrage of experts spouting the need for abortion and women giving horrifying testimonies about illegal abortions, Cronkite pays mere lip service to the pro-life viewpoint.
In his introduction, Cronkite states: "As long as the abortion laws remain unchanged, abortion will continue to be a critical problem, and for those involved, they call for desperate decisions that result in dangerous medical complications.
"Women have abortions for all kinds of reasons. The unmarried girl abandoned by the father of the unborn child, the girl who'd rather not have a child than marry the baby's father, but 80% of the women who have criminal abortions are married. They're women who feel they cannot afford another child, or fear they are too old to bear another baby, or that the baby may be born abnormal."
At one point Cronkite introduces a doctor who is supposed to speak on the emotional effects of abortion, but while mentioning the trauma of losing one's child, the doctor emphasizes the emotional impact of having to obtain an illegal abortion in secret.
Towards the end the documentary discusses the status of abortion in other countries, including in Europe, Asia, and South America, and ending in Chile, with Cronkite describing the horror of illegal abortion there. According to Cronkite supposedly 1 in 4 Chilean women had had an abortion, while the documentary shows (in decorous 1965 fashion) the death of a woman from an illegal abortion.
"What happens in Chile is no different than what happens to thousands of women in the United States," Cronkite warns, "who are hospitalized each year because of post-abortion complications.
"While men of science, and law, and theology talk about medicine, and legality, and morals," he says, "hundreds of thousands of pregnant women, unmindful of what may happen to them, secretly and fearfully seek abortions. For them, there is a wide gulf between what the law commands and what they feel they must do."
Cronkite concludes, "We believe the moral, medical, social, and economic aspects of abortion should be opened to public discussion, for if changes in the law are advisable, this can only be done by the American people themselves. This is Walter Cronkite for CBS Reports. Good night."
Contact: Patrick B. Craine Source: LifeSiteNews.com Publish Date: July 21, 2009 Link to this article.
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Not One Dime For Tax-Funded Abortion in Obama's Health Care Plan
Operation Rescue urges the grassroots to act now to stop Obama's radical, socialistic abortion agenda through Youtube.com commentary and radio spots.
President Barack Obama continues to rush forward to pass a massive overhaul of the nation's health care system that would include tax-funding of abortions.
Operation Rescue has released a video commentary on Youtube.com and is running radio ads to urge the grass roots to oppose Obama's health care boondoggle.
"Congress is being pressured to pass a bill that would not do what Obama is telling the nation it would do," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "It would force Americans to pay for abortions against their will and their consciences. We must speak out now against this radical march to socialism and state funded child-killing. We cannot allow even one dime of our money to pay for abortion."
Although the details are still unclear, Obama's proposals would:
· Raise health care costs and force many who are currently insured to lose their coverage because their insurance provider cannot compete with the government.
· Lead to rationed health care, which could cost the lives of thousands of people who are not deemed worth of certain treatments.
· Dramatically increase taxes, because someone has to pay the bill and the government is out of money.
· Worst of all, it would force the American taxpayer to fund abortions - something that will lead to an increase in abortion numbers.
"America is about to experience an unparalleled assault on the pre-born child. If Obama succeeds in financing abortion in his health care plan, it will set the pro-life movement back two decades and cost the lives of millions of innocent babies. If we don't act today, we could come back from our summer vacations to a very different America," said Newman.
Contact: Troy Newman, Cheryl Sullenger Source: Operation Rescue Publish Date: July 21, 2009 Link to this article.
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Drive to Ban Sex-Selective Abortion Gaining Momentum
On September 23, 2008, Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona introduced a bill. Its purpose seemed straightforward and its cause universal: put an end to the wholesale killing of little girls whose only crime was that they were little girls. One might have thought that this bill would have garnered universal support, with everyone from radical feminists to conservative Christians clamoring for its passage.
The problem was that this legislation would protect unborn little girls.
The Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2009 (PreNDA) seeks to criminalize the practice of sex-selective and race-selective abortions, which are growing more prevalent among certain communities in the United States. At the time of this writing, the bill has 29 co-sponsors, including 27 Republicans and 2 Democrats.
According to the National Academy of Sciences, some Asian-American groups have imported a preference for boys and are dramatically altering their demographic landscape by selectively eliminating baby girls from their population. Add to this the problem of African-American abortions, where some statistics suggest that as many as half of African-American pregnancies are terminated, and the need for such a bill becomes self-evident.
As Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R- NE) summed up the matter the day the bill was announced: "Abortion is the leading cause of death for African-American children. Abortion clinics target the heart of urban minority communities, and more than twice as many black children are eliminated through abortion than are born. Also, nearly 100 million unborn girls have been put to death simply because they are girls. This bill addresses this profound injustice."
