The abortion license, ironically, helped lead directly to a view that there is a fundamental right to have children. And to be sure, people should not be forced to be sterilized, or to take birth control, or have abortions. Hello People’s Republic of China!
But those are “negative” rights, that is, a right possessed by the individual that the state cannot violate. But many take the right to procreate into the land of entitlement, e.g., a “positive right” to have children by any means they choose–and if that is true, it means human cloning, three related biological parents, etc. And now, Costa Rica is in the dock of Inter-American Court of Human Rights because it outlaws IVF. From the Scientific American story:
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is set to decide whether Costa Rica, the only country that completely prohibits in vitro fertilization (IVF), has infringed basic rights with its ban. The tribunal — which is based in the Costa Rican capital of San José but rules on human-rights violations throughout Central and South America — met last week to hear a case brought by affected couples against Costa Rica.
The decision, expected in the next few months, may oblige Costa Rica to lift the ban and regulate IVF. But scientists are concerned that if the prohibition is upheld, it will set a bad precedent for laws related to health, including one that would lift a ban on experiments involving humans, such as drug trials, that was first brought before the country’s parliament in 2011.
My take: There should be no “right” entitlement to IVF. Nor should a country be prevented from prohibiting human experimentation. I don’t approve of such a law, but creating a fundamental entitlement “right” to engage in human experimentation would be a huge mistake.
Contact: Wesley J. Smith
Source: Secondhand Smoke
Seemingly hitting back at the Obama campaign for its championing of abortion rights in ads and speeches, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan told a crowd Friday that Obama is the "extreme" candidate on abortion and that the president has never "lifted a hand to defend the most helpless" of human beings.
It was the furthest that either Ryan or Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has yet gone in criticizing Obama on abortion. Obama campaign ads have called Romney and Ryan extreme on the issue.
"Apparently, the Obama-Biden ticket stands for an absolute, unqualified right to abortion -- at any time, under any circumstances and even at taxpayer expense"
"Giving up any further pretense of moderation on this issue, and in complete disregard for millions of pro-life Democrats, President Obama has chosen to pander to the most extreme elements of his party," Ryan said at the Values Voters Summit, a gathering of pro-family voters and organizations in Washington. "In the Clinton years, the stated goal was to make abortion 'safe, legal and rare.' But that was a different time, and a different president. Now, apparently, the Obama-Biden ticket stands for an absolute, unqualified right to abortion -- at any time, under any circumstances and even at taxpayer expense."
The Democratic platform passed at the party's convention said the party "strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay" -- a reference to tax-funded abortion. The platform added, in a knock against laws such as parental notifications and 24-hour waiting periods, "We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right."
Said Ryan referencing an Obama theme, "'We're all in this together' -- it has a nice ring. For everyone who loves this country, it is not only true but obvious. Yet how hollow it sounds coming from a politician who has never once lifted a hand to defend the most helpless and innocent of all human beings, the child waiting to be born. ... When you get past all of the president's straw men, what we believe is plain to state: These vital questions should be decided, not by the caprice of unelected judges, but by the conscience of the people and their elected representatives. And in this good-hearted country, we believe in showing compassion for mother and child alike."
"We don't write anyone off in America, especially those without a voice. Every child has a place and purpose in this world. Everyone counts, and in a just society the law should stand on the side of life."
In three nights, the Democratic Convention saw 25 speakers reference the party's support for legal abortion, an average of eight speakers a night in what was the biggest emphasis on the issue since at least the 1992 convention. During his speech Obama said he didn't want government to "control health care choices that women should make for themselves." Biden said he favored a "future where women control their own choices, health and destiny." First Lady Michelle Obama said her husband believes women "are more than capable of making our own choices about our bodies and our health care." The presidents of Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America also spoke.
The Obama campaign has referenced abortion in more TV ads this year than any major presidential candidate in history.
Contact: Michael Foust
Source: Baptist Press
Hobby Lobby's lawsuit against the Health and Human Services mandate to provide coverage for the "morning-after" and "week-after" pills in insurance exchanges has gained some support.
Washington, DC-based Independent Women's Forum points out that 27 lawsuits involving religious institutions and businesses have been filed to stop the federal government from imposing the coverage. Spokesperson Hadley Heath tells OneNewsNow IWF's support is based on religious freedom and limits to the government's authority to mandate.
Heath
"Every American -- whether they're religious or not -- has a right to live in accordance with their values, to live according to their moral conscience," she says. "Of course, this intervention on the government's part is going to be something that has implications not just for family-owned businesses or for Catholics, but it has economic impact as well. It's going to, I believe, affect the market for birth control and affect some prices in healthcare. So there are many factors to be considered."
Heath adds when government is involved "there are winners and losers and there are secondary and sometimes indirect consequences that were not intended."
Heath believes people need to understand the seriousness of the consequences of violating the constitutional rights of the institutions, businesses and individuals impacted by the mandates.
