Illinois Federation for Right to Life

July 28, 2009

First Lady Michelle Obama Can't Handle the Truth

Ribbon-cutting ceremony moved inside after pro-life activists staged a public witness during an appearance by the First Lady at a Virginia health clinic.

Mrs. Obama was scheduled to be involved an outdoor public ribbon-cutting ceremony in Bowling Green Virginia today.

The entire ceremony was reorganized and moved inside after pro-life activists showed up with signs, banners and a bullhorn.

The banner read "Abortion is Not Healthcare" and is part of a weeklong campaign in Washington, D.C. calling for that abortion not to be a part of the President Obama health care plan.

A vote in the House is expected this week.

Activists spoke over a bullhorn pleading with the First Lady to affirm human rights and called upon her to publicly state no public monies would be spent for abortion.

Shortly before Mrs. Obama was scheduled to arrive, law enforcement officials told Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition the ceremony had been moved inside because of the actions and presence of the pro-life activists.

It was clear that the First Lady did not want a public witness for life to compete with her event.

The campaign "Abortion is Not Healthcare" will continue this week in Washington, D.C. with prayer vigils, prophetic witness and cutting edge pro-life events.

Contact: Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney
Source: Christian Defense Coalition
Publish Date: July 27, 2009
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Parental Rights Amendment Reaches 110 Co-Sponsors

A Constitutional Amendment to protect the parent-child relationship introduced by U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan, has reached 110 co-sponsors in the House.

"More and more members of Congress are recognizing the threat from government and foreign interference into the parent-child relationship," Hoekstra said. "I encourage my colleagues to support the initiative by co-sponsoring the Parents' Rights Amendment."

The Parental Rights Amendment (H.J.Res.42) would state explicitly in the U.S. Constitution that parents have a fundamental right to raise their children as they see fit, while protecting against abuse and neglect. Threats to the parent-child relationship include potential Senate ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and the erosion of fundamental parental rights in our federal courts.

"Just about every member of Congress agrees with the legal principle that parents have the fundamental right to make decisions for the upbringing of their children," said Michael Farris, J.D., president of Parentalrights.org. "Because of international law and shifting judicial philosophies, the right is being steadily undermined. We now have 110 members of Congress with the foresight to say that we need to protect this long-standing right before the erosion goes too far. We appreciate the leadership of Pete Hoekstra and the 109 other members of Congress who believe that it is important to secure the rights of American families for generations to come."

More information on the Parental Rights Amendment can be viewed at www.parentalrights.org.

Contact: Rebekah Pizana
Source: ParentalRights.org
Publish Date: July 28, 2009
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PRI Gives Fresh Face to Sound Population Theory

The Population Research Institute (PRI) has released the first in a series of educational videos intended to disprove what it calls the "myth" of overpopulation.

The brief feature "Overpopulation: the Making of a Myth" refutes common misconceptions about world population, poverty, resource consumption, and the United Nations.

PRI is best known for being the group responsible for uncovering the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) cooperation with the Chinese government's coercive population control techniques. Its on-the-ground investigations in China led to the defunding of UNFPA by the Bush administration.

"We wanted it to be accessible," says developer and primary animator Joseph Powell about the video. "The myth of overpopulation is so prevalent, and yet nobody even has a clear idea about what overpopulation means.

"The idea of a world with no room or food is terrifying, but all it takes is checking the facts see how silly the whole thing is. We hope this video will do that for people."

The video, available at PRI's YouTube page, is also available at its accompanying website, "Overpopulation is a Myth." The site presents more facts and figures behind the video in an accessible fashion. It also features downloadable content and links to scientific sources.

"With the site, we really wanted to reach out to people, especially students and teachers, who feel alone in defending this position," explains Joel Bockrath, PRI's Vice President for Operations. "We wanted to give people easily viewable and downloadable content that they could use to back up their arguments."

"All in all," says Steven Mosher, PRI's president, "we think this is a great resource for those who know that the overpopulation argument is false, but haven't had access to the facts and figures they need to argue against it. Precisely since the information is being presented in a humorous, engaging way, we feel like this could go a long way toward disproving a myth that has caused untold suffering throughout the world."

Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Publish Date: July 27, 2009
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NEWS SHORTS FOR TUESDAY

NEWS SHORTS FOR TUESDAY

Senate Should Reject Chameleon Sotomayor

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court for a full Senate vote. Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC) applauds the Senators who have announced they will oppose her nomination.

CWALAC President Wendy Wright said, "The Sonia Sotomayor we saw in the nomination hearings was a stark contrast to the Sonia Sotomayor of the previous 55 years. Senators should not be fooled. The Judge Sotomayor that they will be voting on for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court is the one that existed prior to the hearings and the one that emerged immediately after in her written responses to questions. Her chameleon-like performance at her hearings cannot erase a lifetime record of a judicial philosophy that allows for the re-interpretation of the Constitution according to her 'wise' and 'superior' personal opinion.
Click here for the full article.

'Forcing Pro-Life Taxpayers to Subsidize Abortion Is Evil and Tyrannical'

Healthcare continues to dominate the agenda on Capitol Hill as House leadership and the administration try to ram through their big government healthcare plan. Fortunately, they have been unsuccessful so far, as there are many horrifying provisions tucked into this massive piece of legislation. One major issue is the public funding of elective abortions. The administration has already removed many longstanding restrictions on abortion, and is unwilling to provide straight answers to questions regarding the public funding of abortion in their plan. This is deeply troubling for those of us who do not want taxpayer dollars funding abortions. Forcing pro-life taxpayers to subsidize abortion is evil and tyrannical.
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Amnesty International Seeks to Make Killing Babies Legal in Nicaragua

Amnesty International on Monday called on Nicaragua's leftist government to immediately reverse a total ban on abortions, which it said was threatening women's lives, including victims of rape and incest. "Amnesty International urges the Nicaraguan authorities to immediately repeal the law that bans all forms of abortion," said Kate Gilmore, the AI executive deputy secretary general, at a news conference in Mexico City on returning from Nicaragua.
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Abortion Boat, Women on Waves To Sail No More

Following changes to the Dutch abortion law, the organisation Women on Waves has decided to cancel all upcoming trips of its so-called abortion boat. Opposition to abortion is growing, says director Rebecca Gomperts. A decade ago, Rebecca Gomperts (1966) had a vision. With her organisation Women on Waves (WoW) she would run a floating clinic that women with unwanted pregnancies all over the world could turn to for help. Gomperts saw herself as the "abortion captain". "I figured we would sail from country to country and help x number of women per day."
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Who Will Tell Michael J. Fox He Needs to Die?

"If they would rather die they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."
-- Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol

Should Michael J. Fox be put to death?

Celebrities and death. Now there's a potent cocktail.

