Will House 'protect life'?

     

The U.S. House will vote this week on whether to "de-abortionize" ObamaCare, and a national pro-life organization is trying to show representatives why doing so is a good idea.
 
The ObamaCare law enacted last year contains multiple provisions to subsidize abortion and open doors to abortion-expanding actions by various agencies of the federal government. But Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) tells OneNewsNow the Protect Life Act (H.R. 358), sponsored by Congressman Joe Pitts (R-Pennsylvania), would correct all of that.

"It is similar to something called the Stupak-Pitts Amendment that the House of Representatives approved in 2009 but did not become part of the final healthcare law because it was blocked by President Obama and by pro-abortion Democratic senators," Johnson explains.

And he points out that despite the fact that the administration denies that abortion coverage is part of ObamaCare, it is there. In fact, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius spoke at a recent fundraising event in Chicago for the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL).

"Secretary Sebelius said -- quote -- 'we are at war' -- unquote -- with critics of the healthcare law," the pro-lifer cites. "So, she understands and NARAL understands that this is an abortion-expanding bill."

Johnson's organization reports that a post-election poll from The Polling Company in November 2010 shows that 58 percent of Americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion at any time and for any reason.

So the NRLC sent a letter last week to members of the House, noting that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act "contained multiple provisions that provide authorizations for subsidies for abortion … and also provisions that opened doors to abortion-expanding administrative actions." But H.R. 358, the group points out, "contains important conscience protections for pro-life healthcare providers."

The House is to vote on the Protect Life Act later this week.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

ACTION ALERT – U. S. House Takes up Protect Life Act on Oct. 13

    

Click here to Take Action

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take up the National Right to Life-backed Protect Life Act (H.R. 358) on or about Thursday, October 13, 2011. This bill would correct the numerous abortion-expanding provisions of the federal health care law ("ObamaCare") enacted in early 2010. The bill, sponsored by Congressman Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), is similar to the "Stupak-Pitts Amendment" which initially passed the House in 2009, but which was kept out of the final health care law due to opposition from pro-abortion Democratic senators and President Obama.

Please click the "Take Action!" link above to send a message to your representative in the U.S. House of Representatives, urging him or her to support the Protect Life Act and to oppose all attempts to weaken the bill. You can modify the suggested message as you see fit.

To read the October 6 letter sent by National Right to Life to House members in support of the bill, click here. To read detailed testimony by NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson, presented to a House subcommittee in February 2011, about why H.R. 358 is needed, click here.

Tragedy strikes the college pro-life movement

    

Kortney Blythe Gordon and her pre-born child, Sophy, were killed in a head-on collision while traveling back from a Georgia SFL conference on Saturday night.
 
Kortney was an extremely passionate advocate for the rights of pre-born children. She worked tirelessly at Students for Life of America to spread the pro-life message to all college students across the country.
 
The pro-life movement lost a valuable asset and a woman who truly loved life!
 
Kortney was scheduled to speak at this year's Midwest Pro-Life Summit. SFLI will be dedicating this year's Summit in honor of Kortney and Sophy.
 
In fact, Kortney spoke at the Students for Life of Illinois Summit last year and I am moved as I remember talking with her. We talked about the end of abortion and she was so confident and excited to see the end of abortion in her lifetime.
 
She considered herself to be and truly was an abortion abolitionist.
 
I am still looking forward, with Kortney's same confidence, to the end of abortion in my lifetime. I'm sad that she was not able to see it because her life was cut short, but I'm confident that she will be helping our movement to abolish abortion from heaven.
 
Please join the SFLI team as we mourn the death of Kortney and Sophy. Please join us in prayer for their family, the SFLA staff and the others who were injured in the accident today and during this very difficult time.
 
Pray for Jon Scharfenberger
 
Kortney and Sophy were not the only ones in the car. There were some students and another SFLA staffer, Jon Scharfenberger.
 
There aren't many details about Jon, but we do know that he is in critical condition after the accident.

Contact: John-Paul Deddens
Source: Students for Life of Illinois

On October 13th History will be Made, as 'Live' Ultrasounds will be Performed on Pregnant Women in the United States Capitol Building

     

"Voices from the Womb" will kick off their national campaign in the Congressional Auditorium on October 13, at 11:00 A.M.

For the first time ever, the voices of pre-born children will literally be "heard" on Capitol Hill.
 
"Voices from the Womb" marks the beginning of the end for Roe v. Wade as members of Congress will have the chance to clearly see the humanity of the child and work together to end the violence of abortion and establish human rights and justice for all.
 
After October 13, "Voices from the Womb" will begin a national tour performing live ultrasounds in schools, churches, state capitals, legislative hearings and public events.
 
The main sponsor of "Voices from the Womb" is the Stanton Project, which is part of Stanton Healthcare, a life-affirming clinic started by women to reach women.
 
"Voices from the Womb" reinforces the fact that through out history women have always been at the forefront in speaking out against violence and embracing equality and human rights for all.
 
The co-sponsors of "Voices from the Womb" are The Christian Defense Coalition and The National Pro-life Center.
 
Brandi Swindell, Founder and President of Stanton Healthcare, states,

"Voices from the Womb reaffirms the truth that women have always been at the forefront in speaking out against violence and embracing equality and human rights for all.

"Early feminist and suffragette leader, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, called abortion an evil and said, 'When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.'
 
"For the first time, our political leaders will have the chance to view first hand the humanity of the child and work together to protect the weakest members of our society.
 
"I invite all women who consider themselves pro-choice to step away from the dark ages and the wrong side of history and join with people like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and embrace justice for all."

Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, adds,

"We believe the Voices from the Womb project will expedite the crumbling of Roe v. Wade as America and her political leaders see the humanity of the pre-born child and the reality that life clearly begins at conception.
 
"When Roe was decided in 1973, there was a real argument going on about the humanity of the pre-born child and when life begins. However, with the amazing scientific advances over the past 40 years in fetology, ultrasound technology and modern medicine those arguments are obsolete and archaic.  It is now clear that life and the humanity of the child begins at conception.
 
"So we invite the pro-choice community to come out of their caves, stop believing that the world is flat and  embrace modern medicine and science.  Let us work together for a world in which human rights are given to all."
 