Even The New York Times, not known for its conservative leanings, expressed concern in a June 15th article by Sam Roberts. "A number of experts expressed surprise to see evidence that the preference for sons among Asian-Americans has been so significantly carried over to this country," wrote Roberts. "Demographers say the statistical deviation among Asian-American families is significant, and they believe it reflects not only a preference for male children, but a growing tendency for these families to embrace sex-selection techniques."
Regardless of one's views on abortion, it would seem that legislators and thinkers on both sides of the issue could agree that no baby should die for reasons of race or sex.
Not so. The bill has all but stalled in an overwhelmingly liberal Congress. As we in the pro-life movement have found, feminists refuse to support even the most reasonable and necessary restrictions on abortion.
Public opinion is another matter.
For one, a 2006 Zogby International poll found that 87% of the American public would like to see legislation banning sex-selective abortions. This is not a simple majority, but an overwhelming one. And it is especially surprising in a nation where more than 40% of the population calls itself pro-choice.
Consider also that in 2007 the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women passed a resolution condemning sex-selective abortion. The U.N. body, which rarely meets an abortion it doesn't embrace, condemned the practice as violence against women, and one of the most pervasive human rights abuses.
Add to this the most recent Gallup poll on the abortion issue, which found that 51% of Americans are now calling themselves 'pro-life' on the issue of abortion. Only 42% call themselves "pro-choice. According to Gallup, this is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.
Legislatively, the movement to ban sex-selective abortion is gaining momentum as well. Illinois, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania already have statutes prohibiting sex-selection abortion, and the issue has been raised in the West Virginia and Montana legislatures as well.
The evidence is in: Americans don't want sex-selection abortion. They don't even really want abortion, as even those who advocate it favor increasing restrictions. By refusing to deal with the problem of sex-selective abortion, feminists and other left-leaning legislators are not only permitting the continuation of an unconscionable sexist practice, they are doing so in opposition to the views of the very Americans they claim to represent.
Sex-selection abortion flies in the face of everything American values represent: liberty, equality, and justice for all. If liberals and feminists really did care about women's rights, and the cause of the downtrodden, they would oppose this practice, as does the majority of the American public.
Contact: Colin Mason Source: Population Research Institute Publish Date: July 21, 2009 Link to this article.
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Obama's "Silent FOCA" Would Strip Pro-Lifers of Rights
Pro-lifers are calling Obama’s new health care plan the “Silent FOCA” (FOCA is the monicker for the radical “Freedom of Choice Act” proposed by Congress last year). Obama is aggressively pushing this plan, looking to sign it before Congress' summer recess if possible.
Entitled “America's Affordable Health Choices Act,” (H.R. 3200), the plan represents one of the clearest and most decisive attacks against the pro-life cause in this country since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. The bill poses numerous threats to the pro-life cause:
Abortion, which Obama has called “essential health care,” would be included in the minimum benefits of every health care plan.
* Every taxpayer and insurance holder would have no choice but to pay for every abortion
* Discriminates against practitioners who refuse to perform abortions, who may face unemployment as a result.
* Will most likely lead to rationing of care for the elderly, whose treatment may not be considered cost-effective. Under the plan, the elderly will receive an “advance care planning consultation” from the government to “help” them determine their end-of-life care.
* Will put nearly all existing insurance providers out of business overnight, making Obama insurance the only insurance available.
We strongly urge all of our readers to contact their Senators and Representatives and demand that they vote against this legislation. You can find your senator here, and your representative here.
Contact: Colin Mason Source: Population Research Institute Publish Date: July 22, 2009
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Adult Stem Cells May be Able to Rescue Memory Lost to Alzheimer’s
Boy, let us hope this works out! Scientists have discovered that adult stem cells may be able to help restore memory lost to Alzheimer’s dementia. From the story:
Researchers have shown for the first time that neural stem cells can rescue memory destroyed by advanced Alzheimer’s disease, leading to hopes for a treatment for the condition.
American scientists at the University of California have shown for the first time that stem cells injected into the brain can rescue memory in mice, rebuilding neurons and memory.
Click here for the full article.
National Organization for Women Establishes Kansas Abortion-Rights PAC To Fill Void After Death Of Abortion Provider Tiller
The Kansas chapter of the National Organization for Women has formed its own political action committee to replace ProKanDo, a PAC founded in 2002 by abortion provider George Tiller that was closed after his murder in May, the AP/Hays Daily News reports. ProKanDo spent more than $1 million over the last four years to advocate for abortion rights, assist candidates who support abortion rights and oppose antiabortion-rights candidates. The organization had more than 6,400 contributors but received between one-third and one-half of its annual funding from Tiller, according to former Director Julie Burkhart.
Click here for the full article.