Let's pour the dry ingredients of politics and government bureaucracy into the pitcher first, beginning with the politics of death and dying.

So what is the driving philosophy underpinning the Obama health care plans for all of us?
Click here for the full article.

Rep. Lowey (D-NY) Defends Eugenics, Margaret Sanger

Stand Up And Speak Out
On Tuesday in the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey of New York read an article in defense of Margaret Sanger, eugenicist and founder of Planned Parenthood. Lowey began by praising Sanger for “her commitment to improving the health and lives of women” and stated that she was “proud to recognize Margaret Sanger for her tireless efforts on behalf of women and for fighting for those unable to fight for themselves.”
Click here for the full article.

July 27, 2009

Effort to defund Planned Parenthood fails

The House of Representatives defeated an effort July 24 to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving funds under the federal government’s family planning program.

Representatives voted 247-183 against an amendment that would have barred Title X money for the country’s largest abortion provider. Rep. Mike Pence, R.-Ind., sought to attach the amendment to a spending bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

Affiliates of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) performed more than 305,000 abortions in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

Planned Parenthood, the largest recipient of Title X funds, received more than $349 million in government grants and contracts during the financial year of July 2007 to June 2008. The organization’s total revenue was $1.04 billion during that time period.

Before the vote on his amendment, Pence said on the House floor, “The largest abortion provider in America should not also be the largest recipient of federal funding under Title X, as I believe a majority of the American people would attest. The time has come to deny all federal funding to Planned Parenthood of America.”

His amendment would not eliminate any funds for Title X, Pence told the House. He also contended Title X funds aid Planned Parenthood’s abortion promotion and practice.

“I understand that current law and regulation [prevent] Title X funds from going directly to fund abortions," he said. "… But there’s no question that money that Planned Parenthood receives for its operational expenses from the federal government free[s] up resources that can be used to provide and promote abortions through its abortion clinics. Common sense teaches no other idea.”

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, wrote Pence July 21 to express the entity’s “strong support” for his amendment.

“[D]enial of federal funding for Planned Parenthood is more than simply prudent policy to help reduce the number of abortions,” Land wrote. “It is a moral imperative. It is unconscionable for Congress to direct even a single dollar of taxpayer money to [Planned Parenthood], given that the organization specializes in a practice that violates the core convictions of millions of Americans. No person should be forced at the behest of the government’s special interests to compromise his or her conscience on matters of protecting life.”

On the July 24 roll call, 20 Democrats voted with 163 Republicans in support of Pence’s amendment. Nine Republicans joined 238 Democrats in opposition. (Click here for a detailed breakdown of the vote total.)

The House later provided final passage of the spending bill in a 264-153 roll call.

Pence attempted to prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving Title X funding in July 2007, but the House defeated his amendment in a 231-189 roll call.

Pence also is sponsoring a stand-alone bill, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, H.R. 614, which would bar Title X funds from going not only to Planned Parenthood but to any organization that performs abortions. That bill, which was introduced in January, has 89 cosponsors.

Planned Parenthood has been the target of an undercover investigation during the last year that has shown staff members circumventing the law. Employees at seven Planned Parenthood affiliates in five states -– Alabama, Arizona, California, Indiana and Tennessee -- have been caught on video during the last year seeking to cover up alleged child sexual abuse. Lila Rose, a UCLA student, has led the hidden-camera operation by posing as a minor with an adult boyfriend by whom she is pregnant.

In a different undercover investigation by Live Action, the organization Rose leads, Planned Parenthood workers in seven states were caught on audio tape agreeing to receive donations designated for abortions of African-American babies.

Contact: Tom Strode
Source: BP
Publish Date: July 24, 2009
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Abortion Haunting Obama

Could abortion deep-six Democrats' efforts to overhaul the nation's health care system?

Probably not, but strife over the issue has already helped delay Congressional action until after the August recess. And it could play an even larger role as debate continues this fall.

It's not a far-fetched idea to assume that health care reform could become a catalyst for government-subsidized destruction of unborn human life. Although President Barack Obama has soft-peddled the abortion issue since taking office (rescinding the Mexico City Policy being one exception), he's known for dispensing kickbacks to his liberal supporters, namely through stimulus legislation. It's not unreasonable to assume he would use health care reform similarly.

A coalition of Catholic Bishops, concerned about that possibility, sent a letter to Congress and the White House in mid-July demanding that health care reform "excludes abortion coverage or any other provisions that threaten the sanctity of life."

Religious conservatives aren't the only political demographic uneasy with the abortion implications of Obama's health care revamp, either. In late June, about two dozen House Democrats sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi pledging opposition to any reform bill that includes abortion coverage.

More recently, conservative-leaning Democrats have kicked up some dust over what they see as a "hidden mandate" for abortion coverage in the president's health care proposals. No legislation mentions abortion by name, which opens the door for more government-funded abortions, they say. Some pro-life Democrats want a provision specifically excluding abortion from reform efforts.

Obama has complicated the issue by declining to clarify his position. Asked by CBS whether he would support or oppose federally funded insurance coverage for abortion, Obama straddled the fence. He reiterated his pro-choice position but emphasized that Washington, historically, doesn't finance "abortions as part of government-funded health care."

Well, we already knew that. How about a definite stance on the issue, Mr. President?

Obama's staff has also been less than forthright the American people. Appearing on a recent edition of Fox News Sunday, the president's budget chief, Peter Orszag, refused to rule out abortion coverage from a health care overhaul, but he squirmed out of giving a definite yes or no answer.

"I am not willing to say explicitly that right now," he said when asked whether the White House opposed including abortion coverage. "It's obviously a controversial issue, and it's one of the questions that is playing out in this debate."

It's an ironic situation. The White House has sent signals that it plans to avoid opening new fronts in the culture war, at least for the time being. One prime example is Obama's refusal to push the Freedom of Choice Act in the near future. But much as he tries to avoid it, the abortion controversy keeps coming back to haunt him.

Once Congress again takes up health care reform in September, the issue could play an even larger role. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer recently admitted that federal funding for abortion has become a hot potato in the Democratic Caucus. It has the potential to be one of several factors that could further delay, or even permanently derail, the president's efforts.

The Achilles' heel might be Blue Dog Democrats, who hail from conservative districts where a vote for taxpayer-funded abortions could mean the end of their political fortunes in the mid-term elections next year.

Polling is already trending in favor of Republicans and against Democrats. The president's approval rating has declined steadily since January, and a new Associated Press survey finds that a majority of Americans are back to thinking the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Obama has little to worry about -- his name isn't on the ballot for several years -- but House Democrats don't have that luxury. In particular, the Blue Dogs are being forced to weigh the political pressure coming from Congressional leaders and the White House with the political reality of their districts.