Father Paul Schenck, Director of the National Pro-life Center, comments,
 
"Technology now gives us such a magnificent portrait, not to mention sound, of the child's life before birth, that there is no reason to wonder whether this is a baby or not.
 
"The baby is alive and well, until the abortionist invades her world and destroys her life.  It's time to banish abortions along with lynching and dueling.  It belongs to a darker era."

Contact: Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney and Brandi Swindell
Source: Voices from the Womb

Abortion-mental illness link needs gov't attention

     

The Elliot Institute is calling for a hearing concerning the ignored link between abortion and higher rates of mental illness that the research group feels is long overdue.
 
Dr. David Reardon heads the Elliot Institute, an organization that conducts original research on the effects of abortion on women, men, families, and society. He suggests that an exhaustive study in The British Journal of Psychiatry and the fact that former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop recommended that it be funded 22 years ago show that the hearing is both necessary and long overdue.

"The reason it's especially timely now is that a study has just been published by the British Royal College of Psychiatrists that includes a meta-analysis of 22 studies that shows that abortion may be a cause of ten percent of mental health problems being treated [in] women, and up to 35 percent of suicidal behavior among women," says Reardon.

He believes the federal government ought to pay attention to the study that covers nearly 900,000 women from six countries, and he urges it to update the publications that fail to recognize the serious consequences of abortion. For example, he notes that women who aborted are 81 percent more likely to experience mental health problems and 55 percent more likely than women who delivered an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy to have problems.

"Well, the problem is it's always been so politically correct to pretend that abortion doesn't harm women," the Elliot Institute founder notes. "This is a major study published by a major journal, yet it received almost no coverage in U.S. media. If the results had shown that carrying an unplanned pregnancy to term was associated with higher psychological issues, that would have been front-page news."

So to help give Congress a nudge to conduct the hearings, Reardon is calling on the public to sign a petition found on his organization's website.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

More to birth-control mandate than meets the eye

     

Human Life International (HLI) is drawing attention to the fact that a majority of a medical committee responsible for mandating ObamaCare's contraception coverage without co-pay are also monetary contributors to the abortion lobby.
 
Arland Nichols, national director of HLI, tells OneNewsNow his group determined that none of the members of the Institute of Medicine committee, which is composed of members of NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood, have ever financially supported a Republican or a pro-life candidate.

"They're board members of NARAL; they win awards at NARAL. They're board members of Planned Parenthood; they run Planned Parenthoods," he reports about what is "clearly a very biased make-up for this committee."

In fact, he says 11 of the 15 committee members have clear pro-abortion leanings, but "the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine was accepted wholesale" by the Department of Health and Human Services, and it will be firm by 2012, if not corrected.

"It's going to stand in law, which I think shows one of the failed flaws of ObamaCare as written," Nichols decides. "Basically, they signed a blank check, and committees like this decide what gets paid for [and] what doesn't. You know, it's really taken away from the consumer of healthcare, if you will, and from the patient."

So, the committee's ideological roots are being imposed on consumers, regardless of their religious or ethical beliefs. In addition, the HLI national director points out that the mandate is contrary to the consciences of those in the medical profession who oppose birth control and the morning after pill, as well those of conscience in the insurance industry.

However, even though the public comment period is over, the approval of HR 1179, a bill currently before the House, would provide conscience protections.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

RU-486 -- fed. judge 'vacating' FDA protections

     

State attorneys are trying to decide whether to appeal a federal judge's decision declaring unconstitutional an Idaho law that requires a doctor to dispense the abortion drug RU-486.
 
The ruling flies in the face of the Federal Drug Administration's (FDA) instruction to only administer the drug during the first trimester of pregnancy and to require two doctor visits -- the first before a patient takes the pill to assess the age of the baby, and the second after use of the drug to make sure that all of the baby has been evacuated from the mother to protect her health and life.

"Those protections are now vacated by the pen of a federal judge … who has not carefully considered the consequences to women and girls of that action," laments David Ripley of Idaho Chooses Life.

He is among those who do not understand how the law could be considered unconstitutional.

"The Supreme Court has ruled on a number of occasions that it is not unconstitutional to require a physician involvement in an abortion procedure," Ripley notes. But "part of the difficulty is that we live in the Ninth Circuit," he concludes, citing the liberal nature of that appeals court.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

Pro-lifers prepared to put on red

     

October 18 will be the eighth annual Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity, when students worldwide will protest abortion.
 
Campaign president Bryan Kemper of Stand True ministries says that when the initiative first began, 300 campuses participated. But last year, more than 4,000 campuses in 28 countries took part in the day of prayer and solidarity. He says there is an explosion of pro-life support among young people who believe that life is precious.

"When I first got involved in the pro-life movement over 20 years ago, there [were] some young people and some different things going on," Kemper accounts. "But over the last 20 years, I've seen such an explosion of pro-life youth around the country."

To commemorate the movement, many students wear red armbands, and others place red duct tape across their mouths. Kemper believes the effort is making a difference.

"Last year, we heard back from 64 girls who canceled their abortions in one day. Sixty-four lives saved," he reports. "Sixt;y-four young women spared the agony that they might go through later in life…"

And he believes several others followed suit, but did not contact his organization to share about it.

Contact: Bob Kellogg
Source: OneNewsNow 

Pro-life rally in Washington: babies go to Congress

     

Women have rallied in America's capital with their babies rescued from abortion to express their gratitude for the compassionate work of pregnancy help centers.
 
Heartbeat International, which operates pregnancy help centers across the U.S., is being represented by a pro-life rally called Babies Go to Congress. In support of pregnancy help centers, mothers from five states are in the nation's capital with their babies who were saved from abortion.
 
Spokesperson Virginia Cline tells OneNewsNow they will be meeting with members of Congress while they are there. She says, "[they will] share about the compassionate work of pregnancy help centers and share their gratitude that they have this child with them now. Their main message is very clear and concise. It's that pregnancy help centers are good for America."
 
The group is not asking for members to pursue funding for the centers, but just to recognize their importance. So far, laws regulating the centers have been ruled unconstitutional when brought before federal courts, but Heartbeat International seeks continued protection from Congress.
 