Anti-Abortion Group Sues Over Arrests
18 Arrested Last Year While Trying To Protest
A pro-life group is suing several Maryland agencies, saying they've been unfairly targeted by State Police. Defend Life Inc. and its associates admitted their message is controversial Tuesday but said state troopers are stepping on their First Amendment rights. The graphic images often used by anti-abortion groups on roadsides are hard to miss and forget, 11 News reporter John Sherman said, but Defend Life insisted that is their point and that they have the constitutional right to make it. On Aug. 1, 18 protesters were arrested on Route 24 in Bel Air. Minutes before, troopers confronted the protesters. Videotape showed a trooper tried to tell them they needed a permit to protest on the roadside. Click here to watch a news clip of the press conference. Click here for the full article.
Angry Response to Anti-Abortion Protests
You've heard the phrase coined countless times: What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas. Now, there's a pro-life group has introduced a twist to the slogan: What Happens in Vegas should be Exposed in Vegas. The group chose Las Vegas to voice a very graphic message. "We're here to expose the ungodly evil!" "God hates people who shed innocent blood." There was nothing that could have prepared Jonathan Noll for what he saw first thing Tuesday morning. He works at a gas station across the street from St. Rose Dominican Hospital's Siena campus. A doctor who practices there allegedly performs abortions in his private practice. He's one of several targets of a group called Operation Save America.
Click here for the full article.
Obama's Science Czar Considered Forced Abortions, Sterilization as Population Growth Solutions
Obama's "science czar," Paul Holdren, once floated the idea of forced abortions, "compulsory sterilization," and the creation of a "Planetary Regime" that would oversee human population levels and control all natural resources as a means of protecting the planet -- controversial ideas his critics say should have been brought up in his Senate confirmation hearings. Holdren, who has degrees from MIT and Stanford and headed a science policy program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government for the past 13 years, won the unanimous approval of the Senate as the president's chief science adviser.
Click here for the full article.
Planned Parenthood Spearheads Effort to Influence Obama Health Care
The nation's largest provider of abortions laid siege to Capitol Hill Thursday lobbying lawmakers to include “women’s health” issues in the massive Obama health care plan. On Thursday, a gaggle of Planned Parenthood staff, board members and volunteers visited 250 lawmakers on the Hill. Their purpose, as stated by a Planned Parenthood release, was to ensure “any health care reform effort must include access to comprehensive reproductive health care.”
Click here for the full article.
Coalition of leaders alarmed that pro-lifers unaware of what is at stake with Obamacare
A coalition of prominent pro-life leaders has arranged a giant, Stop The Abortion Mandate live webcast for the public this coming Thursday, July 23, to alert Americans about the great dangers of the Democrat-proposed health care bill. David Bereit, a coalition member and leader of 40 Days for Life, told LifeSiteNews that he is temporarily de-emphasizing his current 40 Days for Life tasks to concentrate on this issue because of its extreme importance. He is concerned that pro-lifers are not aware of what is at stake with the health care bill.
Connie Marshner, a well-known Washington pro-life political organizer, warned today that "this is the biggest issue since Roe v Wade. This is not just about funding. Everyone will be forced to have abortion coverage." Further, she warned, the effect of successful passage of the Health Care bill will dramatically change the pro-life movement as we know it "because every doctor and health care worker will be forced to be involved in abortion."
The pro-life webcast's promotional material states that "Powerful abortion industry lobbyists and Washington, D.C. bureaucrats have just launched a massive effort to mandate taxpayer-funded abortions as part of their proposed trillion-dollar healthcare takeover."
They list four main results of what they call "this abortion industry power-grab":
* Impose one of the cornerstones of the "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA) by stealth
* Force taxpayers to fund a huge abortion industry bailout -- something the majority of Americans oppose, and certainly cannot afford in these tough economic times
* Mandate that virtually every American be forced into a health plan that includes abortion coverage
* Require honorable medical providers to violate their consciences and perform abortions -- or risk losing their jobs
The one-time-only LIVE webcast event will take place this Thursday, July 23, at 9 PM Eastern (6 PM Pacific, 7 PM Mountain, 8 PM Central.)
The live webcast, for which there is no charge, will be approximately 70 minutes long and will be accessible even to Internet users with only a dial-up connection. Participants who register for the event will be able to listen in on the live audio and submit questions.
During the event, the following nationally known leaders will be heard:
* MIKE HUCKABEE, Former Governor and Presidential Candidate
* DR. CHARMAINE YOEST, Americans United for Life
* TONY PERKINS, Family Research Council
* FR. FRANK PAVONE, Priests for Life
* MARJORIE DANNENFELSER, Susan B. Anthony List
* DOUGLAS JOHNSON, National Right to Life Committee
* TOM MINNERY, Focus on the Family
* CONGRESSMAN CHRIS SMITH, U.S. House of Representatives
* KRISTIN HAWKINS, Students for Life of America
* CONGRESSMAN JOE PITTS, U.S. House of Representatives
* DR. RICHARD LAND, Southern Baptist Convention
* CARMEN PATE, Point of View Radio Show
* DAVID BEREIT, 40 Days for Life
The Webcast organizers state that those who join the webcast will discover:
* The shocking facts about the sweeping legislation that the political power brokers are trying to ram through before Congress goes on summer recess...