Already, some conservative Democrats in the House have taken heat for voting in favor of cap-and-trade. And no matter how hard the president and Democratic leadership push, they won't want to add a yes vote on federal funding for abortion to their list of legislative sins.

Contact: David N. Bass
Source: The American Spectator
Publish Date: July 27, 2009
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Chinese Team Clones Live Mice Using Questionable "Ethical" Stem Cell Technique

Pro-life warnings over a new form of stem cell research appear to have been proved correct, with researchers now having cloned live mice using a method of creating multi-use stem cells that had been hailed by some - including some in the pro-life community - as an ethical breakthrough. At the same time other pro-life figures, such as bioethics expert Dianne Irving and physician Dr. John Shea, have warned that the technique could involve killing newly formed embryos.

Two teams of Chinese researchers have cloned a set of live mice from induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. The iPS technique, discovered in 2007 by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, is a method of "reprogramming" adult cells to become "embryonic-like" iPS cells. However, the Chinese groups said they used the technique, not simply to create "embryo-like" cells, but to create whole cloned mice that have only one biological "parent" or progenitor. The work was reported online this week in the journals Nature and Cell Stem Cell.

Animal cloners Qi Zhou of the Institute of Zoology in Beijing and Fanyi Zeng of Shanghai Jiao Tong University introduced four genes into fibroblast cells of mice, hoping to "reprogram" the cells so that they could differentiate into any type of cell in the body. When transplanted into a 'tetraploid' embryo - one that would produce a placenta, but has no embryonic inner cell mass - the reprogrammed cells became whole mouse embryos that were later transplanted into surrogate mothers.

Ultimately the Chinese teams reported 22 live births from 624 injected embryos, a success rate of 3.5 percent. The cloned mice, however, have a high death rate, with some dying after just two days, and others displaying physical abnormalities. 12 of the survivors were mated and produced offspring that showed no sign of abnormalities.

In March this year, two independent teams in Britain and Canada took the Yamanaka research to what they said was the next step, and devised what they called a safer technique for reprogramming adult cells so that they become "pluripotent" stem cells. At that time, bioethics expert Dianne Irving told LifeSiteNews.com that there must be caution among pro-life advocates in endorsing the work.

She warned, "No test is reported to determine if totipotent cells (which could be newly formed human embryos) are inadvertently formed while producing iPS cells."

With the new Chinese discovery, pro-life advocates are again sounding the alarm. Dr. John Shea, medical consultant for Canada's Campaign Life Coalition, told LifeSiteNews.com that iPS cells are simply cloned embryonic stem cells that have the inherent potential to "revert" to an embryo.

It has always been known, he said, that the cells have the potential to "revert into an embryo that is identical to the one from which it was separated." "The planned separation of an embryonic stem cell is a technique used in fertility clinics. Therefore iPS is a form of cloning, and the use these cells for research involves or may involve the killing of a human beings," he said.

Contact: Hilary White
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Publish Date: July 27, 2009
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China loosens one-child policy

First, before you get too excited, the parameters, from The New York Times, today:

    China is not doing away with the one-child policy, which still largely applies to urban residents, but is allowing more exceptions to the rule. Shanghai, one of China's biggest cities with 20 million residents, is leading the effort.

Now the full story, from the Times Online, today...

    China is taking the first step towards reversing its "one-child policy", with the authorities in the second city of Shanghai now actively encouraging thousands of couples to have a second baby.

    For the first time in decades, local officials in China's economic capital have urged eligible parents to plan for a second child. The move was prompted by the city's growing demographic imbalance and fears that the young generation will not be able to support the rapidly aging population.

one child poster.jpg

    China has operated a strict "one couple, one child" policy for 30 years, carefully monitoring pregnancies and even forcing abortions on women who already have children to control a population that is the world's largest at more than 1.3 billion....

    The appeal from officials in Shanghai is the first time in decades, however, that the government has actively encouraged procreation....

    "We advocate eligible couples to have 2 kids because it can help to reduce the proportion of the aging people and alleviate a workforce shortage in the future," said Xie Linli, director of the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission.... Zhang Meixin, a spokesman for the commission, said that there were already more than 3 million people over the age of 60 in Shanghai, or 21.6% of the population. "That is already near the average figure of developed countries and is still rising quickly," he said.

    By 2020, the proportion of elderly is expected to rise to 34% of the city's population.

    Across China as a whole, the population is rising at as similar rate and the working-age population is set to start shrinking from about 2015. The overall population will peak in 2030 with China becoming the first country to grow old before it grows rich - and thus able to support a nation of pensioners.

    Most newly married couples registered in the Shanghai metropolis are both only children and thus already eligible to have 2 babies, but many do not take up the privilege. The number of such couples has risen to 7,300 last year from 4,300 in 2005.

    The spokesman said: "The current average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime is lower than one. If all couples have children according to the policy, it would definitely help relieve pressure in the long term."

    Many young couples are willing to have one child to continue the family line, but they then hand over the baby to grandparents and prefer to enjoy their own leisure time, frequenting bars, clubs and restaurants, going shopping and travelling further afield without being restricted by the responsibilities of children.

    In Shanghai, where the rise in incomes is among the fastest in the country, young couples want to enjoy a level prosperity unknown for more than a century.

    The Shanghai announcement sparked heated debate on the internet and an online opinion poll suggested that most people were opposed to the move.

    One chatroom commentator said: "This should have been done long ago, otherwise in a few years a child will have no uncles, no aunts. These titles will be completely forgotten."

    But most web-users appeared to be less than enthusiastic, complaining that the cost of raising a child in China was prohibitive now. One said: "These days who dares to have a second baby? The cost of living and education are so high. Best not to have one at all."

    Another commented: "It's not that I don't want to have children, but it's that I can't afford to."

    One poster remembered the policies of the 1950s and 1960s when Chairman Mao actively appealed for large families. "Our parents were poor and they had 5 or 6 children. Now we are better off but having even one baby is difficult. In the future we may not be willing even to have one and it will be like the West with a falling population. Terrible!"

    The US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies warned in April that by 2050 China would have more than 438 million people over the age of 60, with more than 100 million aged 80 and above. The country will have just 1.6 working-age adults to support every person aged 60 and above, compared with 7.7 in 1975.

    The country's underfunded state pension system and shrinking family size has removed a traditional layer of support for elders, leaving society ill-prepared to cope with an aging population.

It's as if China didn't see this coming, which I have a hard time believing. Then again, none of the overpopulation zealots seem to get it. (Although I still think China did this as part of a master plan to bulk up its military with men who would never marry. And if they die, so what, all the better.)