"We would ask that they would protect pregnancy help centers," Cline explains. "Unfortunately, we've come under a bit of attack lately and we just want the members of Congress to hear firsthand from the women who have been served by pregnancy centers that we're doing a great job."
 
In addition, Heartbeat International hopes this rally will let women in crisis pregnancies know they are loved and not alone. Their goal is to help them not feel they must choose abortion because of personal decision or coercion.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

National Right to Life Urges U.S. House to Pass the "Protect Life Act"

     

Bill would apply Hyde Amendment principles to Obama Health Care Law
 
WASHINGTON – The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of right-to-life groups across the country, today sent a letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives urging them to vote for the Protect Life Act (H.R. 358), sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), when it comes to the floor for a vote next week.  National Right to Life intends to include the vote in its scorecard of key pro-life roll calls of the 112th Congress.
 
As the letter notes, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, Public Law 111-148) "…contained multiple provisions that provide authorizations for subsidies for abortion, both implicit and explicit, and also multiple provisions that opened doors to abortion-expanding administrative actions."  National Right to Life's letter observes that the Protect Life Act "…would apply the pro-life principles of the Hyde Amendment to every component of the PPACA, and contains important conscience protections for pro-life health care providers as well."
 
Public opinion polling conducted during the congressional debate over the bill generally found Americans opposed to the use of federal funds to pay for or subsidize abortion coverage.  A post-election poll conducted by The Polling Company in November 2010 found 58% were opposed to "using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion at any time and for any reason."
 
"The Protect Life Act is similar to the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which passed the House in 2009, but was not included in the final law because of opposition by pro-abortion Senate Democrats and President Obama," said National Right to Life Legislative Director Douglas Johnson.  "The Administration's 2010 pretense that ObamaCare did not expand abortion grows more tattered with each passing month.  While running for mayor of Chicago, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel boasted of his role in devising a strategy for 'the Stupak Amendment not to exist by law.'  Only yesterday, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius gave a call-to-arms speech at a NARAL Pro-Choice America fundraiser in Chicago, in which she said 'we are in a war' with critics of the law."
 
A full analysis of the need for the Protect Life Act can be found in testimony by Mr. Johnson before the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce on February 9, 2011:
http://www.nrlc.org/AHC/ProtectLifeActDouglasJohnsonTestimony.pdf.

Rockford Abortion Center Closes – Let’s Close Them All!

The Northern Illinois Women's Center in Rockford had it's license suspended by the Illinois Department of Public Health last week! This is great news! It was an emergency suspension and they were fined $15,000 due to four major safety violations. These included the lack qualified staff and lack of surgical privileges at a local hospital. I thought these people claimed to care about women's health and safety… Maybe not…

While the abortion center is not necessarily closed for good, this is still great news for two reasons. First and most importantly, this abortion clinic will not be taking the lives of innocent pre-born children anymore! (At least not for a while – Remember to pray that they stay closed) Secondly, it means that someone in the Illinois Department of Public Health is actually doing their job!

Abortion is Above the Law

For a long time, abortionists have been allowed to operate with very little oversight. There are countless stories of horrific conditions in abortion centers that would never pass health code muster for any other clinic. Abortionists, however, consistently seem to get a pass. A good (yet scary) example of this is the case of Kermit Gosnell. According to an article in Slate…

The Pennsylvania Department of Health inspected Gosnell's clinic when it opened in 1979. The department was supposed to check back within a year, but there's no clear record of another inspection until a decade later. Nor is there any evidence that the evaluators, when they returned, examined Gosnell's patient files, his sanitation, his emergency equipment, his use of anesthesia, his compliance with rules of post-operative care, or the qualifications of employees who did his lab work. From 1993 on, Gosnell went completely uninspected. The grand jury says the health department "decided, for political reasons, to stop inspecting abortion clinics at all. … With the change of administration from Governor Casey to Governor Ridge, officials concluded that inspections would be 'putting a barrier up to women' seeking abortions." Casey was pro-life; Ridge was pro-choice.

Back to Rockford…

I'm not sure if this actually signals a change in how the IL Dept of Health will work with abortionists, but I hope it does! I'm confident that more IL abortion centers will close if there were real scrutiny by the Dept of Health. And that would be a very good thing!

Contact: John-Paul Deddens

Source: Students for Life of Illinois

What are they Afraid of?

     
 
Pro-abortion groups file suit against North Carolina "Woman's Right to Know" law
 
WASHINGTON – This week, pro-abortion advocates in North Carolina (including two Planned Parenthood affiliates) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina seeking to block the North Carolina "Woman's Right to Know" law from going into effect.  The law, which was enacted in July over Governor Beverly Perdue's veto, requires that mothers seeking abortion be given information about the abortion and that a real-time ultrasound image of her unborn child be displayed so that she may view the image before the abortion can be performed.
 
"What are abortion advocates afraid of? Probably that when mothers see the recognizable images of their unborn children as they kick and move inside the womb, with beating hearts, abortionists will lose business, " said Mary Spaulding Balch, J.D., director of state legislation for the National Right to Life Committee.
 
Enacted by a bi-partisan override of Governor Perdue's July veto, the informed consent law provides that a booklet containing scientifically accurate information about risks, alternatives and information on the development of the unborn child, compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services, be offered to the mother at least 24 hours prior to an abortion so that she might have the opportunity to read and understand the information.  It also provides that an ultrasound image of the unborn child be displayed at least four hours prior to an abortion so that the mother might view it.
 
Balch added: "As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in Gonzales v. Carhart in 2007, 'Whether to have an abortion requires a difficult and painful moral decision….The State has an interest in ensuring so grave a choice is well informed. It is self-evident that a mother who comes to regret her choice to abort must struggle with grief more anguished and sorrow more profound when she learns, only after the event, what she once did not know…'"
 
Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.
 
The Illinois Federation for Right to Life is an affiliate of the National Right to Life.