* The devastating implications of the proposed mandates -- facts the abortion industry doesn't want Americans to hear...
* Why respected leaders, national organizations, and pro-life people are joining together in record numbers to challenge this attempted power-grab...
* The exact action steps YOU can take to make a difference at this crucial moment...
Registration for the event is accessed at http://www.stoptheabortionmandate.com. Registration also allows those who are unable to be online at the time of the webcast to later access a recording of the webcast audio.
Organizers are hoping that 100,000 people will participate in this very urgent and unique education and action event.
Contact: Steve Jalsevac Source: LifeSiteNews.com Publish Date: July 17, 2009
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When they get sick in Canada they don't call a doctor, they call a travel agent. Canadian Rick Baker of Timely Medical, knows it well as he discussed on my radio program yesterday. Baker is running a "Freedom Train for Health Care" to accommodate those running for their lives from the Canadian socialist system that's killing them.
One of Baker's clients was an 8-year-old little girl who was losing her hearing because of an infection. The Canadian system told her parents they had to wait for treatment from January to July. She was to go the whole school year without being able to hear her teacher. Then the wait was until September. And then, they said the wait would be until the following April. That was when the parents of this little girl turned to Timely Medical who took her for treatment in the U.S. within a matter of days.
But the American doctor wasn't as concerned about saving her hearing as he was about ... saving her life. That's because the infection had spread to her brain and, while she lost all her hearing in one ear and half the hearing in the other, waiting any longer would have cost her her life. Thankfully, she escaped the socialist system that would have left her dead.
Another client was Lin Gilbert, who had chronic back pain for three years awaiting an operation that would allow her to walk, to work and to care for her young children. Gilbert, whose condition worsened to the point where she had to wear diapers, and became hooked on morphine because of the pain, was told that she "hadn't waited long enough" and that she "hadn't suffered enough."
She was featured on "Huckabee," on Fox last Sunday, and on Neil Cavuto's program yesterday. And now that her teenage son has been diagnosed with the same condition, she's fleeing socialized medicine for the country with the best health care in the world: the United States.
Canadians hanging by a thread of life are boarding the freedom train as fast as they can. But here's the downside: If Barack Obama and this Congress ram socialized medicine through here, there will be nowhere for us to run. In fact, the plan would make it illegal to do so.
But now Obama's at it again – ramming through another government takeover – only this time it's not just our free market and our freedoms of speech and religion that are on the line, but our very lives. Armed with the only thing in his arsenal – rhetoric – Obama said: "We can't afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care – not this time, not now."
His health care plan would be the politics of delay and of death, and I'm not just talking about those babies without names. For those who don't care about the millions of innocent babies awaiting their birthdays whom Obama aggressively seeks to kill through abortion and infanticide with your tax dollars, take note: This time the crosshairs are aimed at you and your family.
Obamacare's prescription for disaster includes:
* a price tag that exceeds a trillion dollars;
* much higher taxes to cover these costs;
* medical professionals forced to perform abortions;
* health care rationing;
* life-saving treatment denied;
* jail sentences for those who seek treatment outside the socialized health care system;
* and after a decade, 15 to 20 million Americans would still remain uninsured.
But this socialized system of denial and death Obama is so anxious to pass won't affect him or those in Congress who are voting these versions out of committee like their August vacations depended on it.
They need to stop long enough to actually read this bill for a change, and listen to what Americans are saying. They also need to listen to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which put the price tag at more than a trillion. If you add another trillion we don't have to the 3.5 trillion-dollar "stimulus" plan (we also don't have), we are really, really bankrupt.
Even the Mayo Clinic, which Obama touted as the health care model, said, "… the proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher-quality, more affordable health care for patients. In fact, it will do the opposite."
Duh.
But we in America are standing up and saying "no" to Obama and his cohorts. Not this time. Not ever.
There's a reason why his opinion polls are in a free fall. U.S. News & World Report suggested the "O" in "Obama" may stand for "One Term." That may be true, but first we have to survive the summer. If we don't stop this insanity now, there won't be a train for us to board to get the life-saving health care we need.
Contact: Janet Porter
Source: WorldNetDaily
Publish Date: July 21, 2009 Link to this article.
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After several weeks of uncertainty about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's commitment to abortion, NARAL announced today it was convinced from Sotomayor's statements during the confirmation process that the judge is adequately in favor of abortion.
"President Obama made a sound choice in nominating Judge Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court," reads the joint statement from two NARAL leaders.
The group says that the nomination "reflects the president's commitment to ensuring that justices have strong legal credentials and understand how the law affects everyday people's lives, including the need to keep politicians from interfering in our personal, private medical decisions."
"In addition," say the leaders, "we took into consideration the significant and strong support her nomination has garnered from some of our most committed pro-choice allies in the Senate as well as President Obama's consistent record of support for Roe v. Wade and his established record of nominating to key posts individuals who share his principles."