Hobby Lobby recently filed a lawsuit over the healthcare reform mandate, claiming it is forcing the business owners to "violate their own faith."
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow.com
My biweekly On the Square today deals with the wave of suicide prevention. I partly blame the assisted suicide movement and the suicide prevention community’s failure to grapple with the pro advocacy of the “death with dignity” crowd.
I begin by noting that suicide prevention seems to receive less attention than when I was practicing law. Not only that, but suicide itself seems to have become more societally accepted. From, “Invisible Suicide Prevention Day:”
Not only does suicide prevention receive less emphasis, but certain segments of society have grown pro-suicide—or more accurately stated, pro- some suicides. Who can deny it? Pro-suicide billboards, mostly sponsored by the Final Exit Network, make headlines. The late Jack Kevorkian was lionized for helping to end the lives of more than one hundred and thirty disabled and terminally ill people, even becoming the subject of a hagiographic movie starring Al Pacino. “How to commit suicide” books can be found at your local retailer, and assisted suicide advocacy groups are treated as respectable “patients’ rights” groups in the media. Meanwhile, as debates rage about the best way to cap the surging cost of our medical system, a Vermont newspaper editorialized in favor of legalizing assisted suicide as a way to help pay for that state’s new single-payer health plan.
I ask why the shift in attitude? I point a finger of at least partial blame. I discuss the “rational suicide” movement within the mental health professions and the laws here and abroad that have legalized suicide and euthanasia as a medical treatment. I then point out how the top suicide prevention organizations in the world are utterly silent about the ubiquitous pro ‘some’ suicide advocacy, and point out that undermines the prevention cause:
The World Health Organization has been similarly derelict, urging that preventers restrict access to “common methods of suicide” and engage in “many levels of intervention and activities” to protect the suicidal. The guidelines also point out that “adequate prevention and treatment of depression . . . can reduce suicide rates, as well as follow up contact.”
In contrast, rather than helping people stand against the darkness, the assisted suicide movement seduces people toward embracing it through talk of “death with dignity.” Rather than ensuring access to treatment for mental illness, they claim it often isn’t needed because suicides apparently inspired by serious sickness, disability, or mental illness are not really suicide, but “aid in dying.” They even want the means provided. Thus the euthanasia/assisted suicide movement thwarts suicide prevention by promoting precisely opposite values and actions.
I conclude:
This much I know: Until and unless we stand up against assisted suicide, Suicide Prevention Days will remain invisible.
Euthanasia advocates like to paint themselves as oh, so compassionate. I see it as quite the opposite. Morally, they have much for which to answer.
Contact: Wesley J. Smith
source: Secondhand smoke
Thomas More Society's special counsel Paul Benjamin Linton, Esq., will argue before the Illinois Supreme Court today at 9 a.m., seeking to intervene in a lawsuit brought by the Illinois ACLU in an attempt to declare the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995 unconstitutional.
The ACLU brings claims that the law is a violation of the Illinois State Constitution of 1970, even though the Act was upheld as constitutional after a lengthy federal litigation that concluded three years ago. Linton will petition the high court to reverse rulings by the trial court in Cook County affirmed by the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District, holding that downstate county prosecutors would not be permitted to intervene in the lawsuit, which is being defended by the Illinois Attorney General's office.
Linton is arguing on behalf of Stewart Umholtz of Tazewell County and Edward Deters of Effingham County, a Republican and Democrat, respectively, that the very premise of the ACLU's lawsuit -- that the Illinois Constitution protects a right to abortion that is stronger than the federal abortion right recognized in Roe v. Wade -- is patently false. Indeed, the county prosecutors maintain that there is no abortion right whatsoever prescribed by the Illinois Constitution, let alone one stronger than the federal right, and therefore the ACLU lawsuit must be dismissed.
The Cook County trial court had dismissed ACLU's case on the ground that an Illinois abortion right was no stronger than the federal right, and thus the federal court upheld the parental notice law that was dispositive of the state court lawsuit. The Appellate Court, however, reversed and remanded the lawsuit for further proceedings on the merits of ACLU's claim.
Both the Attorney General's office and the Thomas More Society and Linton, acting on behalf of the downstate prosecutors, then sought leave to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, and the high Court allowed both petitions. Linton argues that the Illinois Attorney General has been an inadequate representative of the prosecutors' interests in that she declines to argue the strongest point of the defense, namely, that there is no abortion right at all under the Illinois Constitution, given the record of proceedings before the Constitutional Convention in which the delegates voted to leave the issue for legislative determination.
Contact: Tom Ciesielka
Source: Thomas More Society
Pro-life advocates have joined a leading homeschooling organization in urging the Senate not to ratify the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). President Barack Obama signed the treaty in 2009, but the Senate has not yet ratified it, even though it was recently approved by a Senate subcommittee.