LIFE CHAINS: Sunday, October 2, 2011

     

Stand with thousands of pro-lifers in over 1,300 chains throughout the USA and Canada in this annual event! Bring your whole family. Water, lawn chairs, umbrellas and strollers are welcome and encouraged. Rain or shine. Pick up your sign at the event. Signs proclaim "Abortion Kills Children" "Adoption the Loving Option", "Jesus Forgives and Heals", "Pray to End Abortion" and others. No graphic signs are allowed.

LIFE CHAIN is a peaceful and prayerful public witness of pro-life Americans standing for one hour praying for our nation and for an end to abortion. It is a visual statement of solidarity by the Christian community that abortion kills children and that the Church supports the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception. For more information or locations of other chains please visit www.NationalLifeChain.org or you can see the Life Chain info for each State at www.lifechain.net

180 Film Turns Opinions Around Regarding Abortion

     

What would you do if...? Thus begins the question being asked by author and film producer Ray Comfort in his new documentary, 180. Titled to reflect the complete turnaround in the mindsets of all to whom the question is posed, the award-winning film shows eight pro-choice people (mostly college students) changing their stance to pro-life just moments after the question is asked in its entirety. It is Comfort's hope that the documentary, releasing online September 26, will go viral.

While skeptics of 180 say they can't believe anyone would change his or her mind so quickly, Comfort accepts and even understands their disbelief, stating that he could hardly believe it himself when he first viewed the footage in the editing room. Initially, 180 was not the film he meant to produce. At the time, Comfort was taping interviews for a DVD to go along with a book on Hitler and the holocaust. In the course of the interviews, one question led to another, and the discussion led to abortion. Comfort explains, "It began with two male university students completely changing their minds about abortion when we asked them this one question. We realized it wouldn't be convincing to have only males speaking on the subject, so we took to the streets, asking that one particular question, and found that six women changed their minds from pro-abortion to pro-life in a matter of seconds. It was amazing!"

Comfort quickly recognized the film's potential to open the doors of discussion. "I have held up pro-life signs. I have printed pro-life literature and spoken against abortion in pulpits and in my books, but I have felt that all my efforts were almost futile -- that is, up until now. In 180 we have a nation changer."

Comfort adds, "Most of us know that we should be doing something to stop this horror, but the thought of protesting is a little unnerving, especially with the demonization of those who do so. But here is something each of us can easily do -- we can give this DVD out. We can pass them out on the streets, leave copies on park benches or on seats in malls or give it to the checkout lady at the supermarket. This isn't hard to do, and it will save lives -- perhaps millions of lives."

The documentary is available for online viewing at www.180movie.com.

Contact: Audra Jennings
Source: TBBMedia.com

Congress Hears Testimony on China’s One-Child Policy

     

Several victims of China's forced-abortion policy testified before a congressional subcommittee yesterday in support of a federal bill that would prevent anyone enforcing it — or their family members — from entering the U.S.

H.R. 2121, the China Democracy Promotion Act of 2011, was introduced this June by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights.

Since 1980, more than 400 million Chinese children have been aborted under the policy — 19 every minute, according to Chai Ling, founder of All Girls Allowed, a ministry that works with Chinese families.

"It is an insidious policy. To refuse would be illegal, but most unmarried women like me silently suffered the shame and tried to hide the secrets," said Ling, who aborted four babies. "That's why in that country, there is such a high female suicide rate — 500 women a day."

Though China is currently considering a two-child policy, Reggie Littlejohn, president of  the advocacy group Women's Rights Without Frontiers, said that won't stop forced abortions, sterilizations and the other human-rights abuses involved in enforcing the policy, such as home demolitions, beatings, extended torture and murder.

"Much of the country already allows you to have two if your first child is a girl. That gives rise to gendercide," she pointed out. "It's not how many children are allowed. It's that the government is imposing its will on something that should be a family decision and the coercion with which it is enforced. In China, a woman's body is not her own. Until the officials stop functioning as womb police, the nation will not be free."

The congressional panel pledged to investigate whether American companies in China are complicit in the abuses.

"It's inconceivable that something like this would happen in the U.S., that a woman's fertility would be monitored and she might be subjected to an inspection on a factory floor. That's not work — that's slavery. We cannot be complicit in this," said Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb.

Because of the one-child policy, China now suffers from a gender imbalance that could mean 24 million men can't find wives by 2020. Girls are selectively aborted or abandoned, and the shortage has made China a go-to destination for sex traffickers bringing in women from other countries.

Contact: Karla Dial
Source: CitizenLink

Congress Seeks Planned Parenthood Investigation

     

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) has until the end of this week to hand over 12 years' worth of documentation on how it's spent taxpayer money, as the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations calls for an accounting.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., wrote PPFA on Sept. 15, detailing concerns about how the group spends federal grant money and how it reports sex crimes.

PPFA has an "extensive record of violating state sexual assault and child abuse reporting laws, and of encouraging young girls to lie about their ages," Stearns said in a statement.

This July, Americans United for Life (AUL) circulated a detailed report, titled "The Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood," which it circulated on Capitol Hill.

"AUL for years has been calling for Planned Parenthood to give an accounting of their use and misuse of taxpayer dollars," said spokesperson Kristi Hamrick. "They receive $1 million a day in taxpayer funding. That's outrageous."

Not everyone is applauding, however: Yesterday, Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., accused Stearns of launching a "Republican vendetta" against PPFA "simply because Republicans disagree with the work that it does," and PPFA itself has a petition on its website urging advocates to demand Stearns call off the investigation.

Contact: Karla Dial
Source: CitizenLink

More success with adult stem cells

     

An Israeli firm is now using adult stem cells to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and similar research might make its way to Massachusetts.
 
The research, which was first conducted on mice by professors at Tel Aviv University, showed positive results in differentiating a patient's own bone marrow tissue into astrocytes (cells responsible for nurturing neurons in the brain) to stop and reverse advancement of the degenerative disease and protect the brain from other disorders like Parkinson's.

"Basically, over the period of just a few years, people lose all their muscular control so that they can't move," Dr. David Prentice of the Family Research Council (FRC) explains about ALS. "They can't walk; eventually they're unable to talk. They can't breathe, and it kills them."

So far, doctors have only been able to treat the symptoms of Lou Gehrig's disease. But that only makes patients a little more comfortable as the disease progresses toward fatality.