Source: JillStanek.com
Publish Date: July 24, 2009
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Grassroots Initiative Calls for Clarification of Common Ground Through On-line Petition: Contraception, Root of Abortion

Founders of The Leaven call all people for the common good to sign an online petition stating that contraception is the root of abortion and that it is allegiance to natural and divine law written on the human heart regarding human sexuality that will protect not only the unborn, but ultimately the poor, the handicapped, the elderly, and the nation from anti-life ideologies. "We are gathering signatures addressed to lawmakers and civic and church leaders" says co-founder Alton Davis.
"There is only one 'common ground' by which to defeat President Obama's anti-life agenda, and that is to finally admit, regardless of religious affiliation, that human sexuality is intended to be under the dominion of human intellect and will, co-operatively between male and female and subordinate to the Creator of all life. Any expression of human sexuality contrary even to natural law alone results in the deterioration of society: disharmony between man and woman, childhood rebellion, gender identity confusion, divorce, pornography, infanticide, genocide, and euthanasia," says Davis.

"In addition to President Obama's dangerous concept of common ground, there is another practice of common ground in the pro-life community that needs to be addressed: near silence regarding staggering numbers of tiny children who are literally flushed down the toilet daily by their mothers. Often young mothers are totally unaware they kill their own children by way of potentially abortifacient contraception: the Pill, the IUD, the birth control patch, Depo-Provera, and any other means prohibiting a tiny baby, every milligram a human, from adhering to the mother's womb. Unwittingly or not, we betray these tiny children when we fail to adequately address this source of abortion which far outstrips the numbers of children dying by surgical abortion. True common ground demands that we commit or re-commit ourselves to the defense of human life by a more literal interpretation of what we are doing to the very least among us," says Juliana Davis.

Contact: Juliana Davis
Source: The Leaven
Publish Date: July 27, 2009
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NEWS SHORTS FOR MONDAY

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.

44 arrested in N.J. Suspects include rabbis, mayors; probe involved black-market kidneys

An investigation into the sale of black-market kidneys and fake Gucci handbags evolved into a sweeping probe of political corruption in New Jersey, ensnaring more than 40 people Thursday, including three mayors, two state lawmakers and several rabbis.

Even for a state with a rich history of graft, the scale of wrongdoing alleged was breathtaking. An FBI official called corruption "a cancer that is destroying the core values of this state."

Federal prosecutors said the investigation initially focused on a money laundering network that operated between Brooklyn, N.Y.; Deal, N.J.; and Israel. The network is alleged to have laundered tens of millions of dollars through Jewish charities controlled by rabbis in New York and New Jersey.
Click here for the full article.

Stillborn Infant Comes Back to Life, Dies Again at Israel Hospital

A premature infant that was delivered stillborn and pronounced dead Sunday night at a hospital in Israel was later determined to be alive while being prepared for burial in the early hours of Monday morning.

The female and its male twin were delivered in the mother's 22nd week of pregnancy at Afula's Haemek Hospital in Nazareth.

They were pronounced dead shortly after delivery, the Jerusalem Post reported Monday.

As the family prepared the bodies for burial, the father noticed that the female was alive. An uncle rushed the premature infant to the home of Dr. Aziz Daraushe, director of Haemek's intensive care unit and a resident Ichsal — the same town in which the family lived.

The preemie was brought back to Haemek Hospital where it was determined to be alive. She later died again, however.

Police are investigating whether the hospital was negligent.
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Is There A Co-Pay With Forced Abortion?

The president has more "czars" running around than Mother Russia. It's mondo bizarro. Kind of fitting, though; must be a communist thing. Still, as the debate over Obama's multi-trillion dollar pet experiment in socialized health care reaches terminal velocity, one of his newest czars underscores – in permanent marker – the true depth of BHO's deep-seated radicalism. His choice of Harvard professor and self-styled "neo-Malthusian" John Holdren as "science czar" provides the latest and perhaps most troubling example of just how bad America really muffed it last November. It could give us a sneak-peak into the not-so-distant future should this Obamacare-health-scare become reality.
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Health Reform Biased Against Seniors

Dr. John Goodman's Health Policy Blog for July 22 makes clear the harsh reality that the only way for President Barack Obama’s version of healthcare reform “to control health care costs is to get doctors to provide less care — fewer tests, fewer procedures, fewer everything.” And who gets the least healthcare of all? Senior citizens. What is the basis for these allegations of biased healthcare rationing? Dr. Goodman cites none other than White House healthcare policy adviser Ezekiel Emanuel.
Click here for the full article.

Research Team Grows Mice by Using Skin Cells Not Embryonic Cells

In a new scientific breakthrough, researchers produced mice by inducing cells from connective tissue in mice. The research team achieved this by first inducing the cells from the connective tissue to revert to their embryonic state. This feat was first achieved two years ago, but researchers had never been successful in creating new living animals from these “induced pluripotent stem” (iPS) cells, raising questions about their developmental potential. The scientific community said this study was required to prove IPS cells work as well as embryonic stem cells, and they are not as controversial.
Click here for the full article.

Abortion Ad Sends Supermodel Running to Court

Add adverts to the growing list of fake products or shanzhai ("mountain stronghold") versions of the real thing. Supermodel Lin Chi-ling is suing a Dongguan gynecology clinic that promoted its "2-minute painless abortion" at a cost of 400 yuan ($59), using the Red Cliff actress' image. Adding insult to injury the clinic used a photo that was part of Lin's uterus cancer prevention campaign, for which she is an ambassador. "I believe lots of showbiz personalities have had similar experiences," said Lin's assistant, called "Gaby" in the Apple Daily newspaper report.
Click here for the full article.

July 24, 2009

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Pence Amendment to defund Planned Parenthood Defeated

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Pence Amendment to defund Planned Parenthood

The Pence Amendment to the Labor/Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill that would have denied Planned Parenthood their "bailout" has been defeated with a vote of 183-247. Make sure you contact your Representative and ask how they voted and thank them if they voted for the amendment. Click here for the video of Rep. Pence offering his amendment

VIDEO: Obama: tonsillectomies vs. abortions

VIDEO: Obama: tonsillectomies vs. abortions

Obama made a very strange comment last night while trying to bolster support for socialized healthcare.

Transcipt:

Right now, doctors a lot of times are forced to make decisions based on the fee payment schedule that's out there. So if they're looking, and you come in, and you've got a bad sore throat, or your child has a bad sore throat, or has repeated sore throats, the doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, "You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out."

Now, that may be the right thing to do, but I'd rather have that doctor making those decisions just based on whether you really need your kid's tonsils out or whether it might make more sense just to change; maybe they have allergies. Maybe they have something else that would make a difference.

Click here for the clip.

Click here for more on this from JillStanek.com.

StopTheAbortionMandate.com To Do list

Last night, a pro-life webcast coordinated by 40 Days for Life's National Director, David Bereit, and Students for Life of America's Executive Director, Kristan Hawkins, gathered more than 36,000 concerned Americans to discuss the abortion mandate in the current health care reform bills before Congress.