In 2006, the Holy See announced that it would not sign the CPRD. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, at the time apostolic nuncio to the United Nations, said that the Holy See could interpret two ambiguous articles of the treaty “in a way which safeguards the primary and inalienable rights of parents.”
The inclusion of the phrase “reproductive health” in article 25, however, led to the Holy See’s refusal to sign the accord. Archbishop Migliore said:
We opposed the inclusion of such a phrase [reproductive health] in this article, because in some countries reproductive health services include abortion, thus denying the inherent right to life of every human being, affirmed by article 10 of the Convention. It is surely tragic that, wherever fetal defect is a precondition for offering or employing abortion, the same Convention created to protect persons with disabilities from all discrimination in the exercise of their rights, may be used to deny the very basic right to life of disabled unborn persons.
For this reason, and despite the many helpful articles this Convention contains, the Holy See is unable to sign it.
Source: Catholic World News
While abortion activists claim terminating a pregnancy is safer for the woman, several studies reflect that giving birth is less dangerous.
The latest study involves records on a half-million women in Denmark. It concludes that childbirth is indeed safer than abortion.
Dr. David Reardon of the Elliot Institute explains that statisticians looked at records over a 30-year period before making this analysis.
"[They] were able to look at link records, death certificate records and the complete reproductive history," he details, "and the results showed that compared to women who gave birth, women who had abortions were about twice as likely to die in each of the ten years following an abortion. It was evident even within the first 180 days."
Reardon tells OneNewsNow there is a problem with the information presented by abortion proponents in this country.
"[They] basically take reports of maternal deaths and abortion deaths, when there's no systematic way of gathering them, and they just claim that abortion is like 14 times safer than childbirth," he says.
"Whereas, in fact, three different data sets from three different countries -- the United States, Finland and Denmark -- show that the opposite is true, that abortion has a higher mortality rate than childbirth."
The Elliot Institute founder adds that two of the studies reveal that in the first year after an abortion, the biggest cause of death is suicide.
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow.com
Planned Parenthood was passing out condoms inside a pink cover which had this message on the front; "Protect Yourself from Romney & Ryan."
The condoms were being passed out to Democrat delegates, inside the security perimeter at the DNC, so Planned Parenthood had permission from Party and Convention officials.
Faith and pro-life leaders are appalled that DNC officials would compare Governor Romney to an STD and reduce President Obama's Campaign to "gutter politics."
Leaders also saddened that the Obama Administration and Planned Parenthood would cheapen and diminish the fight against STD's with such a shameful and crass political stunt.
Two questions must be asked of President Obama. "Are these condoms what he meant by hope and change?" And, "Who paid for these condoms?"
Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states,
"It has hard to believe President Obama, Planned Parenthood and the DNC would resort to such gutter politics in comparing Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan to STD's at the Convention.
"It is tragic that the President and his party will reduce this Presidential campaign to such crass and extremist levels. This is why so many Americans are turned off by the political process.
"It is also tragic that the Democrat Party which helped fight for civil rights and reached out to the poor and needy across our nation would now stoop to the level of passing out condoms comparing a Presidential Candidate and his running mate to STD's. I wonder how Harry Truman or Thomas Jefferson would feel about this?
"Let me be clear on this, shame on you President Obama and the DNC. With all the pressing social issues facing our nation, can you and your party really be taken seriously after a stunt like this?"
Brandi Swindell, Founder and President of Stanton Healthcare, adds,
"As a woman, human rights activist and founder of a life-affirming medical clinic, it is shocking to see Planned Parenthood reduce and diminish the fight against STD's in such a cheap and crass way. It clearly shows that they are more interested in creating a circus like atmosphere than dealing in a serious way with pressing social issues.
"It also shows that the President and his party are attached at the hip with Planned Parenthood and their radical anti-woman agenda. President Obama now is time for real solutions and not cheap political tricks. Is this really the best you have to offer our nation?"
Contact: Rev. Patrick Mahoney
Last year, I wrote here about how “Suicide Prevention Day” was pretty much invisible. Well, can any of you guess which date was National Suicide Prevention Day for 2012? (Cue the Jeopardy music.) Time’s up: September 10: Come and gone without making a ripple, with mostly blog or Website comments.
The Surgeon General did issue a new prevention policy–that mostly got attention because it adds special attention to the risk of suicide for gay youth. But I note that it is silent about the growth of suicide promotion by the euthanasia/assisted suicide movement. From, “2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention:”
From encouraging dialogue about suicidal behavior to promoting policies that support suicide prevention, the National Strategy states that suicide prevention efforts should:
Foster positive public dialogue, counter shame, prejudice, and silence; and build public support for suicide prevention;
Address the needs of vulnerable groups, be tailored to the cultural and situational contexts in which they are offered, and seek to eliminate disparities;
Be coordinated and integrated with existing efforts addressing health and behavioral health and ensure continuity of care;
Promote changes in systems, policies, and environments that will support and facilitate the prevention of suicide and related problems;
Bring together public health and behavioral health;
Promote efforts to reduce access to lethal means among individuals with identified suicide risks; and,
Apply the most up-to-date knowledge base for suicide prevention.