While some abortion groups were wary of the candidate due to her lack of any abortion-related decisions, Planned Parenthood expressed confidence early on that Sotomayor would uphold the interests of the abortion lobby and President Obama.
"This historic nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court sends a strong signal that President Obama understands the importance of ensuring that our Supreme Court justices respect precedent while also protecting our civil liberties," stated Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards in May.
In confirmation hearings this month, Sotomayor repeatedly assured Judiciary Committee senators that she would uphold Roe v. Wade, a point she also made clear in private meetings with senators. But while she repeatedly referred to Roe v. Wade as the Supreme Court's "settled law," she admitted that she did not perceive the court's decision to uphold the partial-birth abortion ban as equally sacred precedent.
"The health and welfare of a woman must be a compelling consideration," Sotomayor admitted, indicating that she would not necessarily uphold the unequivocal nature of the ban.
Another pro-choice group, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, also expressed support for Sotomayor today.
"NLIRH stands in solidarity with Judge Sotomayor as she moves one step closer to becoming the first Hispanic judge on the Supreme Court," said executive director Silvia Henriquez in a statement.
Contact: Kathleen Gilbert Source: LifeSiteNews.com Publish Date: July 21, 2009 Link to this article.
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If iPSCs work, they will be better than ESCs because they will be made from the patient's own cells, and hence, no tissue rejection. They will also be better than using cloned ES cells because they will be easier and less expensive to derive. They will be better than both therapeutic cloning and ESCR because they will be ethically unproblematic. Thus, it is very good news that in mice, iPSCs are proving useful in heart repair. From the story:
Ordinary cells reprogrammed to act like embryonic stem cells can help repair damaged heart tissue in mice, researchers reported on Monday in a study that shows a potential practical use for the experimental cells. When injected into mice whose hearts had been damaged by a heart attack, the new cells helped improve both the structure and function of the heart. Eventually the hope would be to patch up seriously ill heart patients using their own cells. "It was obvious to the observer which animals had been treated and which ones hadn't," said Dr Timothy Nelson of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, whose study appears in the journal Circulation…
Instead of coaxing the iPS cells into a specific type of heart tissue, they used the iPS cells in their most embryonic-like state. Nelson said two weeks after they had transplanted the cells, they started making different types of heart tissue, including heart muscle, blood vessels and the cells that line blood vessels. "They were able to respond to this damaged environment and spontaneously give rise to the appropriate tissues and create new tissues within that diseased heart," he said. "That is a key wow factor of this paper." Nelson said heart cells continued to grow for four weeks, and the mice that got the iPS cells got better. Both the structure and the function of their hearts improved compared to animals injected with cells that form scar tissue, he said.
This doesn't cure the tumor problem associated with all pluripotent stem cells–whether ESCs or iPSCs–of course. But ethical research is sure transforming the field.
Contact: Wesley J. Smith Source: Secondhand Smoke Publish Date: July 21, 2009
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Pro-life Congressman Mike Pence (R-Indiana) has drafted an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood.
Pence's amendment is attached to a Department of Health and Human Services funding bill that, in part, throws federal tax dollars Planned Parenthood's way. Justin Aquila of the Susan B. Anthony List tells OneNewsNow the abortion provider receives a sizeable part of the appropriation.
"In the past two years, Planned Parenthood has received $350 million [in taxpayer funding]," he notes.
That taxpayer support goes to a non-profit organization that reports a sizeable profit each year, generates annual revenues in excess of one billion dollars (according to its most recent annual report), and performs many of the abortions done in the U.S. Aquila points to the abortion figures for last year.
Planned Parenthood"[They performed] 290,000 abortions, which is 25,000 more than the previous year -- and approximately one in every five abortions occurs at a Planned Parenthood facility," he adds.
People can encourage their elected representatives to vote for the amendment by going to the Susan B. Anthony website. "To flood the House all week would be great," says the pro-life activist.
Otherwise, notes the pro-life group, Congress will continue to "pump millions of your tax dollars" into the abortion industry each year. Surveys have indicated the public does not want their taxes used to fund abortions.
Contact: Charlie Butts Source: OneNewsNow Publish Date: July 21, 2009
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President Obama's universal healthcare plan may move him one step closer to his goal of allowing unlimited access to abortion-on-demand.
White House budget director Peter Orszag was asked by host Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday if he would rule out including taxpayer funding of abortions in the president's government-run healthcare plan.
Orszag: "Uh, I, I think that that will wind up being part of the debate. I'm not prepared to say explicitly that right now. It's obviously a controversial issue, and it's one of the questions that is playing out in this debate."
Wallace: "So you're not prepared to rule [it] out."
Orszag: "I'm not prepared to rule it out."
Douglas Johnson of National Right to Life says if the bill the White House is backing were enacted in its current form, it would result in the greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade.