The webcast, the largest ever held in the pro-life movement, united more than 15 national pro-life and pro-family organizations in an effort to educate and active pro-life and pro-life grassroots activists. The webcast emphasized that without an explicit exclusion of abortion the current health care reform bills before Congress would mandate that all Americans pay for abortions in both public and private plans.

Speakers included Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention ERLC, Congressmen Chris Smith and Joe Pitts, Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, Kristen Day of Democrats for Life, Dr. Charmaine Yoest of Americans for United for Life, Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America, Douglas Johnson of National Right to Life, David Bereit of 40 Days for Life, and Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life of America.

Recordings of the call are available for download at www.stoptheabortionmandate.com.

We have been given a To Do list, which we must start completing TODAY, if you didn't start last night.

Here's why: Even though Senate leader Harry Reid said yesterday his chamber won't hold a vote on socialized healthcare before the August recess (House: Aug. 3 - Sept. 4; Senate: Aug. 1 - Sept. 5), House leader Nancy Pelosi is threatening to delay the start of her group's recess over this. Meanwhile Obama's people said yesterday they're still pushing for a vote before the recess. The White House has called a meeting with leaders today to discuss the schedule. There's good reason for Obama wanting to get 'er done before recess. He knows during that month at home members will get an ear full from constituents and come back shakier than ever on his anti-life boondoggle.

So, let's get going. StopTheAbortionMandate.com has prepared a 1-page action guide. . From the guide:

    1. Pray

    2. E-mail and write letters to your representative and 2 senators at: www.StopTheAbortionMandate.com/email

    3. Call the Washington office and the local office of your representative and 2 senators; instructions at: www.StopTheAbortionMandate.com/call

    4. Spread the word! Distribute this flyer to everyone you know and use Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail samples at: www.StopTheAbortionMandate.com/share

    5. Write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper using samples at: www.StopTheAbortionMandate.com/editor

Source: jillstanek.com Students for Life of America
Publish Date: July 24, 2009
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Healthcare reform sets off euthanasia alarm

A health economist warns that President Obama's government-run healthcare plan may result in denying care to a significant number of Americans, especially senior citizens.

Conservative opponents of President Obama's healthcare plan have been arguing that a government takeover of healthcare will allow Washington bureaucrats to use "comparative effectiveness research" to dictate to doctors which treatments they should prescribe and how much those treatments should cost. Critics say this will lead to rationing of care.

In the medical journal The Lancet (January 2009 [PDF]) Obama's special health policy advisor Ezekiel Emanuel wrote that if healthcare has to be rationed, he prefers the "complete lives system," which "discriminates against older people."

Dr. Devon Herrick, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, says Emanuel believes young adults should be given preferential care over seniors because they have more years of their life ahead of them.

"I guess the implication of that is if you're older, you will be assumed to have lived a complete life; whereas if you're younger, you'd have yet to live a complete life," Herrick suggests. "So in a way I kind of see it as a method to ration care to the elderly, but trying to use an ethicist's view to justify it."

In an article written more than a decade ago [PDF] for the Hastings Center Report, Dr. Emanuel suggested that health services should not be guaranteed to "individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens." He said "an obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia."

'Obamacare' targets young, healthy, wealthy

A Florida congresswoman says the healthcare legislation being pushed by President Obama sends a blunt message to senior citizens: "drop dead."

On Monday, President Obama said that "the single biggest threat to our fiscal stability" and "the single thing that could drive us into long-term staggering and difficult debt" is Medicare and Medicaid.

Obama told Jim Lehrer of PBS that he wants to "stop providing $177 billion worth of subsidies to the insurance companies for a Medicare Advantage program that offers no additional benefits to seniors, compared to regular old Medicare."

Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Florida) says the House healthcare bill essentially tells senior citizens to "drop dead." (Listen to audio report)

"Despite their promise to care for our seniors, Democrats have decided that it's too expensive to care for my senior constituents and everyone else's constituents," she contends. "This bill would cut an additional $156 billion from the Medicare Advantage program in order to pay for the government expansion of healthcare for the young, the healthy, and the wealthy."

Brown-Waite argues the cut in Medicare Advantage is not the first attack on senior citizens this year. She notes that in March the Obama administration announced that Social Security recipients would not receive a cost-of-living increase.

Contact: Jim Brown
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: July 24, 2009
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Midwives Would Be Paid the Same as Doctors Under Provision in Health Care Bill

President Barack Obama speaks at a
town hall meeting on health care at
Shaker Heights High School in
Shaker Heights, Ohio, Thursday,
July 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

If the House of Representatives passes the health-care bill approved by the Ways and Means and Education committees, midwives--who sometimes deliver babies in place of doctors--will receive the same level of government reimbursement as obstetricians.

Section 1304 of the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (H.R. 3200) would raise government Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for certified nurse midwives to the same level as the reimbursement for doctors who perform the same services. Under current law, midwives only receive 65 percent of what a doctor receives for equal services.

Originally introduced in February as the "Midwifery Care Access and Reimbursement Act of 2009" (H.R. 1101), the proposal by Reps. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.) was later added to the larger health reform package.

In a press release issued by the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) on Feb. 19, Towns said that the legislation "will not only advance women's health services--particularly among those most disadvantaged--but it will give midwives the recognition they have long deserved."

"A certified nurse midwife is basically an advanced practice registered nurse, similar to a nurse practitioner," Lorrie Kline Kaplan, executive director of the ACNM told CNSNews.com, "but they go through their own program of study, typically it's a graduate – a master's degree program, and they are trained in providing all kinds of women's health care throughout the life span, basically from adolescence through menopause, but obviously midwives have kind of a specialty in maternity care services."

According to the midwives' group, certified nurse midwives were involved with 317,168 births in the year 2006 – an increase of 33 percent over 10 years.

Asked about the criticism that the legislation might encourage people to use nurse midwives more and doctors less, Kaplan asked, "Why is that criticism?" She added: "Basically we're talking about equal pay for the same exact service."

"OB-GYNs have, you know, very favorable views of working collaboratively with midwives," Kaplan noted. However, she said that the current reimbursement rate is a "disincentive to have a midwife on staff to provide those services."

"This becomes kind of a barrier to access," she said, "because the reimbursement is so depressed that, you know, because as I said, that physicians are less willing to have a midwife on staff, and it's just not economic to have midwives provide the services, even though the c-section rates for midwives for, you know, a woman who has received care from a midwife and other kinds of medical interventions are usually a lot lower."

Kaplan said it is "actually typically more cost-effective overall to work with a midwife during pregnancy and childbearing."

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), chairman of the Congressional Health Care Caucus, expressed support for the idea – with conditions.

