Federal Court of Appeal Reinstates Case Against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to Stop Federal Funding of Research Involving the Destruction of Living Human Embryos

    
     The Great Stem Cell Debate

Today the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued its decision finding that doctors doing adult stem cell research have 'competitive standing' to sue. Therefore, the court reinstated the doctors' federal lawsuit, filed last summer that seeks to preliminarily enjoin and ultimately overturn the controversial guidelines for public funding of embryonic stem cell research that the National Institutes of Health issued on July 7, 2009.  The implementation of these guidelines marks the first time that taxpayer dollars will be used to fund research that will result in the destruction of human embryos.  Since 1994, Congress has expressly banned NIH from funding research in which human embryos "are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death."
 
According to Thomas G. Hungar, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, "the language of the statute is clear.  It bans public funding for any research that leads to the destruction of human embryos.  NIH's attempt to avoid Congress's command by funding everything but the act of 'harvesting' is pure sophistry.  The guidelines will result in the destruction of human embryos and are unlawful, unethical, and unnecessary."

The plaintiffs contend that the NIH guidelines violate the congressional ban because they "necessarily condition funding on the destruction of human embryos."  In addition, the plaintiffs also allege that the NIH guidelines were invalidly implemented, because the decision to fund human embryonic stem cell research was made without the proper procedures required by law and without properly considering the more effective and less ethically problematic forms of adult and induced pluripotent stem cell research.

President Obama, in his March 11, 2009 Executive Order announcing his Administration's policy stated he was determined to fund ethically "responsible, scientifically worthy human stem cell research...to the extent permitted by law." Sadly, these guidelines while claiming to "implement" the President's directions, fail his own test because they are not only unlawful, they are based upon an ethically irresponsible misunderstanding of available scientific evidence.  One of the expert stem cell researcher plaintiffs, Dr. James L. Sherley, explained that "the great irony of the guidelines is that research involving stem cells safely derived from human adults and other sources presents the same if not greater potential for medical breakthroughs, without any of the troubling legal and ethical issues related to embryonic stem-cell research."  Clinical trials using adult stem cells have successfully reversed the effects of diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.  The plaintiffs argue that because NIH promulgated its guidelines with a preconceived determination to fund human embryonic stem cell research and without considering these scientifically and ethically superior alternatives, the guidelines are invalid regulations and should be struck down.

Dr. David Stevens, Executive Director of Christian Medical Association, an organization of more than 16,000 doctors who are also plaintiffs in the case, said "we are opposed to this proposed illegal and unethical federal funding of destructive embryonic research that would compel every American to cooperate with such unlawful human experimentation and the violation of our fundamental medical research ethic never to lethally experiment on one human being simply to benefit the interests of other human beings."

Sam Casey,  Co-counsel for the plaintiffs and General Counsel of Advocates International's Law of Life Project, a public interest legal project specializing in cutting-edge bio-ethical issues, added:  "The majority of the almost 50,000 comments that the NIH received were opposed to funding this research, and by its own admission, NIH totally ignored these comments.  The so-called spare human embryos being stored in IVF clinics around the United States are not 'in excess of need,' as the NIH in its guidelines callously assert.  They are human beings in need of biological or adoptive parents."

The lawsuit is brought by a broad coalition of plaintiffs, including Dr. James L. Sherley, a former member of the MIT faculty, currently working as a senior scientist at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute; Dr. Theresa Deisher, the founder, managing member, and research and development director of AVM Biotechnology; Nightlight Christian Adoptions, a non-profit, licensed adoption agency dedicated to protecting and finding adoptive parents for human embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization; all individual human embryos whose lives are now at risk under NIH's guidelines; parents seeking to adopt human embryos; and the Christian Medical Association, a non-profit association of doctors dedicated to improving ethical standards of health care in the United States and abroad.  The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending religious freedom and the sanctity of human life, is also serving as co-counsel on the case and providing financial support.

Contact: Samuel B. Casey
Source: Advocates International
Publish Date: June 25, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

--
Illinois Federation for Right to Life
2600 State Street, Ste E.
Alton, IL 62002

Phone: 618-466-4122
Fax: 618-466-4134

Web: www.ifrl.org
E-mail: mail@ifrl.org

NEWS SHORTS FOR FRIDAY

HPV Vaccine Blinds 16-Year-Old Girl

A 16-year-old girl lost nearly all of her vision within 10 days of receiving the second course of her vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV), reports a case study in the Journal of Child Neurology. The HPV vaccine is designed to prevent infection by the strains of the virus that are responsible for the majority of cervical cancer and genital warts cases. The study recounts the case of a previously healthy teenage girl who developed a headache on the left side of her head and began to lose vision in her right eye eight days after receiving her second HPV vaccine shot. Over the course of the following 48 hours, the pain spread across her head and she began to lose sight in her left eye as well.
Click here for the entire article.


Study Finds Link In Domestic Abuse, Abortion

Women seeking to kill their babies by abortion are more likely to have experienced partner violence than the general population, according to a recent study by University of Iowa professors and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, was based on a series of private screenings of 986 women seeking abortions at Planned Parenthood on issues of physical and sexual abuse, as well as battering. Researchers completed the study over a period of 81?2 months; all the participants were Iowa residents. Researchers found nearly 14 percent of the women who sought abortions had experienced domestic violence from a partner in the previous 12 months. And 74 percent of those women said they had been abused by a former partner rather than their current partner.
Click here for the entire article.


Massachusetts School Officials Under Fire For Giving Condoms to Little Elementary School Children

Free condoms for grade schoolers? Not so fast, says Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Patrick urged a Cape Cod school superintendent to reconsider the idea of giving out free condoms to all students who ask for them - including kids as young as first grade. "Comprehensive reproductive health education needs to be done in an age appropriate manner," Patrick said in a statement reported by WBZ television in Boston. "In those instances where local communities have agreed to make condoms available in school clinical settings, the norm - according to our Department of Public Health - is high school."
Click here for the entire article.


Retired British GP Admits Killing Patients without Consent: Could Face Charges

A retired UK doctor believes he has been treated “harshly” by medical and legal authorities after he admitted to deliberately killing some of his patients without their consent.

“I twice helped people die, not because they wanted to die but because they had such dreadful suffering,” Dr. Howard Martin admitted in a video interview with the Daily Telegraph.

Last week the General Medical Council (GMC) found Martin guilty of professional misconduct, saying that he had knowingly “hastened the deaths” of 18 patients by giving them excessive doses of morphine. The GMC called his conduct “despicable and dangerous,” and police are now investigating whether criminal charges could be pressed.
Click here for the entire article.


Abortion policy destroying European societies, Spanish bishop warns

Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Cordoba in Spain said pro-abortion policies are leading to “the destruction of society,” to the degree that “prosperous European societies such as Germany, France or Holland, among others, are now dying.  He stressed that the same thing is currently taking place in Spain.