"These bills that President Obama is pushing would result in federally funded abortion, but they would also result in federally mandated coverage of abortion by nearly all health Douglas Johnson (NRLC)plans -- not only the government plan, but also private health plans. They would require that local health networks recruit abortionists and set up abortion clinics. They would nullify many state abortion laws," he notes. "The pro-abortion groups understand these effects very well, and they are fighting amendments that we are supporting to clean up these bills."
During a 2007 campaign speech to Planned Parenthood, Barack Obama said the first thing he would do as president "is sign the Freedom of Choice Act" -- a bill that would eliminate all state and federal restrictions on abortion.
Contact: Jim Brown Source: OneNewsNow Publish Date: July 21, 2009
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Obama's 'Kill Grandma Bill' - Will Americans tolerate the denial of healthcare to those 65 and older?
When United States citizens reach the age of 65 they are forced into Medicare and out of any private insurance option for coverage of their healthcare. The government sets the dollar amount doctors, other healthcare providers, and hospitals will be paid for the treatments of a Medicare patient. When a Medicare payment is decided, often the fee is based on which special interest group lobbies the federal government most effectively. No efficacy research for a particular treatment and no market forces enter into this entirely arbitrary decision made in Washington, D.C. Once a fee is established, Medicare pays 80% of the allowable charge. Twenty per cent may be covered by supplemental insurance or patient out of pocket payment. The patient cannot pay his own money for care above and beyond the Medicare allowable–it is against the law.
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At Least 5,000 Irish Women Murdered Their Babies In Other Countries Last Year
Almost 5,000 women gave Irish addresses at abortion clinics in the UK and Netherlands last year, new figures reveal. The Crisis Pregnancy Agency revealed a 31% drop in the numbers travelling to Britain for a termination over the last seven years. However, data showed a 12.6% rise in women undergoing free post-abortion medical check-ups funded by the agency in 2008. The organisation launched a major campaign to highlight groups it claims seek to manipulate women into making decisions by providing disingenuous counselling.
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The Abortionist's Eye Is On Us
King's niece fights this era's civil rights battle
Abortion has taken a gruesome toll on the black community, killing more than AIDS and crime combined. Some 14 million black babies have been aborted since the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in all stages in all 50 states. That's equal to one-third of the number of blacks living today. By the abortion industry's own statistics, black women are 4.8 times more likely to abort than are non-Hispanic white women. Blacks comprise about 13 percent of the population, yet have 37 percent of all abortions.
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Planned Parenthood Seeks to Force Radical 'Sexual Rights' Agenda on All People
IPPF declaration seeks to force radical "sexual rights" agenda on all people. "International Planned Parenthood Federation has launched an extremely dangerous campaign that is even more bizarre, broader in scope and more aggressive than the standard fare we have come to expect from the sex-crazed, abortion-peddling giant. IPPF plans to force all nations to adopt and abide by its perverse "sexual rights" declaration. "The document, titled Sexual rights: an IPPF declaration, draws a bleak picture of a heathen world entitled to self-destruction through self-centered sexual pleasure, with no regard for the consequences of that behavior.
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Switzerland Attempting to Curb "Suicide Tourism" with Stricter Regulations
Swiss prosecutors in the region of Zurich have instituted stricter regulations that are intended to curb the growing problem of "suicide tourism," reports The Telegraph.
Numerous high-profile cases over the last several years of foreigners traveling to Switzerland to commit suicide - including the recent case of a renowned U.K. conductor and his wife - have brought the country's macabre suicide trade into the limelight, and appear to have triggered concerns by Swiss officials that their country is becoming famous largely for being the premiere spot in the world to kill oneself. As of late last year approximately 100 U.K. residents had committed suicide with the help of the Swiss group Dignitas, although individuals from numerous other countries have also used Dignitas' "services."
Prosecutors in Zurich have now announced arrangements with the country's second largest assisted suicide group, EXIT, that will see significant restrictions placed upon the process of obtaining the group's help in committing suicide, reports the Telegraph.
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YouTube Bans Student Group's Video Showing Abuse at Planned Parenthood, Group Protests Politically Motivated Censorship
In a censorship that appears politically motivated, the popular video-sharing site YouTube has blocked a video critical of Planned Parenthood made by the student-led nonprofit Live Action. The video shows a Planned Parenthood clinic in Birmingham offering to "bend the rules" of Alabama's parental consent and mandatory reporting laws in order to cover up statutory rape with a secret abortion, and has opened an investigation by the state Attorney General's Office into the nation's largest abortion provider.
YouTube offered no prior warning or specific explanation for removing the video, which contains no apparent violations of YouTube's "community guidelines." After remaining up for ten days, the video had several thousand views and had been linked to by many news organizations. YouTube has previously censored Live Action videos, and the latest removal casts further doubt on the video-sharing site's professed regard for free speech and political neutrality. Click here to listen to the full audio from the Alabama investigation.