So, doctors should not write–and pharmacists should not fill–lethal prescriptions because that puts the means of self-killing intentionally in the hands of the suicidal, right? Not. Mentioned. At. All.
So I will: We can’t prevent suicide by pretending that very loud voices aren’t promoting suicide as an acceptable way to deal with human suffering caused by illnesses, disabilities, and mental illnesses. Indeed, these days their voices are the loudest and are amplified by a fawning and supportive media. Unless prevention experts push back against the pro suicide proselytizing, they will continue to grow increasingly invisible.
Contact: Wesley J. Smith
Source: Secondhand Smoke
Students for Life of America, the nation's largest pro-life youth organization, announced today a nationwide effort to educate 300,000 voters and recruit 1,200 Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) youth volunteers through its I Vote Pro-Life First Initiative this fall.
The initiative asks every American, particularly young adults, to sign a pledge stating that a candidate's stance on the life issue will be the most important issue that a person looks at when deciding which candidates to vote for, from local school board to President of the United States.
"If a candidate does not support the basic right to life, we believe they cannot be trusted to handle any other issue, fiscal or social, with honor and dignity," said Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life of America. "We plan to educate voters, recruit volunteers, and urge voters to vote for the candidates that respect life in all its stages."
On September 17th, SFLA will launch its I Vote Pro-Life First Campus Tour, which will visit several universities (below) in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and, Pennsylvania. Former nurse, pro-life activist and blogger, Jill Stanek will headline the tour.
The Campus Tour was created following results from SFLA's June national poll of 805 18-24 year olds, which showed that college-aged students are expecting to vote in large numbers and are split on the issue of legalized abortion. Students for Life of America will use its national campus program to recruit over 1,200 GOTV youth volunteers this October to knock on or call 300,000 voter households before Election Day.
The I Vote Pro-Life First initiative is a coalition effort with other national pro-life organizations such as RNC for Life, Live Action, The Justice Foundation, Pro-Life Nation, Rock for Life, I Am Whole Life, The Frederick Douglass Foundation, Lifenews.com, JillStanek.com, AbolishAbortion.com, Pro-Life Action League, California Civil Rights Foundation, and Created Equal. Senator Rick Santorum joined representatives from the coalition on a webcast last week to educate pro-lifers of the new initiative.
Contact: Maria Ciarrocchi
Source: Students for Life of America
Evangelical-owned Hobby Lobby has filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration's contraceptive/abortion mandate, becoming the largest business yet to take action against the rule and underscoring once again that the issue impacts more than just Catholics.
With more than 500 stores in 41 states, Hobby Lobby's owners always have made their faith a central part of their business. Their stores play Christian instrumental music and are closed on Sundays. Hobby Lobby contributes to Christian organizations and during Easter and Christmas runs full-page ads with Gospel-centered messages in newspapers.
The mandate, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, requires businesses to purchase insurance plans that cover contraceptives, including "emergency" contraceptives that can cause chemical abortions. The latter drugs often are labeled morning-after pills and come under brand names such as Plan B and ella. They can work before implantation and -- in the case of ella -- after implantation.
Hobby Lobby is represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which filed the suit Wednesday (Sept. 12). There now are 28 separate suits against the mandate, although most of them involve religious organizations that will be impacted by the rule, according to Becket.
Although Hobby Lobby's insurance plans cover contraceptives that are preventative in nature, the company won't cover anything that causes a chemical abortion, says David Green, Hobby Lobby's founder and CEO.
"These abortion-causing drugs go against our faith, and our family is now being forced to choose between following the laws of the land that we love or maintaining the religious beliefs that have made our business successful," Green said during a conference call with reporters. "... We simply cannot abandon our religious beliefs to comply with this mandate."
The mandate went into effect Aug. 1, but Hobby Lobby won't be impacted until Jan. 1, when the new insurance year for its employees begins.
The mainstream media has focused most of its attention on Catholic organizations and has rarely used the word "abortion" in reporting on the controversy, but the reality is much different, said Becket Fund attorney Kyle Duncan.
"We hope that this lawsuit, on behalf of such a large and prominent evangelical Christian business, will draw attention to the fact that the government is trying to force people of all different faiths to violate their faith," Duncan said during the conference call. "This is not by any means a Catholic-only issue. Some of the drugs involved in the mandate can cause an early abortion. And many Americans who are not Catholic have a problem with this."
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, asserts the mandate violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of freedom of religion, speech and association. It asks the court to issue an injunction prohibiting enforcement of the mandate. In a separate case in July, a federal court issued a ruling preventing the mandate from being enforced against a Colorado business whose owners are devout Catholics, but the ruling applied only to that business.