"So, this is a huge step forward in being able to treat this condition, even just to stop its progression," says the FRC senior fellow for life sciences. "But again, it's using adult stem cells. [People] need to understand there are embryonic stem cells, which rely on destruction of young human life and haven't helped a single person."

He adds that adult stem-cell therapy is already being used to successfully treat over 70 diseases and medical conditions, and patients suffer no adverse reactions because the cells are drawn from their own body.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

Baby Joseph Dies

Rest in Peace Little Saint

    

Baby Joseph, who was at the center of an international right to life debate back in March and April of 2011 died peacefully at his home in the arms of his parents. Baby Joseph was a 14 month old infant, who lived in London, Ontario, Canada, who suffered from an incurable neurological disease. This disease everyone knew, would result in his eventual death.  Baby Joseph's parents understood that he had no chance of recovery, but, they requested that the baby have a tracheostomy, which is a permanent tracheotomy, so that they could bring him home to die. His sister died from the same neurological disease 8 yrs. earlier. But in her case, physicians performed this tracheostomy, and the family was able to take her home to die.
 
The hospital in Canada originally planned to remove life support from the baby, over the objection of his parents. The hospital asked the Office of the Public Guardian to assume decision making power over his parents. This caused the case to become a highly publicized international debate over parents rights and the euthanasia issue. The debate culminated in Father Pavone, the Euthanasia Coalition and the Terri Schaivo Life and Hope Network, came to the support of the parents. This led to Baby Joseph being brought to the Cardinal Glennon's Children's Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri, where the value of his little life was recognized and the tracheostomy was performed.
 
The debate centered around two issues. (1.) No hospital should be able to impose an end of life sustaining treatment, based on financial concerns, or a subjective quality of life.  (2.) Was the issue of the tracheostomy, which was the procedure the family wanted in order to take their baby home to die.  The hospital said, that would impose a burden on the parents, and in their best medical judgement, they refused. The question was, "what was the burden"? If it was the baby; then the treatment was being withheld because it was the baby that was the burden.
 
Keep in mind, that Gabriella Gifford, the Arizona Congresswoman who was shot in the head, received a tracheotomy almost immediately. Tracheotomys are routinely performed for many reasons, but for long-term ventilatory support, they are done for comfort. This is standard procedure in hospitals. It is not extraordinary care.
 
The parents won their battle to take their little boy home with them to die, and on Tuesday, September 27th, little Baby Joseph died in the loving arms of his mommy and daddy, rather than simply having his plug pulled in a cold clinical environment. He was called home by God, not sent to his death by human elitist ideologies, which devalue human life to their utopian idea of what "quality of life" means.  This utopian idea of "quality of life" trumps the "sanctity of life"; and those who consider themselves better qualified, which in Baby Joseph's case was the hospital medical staff, want to call the shots.
 
Now, we can all ask ourselves the question, "who was Baby Joseph and why should we celebrate his life?" The simple answer is that Baby Joseph is all of us. Remember, Canada has national health care, and this is what we will have in the United States, if the Affordable Patient Health Care Act is not repealed in total.
 
Paul O'Donnell, OFM, a close family friend said yesterday, "Today at about 11:00am, our dear Baby Joseph was laid to rest at a small private funeral service in Windsor, Canada. Perhaps in the near future, another gathering will be planned, to celebrate Baby Joseph's life. Please pray for the Maraachli family at this time of great loss."  Baby Joseph died with his family exactly as they wanted.

Source: Lake County Right to Life

'Abortion pill' proves increasingly dangerous

     

New statistics released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) show that women who use the abortion pill, RU-486, are in danger.
 
The Family Research Council (FRC) worked this summer to pressure the FDA to release of the latest figures on deaths and serious side effects from the abortion pill. Those records, released in mid-July, show that of the 1.52 million women who used the drug through the end of April 2011, 14 women died, and 2,207 experienced adverse effects. But FRC's Jeanne Monahan says that is probably not all.

"We think that the deaths are probably pretty accurate, because it's hard to get around reporting a death," she notes. "But, it is possible that in terms of the hospitalization, the infections, etcetera, I think even the FDA estimates that only about a tenth of adverse events are actually reported to them."

That includes significant blood loss and infections, some of which are severe and require hospitalization. Also, in many cases, those who dispense the drug do not follow FDA recommendations.

"Planned Parenthood routinely gives out the drug at a much lower dose -- like a third of the dose," Monahan reports. "Another off-label use is using it past the amount of time that the FDA has approved it for. So, they've approved it for 49 days, [but] Planned Parenthood clinics routinely give this up to 63 days of a baby's development. So that becomes problematic."

That means women are in danger. So Monahan wants to remind people that "abortion is a deeply invasive procedure, and that the abortion pill in particular is very hard on women, in some cases resulting in death."

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

Don’t Rush to Harvest Organs

Are they out of their minds?

    

I have written in support of the non heart beating cadaver donor method for procuring organs–sometimes called heart death to differentiate it from the "brain death" (really, declared dead by neurological criteria). This approach involves declaring death after the irreversible cessation of cardio/pulmonary function, usually after the planned withdrawal of mechanically delivered life-sustaining treatment.  After a waiting period of 2-5 minutes to ensure no spontaneous resuscitation, the patient is declared dead by the treating team, and the organ harvesting team enters the surgical suite and procurement begins.

Ethically, the treating medical team that withdraws unwanted medical treatment is supposed to be completely divorced from the organ procurement team.  And if the patient doesn't go into cardiac arrest within 30 minutes of withdrawing life support, he or she is returned to the ward and is no longer considered a donor.

A key to me in this area was a sufficient waiting period: I have always considered 2 minutes to be too short for comfort, but have been okay with 5 minutes.  And certainly, the care for the living patient must be completely separate from the post death organ donation. But now, new proposed rules contemplate doing away with both these ethical protections. From the Washington Post story:

Surgeons retrieving organs for transplant just after a donor's heart stops beating would no longer have to wait at least two minutes to be sure the heart doesn't spontaneously start beating again under new rules being considered by the group that coordinates organ allocation in the United States. The organization is also poised to eliminate what many consider a central bulwark protecting patients in such already controversial cases: an explicit ban on even considering anyone for those donations before doctors and family members have independently decided to stop trying to save them.