"When a nurse midwife practices under direct physician supervision in a hospital, I'm very comfortable with that being reimbursed at a rate that would be similar to a physician reimbursement, but a nurse midwife who's practicing in a birthing center becomes a little bit more problematic for me," Burgess, a member of Congress who is also an obstetrician, told CNSNews.com.

"The availability of physician backup, the availability or the ability to perform a caesarian section urgently, I think, is going to be the critical feature for me," Burgess said.

Burgess was unequivocal, however, in his opposition to midwives performing home births.

"I don't think that's a good idea in general, and I wouldn't be in favor of that being reimbursed at the physician rate, because you're just simply not able to provide the same level of safety as someone who's practicing in the hospital," Burgess said. "But it has nothing to do with credential. I'd probably feel the same way about a physician who's delivering a baby at home."

Kaplan estimated that 96 percent of births attended by certified nurse midwives are in hospitals, with others occurring in birthing clinics – and a much smaller number in homes.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) also supports the idea.

"Although we have not commented specifically on the Section 1304 provision in HR 3200, ACOG supports reimbursement equity for certified nurse midwives, as it has for many years," the organization said in a statement issued to CNSNews.com.

As an obstetrician, Burgess also spoke very highly of nurse midwives from his professional experience and said he suggested that his former obstetrics practice partners hire one.

"I encouraged us to look at hiring a nurse midwife," he said. "We didn't do it when I was still in practice, but after I left they did indeed. The hospital did give them a little bit of difficulty with credentialing, but they eventually allowed it, and now the practice is quite satisfied and quite happy that they incorporated a nurse midwife into their obstetric practice."

Contact: Adam Brickley
Source: CNSNews.com
Publish Date: July 24, 2009
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Anti-Abstinence Education Measure in Congress

Democrats in the U.S. House have introduced a bill purportedly aimed at reducing abortions, but which would, in fact, increase funding of sex education without a major abstinence component.

The bill, the Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act, also calls for increased access to contraceptives and expanded Medicaid family-planning coverage.

"It's about death, and it's about spreading Planned Parenthood's philosophy and getting millions of dollars into their coffers," said Jim Sedlak, vice president of the American Life League.

Sedlak described the bill as one that helps fund the wish list Planned Parenthood gave the Obama administration in its earliest days.

"And that wish list, if you added everything up, comes out to $4.6 billion going into Planned Parenthood and their friends," he said.

Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, noted the House Energy and Commerce Committee has rejected Title V abstinence-education funds from going to states and replaced it with a $50 million program for teen pregnancy prevention.

"And that ," she noted, "is just code for more contraceptive education, explicit sexual education in the schools across the country."

Sedlak doesn't buy the claim that the bill has support from some pro-lifers.

"There is no major pro-life organization in this country that would support this kind of a bill," he said, adding that the bill's mention of adoption promotion is simply the other side "throwing us a bone."

Contact: Roger Greer
Source: CitizenLink
Publish Date: July 23, 2009
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Obama Committed to Women's Health in Health Care Reform: White House Staffer to Planned Parenthood

Tina Tchen, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, welcomed Planned Parenthood staff and supporters from across the country in the opening session of the Planned Parenthood 2009 Organizing and Policy Summit last week.

Tchen spoke to attendees on the current push by the Obama administration for health care reform and reiterated the administration's commitment to "women's health," according to a Planned Parenthood press release.

"I can say this directly from the White House, the president reiterated to all of us in the senior staff that health care is the most important issue," said Tchen. "It is the signature issue that he ran on; it is what he believes is one of the singularly most important reforms that need to be made that affects America, that affects our economy."

Tchen also assured attendees at the Planned Parenthood event that Obama is a pro-choice president, according to RH Reality Check.

Tchen's remarks appear to echo those made by Obama in a previous appearance at a Planned Parenthood event, in 2007, when he explained that abortion was "at the center, the heart of" his idea of healthcare overhaul. During that appearance Obama had also famously stated his intention to sign FOCA as the first act of his presidency.

However, while pro-abortion efforts to pass FOCA appear to have been put on the back-burner for the time being, pro-life leaders have issued a clarion call to action to counter Obama's healthcare reform, in which the President appears to be making good on his promise to include abortion.

Pro-life leaders have called Obama's healthcare plan "FOCA by stealth," arguing that the bill, without significant alterations, will ultimately lead to many of the same effects as FOCA would - especially the removal of many state-passed restrictions on abortion, and the eradication of basic health-care worker conscience rights.

A massive webcast is scheduled for tonight, at which dozens of the pro-life world's most prestigious voices will discuss the Obama plan. So far over 25,000 participants are expected for the free Stop the Abortion Mandate web event.

Also speaking at the Planned Parenthood Summit was PP President Cecile Richards. "This gathering couldn't come at a more critical time," said Richards. "Health care reform is moving full steam ahead, and policymakers in Washington need to know the importance of including women's health care as part of a reform package. We are grateful that Tina Tchen and Rep. Schakowsky took time away from their busy schedules to update us on health care reform and take our message back with them to their colleagues."

According to the PP release, during the three-day summit participants worked to ensure that "women's health" is a priority in health care reform and that any health care reform should include access to "comprehensive reproductive health care."

More than 400 Planned Parenthood representatives were in attendance, including Planned Parenthood affiliate CEOs, staff, supporters, and 200-plus Planned Parenthood teen educators and college students.

Contact: John Jalsevac
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Publish Date: July 23, 2009
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USA Today shows how pro-aborts try to misframe abortion debate

USA Today shows how pro-aborts try to misframe abortion debate

An article in USA Today July 23 entitled, "Abortion fight is 'enduring divide,'" began like this:

During confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, asked whether she believed court rulings on abortion had ended the national controversy.

    In a departure from the oblique answers that marked the hearings, Sotomayor paused, then answered bluntly: "No."

    The incendiary debate over abortion rights endures and can be jarring, as when abortion opponents interrupted at several points the Senate Judiciary Committee session with Sotomayor. The controversy has boiled up in other ways in the days since then.

    Thursday, a day after President Obama's prime-time pitch for an overhaul of the health care system, Americans United for Life and other abortion opponents accelerated their resistance to Democratic proposals. A day earlier, abortion rights supporters presented members of Congress with a report, tied to the killing of KS abortion doctor George Tiller in May, documenting harassment, threats and physical assaults on physicians who provide abortions.

    Nearly 4 decades after the Supreme Court made abortion legal nationwide and nearly 2 decades after the justices reaffirmed the right, the political saliency of abortion persists.

    "The enduring divide represents the reality that there are fundamental religious differences on the issue of abortion that do not exist on, say, campaign finance or even on health care," says Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which issued the report Wednesday about threats at clinics that provide abortions....

To relegate the debate over abortion as one of "religious differences" is to say it is esoteric and unsolvable.