In an interview with Europa Press, Bishop Fernandez said the situation facing Europe is obvious. “If nothing more, if there are no children, there will not be a sufficient number of workers. But it doesn’t seem that anyone is concerned about this issue and only the Church is speaking up.”
Click here for the entire article.

--
Illinois Federation for Right to Life
2600 State Street, Ste E.
Alton, IL 62002

Phone: 618-466-4122
Fax: 618-466-4134

Web: www.ifrl.org
E-mail: mail@ifrl.org

This Afternoon: Congress Votes on Grassroots Muzzle, 'DISCLOSE Act'

This Afternoon: Congress Votes on Grassroots Muzzle, ‘DISCLOSE Act’

    
     Congress Votes on Grassroots Muzzle

Armed with the inspiration that comes from political desperation, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on campaign finance bill Thursday that critics on both the left and the right say will disable grassroots political opposition – including the nascent “Tea Party” movement that has been looking to sweep away liberal incumbents in November.

According to House Republican sources, the House began meeting at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business and are now taking up H.R. 5175, the “Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act” that has pro-life, pro-family groups, and even the ACLU crying foul.

The Act would force grassroots organizations to release the names of donors and members of their organizations into a publicly searchable database, and frustrate the ability of grassroots entities to communicate effectively with the public about public policy.

Sources with House GOP leadership say they expect a final vote in the House anytime between 2:45 – 3:15 p.m.

Once passed by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Barack Obama, the act would take effect in 30 days, even if the Federal Elections Commission has not yet crafted new guidelines – just in time for the mid-term elections in November.

House members have had virtually no time to read the final version of the bill devised yesterday by the House Rules Committee. Only the Rules Committee for certain knows what details have been included or deleted at the last moment behind closed doors. But instead of waiting for Congressmen and their staff to analyze the final bill, the Democrat leadership is determined to force through a vote today by invoking a “Martial Law Rule.”

The Martial Law Rule dispenses with a longstanding House rule (Rule XIII(6)(a)), which is intended to give U.S. Representatives and the public enough time to understand significant legislation. The rule requires that there be at least one day between the bill’s unveiling and the House floor vote. Under normal rules a bill can only be considered on the same legislative day as reported by the Rules Committee if two-thirds of the House agree – but the Martial Law Rule dispenses with that process entirely.

The rule has been used before by House Republicans when they were in the majority, but critics on both the left and the right have denounced the tactic. They say it empowers a party’s leadership to act in an authoritarian manner and endangers democratic self-government by forcing members to vote blind on measures they want enacted.

Once the Martial Law rule is passed, the House will engage in a series of votes culminating in the adoption of the rule for H.R. 5175, which should conclude before the House takes a break anticipated for 11:45 a.m.

During the afternoon, the House will then have just one hour of general debate on H.R. 5175 – a bill they have not had time to read – which will then be followed by debate on the five amendments permitted under the Rule.

In a June 18 letter to Congress, the ACLU wrote that, “This bill fails to improve the integrity of our campaigns in any substantial way while significantly harming the speech and associational rights of Americans.”

Under the bill, all groups subject to the law’s requirements would have to list all donors of $600 or more with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Groups must also post a hyperlink on their website to the FEC, where a list of the names of their donors can be accessed.

But the DISCLOSE Act exempts large 501(c)4 groups – like the 4 million strong NRA and 750,000 member Sierra Club – from having to report their donors if they have at least 500,000 members, over 10 years of existence, chapters in all 50 states, and receive no more than 15 percent of total contributions from corporations.

The ACLU noted the irony that a bill ostensibly dedicated to uprooting corruption in the political process would exempt entrenched “mainstream” political interests from its reporting requirements, while “smaller organizations and those just starting out would have to disclose their donors in order to engage in political speech.”

“Those groups not challenging the status quo would be protected; those challenging the status quo would be suppressed,” they concluded.

The bill also requires that every time an organization runs a campaign ad, its CEO must appear in the ad and state twice his name and the organization’s name. The top five funders of the organization behind the ad – even if they had nothing to do with the ad’s funding – must also have their names listed in the ad.

In addition, the most “significant” donor to the organization must list his name, rank, and organization three times in the ad. Critics of the bill say that the disclaimers effectively consume valuable airtime bought by these groups that would otherwise be used to inform voters about a candidate’s record.

Other affected entities will likely include vocal liberal and conservative groups that communicate through the internet. While traditional media organizations like newspapers and television stations are exempt from the bill, bloggers, the vanguard of the “new media,” are not. 

Contact: Peter J. Smith
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Publish Date: June 24, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

 

Illinois Federation for Right to Life

2600 State Street, Ste E

Alton, IL  62002

 

Phone: 618.466.4122

Web: www.ifrl.org

E-mail: mail@ifrl.org

 

Top Democrats Won't Say If Elena Kagan Should Justify Her Abortion Views

    
     Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) each refused to say whether Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan should have to justify her view on abortion at her upcoming confirmation hearing.
 
Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Durbin, the Senate Majority Whip, were asked by CNSNews.com whether they agreed with former federal judge and Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, who said on Wednesday that Kagan should have to explain the origins of her views on abortion.
 
“I think the first set of inquiries should go into what she considers the materials from which she should draw in deciding, for example, the constitutional right to an abortion,  which I don’t think exists,” Bork said during a conference call.  “[S]he ought to be asked what basis – on what materials – does she base that [opinion].”
 
When asked by CNSNews.com whether Kagan should have to explain her views on abortion, Leahy didn’t answer directly.
 
“I don’t listen to special interests groups on the right or on the left,” Leahy said. “I consider myself a pretty good lawyer, [and] I’ll make up my mind which questions to ask. You will know what I think is appropriate by the questions I’m going to ask.”

    
     Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
 
Durbin, asked the same question, predicted that Kagan would be “cautious” in expressing her views. Like Leahy, he did not actually say whether Kagan should explain why she thinks abortion is a constitutional right.
 
“I bet that it’s one of the early questions asked – about her position on Roe v. Wade – whether she thinks that there are any variations on that that we ought to consider. I think it’s been asked of every nominee in some form, so I expect that,” Durbin said.
 
Durbin said he expects Kagan to be “careful.”
 
“Even though she’s written articles saying that nominees should be more forthcoming, I’m sure she’s been cautioned to follow precedent and she’ll be careful. I hope we can get some answers – more direct answers,” Durbin said.
 
Kagan, the current solicitor General of the United States, previously has published articles calling for Supreme Court nominees to be more forthcoming about their views on the law and the Constitution.

Following is a transcript of CNSNews.com’s questions to Sens. Leahy and Durbin and their reponses:
 
CNSNews.com to Sen. Leahy: Judge Bork today said that she [Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan] should be asked to justify her views on abortion, where they come from. Do you think that she should be asked?
 