What a profoundly unwise idea! Perhaps these organ transplant professionals are so caught up in their important work–that wasn't sarcasm–that they don't understand that the erosion of existing protections will profoundly undermine the people's weak faith in organ transplantation, which to use the old cliche, is a mile wide, but is only an inch deep.  In other words, instituting these changes could well result in fewer organs obtained, not more. Indeed, if people come to believe that their organs could come to be considered as more important than their lives, you will see a mass exodus from organ donor lists.

Contact: Wesley J. Smith
Sourcr: Secondhand Smoke

New ad and website expose the magnitude of Obama’s loyalty to Planned Parenthood

     

The Susan B. Anthony List has released a catchy, informative video exposing the magnitude of Barack Obama's loyalty to Planned Parenthood in his capacity as president…


Click here to view the video.

SBA List's accompanying website, TurnOffTheMusic.com, shows how President Obama has reciprocated Planned Parenthood's $1.7 million political investment in 2008 and 2010:

During fiscal year 2009, Planned Parenthood reported receiving over $363 million dollars in government grants and contracts – an all-time record – boosting their annual budget to over $1 billion.

In February of 2011, in response to undercover videos by Live Action in which Planned Parenthood employees show a willingness to aid and abet in alleged sex trafficking of minors, Obama called it a "manufactured" issue….

When Speaker Boehner demanded that [a Planned Parenthood] cut be a part of the final Continuing Resolution deal to keep the federal government from shutting down, President Obama refused to cut a dime…. respond[ing], "Nope, zero. Nope, zero. John, this is it."

Now that states are taking the initiative to cut spending, SBA List reports how the Obama administrative is "trying to strong-arm and even bypass [their] decisions":

In June 2011, after [Indiana] Gov. Mitch Daniels signed into law a bill defunding Planned Parenthood, the Obama Administration responded by declaring their law to be "illegal." Furthermore, the Obama Administration told the state that if it did not change the law, Health and Human Services would consider pulling the state's Medicaid funding, which totals $4.3 billion….

After declaring Indiana's law to be illegal, HHS issued a warning to other states stating that they are not permitted to "exclude providers from the program solely on the basis of the range of medical services they provide."

In September 2011, responding to a decision made by the elected members of New Hampshire's Executive Council to reject a $1.8 million dollar contract with Planned Parenthood, the Obama Administration bypassed the state and contracted directly with Planned Parenthood. The non-competitive contract outraged local officials….

It really is breathtaking to see how far Obama has been willing to go to force not only federal taxpayers but state legislatures to continue financially supporting Planned Parenthood.

But this support is only temporal. Obama and Planned Parenthood are merely fighting headwinds.

Contact: Jill Stanek
Source: jillstanek.com

Peyton Manning had Adult Stem Cell Procedure

     

Peyton Manning, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts and four-time NFL MVP, apparently went to Europe to get an adult stem cell procedure on his neck, according to a report Sunday by Jay Glazer of Fox Sports. Manning has had three surgeries on his neck in the last 19 months, Little detail was available, but the information indicates that the procedure may have used adipose (fat) derived adult stem cells from Manning's own body; this autologous procedure (using your own adult stem cells) bypasses any problems of transplant rejection and is relatively safe. Manning's adult stem cells may have then been injected around the site of his problem vertebra in the neck, to assist healing and help with spinal disc fusion. In that respect, it sounds similar to the procedure that Texas Gov. Rick Perry received in Houston, Texas, for his back problem.

Glazer indicates in his report that Manning went to Europe for the adult stem cell procedure because it is not yet approved in the U.S. This may be true, since Europe is well ahead of the U.S. in current use of stem cells for actual patient treatments. ALL of those treatments involve adult stem cells, of course.

Glazer's suggestion that only embryonic stem cell treatments are available in the U.S. is inaccurate, however. It's true that the only three approved clinical trials experimenting with embryonic stem cells are in the U.S.; with a total of four patients known to have been injected with the dangerous embryonic stem cells, and no results as yet.

    

But there are actually over 2,200 FDA-approved adult stem cell clinical trials ongoing or completed, most of which in this list are in the U.S. That includes several adult stem cell trials using adult stem cells for spinal fusion, and even a couple of adipose-derived adult stem cell trials in Indianapolis. Maybe Peyton realized that only adult stem cells had real potential for safe and ethical treatment of patients. Hopefully, he will talk about his experience so more people understand the difference between embryonic and adult stem cells.

Contact: David Prentice
Source: FRC Blog

CNN Poll Finds Most Americans Would Like All, Most Abortions Banned

     
A CNN/ORC International poll released Thursday shows that 62 percent of the respondents believe abortion should be made illegal under most or all circumstances.

The telephone poll of 1,038 voters, conducted by ORC between Sept. 9 and 11, covered a broad range of social issues — from terrorism and immigration to gay marriage and the theory of evolution — and carried a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.

According to the results, 41 percent of respondents said abortion should be "legal in a few circumstances," and 21 percent said it should be "illegal in all circumstances"; 25 percent felt it should be "legal under any circumstances," and 12 percent said it should be "legal in most circumstances."

Those numbers have proven consistent over the last five years. In 2006, 2007 and 2009, 40 percent said abortion should be legal some of the time; 39 percent said so in 2008 and 42 percent agreed in 2010. The percentage of those believing it should be banned in all circumstances dropped from 24 percent in 2006 to 22 percent in 2007 and 2008 before rising to 23 percent in 2009. It dropped back to 22 percent in 2010.

"This continues the trend that we've seen over the last several years — the majority of Americans are solidly pro-life," said Dawn McBane, CitizenLink's bioethics analyst. "This perspective also accounts for the passage of a record number of state life-protecting laws this year."

Contact: Karla Dial
Source: CitizenLink

President signs bill that includes lesser-known pro-life provision

     

A bit of good news.  Congress passed and the president signed a law (the America Invents Act, H.R. 1249) that includes an important, but not well-known, pro-life provision called the Weldon Amendment. The amendment prevents the U.S. Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) from issuing patents that are "directed to or encompassing a human organism."