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A Rockford, Illinois, pro-life group is waiting to see if charges will be lodged in an alleged assault on one of their demonstrators earlier this month.
A homeless man, Scott Griffin, joined other protesters in prayer at an abortion clinic in Rockford. He was walking across the clinic driveway when an employee approached in her car.
"And she did not slow down, did not make any attempt to avoid him, just missed him by a fraction of an inch with her front fender, but hit him extremely hard with the mirror on the passenger side and sent him flying," says Kevin Rilott of the Rockford Pro-Life Initiative.
Rilott adds that the employee did not stop but parked the car and walked into the clinic. He stresses it is not an isolated incident.
"We've had two other cases in the past where pro-lifers have been hit at the driveway, and we've tried to get charges filed and the city would not file it," he adds.
But since a Christian mayor has been elected, Rilott says the city is more responsive to the pro-lifers rights and their safety. He hopes the city might be more inclined to follow through on the latest incident.
Griffin was bruised in the incident but has recovered.
Contact: Charlie Butts Source: OneNewsNow Publish Date: July 18, 2009
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Step away from the teleprompter and just be honest with us.
The Christian Defense Coalition calls for candor and transparency by President Obama concerning public monies being used to pay for abortions.
The faith organization called for this openness after White House budget chief Peter Orszag was asked on "Fox News Sunday" if federal funds would be used to pay for abortions in the Obama health care plan.
His response, "I am not prepared to say explicitly that right now. It's obviously a controversial issue. I'm not prepared to rule it out."
It is clear the President is not leveling with the American people because if they knew their tax dollars would be paying for abortions they would never support Mr. Obama's health care initiative.
The Christian Defense Coalition along with other pro-life and human rights organizations is beginning a campaign called "Abortion is Not Health Care" on July 26.
They have already secured permits for the week on Capitol Hill.
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states,
"President Obama ran on a campaign on transparency and openness in government. He promised his Administration would be different than past Administrations. Sadly, this is just another broken promise by the President.
"When it comes to being open, candid and honest with the American public on taxpayer funded abortions the White House is being manipulative and vague. They know if the American public discovered that President Obama wants public monies to be used to pay for abortions they would never support his health care reform plan.
"During the Presidential campaign, Mr. Obama made it clear he wanted taxpayer funded abortions to be a major part of health care. Now he is trying to downplay these policies.
"We call upon President Obama to stop playing games and manipulating the American public and come clean. Are taxpayer funded abortions a part of your health care initiative? It is a simple and straight forward question that deserves a straight forward answer.
"Please Mr. President step away from the teleprompter and just be honest with us."
Contact: Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney Source: Christian Defense Coalition Publish Date: July 20, 2009 Link to this article.
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The pro-life view has been presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee considering confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court Justice.
Dr. Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, testified before the Committee earlier this week during Sotomayor's hearings. Yoest calls it a myth that information is lacking on the nominee's record on life issues.
"What the Americans United for Life legal team has found is that during her time serving as a board member on the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, she was involved with six cases that went before the Supreme Court with amicus briefs in which they argued very radical pro-abortion views," she points out, "and so we're extremely concerned about her approach to the bench."
Charmaine Yoest (AUL)Yoest fears possible hostility toward regulation of abortion. "We absolutely believe that we should be emphasizing equal justice under the law; that a judge on the Supreme Court should be an impartial observer," she concludes.
She believes Sotomayor could be extremely interventionist and an activist for certain causes while on the Supreme Court.
During her hearings this week, Sotomayor was asked how she felt about Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in the U.S. She said she considers the question of abortion rights "settled" law, and that there is a constitutional right to privacy. She declined to say if she agreed with the high court's precedent on the issue of abortion.
Contact: Charlie Butts Source: OneNewsNow Publish Date: July 17, 2009
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Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt touched off a controversy last Thursday when he urged Congress not to fund abortions in D.C., pointing out that had such funding existed years ago it could have snuffed out the African-American luminaries of today before they were born. The children aborted in Washington, D.C., correlating to the city's community of poor on a whole, are disproportionately African-American.
During his remarks the Kansas congressman called for an up-or-down vote in the House of Representatives on the abortion funding in the Financial Services Appropriations bill. The bill had adopted a suggestion by President Obama to eliminate a ban on federal funds for abortions in the city.
"If you think of it in human terms, there is a financial incentive that would be put in place, paid for by tax dollars, that would encourage women who are single parents, living below the poverty level, to have the opportunity for a free abortion," said Tiahrt.
"If you take that scenario and apply it to many of the great minds we have today, who would we have been deprived of?" Rep. Tiahrt asked. "Our president grew up in those similar circumstances. If that financial incentive was in place, is it possible that his mother may have taken advantage of it?"
He added: "Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court justice - if those circumstances were in place, is it possible that we would be denied his great mind?" Thomas was born in an impoverished African American community in Georgia.