Leahy: You know what? As I said, I don’t listen to special interests groups on the right or on the left. I consider myself a pretty good lawyer [and] I’ll make up my mind which questions to ask. You will know what I think is appropriate by the questions I’m going to ask.
 
CNSNews.com to Sen. Dick Durbin: One of the things Judge Bork said was that she [Elena Kagan] should have to justify – and really just name – whether or not she thinks there’s a constitutional right to an abortion and justify those views. Not asking whether or not you’d ask that, but do you think that she should? Do you think he’s right that she should?
 
Durbin: I bet that it’s one of the early questions asked – about her position on Roe v. Wade – whether she thinks that there are any variations on that that we ought to consider. I think it’s been asked of every nominee in some form, so I expect that.
 
CNSNews.com: So do you think [crosstalk] that’s the point, you never get an answer [from previous nominees] -- do you think that she should give a full explanation?
 
Durbin: I think that they come close [more crosstalk]
 
CNSNews.com: Should she go ahead and instead of the super-duper precedent, that kind of thing, go ahead and just lay out the case, [what] in her mind the case is, if she supports it? Is that something you’d like to see?
 
Durbin: I don’t know that volunteering information to the Senate Judiciary Committee…
 
CNSNews.com: Well if she’s asked…
 
Durbin: Well, if she’s asked that’s one thing, but when you start volunteering information in this type of a hearing it may turn out to be problematic.
 
CNSNews.com: Well if she’s asked, should she just lay it out?
 
Durbin: She’ll be careful. Even though she’s written articles saying that nominees should be more forthcoming, I’m sure she’s been cautioned to follow precedent and she’ll be careful. I hope we can get some answers – more direct answers.

Contact: Matt Cover
Source: CNSNews.com
Publish Date: June 24, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

 

Illinois Federation for Right to Life

2600 State Street, Ste E

Alton, IL  62002

 

Phone: 618.466.4122

Web: www.ifrl.org

E-mail: mail@ifrl.org

 

 

NEWS SHORTS FOR THURSDAY

Debating Where Life Begins

Yes, at fertilization, gametes cease to be and a new organism takes their place.

Fertilization in humans and other mammals produces a new member of the species in the embryonic stage of its natural development. That is to say, the entity produced by the union of spermatozoon and oocyte is a complete, though developmentally immature, organism. Unlike the gametes — the sperm and egg cells independent of each other — it is no mere part of another organism, nor is it merely something that can be used to produce a complete organism. At fertilization, the ovum and the sperm cease to be and something new comes to be — an organism (the embryo) whose genetic constitution and epigenetic state orient and dispose it to develop in the direction of maturity as a member of the species.
Click here for the entire article.


Christian Students Sue High School over Discrimination against Pro-Life Messages

Late yesterday, Liberty Counsel (LC) filed a complaint in federal court in New Mexico to stop what they called the “censorship” of a group of students at Roswell High School and Goddard High School called “Relentless in Roswell.”

One day, students handed out small rubber models of preborn babies before class. The models showed the babies at 12 weeks gestation and were each labeled with Biblical references and pro-life messages.

School officials seized hundreds of the baby models, including from some students who were not distributing them, and reportedly told the students, “It’s time to shut this down. Some people are getting offended.”
Click here for the entire article.


New York pro-aborts bicker over bill authorizing late-term abortions

10% of all U.S. abortions are committed in the State of New York. (Guttmacher's latest figures have the US at 1.21 million abortions annually, and the NY Dept. of Health's latest figures have it at 118.381 abortions annually.)

But that's not enough. Even though pro-aborts consistently downplay the number of late-term abortions, NY pro-aborts want the gateway opened for more.

Although the US Supreme Court in 1973 basically ordained abortion on demand throughout all 9 months of pregnancy by writing a health exception through which a Mack truck could drive, preexisting NY State law only allows abortion after 24 weeks to save a pregnant mother's life. Plus, abortions after 24 weeks must be attended by a 2nd physician to care for the potentially viable child.
Click here for the entire article.


New England Journal of Medicine: Blindness Reversed in Dozens of Patients By Adult—Not Embryonic—Stem Cell Therapy

Stem Cells Reverse Blindness Caused by Burns

Dozens of people who were blinded or otherwise suffered severe eye damage when they were splashed with caustic chemicals had their sight restored with transplants of their own stem cells--a stunning success for the burgeoning cell-therapy field, Italian researchers reported Wednesday.
 
The treatment worked completely in 82 of 107 eyes and partially in 14 others, with benefits lasting up to a decade so far. One man whose eyes were severely damaged more than 60 years ago now has near-normal vision.
Click here for the entire article.


Democrat Women Want Federal Tax Dollars To Help Kill New Jersey Babies

A group of Democrat women lawmakers in New Jersey are pressing to restore $7.5 million in funding for family planning after failed tries this week by legislative leaders to get Republican Gov. Chris Christie to agree to it. The funding was not included Christie's $29.4 billion budget as he looked for ways to close an $11 billion deficit. The lawmakers said Wednesday the move marked "height of fiscal irresponsibility" because the state could receive $9 in federal aid for every $1 spent in Medicaid funding. Twenty-seven other states receive the funding. The Department of Human Services has withdrawn the state's application to extend Medicaid coverage for family planning. The federal government reimburses states for the services at the rate of 90 percent.
Click here for the entire article.


Jindal signs abortion regulation bill

Louisiana's health secretary now has more discretion to shut down an abortion clinic for safety or health concerns. Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the bill into law Wednesday that gives the head of the Department of Health and Hospitals the ability to quickly suspend a license if he decides there is an immediate health or safety threat at one of a handful of clinics in the state that provide abortions. Clinics can appeal the license suspension. Parks Rep. Fred Mills, sponsor of the new law, has said the change puts the health secretary's authority over outpatient abortion clinics in line with the authority he has over other kinds of health care facilities, like substance abuse and adult day care facilities.
Click here for the entire article.

Illinois Federation for Right to Life

2600 State Street, Ste E

Alton, IL  62002

Phone: 618.466.4122

Web: www.ifrl.org

E-mail: mail@ifrl.org

Prominent NARAL, Planned Parenthood speaker and former Clinton administration legal eagle predicts overturn of Roe v. Wade

    
     Partial List of Past NARAL Pro-Choice America Speakers
       Click here to enlarge the graphic

NARAL will likely be scratching Walter Dellinger off its speakers list, as will Planned Parenthood....

Dellinger is obviously a pro-abort who served in the Clinton administration as an assistant attorney general and head of the Office of Legal Counsel. During the 1996-1997 Supreme Court term Dellinger served as acting Solicitor General. Dellinger is currently a law professor at Duke University and head of a DC law firm.