Translation: no human is an "invention" or property to be licensed for financial gain.

The Weldon language used to be a pro-life "rider" that had to be attached annually to a spending bill.  Its inclusion in the America Invents Act means that the ban is now permanent law.

UPDATE:  my ever-so-smart colleague Bruce rightly mentioned to me that most people may not understand just what the patenting of human organism actually looks like in practice:

I think Nathanael Bennet over at the ACLJ blog answered your question best:

One of the most important practical effects of this [Weldon] language is that the Patent Office is not able to patent cloned human embryos or human embryos intended for research purposes.

Contact: Ashley Horne
Source: CitizenLink

Ban on Human Embryo Patents Culminates 8-Year NRLC Effort

     

A ban on the issuing of U.S. patents on human embryos was enacted into law today – the culmination of an eight-year effort in which National Right to Life played a key role.

The pro-life policy was enacted as part of a bill called the "America Invents Act" (H.R. 1249).  The bill, which runs 58 pages in its final form, makes numerous changes to the laws that govern the granting of patents in the United States, which is a function of the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO), part of the Department of Commerce.

A patent is a government-conferred property right that gives an inventor exclusive rights to manufacture or use his invention for a defined period, usually 20 years. The patent holder can license others to employ his patent for a fee, called a royalty.

Early in the year, when it became clear that Congress was likely to take up sweeping revision of the patent laws, NRLC insisted on inclusion of language to codify (make permanent) a previously enacted temporary prohibition on any patents being issued on human embryos.

Subsequently, the NRLC-backed language was added to the bill, with the support of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tx.), House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), and other key lawmakers.  Both the House and Senate subsequently approved the broader bill without separate votes on the NRLC-backed provision.  President Obama signed the bill into law today.

The key language, as it appears in Section 33 of the enacted measure, reads as follows:  "Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, no patent may issue on a claim directed to or encompassing a human organism."

A similar prohibition was originally proposed by former Congressman Dave Weldon (R-Fl.) in 2003, with the strong support of NRLC, as a amendment to the annual appropriations bill that funds the USPTO.  The House adopted the Weldon provision on July 22, 2003.  There followed a four-month struggle, in which the powerful Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) lobbied strenuously against enactment of the ban.  

NRLC fought hard for the Weldon language, arguing that it was one necessary bulwark against the plans of some biotechnology organizations to create an industry based on the creation and manipulation of human embryos.  NRLC and other backers of the Weldon language cited statements by some researchers that they wanted to patent and market human embryos with certain genetic profiles as "models" for studying certain diseases.

Furthermore, in a letter to key members of Congress dated September 11, 2003, then-BIO President Carl B. Feldbaum objected to the Weldon language on grounds that it "would preclude the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) from granting patents on an organism of human species at any stage of development produced by any method [or] a living organism made by human cloning . . ."  In a memo, BIO argued that a "genetically modified embryo" should be patentable, since it reflected "human intervention."  

NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson said at the time, "The BIO memo and letter fully demonstrated the need for the Weldon Amendment.  BIO's theory of patent law would allow patents to protect what President Bush has called 'human embryo farms.'"

NRLC and its allies ultimately prevailed, and the Weldon ban was enacted as part of a broad government funding bill in early 2004.  A detailed account of the 2003-2004 fight is found at www.nrlc.org/killing_embryos/Human_Patenting/Weldonamendmentsurvives.html.

Because the Weldon provision was attached to a one-year appropriations bill, it has been necessary to renew it for each subsequent fiscal year.  While NRLC and other pro-life forces have been successful in fending off attempts to weaken or repeal the annual bans, the long-term goal – now realized – was to codify the ban into permanent law.

Commenting on enactment of the permanent ban today, NRLC's Douglas Johnson commented, "This law recognizes that human life is not a commodity, and that a member of the human family can never be regarded as a mere invention, or as 'intellectual property.'"

Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, commented, "Unethical researchers and biotechnology companies are willing not only to create and destroy embryonic human beings for research purposes, but even to patent these fellow humans so they can license, market, buy, and sell them as mere commodities.  By prohibiting patents on human organisms, Congress has helped prevent such gross abuses and has taken some of the profit motive out of the drive for human cloning.'

The substantive scope of the Weldon language was explained by then-USPTO Director James Rogan in a letter dated November 20, 2003, as follows:  "The USPTO understands the Weldon Amendment to provide unequivocal congressional backing for the long-standing USPTO policy of refusing to grant any patent containing a claim that encompasses any member of the species Homo sapiens at any stage of development. . . . including a human embryo or human fetus. . . . [which] applies regardless of the manner and mechanism used to bring a human organism into existence (e.g., somatic cell nuclear transfer, in vitro fertilization, parthenogenesis)."

New NRLC Video Posted

     

The National Right to Life Communications Department has just posted a new YouTube video in which NRLC President Carol Tobias discusses the lifesaving work of National Right to Life.  It is a perfect introduction for new members of the movement who are familiarizing themselves with the work of National Right to Life and the state right-to-life affiliates.  You can find the video here: http://nrlc.co/pGMg8X. The link has been posted to both Facebook and Twitter for easier sharing.  Please distribute this to your traditional and social networks as widely as possible.

As always, National Right to Life's videos are available on our YouTube channel at: www.youtube.com/nationalrighttolife

Country Music Star to Join Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network as National Spokesperson

Country music singer Collin Raye to be a new voice for the cognitively impaired and those at risk of euthanasia

    

Terri Schiavo's Life & Hope Network, a foundation created by her parents and siblings following her death by starvation in 2005, has announced that country music star Collin Raye will serve as their national spokesperson.

"I am truly honored and humbled to be representing those who have no voice and appreciate the opportunity to help families and loved ones who are in similar situations like those of Terri Schiavo," said Raye.

Collin Raye charted 16 #1 hits through the 1990's and his career includes 24 top ten hits. Raye has sold over eight million albums and has been nominated five times as country music's Male Vocalist of the Year.  In 2001, he was presented with the Humanitarian of the Year award by country music legend Clint Black.