But this is a legal debate, a constitutional debate, a scientific debate, as Northup full knows unless she is totally ignorant, which I don't think she is.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Harry Blackmun, when writing for the majority in the Roe v. Wade decision, wrote this:

The appellee... argue that the fetus is a "person" within the language and meaning of the 14th Amendment.... If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment.

35 years ago one could not watch human fertilization under a microscope or view early preborn life with 3D and 4D ultrasound. Were personhood to be an issue before the US Supreme Court today, as Blackmun stated, the other side's argument would "collapse."

I'm quite certain Northrup knows all this and is just jive talking. I spotlight this so pro-lifers can stop pro-aborts in their tracks when the attempt this deflection.

[HT: proofreader Laura Loo; attribution for photo of pro-lifers and pro-aborts protesting outside the Sotomayor hearings: USA Today]

Source: JillStanek.com
Publish Date: July 24, 2009
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NEWS SHORTS FOR FRIDAY

NEWS SHORTS FOR FRIDAY

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.

Pence Amendment Fails, House Votes to Increase Tax Dollars for Planned Parenthood

After unexpectedly passing the House Rules committee late yesterday, an amendment introduced by Rep. Mike Pence to strip Planned Parenthood of its taxpayer funding under Health and Human Services "family planning" (or Title X) funds, has failed.

The House of Representatives rejected the Pence Amendment to defund Planned Parenthood by a vote of 183 to 247.

The Labor/Health and Human Services appropriations bill contains $317.5 million for the Title X Family Planning program (a $10 million or 3% increase over 2008 levels), which is a major source of funding for Planned Parenthood affiliates. Planned Parenthood is the recipient of approximately 23% of Title X Family Planning funds.
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Democrat Bill Could Be a Preview of Obama's Abortion Plan

Democrat Reps. Tim Ryan and Rosa DeLauro reintroduced their bill aimed at preventing unintended pregnancies and "reducing the need for abortion" today. This is big news because moderate to liberal faith-based advocates are urging the White House to adopt the bill--the Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion, and Supporting Parents Act--as the core of its forthcoming "common ground" plan on abortion and reproductive health. Conservative religious groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention, have warned the White House that the Ryan-DeLauro bill is a deal breaker for them, since the bill funds contraception and comprehensive sex education.
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Non-Embryonic Stem Cells Pass Major Hurdle in Mice

Two teams of Chinese scientists have made a major advance in mice in the development of a new kind of stem cell that doesn't involve destroying embryos. Those cells are derived from ordinary skin cells, and when they were created two years ago from human skin and genetically reprogrammed, it was hailed as a breakthrough. But questions remained whether they could act as chameleon-like as embryonic stem cells and morph into any cell type in the body.
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Abortion Causes Delays in Votes on Tax-funded Abortion in Health Care as Grassroots Mobilize

Amid mass defections among pro-life democrats and a flood of phone calls and e-mails from the folks back home, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced yesterday that he would not schedule a vote on Health Care Reform, which included tax-funded abortion, prior to the August recess.

Meanwhile on the House side, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an extremist supporter of abortion, vows to pass the health even if she has to hold the House over the summer recess. However some democrats doubt that she has the votes.
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We Won't Treat You, But We Will Help You Kill Yourself

In Oregon that is the case.

    Some terminally ill patients in Oregon who turned to their state for health care were denied treatment and offered doctor-assisted suicide instead, a proposal some experts have called a "chilling" corruption of medical ethics.

    Since the spread of his prostate cancer, 53-year-old Randy Stroup of Dexter, Ore., has been in a fight for his life. Uninsured and unable to pay for expensive chemotherapy, he applied to Oregon's state-run health plan for help.

    Lane Individual Practice Association (LIPA), which administers the Oregon Health Plan in Lane County, responded to Stroup's request with a letter saying the state would not cover Stroup's pricey treatment, but would pay for the cost of physician-assisted suicide.

What do we call this, besides immoral? Oh yeah, health care rationing. But we won't see any of that in Obamacare will we? But in Oregon's mind assisted suicide = hospice care.
Click here for the full article.

July 23, 2009

UPDATE ON THE HEALTH CARE REFORM LEGISLATION

UPDATE ON THE HEALTH CARE REFORM LEGISLATION

In a major blow to President Obama's push for health care legislation, Harry Reid has told reporters that the Senate would not attempt to pass a bill before the August recess.

"It's better to get a product that's based on quality and thoughtfulness than on trying to just get something through," Reid said today, according to the Politico.

While Reid tried to play down the news as "no surprise to anyone" it actually is a pretty big deal. For months, Obama was pressuring Democratic leaders to pass bills in both chambers of Congress before the recess, leaving the fall for merely reconciling the two bills. Now opponents of the legislation will have the entire month of August to educate the American public about the perils of the legislation. It means more time for bad economic news to come out that undermines Obama's credibility, and more time for Obama's approval ratings, trending south, to fall further. It also means health care will have to compete with lots of other Congressional priorities. The health care fight is by no means over, and it still remains quite possible that Obama will sign some sort of health care bill toward the end of the year. But the missed deadline is unmistakably a massive set back, and the first time in Obama's young presidency that he hasn't gotten something from Congress that he has really wanted.

From our friends at LetHerLive:

From our friends at LetHerLive:

The pro-abortion forces may be rejoicing that they are making big political gains, but at Let Her Live, we are not ready to give up the fight for even one precious life. In fact, we are launching a new offensive. We are working to place a billboard year-round at a major South Carolina clinic and a major Atlanta clinic that will show to women who may be considering abortion the reality of the precious baby inside of them.

When women see these billboards, call the number, and meet with a counselor at a crisis pregnancy center, they are likely to change their minds and embrace life for their babies and hope for their own lives. When enough women change their minds, it cuts into the bottom line of the abortion clinic, and when abortion clinics close, fewer women abort, because it is less convenient.

Click here for more information.

Catholic nurse ordered to help with abortion

Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City

A lawsuit has been filed against Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City for requiring a nurse who had a long record of expressing conscientious objection to abortions to help in the dismemberment of a live 22-week-old preborn child.

The case is being brought by the Alliance Defense Fund, which also is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the hospital from retaliating against the nurse, Catherina Lorena Cenzon-DeCarlo.

"Compelling Mrs. DeCarlo to assist in this abortion against her religious beliefs exposed Mrs. DeCarlo to brutal psychological harm," said the document seeking the injunction. "By assisting she was forced to witness the killing of a 22-week-old preborn child by dismemberment.

"Because it was included in the requirements of her nursing duties as an assistant on the case, Mount Sinai forced Mrs. DeCarlo to watch the doctor remove the bloody arms and legs of the child from its mother's body by with forceps, and then after the surgery, to view the bloody body parts in the specimen cup, put saline in the cup, and take it to the specimen area," the injunction request explains.