So the other side will certainly consider Dellinger's remarks on the future of legalized abortion, given last night during a debate at George Washington University, tantamount to pro-abort treason. That the debate was cosponsored by liberal think tank Center for American Progress (as well as the conservative American Action Forum and Politico) adds salt to the wound. This morning Politico reported:

Former acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger predicted Tuesday night that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark decision that gives women abortion rights....

The noted liberal scholar said the 1973 decision has become a "trophy" that the court's conservative bloc could overturn if a Republican president chooses a replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy.

"I absolutely believe it," Dellinger said during a forum....

"For a while I thought that one could simply chip away at a lot more and more regulations that sort of protected access (to abortions) for the most affluent women but really made it impossible for women who were vulnerable to geography, poverty (and) youth," he added. "But now I think that, actually, it is such a symbol of a kind of jurisprudence that conservatives have set themselves in opposition to."

Such a decision by the Supreme Court would pour barrels of gasoline onto the now smoldering fires of the never-ending culture war....

Contact: Jill Stanek
Source: jillstanek.com
Publish Date: June 23, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

 

Illinois Federation for Right to Life

2600 State Street, Ste E

Alton, IL  62002

 

Phone: 618.466.4122

Web: www.ifrl.org

E-mail: mail@ifrl.org

 

Psychiatrist to Open Assisted Suicide Clinic in Oregon

    
     Psychiatrist to Open Assisted Suicide Clinic

Just great.  In Oregon, an assisted suicide clinic is going to be established. From the story:

Portland psychiatrist Dr. Stuart Weisberg plans to open a house in the Sellwood neighborhood where the terminally ill can kill themselves under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Law. Weisberg told KGW-TV he felt compelled to act after watching a TV interview with Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who pioneered assisted suicide. Under Oregon law, a terminally ill state resident with only six months to live may receive a lethal dose of drugs from a pharmacy if two doctors agree.

Hey Doc, Kevorkian supports human vivisection, what he calls “obitiatry.”  Do you want to open an obitiatry clinic too?

Imagine a psychiatrist pushing suicide!  This should be considered a breach of professional ethics because it puts the authority of the mental health professions in favor of self destruction.  Here’s a novel idea:  How about a clinic to help people not want to commit assisted suicide? Nah.  No news in that.

Contact: Wesley J. Smith
Source: Secondhand Smoke
Publish Date: June 23, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

 

Illinois Federation for Right to Life

2600 State Street, Ste E

Alton, IL  62002

 

Phone: 618.466.4122

Web: www.ifrl.org

E-mail: mail@ifrl.org

 

Physicians for Reproductive Choice: 2010 Abortion Provider Awards

Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health held its 2010 Abortion Provider awards ceremony on May 24. I always find pro-abort events creepily intriguing.

Winner of this year's William K. Rashbaum, MD, Abortion Provider Award (which "honors a physician who provides outstanding abortion services and serves as an inspirational leader for colleagues, residents, and medical students") was abortionist Carolyn Westhoff, presented by late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart...

    
     Abortionist Carolyn Westhoff with abortionist LeRoy Carhart

I concur Westhoff was well-deserving of this award, and partial birth abortion bud Carhart was just the guy to give it to her. Both were plaintiffs against the ban. Westhoff testified there was "usually a heartbeat" when she started suctioning a baby's brain out and on the topic of fetal pain acknowledged, "I certainly know based on my experience that the fetus will withdraw in response to a painful stimulus."...

According to PRCH Westhoff was also instrumental in bringing RU-486 to the U.S. Also:

... Westhoff is medical director of the NY Presbyterian Hospital Family Planning Clinic, professor of epidemiology and population and family health, and professor of obstetrics and gynecology, all at Columbia University.... In her 24 years at Columbia, she has expanded the hospital's minimal abortion services into a robust program of patient care, training, and research.

    
     William K. Rashbaum, MD, Abortion Provider Award

Dr. Westhoff was a... founding member of PRCH... and serves on the board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

So seriously, with all those credentials, did PRCH really only bestow Westhoff with a little coffee cup bouquet?

Winner of the George Tiller, MD, Abortion Provider Award (which "recognizes a physician early in his or her career who provides abortions while demonstrating leadership and courage") was abortionist Adam Jacobs (below top right). Presenters were widow Jeanne Tiller (below left) and daughter Rebecca (below bottom right).

    
     Adam Jacobs (below top right). Jeanne Tiller (below left)
       and daughter Rebecca (below bottom right)

Read PRCH's glowing bio of Jacobs here. When Paul Hill was executed for murdering abortionist John Britton and bodyguard James Barrett in 2003, Jacobs, a death penalty opponent, made this 6 degrees of confusing statement to BMJ.com, given his "live"lihood:

Paul Hill clearly believed not only that abortion is equivalent to murder, but also that it is OK to kill someone who has taken a life. The second view is something that most civilized people would find deeply repugnant. It is regrettable that the American 'justice' system has found such a dramatic way to reinforce that view.
If you can decipher Jacobs' logic, get back to me.

PRCH's inspiring keynote speaker was Susan Wood, PhD, who famously quit the FDA when it delayed okaying the morning-after pill for sale over-the-counter.

See photos of more abortionist luminaries at PRCH's flickr page, where the photos above were retrieved.

Contact: Jill Stanek
Source: jillstanek.com
Publish Date: June 22, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

 

Illinois Federation for Right to Life

2600 State Street, Ste E

Alton, IL  62002

 

Phone: 618.466.4122

Web: www.ifrl.org

E-mail: mail@ifrl.org

 

Personhood Nevada plans for round #2

    

Despite legal opposition from pro-abortion groups, the Nevada Personhood Amendment petition drive is still alive.
 
Officials with the pro-life movement had previously launched the effort, but spokesperson Dr. Candy Best tells OneNewsNow that it came to a screeching halt when "big money" groups voiced opposition. "At the point that we put this forward, we were taken to task and sued by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU to enjoin us from moving forward in the petition process," Best explains.

Activity stopped as the case made its way to the state Supreme Court, where it languished without a decision until the time period granted for petitioning had passed. The Personhood spokesperson says that robbed Nevada voters of the chance to decide the issue. "...Without saying so officially, [but] by [not] passing down a ruling from the bench, we were denied our civil rights and due process," she laments.

But now, Personhood Nevada is preparing a new petition drive targeting the 2012 election, unless the ACLU and Planned Parenthood sue again.

"It was not something that's going to come easily to us because of the fact that we're dealing with the issues of life, generally speaking, and who has a right to it: life," Best adds.

The pro-life movement is trying to legally define that a person is a person at the biological beginning of life.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: June 23, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

 

Illinois Federation for Right to Life

2600 State Street, Ste E

Alton, IL  62002

 

Phone: 618.466.4122

Web: www.ifrl.org

E-mail: mail@ifrl.org

 

Controversial "Black and Unwanted" pro-life billboards cause stir in Arkansas

    
     Controversial "Black and Unwanted" pro-life billboards

Last week AR Right to Life joined forces with the Radiance Foundation, as has GA Right to Life, to erect 6 "Black and Unwanted" pro-life billboards in high traffic locations in the Little Rock area.