Bobby Schindler, the executive co-director of the Life & Hope Network and brother of Terri Schiavo is excited to have Collin Raye as their national spokesperson: "With Collin's help, we hope to reach many more families in need of our network of attorneys and doctors who are dedicated to protecting the rights of vulnerable, disabled and elderly persons who are at risk of being denied the medical care that they deserve."

Terri Schiavo was dehydrated and starved to death after her husband won the right in court to remove her feeding tube. In March of 2005, almost 14 days after the tube was removed and all legal options to save her were exhausted by her family, Terri passed away. Since the inception of the Life & Hope Network, over 1,000 families have contacted the group to ask for assistance and the group has brought their message to nine countries, 42 states and 30 universities.

"There has been a growing number of families faced with the same situations as Terri's family in recent years and the number is sure to continue to grow as the passage of Obamacare takes away medical decision from families and doctors and put them into the hands of bureaucrats," said Raye.

"This is about the future of what's going on in this country and how we can help the disabled, the physically and cognitively impaired, and the elderly.  Every life is precious," Raye added.

Raye shares his own, personal family experience with end of life issues in the heartbreaking death of his 10-year-old granddaughter, who died last year as a result of an undiagnosed neurological condition.

"As Terri said when she was healthy, where there's life there's hope.  In my granddaughter's illness we were blessed to have the support and care of wonderful doctors and healthcare workers.  It is my hope to be a voice for those who are suffering and need help obtaining the proper care and medical attention that every one of us deserves regardless of age, creed, color, or cognitive ability," Raye said.

Terri's Life & Hope Network has launched a nationwide effort to establish a "Safe Haven" network where hospitals and nursing homes pledge to never withhold medical care, food, or water from any patient.

"We are thrilled to have someone like Collin Raye become an advocate along side of us to help these families and patients in need.  Obamacare puts bureaucrats in charge of life and death decisions, so this battle to defend family rights and life is only just beginning," added Suzanne Schindler, co-executive director of Terri's Life & Hope Network.

Contact: Kristina Hernandez
Source: Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network

Pro-life group proves its point

     

Life Dynamics, a group fighting to return full legal protection to unborn children, has conducted an exhaustive study that validates claims made in its documentary that associates Planned Parenthood with the eugenics movement.
 
The documentary, Maafa 21, reveals that abortion and birth control are being used as tools of black genocide. But Life Dynamics founder Mark Crutcher tells OneNewsNow the abortion lobby has issued a report that suggests otherwise.

"So, we spent five months on this research project, and we looked at every zip code in the United States in which there is a Planned Parenthood facility or an independent abortion clinic," Crutcher explains. "We used U.S. Census Bureau figures to establish the racial makeup of those zip codes, and then compared that to the state in which that zip code is located."

And his organization's report, "Racial Targeting and Population Control," proves their argument.

"An incredibly high number of these facilities are located in zip codes that are disproportionately black or Hispanic, and I'm not talking about a little bit disproportionate -- ten or 15 percent. We found zip codes that were 1,800-percent disproportionate, and a ton of them that were 500- to 600- [or] 700-percent disproportionate," the Life Dynamics founder reports.

So, Crutcher concludes that the report undeniably shows that the black and Hispanic communities are targeted by Planned Parenthood, which statistically disproves the "population lobby's" denial.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

Bill Introduced to Restore Abstinence Funding

     

Tuesday 13, 2011, legislation was announced on the floor of the House of Representatives to restore funding for abstinence-centered education. The Abstinence-Centered Education Reallocation Act of 2011  (H.R. 2874),   sponsored by Rep. Randall Hultgren (R-IL), is a bill that will emphasize the sexual risk avoidance message found in abstinence programs.

Valerie Huber, Executive Director of the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) based in Washington, D.C., said in a press release, "Since President Obama chose to eliminate all funding for abstinence education, this bill is a welcome sign that sexual risk avoidance can once again be the primary prevention message that youth will receive in classrooms across America."

She continued, urging other Members of Congress to co-sponsor this bill, "NAEA applauds the leadership of Rep. Hultgren who has taken legislative action to support these positive trends in the healthy decisions teens are making … We encourage other Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Abstinence Education Reallocation Act of 2011 and urge the House to quickly approve the federal sex education policy change called for in this bill."

Both Mrs. Huber and Rep. Hultgren noted the healthy trend of fewer youth choosing to have sex. It's time to capitalize on this natural momentum and get behind this movement in a positive direction. Read more about this trend and the studies in the blog, "Healthy Trends: Fewer Youth Choosing to Have Sex."

Rep. Hultgren also wrote a Dear Colleague letter, which you can read here.

Citizens in support of sexual risk avoidance and setting abstinence as the expected standard for sexual behavior among our children should encourage their Members of Congress to co-sponsor Rep. Hultgren's bill, the Abstinence-Centered Education Reallocation Ac t of 2011  (H.R. 2874).

Contact: Chad Hills
Source: CitizenLink

Feds emphatic -- no funds for abstinence education

    

Though it has already been established that none of the funds will be used for abstinence education, recipients of federal funding for healthy marriage initiatives are to be announced in the near future.
 
In announcing the funding opportunity, the Department of Health and Human Services defined teaching abstinence as an "unallowable activity." And according to Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), "This is the very first time that there was a strict policy against providing any information on abstinence education."

But she points out that scientific studies show that teenage girls who are sexually active before marriage are twice as likely to divorce later in life. Huber decides the anti-abstinence Obama administration is showing its true colors.

"Certainly an administration that prides itself in being evidence-based is kind of tipping their hand that this might be an ideological agenda, rather than something in the best evidence-based benefit for young people," the NAEA executive director concludes.

Those who will be receiving funding, which is part of the bill that President Barack Obama signed late last year, should be announced within the next couple of weeks. But since the HHS announcement, House members have written and signed a letter that outlines their request to change the current policy so that abstinence education will be included.

Contact: Bob Kellogg
Source: OneNewsNow

IFRL Float in Elk Grove Village Home Town Parade

Below are pictures of the IFRL parade float in the Elk Grove Village Home Town Parade on June 18th, 2011











Source: Larry Theriault, Illinois Federation for Right to Life