Hobby Lobby would face millions of dollars in fines if it does not comply. If it chose simply to drop insurance for employees altogether, it would face fines of $26 million per year, Duncan said. If it chose to offer insurance but simply not comply with the mandate, the fines would be even larger: more than $400 million per year, he said.
"The government has turned a deaf ear to the rights of business owners," Duncan said.
Perhaps countering what critics will say about Hobby Lobby and the lawsuit, Green said the company cares about its employees.
"That's why, unlike most major retailers, we are open only 66 hours per week and are closed on Sunday, to allow our employees to spend time with their family," Green said.
Also, the company's minimum wage for full-time employees is 80 percent above the national minimum wage, he said.
The issue is about religious liberty, Green said.
"Hobby Lobby has always been a tool for the Lord's work," he said. "... For me and my family, charity equals ministry, which equals the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ... But now our faith is being challenged by the federal government."
The mandate was announced by HHS in August 2011 as part of the health care law championed by President Obama. Although the Supreme Court upheld the health care law in June of this year, the justices' ruling did not deal with the religious liberty issues surrounding the contraceptive/abortion mandate. That means the nation's highest court could yet strike down what has been for religious groups the most controversial part of the law.
Contact: Michael Foust
Source: Baptist Press
Former Susan G. Komen Vice President Karen Handel's new book released today, Planned Bullyhood, reports on Planned Parenthood's orchestrated shakedown of the breast cancer group, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, in February 2012. Handel explained that Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards spent weeks organizing what Handel called "one of the most contemptible acts of coordinated bullying in modern American political history."
Richards' allies included the Obama administration, abortion enthusiasts in the Big Media (including MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell), 26 U.S. senators (25 Democrats, one independent), the highest levels of the Democratic National Committee (including Debbie Wasserman Shultz) and others. Handel said the tyrannical left was unified in its overt preference for Planned Parenthood over the best interests of Komen and women's health.
Handel provided evidence suggesting some Komen insiders and even Democratic commentator and lobbyist Hilary Rosen - Komen's adviser at the public relations agency, SKDKnickerbocker - may have leaked information to Planned Parenthood.
Komen founder Nancy Goodman Brinker had once served on a Planned Parenthood's advisory board in Texas. Despite the long friendship between the two organizations and millions of dollars given to Planned Parenthood during the last two decades, Cecile Richards ruthlessly back stabbed her Komen friends, even after having promised not to create a firestorm. Richards threatened Komen's financial well-being by urging corporate and individual donors to stop giving to the breast cancer group.
Komen's 2011 grants - allegedly intended for education and breast cancer screening - totaled $680,000. Komen executives considered the grants "low quality" and of poor service to women because Planned Parenthood only provided manual breast exams. It referred women elsewhere for mammograms, and the results weren't measurable.
Handel argued that Komen's "ill-timed decision" to stop the grants coincided with a political decision inside the Obama administration. In order to win the women's vote, the administration created a smokescreen to conceal its "abysmal economic record" and the particularly adverse impact of unemployment on women.
The Obama administration, she said, concocted the "trumped up" war on women to distract the public from its difficulties with Catholic voters resulting from its mandate requiring employers to purchase insurance providing women with free sterilizations, (cancer-causing) hormonal contraceptive steroids and chemical abortions. The administration conveniently "put Komen at the center of the 'war on women'."
Many people had objected to Komen's grants over the years because Planned Parenthood sells women cancer-inducing abortions and hormonal contraceptive steroids (i.e. the birth control pill and Depo Provera birth control) and because it was possible for Planned Parenthood to re-direct Komen's funds to the abortion side of its business. Handel, however, claimed Komen's relationship with Planned Parenthood was unrelated to abortion. She wrote:
"Our dealings with Planned Parenthood also had nothing whatsoever to do with abortion, although those of us at Komen National were surprised to learn that, in some of the community grants - and contrary to previous Komen statements - dollars were going to general administrative costs."
Handel said there is a second, significant issue that should be of concern - Planned Parenthood's "tax-guzzling agenda." Planned Parenthood has a "vested interest" in seeing Democrats win the White House, she wrote, because "millions of dollars in existing government funding and robust new streams of government dollars were at risk" (probably as a result of ObamaCare). Tax dollars totaling nearly $1.5 million per day are directed to Planned Parenthood's non-profit organization. Planned Parenthood's non-profit organization can legally give millions to its political pac as a gift. Those funds are used to elect politicians that will vote to give Planned Parenthood more tax dollars and support its billion-dollar-a-year business. The abortion behemoth also uses the funds to defeat political candidates who either oppose its agenda or refuse it further taxpayer money. Handel reported that in 2004, Democrats were the recipients of 95% of Planned Parenthood's pac spending. In 2008, Democrats received 99% of its pac spending.
Handel learned there was support for Planned Parenthood within some Komen affiliates, and she heard anti-Republican and anti-Catholic sentiments expressed. Some called her "righty-tighty" for having run as a one-time Republican candidate for governor of Georgia.