And just as in GA, the billboards are causing a stir, yeah. Here's a June 22 Fox16.com news report...

    

TooManyAborted.com reports

In 2008... the AR Dept. of Health report[ed]... 58% of all abortions occur among white women while 34% are among black women.5 These percentages are only fully understood when the total population is revealed: 75.6% of AR's population is white while only 15.8% is black.

The disparity is alarming as it exemplifies what is happening nationally, and what, historically has primarily been the target of the Birth Control/Population Control movement.

Yes, recall the Duggars are renting a house in Little Rock that is a historical landmark, previously owned by Brunhilde Kahlert Cornish, founder of the AR Eugenics Association, which was later renamed Planned Parenthood Association of AR.

Here's another news report, this one by todaystvh.com yesterday:

    
     Click here for the video.

The billboards will remain up at least 1 month. I love that this concept is spreading. My only piece of constructive criticism would be that ARRTL should have a black spokesperson, as does GARTL.

Contact: Jill Stanek
Source: jillstanek.com
Publish Date: June 23, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

 

Thank you,

Adam Jezek

 

NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY

Planned Parenthood to offer "insemination services," marketing lesbians

Just spotted this announcement on Twitter by Planned Parenthood St. Louis Region:

"Announcing Fall 2010 Insemination Services" Pictured are two women holding each other while sitting ina field.

As far as I can tell - after checking PP Federation's site and then PP Golden Gate, which would seem the 1st logical PP to offer stud services - this is the only PP nationwide offering this service so far.

Lovely. PP now specializes in aborting natural pregnancies and inseminating unnatural pregnancies - breaking up natural families and bonding unnatural families.
Click here for the entire article.


Graphic Sex Ed Class Under Fire

Parents are outraged after young teenagers were instructed on graphic sexual acts during a Planned Parenthood sex education class at the local high school in Shenandoah, Iowa. “It was horribly inappropriate,” Colleen Dostal told Fox News Radio. “To do that in a mixed-gender classroom, — I truly believe it was inappropriate.” Dostal’s 14-year-old son was one of a handful of eighth graders in the class. The students, she said, were given instruction on how to perform female exams and the instructor used a 3-D, anatomically correct male sex organ to explain how to use a condom. But Dostal said she was most upset over the instructor simulating sexual acts using stuffed animals designed to resemble STD’s.
Click here for the entire article.


Abortion and Breast Cancer: What Feminist Lawyers Don't want you to know

Congressional Record a document laying out the details of the plan, as he denounced, “the deceptive practices used by the abortion lobby.” The entire document can be read on the Congressional Record website, gpoaccess.gov/crecord. The plan was originally exposed by Austin Ruse of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, Washington D. C. When CRR staff contacted him and demanded that he not release the information, Ruse shared it with nationally syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher, who released it nationwide. “We should take these people very seriously indeed,” Ruse said. “They are at the heart of the international abortion movement, with many connections to the United Nations.
Click here for the entire article.


Pregnancy counselling group launches life-saving project on London Underground

The Good Counsel Network, a London-based pregnancy counselling organisation, are planning to take out advertising on the London Underground. On their blog, they say:

We would like to increase our outreach to women in trouble in a pregnancy which maybe wasn’t planned or where they suddenly find themselves in crisis. Using the title Maria Stops Abortion, we plan to reach out to women who would otherwise only see adverts for the ‘help’ offered by abortion providers.
Click here for the entire article.


Obamacare: Sacrificing the Docs

In a one of oh so many mendacious maneuvers to help sell Obamacare, Congress segregated a law needed to keep Medicare docs from suffering a huge pay from the bill in chief, even though it clearly was germane to the legislation that centralized federal control over health care.  The purpose for this dishonest maneuver was to cook the financial books, making the behemoth look less expensive overall by removing hundreds of millions in projected expenses over the next decade so the CBO could say, behind a barely contained eye roll, that the bill met fiscal muster.

In fairness, the supporters of this dishonest maneuver thought that the “doctor fix” would quickly pass on its own, since nobody wants to punish doctors who take Medicare.  But this is Washington where any dysfunction is possible.
Click here for the entire article.

 

Illinois Federation for Right to Life

2600 State Street, Ste E

Alton, IL  62002

 

Phone: 618.466.4122

Web: www.ifrl.org

E-mail: mail@ifrl.org

 

Controversial "Black and Unwanted" pro-life billboards cause stir in Arkansas

     
     Controversial "Black and Unwanted" pro-life billboards

Last week AR Right to Life joined forces with the Radiance Foundation, as has GA Right to Life, to erect 6 "Black and Unwanted" pro-life billboards in high traffic locations in the Little Rock area.

And just as in GA, the billboards are causing a stir, yeah. Here's a June 22 Fox16.com news report...

    

TooManyAborted.com reports

In 2008... the AR Dept. of Health report[ed]... 58% of all abortions occur among white women while 34% are among black women.5 These percentages are only fully understood when the total population is revealed: 75.6% of AR's population is white while only 15.8% is black.

The disparity is alarming as it exemplifies what is happening nationally, and what, historically has primarily been the target of the Birth Control/Population Control movement.

Yes, recall the Duggars are renting a house in Little Rock that is a historical landmark, previously owned by Brunhilde Kahlert Cornish, founder of the AR Eugenics Association, which was later renamed Planned Parenthood Association of AR.

Here's another news report, this one by todaystvh.com yesterday:

    
     Click here for the video.

The billboards will remain up at least 1 month. I love that this concept is spreading. My only piece of constructive criticism would be that ARRTL should have a black spokesperson, as does GARTL.

Contact: Jill Stanek
Source: jillstanek.com
Publish Date: June 23, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

Study: Abortion More Than Triples Breast Cancer Risk Among Sri Lankans

      

The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer notes a study in the journal, Cancer Epidemiology, reporting that Sri Lankan women with abortions more than tripled their breast cancer risk  (3.42 odds ratio). Abortion was the most significant factor in the study.  Researchers found a significantly reduced risk associated with prolonged duration of breastfeeding and a nearly tripled increased risk from exposure to passive smoking. The study entitled, "Prolonged breastfeeding reduces risk of breast cancer in Sri Lankan women: A case-control study," was led by Malintha De Silva and colleagues from the University of Colombo. [1]

Among women who breastfed between 12-23 months, researchers found a 66.3% risk reduction in comparison to those who had never breastfed and those who had breastfed between 0 and 11 months. The risk reduction climbed to 87.4% for the 24-35 months group and 94% for the 36-47 months group.

"Obviously, women who abort forfeit the protective effect of breastfeeding," said Karen Malec, president of the Coalition. "The loss of that protective effect is incurred in addition to the effect of abortion leaving the breasts with more places for cancers to start.