Tiahrt's argument drew upon the fact, supported by research from Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute, that abortion disproportionately targets African-American mothers and their children. Today, the abortion rate for black women is five times higher than the abortion rate for white women.
In a report released earlier this month, the Guttmacher Institute also concluded that taxpayer funding for abortion leads to the death of approximately 33% more unborn children than if it were not publicly funded.
Tiahrt's bid for a separate vote on the issue was denied, and despite stiff opposition from Washington pro-life leaders, the abortion funding was voted through in the House Thursday evening 219-208.
The comments immediately drew fire from liberal media, where the remarks were widely decried as divisive and disrespectful. The Kansas Democratic Party (KDP) launched an online petition the next day demanding Tiahrt to apologize.
"No matter where you stand on abortion, we can all agree this is a disgusting, divisive comment and deserves to be rebuked," wrote Mike Nellis of the KDP on the Daily Kos blog Friday. "President Obama deserves better, the U.S. House of Representatives deserves betters, and the people of Kansas deserve better. It's time that we demand it!"
KDP Executive Director Kenny Johnston said in an email to constituents that the comments "are proof that he is unfit to serve the people of Kansas as a U.S. Senator."
Washburn University political science professor Bob Beatty suggested to the Wichita Eagle that Tiahrt made a misstep in making personalized comments on the House floor. "The idea, not just in politics but in American culture, is you stay away from people's mothers," he said.
Operation Rescue President Troy Newman, however, applauded Tiahrt for opposing the D.C. funding that would "further target vulnerable black women for abortions," saying it is "racist at its core."
"After 50 million abortions on all races, it is clear that we have been denied those who would have enriched us as a people," Newman argued. "Have we aborted the one who would have had the intellect and inspiration to find a cure for cancer, or find ways new to feed the hungry?
"It is a legitimate question that needs to be asked, because the societal impact of abortion is deep and devastating, and affects us all. The last thing abortion promoters want is dialog on this subject."
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg - a staunch abortion supporter - caused a stir earlier this month when, in discussing her expectations for Roe v. Wade, she echoed the original eugenic aspirations of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger.
"Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of," said Ginsburg in a New York Times interview published July 7.
Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life Friday condemned Congress' refusal to vote on the D.C. abortion funding.
"The House leadership knows that the public does not want to pay for abortions so they refuse to allow a separate vote on the question," said Fr. Pavone. "Their pure political cowardice, however, will not shield supporters of the DC appropriations bill from pro-life scrutiny."
Contact: Kathleen Gilbert Source: LifeSiteNews.com Publish Date: July 20, 2009
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Over 20,000 people gathered in the southern Cameroon city of Douala last Saturday to stage a peaceful protest march against the country's ratification of the Maputo Protocol, which led to the legalization of abortion throughout much of Africa "in cases of rape, incest or when the pregnancy is determined to put the mother's physical or psychological health in danger."
The march was led Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi, Archbishop of Douala, on the sixth anniversary of the adoption of the Protocol by the second Ordinary Session of the African Union in Maputo, Mozambique, on July 11, 2003, the Fides news agency reported.
The marchers, some carrying placards which read "abortion is an abomination," and "do not legalise sin," marched for almost two hours and converged on Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral where a special Mass was said.
An interreligious delegation of Catholics, Protestants and Muslims also handed a letter and petition to the Governor, to be presented to the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, with 30,000 signatures, petitioning an end to legal abortion.
The Cameroon Bishops' Conference published a declaration in January of this year in which it expressed its opposition to the legalization of abortion called for by the Protocol.
The coadjutor Archbishop of the Douala Archdiocese, Samuel Kleda said in the homily during the Mass, "We are in agreement with this praiseworthy project (of protecting women). Who can remain indifferent to the suffering of a woman? At the same time, we cannot pretend to defend women by proposing that they have an abortion and use contraception, which threatens their dignity and nuclear family. No reason can be used to justify abortion or infanticide."
Talking to the press after the Mass, Cardinal Tumi said abortion was an abomination.
"The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI already spoke on this agreement. The association of the African conferences of Bishops and the one in Madagascar had spoken and quite a number of dioceses have already spoken.
"That is the reason why we organized this march and we ended with a Mass to pray for those who are involved in these practices for God to forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing," Cardinal Tumi said in an AfricaNews report.
Chief A.S. Ngwana, leader of the Cardinal Democratic Party (CDP), a politician who has been very vocal against the Maputo Protocol and who joined in the march, said issues like abortion and homosexuality transcend politics since they concern the well being of future Cameroonians.
Chief Ngwana told a press conference that he would not hesitate to undertake a nationwide campaign against the Maputo Protocol until the Head of State withdrew Cameroon from it. He said legalizing abortion was "a ploy from the West to check the African population."
Contact: Thaddeus M. Baklinski Source: LifeSiteNews.com Publish Date: July 17, 2009
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