After the Catholic bishops conference in Ohio issued a statement in 2011 "to direct Catholic parishes and schools away from fundraising for Komen and toward activities and organizations" that were "fully consistent with Catholic moral teaching," Handel said she heard several references made about those "Crazy Catholics" and "nutty right-wingers."
It took only three days of hammering from the abortion lobby before Komen's founder Nancy Goodman Brinker capitulated to Planned Parenthood and agreed to continue giving the abortion provider what Komen's leaders had called "low quality" grants.
Komen's public relations adviser, Hilary Rosen, cheered Planned Parenthood's victory. According to Handel, she "retweeted something from Nancy Pelosi. Here's what Pelosi tweeted:
"'When women speak out, women win - Komen decision to continue funding Planned Parenthood is a victory for women's health.' A few minutes later, Rosen (@hilaryr) had tweeted herself: 'Congrats to Susan G. Komen for the Cure....No room for politics in fighting cancer."
The Komen-Planned Parenthood debacle provides a lesson for all corporate and non-profit leaders who are considering giving Planned Parenthood grants. Like the mafia, once you're in, you are expected to continue paying for life. Handel encouraged corporate leaders threatened with a shakedown not to capitulate to bullies, like Planned Parenthood, and to stand their ground, just as AT&T had done so in 1990 when it stopped funding the abortion behemoth.
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.
Contact: Karen Malec
Source: Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
After reviewing the autopsy report of a Chicago woman, Operation Rescue concludes that her death was the result of a botched abortion.
Tonya Reaves went to a Chicago Planned Parenthood for the procedure and died hours later. Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger tells OneNewsNow the autopsy reveals that the surgical abortion was done when Reaves was 16 weeks along and that she died from complications.
Sullenger, Cheryl"What we also determined was that all of those complications were survivable, if she had received emergency care in a timely manner," the pro-lifer notes. "Instead, Planned Parenthood let her hemorrhage in the abortion clinic for five and a half hours before getting her help."
Clinic workers then shared no information with emergency room physicians, forcing them to solve the puzzle before doing a hysterectomy. But it was too late. Reaves had a perforated uterus and possibly a severed artery.
"We are going to file a complaint with the medical board in Illinois against Carolyn Hoke, who is the medical director for Planned Parenthood," Sullenger reports. "We believe she was the abortionist who was responsible for Tonya's botched abortion."
The pro-life group will also seek an investigation on the basis of alleged criminal neglect. This particular Planned Parenthood does not advertise for surgical abortions, so Sullenger adds that there is a question about whether it is properly equipped to perform those procedures or handle complications.
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow.com
It's not surprising that speakers tonight at the Democratic National Convention made no attempt to disguise the abortion extremism of the Democratic platform and President Barack Obama.
NARAL President Nancy Keenan used her speech to make DNC 2012 the abortion convention as she proudly proclaimed the Democratic Party's support for abortion. It's understandable given the shared and unwavering dedication of NARAL and the President to the policy of abortion on demand without limits. Following Keenan, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius praised Obamacare, which will lead to expanded insurance coverage for abortion.
Every day, more than 3,000 mothers across the country have abortions. These women and their children deserve better than a violent procedure that leaves one dead and one wounded. But you won't hear that at this year's DNC. Look no further than their platform to see how extreme and out of touch with Americans they truly are. Even with 59% of Americans opposing the vast majority of abortions, and still more than 1.2 million abortions annually in this country, the Democratic Party has never seen any limit on abortion they liked, or any abortion they opposed.
As the DNC begins to showcase their pro-abortion extremism in Charlotte, the differences between Barack Obama and the pro-life ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have never been more clear.
Contact: Carol Tobias
Source: National Right to Life
Life Legal Defense Foundation Says Bill Morphed from Boat Paint to Humans
The California Senate voted last week to pass a bill allowing non-physicians to perform aspiration abortions. Senate Bill 623, introduced by Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego), extends a program run by the University of California, San Francisco, in which nurse practitioners, midwives and physicians assistants are trained to perform abortions.
"This bill was originally created to regulate boat paint," said Dana Cody, Executive Director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation. "Now it's regulating and destroying human lives."
Ms. Kehoe claimed that the bill was necessary to fill gaps in the availability of abortion caused by the shortage of doctors in parts of the state. The bill went through three attempts before passage. Ms. Kehoe "gutted and amended" the bill after its introduction, which raised some protest from other members of the Senate. This spring, a Senate committee rejected an attempt to pass a broader bill allowing non-physicians to perform abortions. In the end, a narrower version of the bill was passed. Rather than opening abortion to non-physicians generally, the bill focuses on extending a U.C. San Francisco program training physicians assistants and others to perform first trimester abortions.