"According to the researchers, 'mammography is not widely available for routine screening' in Sri Lanka. Therefore, health professionals must emphasize disease prevention. It is criminal that the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) has covered up this risk for over a half century. Uncle Sam is abusing women by concealing the risk."

The Sri Lankan study is the fourth epidemiological study in fourteen months to report an abortion-breast cancer link, including studies from the U.S, China and Turkey. [2-4] Louise Brinton, a NCI branch chief, served as co-author in the U.S. study in which she and her colleagues admitted that "...induced abortion and oral contraceptive use were associated with increased risk of breast cancer." The authors cited a statistically significant 40% increased risk. [4]

"It's becoming increasingly difficult for the NCI to keep its fingers and toes in the dike," said Malec, "especially since many researchers in other parts of the world do not depend on the agency for grants."

The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer is an international women's organization founded to protect the health and save the lives of women by educating and providing information on abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer.

References:

1. De Silva M, Senarath U, Gunatilake M, Lokuhetty D. Prolonged breastfeeding reduces risk of breast cancer in Sri Lankan women: a case-control study. Cancer Epidemiol 2010;34(3):267-73. Abstract available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20338838

2. Ozmen V, Ozcinar B, Karanlik H, Cabioglu N, Tukenmez M, et al.  Breast cancer risk factors in Turkish women – a University Hospital based nested case control study. World J of Surg Oncol 2009;7:37.

3. Xing P, Li J, Jin F. A case-control study of reproductive factors associated with subtypes of breast cancer in Northeast China. Humana Press, e-publication online September 2009.

4. Dolle J, Daling J, White E, Brinton L, Doody D, et al. Risk factors for triple-negative breast cancer in women under the age of 45 years. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(4)1157-1166. Available at: http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/download/Abortion_Breast_Cancer_Epid_Bio_Prev_2009.pdf

Contact: Karen Malec
Source: Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
Publish Date: June 22, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

FDA Advisory Committee Unanimously Approves Controversial 'Emergency Contraceptive'

     

The Food and Drug Administration is one step closer to approving an 'emergency contraceptive' that life advocates say can cause an early abortion.

A federal advisory panel voted unanimously last week in favor of approving the drug Ulipristal – also called "ella" – for U.S. distribution. The FDA usually follows the panel's recommendations.

The debate is over how the drug operates. Unlike Plan B – the current "morning-after pill" on the market – ella contains a chemical similar to RU-486, the abortion pill.

Ella blocks progesterone – making the uterus hostile to the new human embryo if fertilization has taken place or starving the embryo if implantation has happened.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese wrote a letter to the commissioner of the FDA, criticizing the marketing of the drug as merely a "contraceptive."

"FDA approval for that purpose would likely make the drug available for 'off-label' use simply as an abortion drug — including its use by unscrupulous men with the intent of causing an early abortion without a woman's knowledge or consent," he wrote.  "Such abuses have already occurred in the case of RU-486, despite its warning labels and limited distribution."

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said women who are already pregnant could buy the drug and unknowingly abort the preborn child their carrying.

"The FDA is being asked to make it easily available," she told Fox News.  "Women will buy the drug thinking that it is a morning-after pill when, in fact, it is an abortion pill."

No word yet when the FDA will make its final decision on making the drug available.

Source: CitizenLink
Publish Date: June 21, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

A false message to women worldwide

     

The recently concluded "Women Deliver" conference in Washington, DC, urged women to promote abortion and birth control internationally.
 
The conference was agenda-driven, according to Jenn Giroux, executive director of Human Life International-America, who says the agenda of the conference sponsor is to push abortion and contraception -- or as Women Deliver states it: "to achieve universal access to reproductive health."
 
Giroux tells OneNewsNow that that agenda has caused problems, rather than solving them -- and speaking as a registered nurse, she believes they need to repackage their message.
 
"Because they understand that it has now been revealed that the physical damage being done to women by the birth-control pill -- leading to more breast cancer, more cervical cancer, and more liver cancer, infertility, and other health-negative effects -- is going to impact what they have tried to falsely message for all these years," Giroux charges.
 
The pro-life spokeswoman explains it is false too because the push to reduce population has had negative repercussions.
 
"And what is amazing to me is that you look at countries...abroad right now that are giving incentives to women to have children," she points out. "The birth rate has fallen off so drastically...in France and Russia and [other] places that they can't even reproduce themselves. America's [average] family [size] has dropped drastically in size."
 
And that, she explains, reduces the available workforce, reduces tax dollars, and weakens the ability to support the aging part of the population. One result is that nations like France have imported labor from Muslim countries.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: June 22, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

Abortion advocates discover adoption

     

We've always said "pro-choice" is code for "pro-abortion," because the other side only pushes that 1 of the 3 choices of mothers in crisis pregnancies.

On June 18 the New York Times reported on a major concession made by the other side, the "emergence of a generation of women's advocates who want to remedy" the pro-abort adoption gap....

It remains to be seen whether this actually comes to pass or is just a PR move by desperate ideologues not only losing in the polls now but also losing their previously presumed position as spokespersons for women.

Pro-aborts promoting adoption would be one "common ground" measure I'd support. The difference between them and us being, of course, our side offers financial and legal assistance toward that end, while their side will only supply a piece of paper with the name of a pro-abortion adoption agency.

But if the bottom line is more babies saved, that would be good.

Promoting adoption also forces pro-aborts to mentally go places they have always refused to go. It is to agree with a pro-life platform plank, to delve into our territory, It is to concede abortion isn't necessarily the best option for mothers in crisis pregnancies. It is to promote life over death. It is to concede the "pregnancy" is a life in the 1st place. It is to accept that some mothers are willing to sacrifice their interests and to accept responsibility for the the life they have created, which is to admit abortion is self-serving and irresponsible.

The NYT piece was quite interesting. A few highlights:

What if groups that demanded reproductive choices for women actually offered them?...

The idea is simple. It is about choice. Not choice as a euphemism for the right to have an abortion, but choice in the true sense of the word: options, informed consent and support for women trying to figure out what to do with an unwanted pregnancy....

(In other words, pro-aborts do not provide totally informed consent nor provide holistic support?)

The thinking is that all the clinics' clients, whether they seem uneasy about abortion or not, should have a clear understanding of how adoption works, rather than just be handed a list of references - a list that essentially says, adoption is fine, but it's not our thing.

To many who have labored for abortion rights, it might seem at first blush that abortion clinics need adoption specialists the way fish need bicycles - that it represents an infiltration of the opposition....

Corinna Lohser... worked at an abortion clinic in Cleveland years ago... [and now] works for Spence-Chapin Adoption Services, a NY adoption agency that supports abortion rights, and has come to regret the lack of information she had been able to provide women in Cleveland....