This happened even though according to the hospital's own protocols, the abortion was not so urgent that it would have required her assistance, and there was more than enough time to summon another nurse, the complaint said.

A hospital spokesman declined to comment in a WND telephone call seeking information, instructing that the request for a statement be submitted via e-mail. An e-mail response said the hospital wouldn't comment.

The ADF explained that the hospital has known of the nurse's religious objections to participating in the death of a living unborn baby since 2004. Nevertheless, they ordered her to participate, threatening her with disciplinary measures if she refused, she allged. The hospital then dramatically cut her on-call assignments after she refused to sign a statement promising to participate in future abortions.

"Pro-life nurses shouldn't be forced to assist in abortions against their beliefs," said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. "Requiring a devout, Catholic nurse to participate in a late-term abortion in order to remain employed is illegal, unethical, and violates her rights of conscience. Federal law requires that employers who receive funding from tax dollars must not compel employees to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs, but this nurse's objections fell on deaf ears."

The case alleges the abortion was set up by the hospital because the mother had been diagnosed with preeclampsia, but DeCarlo knew such a condition can be treated without the necessity of an abortion.

When she was told the unborn child was alive, she immediately objected to Dr. Noel Strong, the resident assigned to the case. A series of calls to the nursing supervisor, Fran Carpo, and her supervisor, Ella Shapiro, followed.

The orders came back from Carpo that DeCarlo must assist in the procedure.

"Mrs. DeCarlo repeated her longstanding objection and pleaded with Ms. Carpo that Mount Sinai not force her to assist in this abortion against her strongly held religious beliefs. Mrs. DeCarlo asked Ms. Carpo to call other nurses to the case since so little time had elapsed before Mrs. DeCarlo had voiced her objection. Ms. Carpo said that Ms. Shapiro had insisted that Mrs. DeCarlo assist on the case, and had prohibited Ms. Carpo from even trying to call other nurses to cover the case. Ms. Carpo also said that Dr. Silverstein had yelled at her over the phone in opposition to any delay in the case as a result of Mrs. DeCarlo's request for accommodation," the document explains.

Then the threats began.

"Ms. Carpo said that if Mrs. DeCarlo did not participate in the case, Mrs. DeCarlo would be brought up on charges of 'insubordination and patient abandonment,'" the complaint states. "A charge of patient abandonment would severely jeopardize Mrs. DeCarlo's employment and her nursing license and consequently her career and her and her family's livelihood."

Even DeCarlo's tearful pleas to be allowed to get her priest on the telephone to explain her religious objection were ignored.

The case at the time was designated by the hospital as Category II, which means the doctors wanted the procedure done within six hours – more than enough time to bring in a replacement nurse, the lawsuit said.

According to the request for the injunction, federal law doesn't allow the hospital to do what it did.

"Mount Sinai is bound to respect Mrs. DeCarlo's conscience rights by virtue of several laws, but most notably 42 U.S.C. § 300a-7(c). Mount Sinai has voluntarily subjected itself to this statute by receiving hundreds of millions of federal Health and Human Services dollars in recent years," the request said. "This statute … states in no uncertain terms that Mrs. DeCarlo is protected from discrimination by Mount Sinai in the conditions or privileges of her employment on the basis of her religious objection to assisting in abortion.

"Mount Sinai blatantly violated Mrs. DeCarlo's rights under 42 U.S.C. § 300a-7(c) on May 24, and it continues to do so by condoning the violation and insisting that it can compel her or other employees again or penalize them by removing them from on-call shifts," it said.

It said the injunction is essential because of the imminent danger to employees.

"Mount Sinai must not and cannot force employees to assist in procedures they consider to be brutal murder. But rather than honoring that trust it has resorted to brash bullying tactics against the one employee to ask that her rights of conscience be respected," the request said.

DeCarlo's injuries include the trauma from the procedure.

"She has felt intense emotional, psychological and spiritual suffering from having to participate in something she considers profoundly immoral and unjust. She has missed several days of work, has had trouble sleeping, and has had nightmares about the killing of this child. She has even had to deal with feelings of estrangement from God and family members," the law firm said.

According to the allegations, after the incident, the hospital retaliated against DeCarlo "because of her request that it honor her religious objection to assisting in abortion, and because of the grievance procedure that she filed. First Mount Sinai officials failed to assign Mrs. DeCarlo to her usual 8–9 on-call shifts in August."

WND previously reported on a similar conscience rights case brought by a nurse in Louisiana in which the state Supreme Court ordered a trial.

The hospital in the case had demanded that the nurse's complaint be dismissed.

That case also is being handled by the Alliance Defense Fund. It was brought on behalf of nurse Toni Lemly, who had worked in the St. Tammany Parish Hospital. She sued when she objected to dispensing the "morning after" abortion pill because of her religious beliefs and was demoted.

The hospital's lawyers sought to have her case dismissed out of hand, and when that attempt failed, went to the state Supreme Court. The high court, however, issued a single-word ruling on the hospital's demands: "Denied."

"The hospital declined several reasonable suggestions made by Lemly, a nurse for 23 years, that would have enabled the facility to continue administering the pill while allowing her to abstain from dispensing it herself," the ADF report said. "The hospital chose not to act on any of her suggestions."

WND reported earlier when Donna Harrison, president of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, urged people to contact the White House to express their views on the subject of conscience rights.

"We don't want to kill our patients," she said in an interview with Greg Corombos of Radio America/WND.

There also is an online petition campaign on the issue at Freedom2Care through which people can contact the Department of Health and Human Services.

The issue is getting hotter under President Obama's leadership. Since his election, Obama also has repealed a ban on U.S. taxpayer funding of foreign abortions and overturned the nation's ban on experimenting on human embryos for stem cell research.

He's also installed in his administration's highest levels several strongly pro-abortion politicians, including former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, now health secretary.

Contact: Bob Unruh
Source: WorldNetDaily
Publish Date: July 23, 2009
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Life Advocates Continue to Fight Aurora, Ill., Planned Parenthood

Life advocates are appealing a decision by the city of Aurora, Ill., to issue a final certificate of occupancy to a brand-new Planned Parenthood abortion mega-clinic. The certificate grants permanent legal status to the 22,000-square-foot facility.

Lawyers from the Thomas More Society of Chicago say city officials are refusing to apply the correct ordinance to Planned Parenthood. The clinic also has been accused of falsifying permit applications, obtaining an invalid building permit and invalid building inspections, and violating other laws.

"Planned Parenthood has made a mockery of Aurora's development process," said Peter Breen, an attorney with the Thomas More Society. "They have brazenly committed fraud against the city and have strong-armed their illegal non-profit 'business' into the backyards of citizens who were given no voice to oppose the building.

"It is time for the City of Lights to shine a harsh light on Planned Parenthood's dirty tactics."

Source: CitizenLink
Publish Date: July 23, 2009
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