For months, the Life Legal Defense Foundation has been tracking down information on the U.C. San Francisco program. Earlier this year, they filed a Writ of Mandate to compel disclosure with a public records request for complete information. "There have been numerous attempts to resist records requests, leaving us wondering what they have to hide," said Katie Short, Legal Director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation. "It is important for Californians to find out what is being done in this training program -- who are the abortionists conducting the training? How many women are being injured by these non-physician abortionists?"
Contact: Tom Ciesielka
Source: Life Legal Defense Foundation
Supporters of Planned Parenthood argued at a Sept. 4 rally that pro-life views amount to the belief that women are inferior and should not have certain rights.
Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) asserted that pro-life politicians are trying to remove "women's basic rights" and the ability to control "their destinies."
Republicans believe that women "are not created equal" and do not include women "when they talk that freedom and liberty stuff," she argued.
Moore charged that abortion foes are radically "backward-looking" and warned against those who want women "to be barefoot and pregnant."
Moore was one of several speakers who endorsed President Barack Obama at a Sept. 4 Planned Parenthood rally held outside the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., during the Democratic National Convention.
The rally featured a woman dressed as a giant container of birth control pills who led chants, as well as speakers like Emily Sussman, executive director of Young Democrats of America, who declared that she is a "b-tch for choice."
Although the rally was not an official convention event, Planned Parenthood supporters wearing pink t-shirts were very prominent around the convention center.
Many of the speakers at the event focused on a controversial federal mandate that requires employers to provide health insurance covering contraception, sterilization and early abortion-inducing drugs, even if doing so violates their consciences.
Religious organizations and individuals across the country have voiced objections to the mandate, arguing that it infringes on their freedom of religion because such products and procedures are contrary to their beliefs.
Republican candidates have vowed to protect religious employers and those who object from the mandate.
Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards told the crowd that "we're fighting over the right of women in this country to have birth control" and argued that opponents of the mandate "want to let our boss decide whether or not we should be able to get birth control."
But the numerous churches and secular employers who object to the mandate have responded to these claims by pointing out that most companies already cover contraception and would be free to continue doing so. Employees who work for the minority of morally objecting employers can find contraception already widely available for little cost at many pharmacies and for free at some health clinics, they add.
Still, rally participants repeatedly made the claim that their opponents are attempting to prevent insurance policies from covering birth control.
Newark’s Mayor Cory Booker argued that the GOP is "denying women access to healthcare."
"You see, there's some people in the Republican Party that believe that when they say all men are created equal, that they are leaving out women," he said.
Speakers at the event veered away from discussing abortion, despite the fact that Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider.
"It's not just about abortion," said actress Aisha Tyler, a Planned Parenthood national board member.
When discussing the organization and surrounding issues in the months leading up to the election, she advised the crowd, “don't let it be about abortion,” shift the focus to "women's health."
The transition in emphasis may have been in response to polls that indicate Americans who identify as "pro-choice" are at an all-time low.
In addition, Democrats for Life of America recently announced that nearly one in three Democrats self-identifies as pro-life. The organization made an attempt to expand the party's 2012 platform to include pro-life positions in addition to pro-abortion views, but its request was rejected.
While they acknowledged that significantly lower rates of women supported the Democratic Party in the 2010 election, speakers at the Planned Parenthood rally did not address the growing numbers of pro-life Americans, and instead focused on the "extreme" views of those who oppose abortion and the contraception mandate.
Georgetown University law graduate Sandra Fluke also spoke at the rally, highlighting the importance of the 2012 election.
Fluke has become a hero for the push to promote the contraception mandate since she testified before a U.S. House committee in February on why she believed religious institutions such as Georgetown University should be required to provide free contraception to students.
The 31-year-old recounted stories of fellow students who allegedly suffered because they were unable to treat medical conditions with contraceptives, even though the university's student health care plan was later shown to cover birth control if needed for medical purposes rather than contraceptive ones.
Fluke told rally attendees to spread the word that women will die from lack of health care if Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are elected.
"This is personal," she stressed.
Contact: Michelle Bauman
Source: CNA/EWTN News
With the curtain closed on the Democratic National Convention, one pro-lifer is certain about where the party stands on life issues.
Marilyn Musgrave, spokesperson for the Susan B. Anthony List, says the party's pro-abortion stance was evidenced by the selection of speakers at the DNC. Two of them were Nancy Keenan of NARAL and Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards.
"Well, the fact that Cecile Richards was there really speaks to the extreme position of the party [that's] very evident in their platform," Musgrave asserts. "Also this reflects her close relationship with the most pro-abortion president ever."
Upon listening to Richards' speech, the SBA List spokesperson noticed that the fact that Planned Parenthood kills more than 300,000 preborn babies each year was missing -- "or even the word 'abortion,' for that matter."
"Talking about women's health -- abortion is not healthcare," Musgrave asserts. "Planned Parenthood has gotten by with this image of providing healthcare. Their money comes in from abortions -- that's what they're all about."