As Ms. [Christina] Page put it: "It's like you've come to this g>Italian restaurant - do you really want the waiter saying, 'There's this great German place down the block, not sure how much you know about it, but you might like it'?"...

After Ms. Palin's recent "mama grizzlies" speech, pundits focused more on whether she could call herself a feminist than on addressing her critiques of the abortion-rights message. Feminist groups, she said, want to tell women: "You're not capable of doing both. You can't give your child life and still pursue career and education."

If Ms. Palin feels confident lobbing that point it's because the right has kept old-line feminists so busy protecting abortion rights that they have less energy to focus on issues like adoption or, for that matter, quality child care for women who want to parent. The Adoption Access Network suggests recognition of one weak spot....

Note that it's our fault pro-aborts haven't focused on adoption heretofore.

Contact: Jill Stanek
Source: jillstanek.com
Publish Date: June 21, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

Jack Kevorkian Admits to Committing Second Murder on Larry King

     
     Jack Kevorkian in cuffs at his Trial

The murderer Jack Kevorkian was imprisoned for lethally injecting Thomas Youk, who had Lou Gehrig's disease. He was prosecuted because, egotist that he is, he video taped himself doing it and brought it to euthanasia fan Mike Wallace for airing on 60 Minutes. That was even too much for the Oakland County, MI prosecutor, who had won office on a plank of letting Kevorkian be Kevorkian–not knowing just how depraved K could be, as in taking kidneys from Joseph Tushkowski after an assisted suicide and offering them at a news conference. Plus, there was Kevorkian's obsession with human vivisection, but I won't replay the entire litany here.  If you want more details, hit this link.

It was always thought that Kevorkian only injected Youk. Not according to Kevorkian. From the interview:

KING: What did you do?

KEVORKIAN: I did the injection [of Youk].

KING: Usually they kill themselves, right? So, that was not pure suicide.

KEVORKIAN: No. I did the first one too, [Janet] Adkins, the first case. After that, we had the method where the patient could trigger it themselves.

Adkins had early Alzheimer's disease, meaning she had many years left of life, and in fact, played tennis with her sons a few days before her apparent murder.

So, Kevorkian has admitted he's a repeat murderer.  Technically, since there is no statute of limitations for murder, he could be prosecuted for Atkins' homicide.  Instead, he'll keep getting high level interviews, movies made about him starring Al Pacino, and $50,000 speaking fees at state funded universities.  We sure do have a twisted love for outlaws in this country.

Contact: Wesley J. Smith
Source: Secondhands Smoke
Publish Date: June 21, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

IVF babies being aborted

     

About 80 unborn babies conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF) are eliminated by abortion each year in Great Britain, according to a new report.

The stunning news that a sizable number of women who go through expensive fertility treatments choose to abort their children caught even some fertility specialists off guard. "These women can't be surprised to be pregnant; you can't have an IVF pregnancy by accident," Bill Ledger said, according to The Times of London. Ledger is an HFEA member and head of reproductive and developmental medicine at Sheffield University.

The statistics from Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) show an increasing number of women are choosing abortion for "social," rather than medical reasons after becoming pregnant by IVF, The Times reported June 6.

Some women chose abortion because of problems in their marriages, according to the report.

Victoria, a London secretary, aborted her IVF child when it became obvious her marriage was falling apart. "I couldn't cope with bringing up a child on my own and I didn't want any link that would force me to stay in touch with my husband," she told The Times.

Ann Widdecombe, formerly a Conservative Party member of Parliament, said women who abort for "social" reasons are treating their unborn children like "designer goods," the newspaper reported. "If the law was being applied properly, people wouldn't be able to get an abortion just because they changed their minds," she said.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the news demonstrates human beings are increasingly practicing self-idolatry. "We are witnessing the elevation of personal autonomy, personal happiness, and personal fulfillment to levels that can only be described as idolatry," he wrote on his weblog June 9.

"Americans should take note -- we can be virtually assured that this scandal is present in this nation to a degree exceeding even what has been revealed in Britain," Mohler wrote. "This nation lacks some of the protections and regulations found even in Britain. The United States is, as some foreign observers have noted, the 'wild, wild West' of fertility treatments. Add to that fact the reality that women in the U.S. can demand an abortion for any reason or for no stated reason at all.

"One might think that the most welcome place in the world for an unborn child would be the womb of a mother who would be so intent on getting pregnant that she would seek and undergo IVF fertility treatment. It turns out that in a significant number of cases, that assumption is proved wrong. How do we take the measure of that tragedy?"

KANSAS GOVERNOR AIDS P.P. -- Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson used a line-item veto to restore funding to Planned Parenthood in a blow to pro-life efforts in the state.

The Democratic governor struck a legislative provision that required all Title X funding to go to comprehensive health clinics and hospitals instead of family planning clinics. Title X is the federal government's family planning program. Parkinson's veto means two Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas will receive $375,000 in Title X funds.

Title X money is not to be used for abortions, and Parkinson said the two Planned Parenthood clinics do not perform abortions.

Planned Parenthood, however, is the country's leader abortion provider. Its affiliates performed more than 305,000 abortions in the United States in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Planned Parenthood received about $350 million in government grants and contracts in 2008.

"Governor Parkinson is out of step with the public, which doesn't want to be linked with this abortion business.... It's a sad day in Kansas when the Governor insures a politically motivated group like Planned Parenthood gets our taxpayer dollars while state health clinics are left wanting," said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, in a written statement after Parkinson's May 27 action.

GIRL DOES SELF-ABORTION -- A 13-year-old Pennsylvania girl performed a self-abortion, and her 30-year-old boyfriend buried the dead child, according to a newspaper report June 7.

The girl, who lives in Monroe County in the eastern part of the state, told police she initiated the abortion at home June 2, according to The Express-Times in Lehigh Valley. During the next three days, she became ill, had contractions and delivered the child at her home. The unnamed girl contacted Michael James Lisk, whom she believed to be the baby's father, and he buried the body in the woods between their homes.

Lisk, who police reported had been involved in a sexual relationship with the girl for about a year, was charged with rape and concealing a child's death, according to The Express-Times. No charges had been filed against the girl, the newspaper reported.

IPPF'S INCOME SOARS -- The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) reported an increase in total revenue of more than $20 million in 2009.

The IPPF's income grew from $119.7 million in 2008 to $140.7 million last year, according to a financial statement released in May. More than $97 million of the 2009 total came in the form of government grants.

The statement showed massive growth in some of IPPF's services, including a rise in "abortion-related services" from 219,229 in 2005 to 1.1 million in 2008 and an increase in the number of condoms distributed from 97.9 million in 2005 to 139.8 million in 2008.

PAID NOT TO ABORT -- Low-income women in northern Italy can receive $6,600 over 18 months to not abort their babies.

Roberto Formigoni, president of the Lombardy region, said June 2 he set aside funds to fulfill a campaign pledge that no woman should feel as if she had to choose an abortion because of financial need, The Australian reported.

Contact: Tom Strode
Source: Baptist Press
Publish Date: Jun 21, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

NEWS SHORTS FOR TUESDAY

Planned Parenthood's missing millions

New GAO report reveals disturbing financial discrepancies

A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on federal tax money funneled into Planned Parenthood and similar organizations raises more questions than it answers about the nation's largest abortion chain.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America's (PPFA) audits show the organization spent just $657.1 million between 2002 and 2008 from federal government grants and programs, but the abortion behemoth's own annual reports show that it took in $2.3 billion from government grants and programs during the same time period.
Click here for the entire article.


Pro-Lifer says Feds Lawsuit for Entering Abortuary Based on False Information

A pro-life witness in San Antonio, Texas, is facing a lawsuit from the federal government after entering an abortion facility to offer pro-life alternatives to an abortion-bound couple. [The unconstitutional] federal law known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act was passed under President Clinton in 1994 and prohibits individuals from directly interfering with access to abortion. In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in San Antonio by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, 56-year-old Juan Gaona is accused of entering the centre on April 17, 2009 and blocking the entrance to the waiting room before being forcibly removed by staff. Gaona was further accused of directing insults and profane language at abortion workers during his years of routine witness outside the abortion clinic. The San Antonio Express-News reports the suit could result in a restraining order and a $10,000 civil penalty.
Click here for the entire article.


Man Charged with Vehicular Homicide after Preborn Baby Dies In Car Accident

Police say a 35-week-old fetus has died after a pregnant woman was thrown from her car in a crash in Cincinnati. Police say 19-year-old Jasmine Malone wasn't wearing a seat belt Sunday night when the car she was riding in ran off the road and slammed into several trees. Malone, 18-year-old driver Wesley Fain and a juvenile passenger were all injured and taken to a hospital. A message was left Monday for their conditions. Police have charged Fain with aggravated vehicular homicide.
Click here for the entire article.


Groups Target Black Community in Arkansas with Billboards

Pro-Life groups have launched a billboard campaign in Arkansas targeting the black community. The billboards in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pine Bluff feature a photo of a black child about 1 year old, the words "Black & Unwanted" and the names of the three sponsoring organizations: Arkansas Right to Life, TooManyAborted.com and the Radiance Foundation. "The abortion rate in the African-American community is three times higher than that of white women, a fact that most African-Americans find shocking," Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life, said today. Mimms said 39 percent of all abortions in the U.S. are performed on blacks, though blacks comprise only 13 percent of the population.
Click here for the entire article.


'The Law Must Speak for the Unborn Child': Senior Ghanian Leader Calls for Abortion Restrictions

Ghanian Parliament's Minority Leader, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has called upon the Attorney General to significantly increase restrictions on abortion in the country.

Abortion in the Republic of Ghana is currently legal in cases of rape or incest, if the pregnancy is judged to threaten the woman's physical or mental health, or if there is "substantial risk" of fetal abnormality.

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu says he wants to change the law to allow abortions only in cases where it is "necessitated by medical reasons."

He told the Daily Graphic newspaper that some constitutional provisions guarantee the right to life and the sanctity of life.
Click here for the entire article.


Adult Stem Cells Restore Sight to People With Damaged Corneas

More good news on the adult stem cell front.  The blind can see.  From the story:

Patients blinded in one or both eyes by chemical burns regained their vision after healthy stem cells were extracted from their eyes and reimplanted, according to a report by Italian researchers at a scientific meeting. The tissue was drawn from the limbus, an area at the junction of the cornea and white part of the eye.
Click here for the entire article. 

Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Ruled Ineligible for Federal Funds

 
    
     The National Institute of Health

The National Institute of Health's (NIH) Advisory Committee recommended withholding federal research funding for embryonic stem cell lines on Wednesday that were thought to be eligible with Obama's policy. Concerned that one particular sentence would open up to lawsuits, the Committee decided to err on the side of caution.

Days after his inauguration, President Obama reversed President Bush's policy of restricting the use of federal funds for research on human embryonic stem.

"It's primarily because there was some language in the consent forms that the NIH Advisory Committee didn't like," said Dr. David Prentice, senior fellow for life sciences at the Family Research Council. He considers it a temporary setback. 
Prentice notes that embryonic research involves destroying a young human life and more.

"They haven't helped anybody. They haven't really helped that many mice in almost 30 years of research. They tend to form tumors instead." 

Meanwhile he lists numerous advances in adult stem cell treatments from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood and more.

"They are already treating over 50 thousand patients every year for dozens of diseases like heart damage, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes, (and) lots of different cancers." 

He adds that a new report shows a treatment for blindness in which the front layer of the eye had been scarred.

"They took a few little adult stem cells from the edge of their eye," said Prentice, "and grew a new cornea, popped it on and restored their vision."

Wesley J. Smith, senior fellow in human rights and bioethics at the Discovery Institute, links the push embryonic stem cell research with the desire of some to conduct human cloning. Another type of research with significant ethical concerns.

"It is human cloning that opens up the potential for genetic engineering of the human species," said Smith, "as well as fetal farming to grow fetuses and artificial gestation environments, so they can be used eventually for organ harvesting and experimentation."

Source: CitizenLink
Publish Date: June 18, 2010
Link to this article.
Send this article to a friend.

 

Andrea Bocelli clarifies that his message is pro-life, not merely anti-abortion

    
     Andrea Bocelli

Following the popular video in which he recounts how his mother ignored the advice of doctors to have an abortion, tenor Andrea Bocelli said he does not want his testimony to be considered as merely anti-abortion, but also in support of life.

"Because of my personal convictions as a devout Catholic, I am not only fighting against something, I am fighting for something - and I am for life," he told the Italian newspaper, Il Foglio.

Bocelli said he wants his video "to help comfort those who are in difficult situations and who sometimes just need to feel that they are not alone. Life is hard, but we need to listen, we need to open our ears" to embrace them.

Bocelli said he has been surprised by the calls he has received following the video.  "I said those things a year and a half ago in a video message for Father Richard Frechette, a missionary who works with children in Haiti and deserves to have a book written just about him. I gave a concert to help him build the Home of the Angels and he asked me to say a few words of hope for mothers in difficult circumstances and I decided to tell the story of my birth."

"I did so recounting the private experience of my mother without asking her permission, but she didn't admonish me. I wasn't ready for all the uproar it has created," Bocelli said.

 As a young boy, he continued, "I was very hyper and quite naïve." He said he has loved music ever since he was a boy. "My mother tells me that I would cry whenever I heard a song, even through the wall from another room in the hospital.  I would turn towards the sound and listen with glee."

Source: CNA
Publish Date: June 20, 2010
Link to this article.
this article to a friend.