Richards claimed that several million women would be denied health services like cancer screenings without Planned Parenthood. But the fact is those services are available through other sources that do not do abortions.
Musgrave goes on to stress that the party platform seeks no restrictions at all on abortion, even late-term and sex-selection.
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
The First Lady of America took the grandstand last night in a rousing speech. As the emails flooded into my cache, with the pros and cons, I wrote back to one sincere young lady: "She looked beautiful and proves that she's nearly as much a consummate skilled politician as her husband. She almost makes you forget that her husband supports killing babies and destroying natural marriage. Almost..."
In comparison to Mrs. Romney's sincere and impassioned speech in support of her husband last week, Mrs. Obama's speech was more glittering and glamorous. She skillfully moved through the controversial issues of abortion and homosexual marriage by drawing comparisons between the two leading candidates without ever mentioning her husband's opponent's name during the subtle attack on his candidacy.
Mrs. Obama's efforts to pit the rich against the poor also fall short of the mark, when we consider that both candidates and their families are not poor people. The President and First Lady are not poor by a long shot. Both candidates also have humble beginnings in their ancestries. Neither the President nor the Governor have ancestors who have been slaves in America by the way.
What the First Lady didn't mention is the high number of jobless families, and the astronomical debt her husband has run up in the name of entitlement during his tenure. This debt will fall on the backs of our children, at least those who don't end up contracepted or aborted or not conceived in the first place.
However, after saying all of this, we can admit that both Mrs. Romney and Mrs. Obama have delivered stunning and memorable speeches in support and defense of their husbands. Women can be proud that two intelligent women are at the forefront of this year's elections.
Women should also be very wary of an agenda that is very harmful to the female and family populations of America, which is the agenda that Mrs. Michelle Obama, the First Lady of America is promoting. The current administration supports programs and initiatives such as homosexual marriage and the HHS Mandate which delivers harmful chemical and medical procedures that are linked to strokes, heart attacks, breast cancer and a host of other ills that are harmful to the lives of babies and women.
The question that is continually being asked is: "What diseases do abortion and unnatural contraceptives cure?" Pregnancy and childbirth are not diseases, so how can abortion and harmful contraceptives help women? Who is on guard for the civil rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for women and babies who are being hurt, maimed and slaughtered in the name of birth control and abortion?
Of course, Mrs. Obama stayed away from these issues as much as she possibly could during her speech. It would be amazing if the women of America, if the voters of America could step away from the glory and the hype for a moment and put some of these questions before the First Lady and the President of the United States.
I'll end with this one... All that glitters ain't gold.
Contact: Eugene Vigil, by Alveda King
Source: King for America
The Democratic Party platform for 2012 “strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade, endorses legal recognition of same-sex marriage, and regards the promotion of “gay rights” as an American foreign-policy priority.
The program approved by the Democratic Party at this week’s convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, no longer says that abortion should be “rare,” as previous party platforms once said. In a blanket statement of support for unrestricted legal abortion, the platform says: “We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”
The platform adds that the option of abortion should be available to all women “regardless of ability to pay,” underlining Democratic support for taxpayer-financed abortions.
In a new bid for support from homosexual activists, the platform says: “We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under the law for same sex couples."
Regarding the rights of churches that refuse to acknowledge same-sex marriage, the platform says: “We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference.” That sentence is ambiguous, insofar as it says that religious institutions should be allowed to decide “how” to celebrate marriages; the platform gives no indication that they should remain free not to solemnize homosexual marriages.
The Democratic platform applauds the Obama administration’s decision to treat same-sex relationships as “families” for purposes of immigration policy, and to fund programs that finance gay-rights organizations abroad through the State Department. The platform explains that “gay rights are human rights.”
"President Obama and Democrats will continue to stand up to Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood health centers,” the Democratic platform proclaims. And: “President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to supporting family planning around the globe...”
Contact: Catholic World News
While the economy remains the focus of the presidential election, one conservative advocate explains why social issues should be a main part of the dialogue.
Some believe Romney and establishment Republicans want to downplay topics like abortion. But Gary Bauer, president of American Values, tells OneNewsNow that pointing out the Democratic Party's policy positions on the subject can educate voters. He maintains the mainstream media wrongly reports that the GOP is the radical party on abortion, especially in regards to "exceptions" like rape and incest.
Bauer, Gary (American Values)"It's the other side that has an extremist position, because they will not outlaw any abortions -- not for a 15-year-old without her parents' permission, not abortions to pick the sex of the baby, not abortions in the seventh and eighth month of pregnancy," he asserts. "Not only will they not outlaw them, they expect us to pay for those abortions."
Bauer predicts voters will not hear reporters challenge President Barack Obama or the Democratic Party concerning what he considers "extremist views" like abortion on demand -- at least not like the media challenged GOP leaders in Tampa last week for protecting the unborn. But he also believes Republicans should not avoid discussing the subject for fear of condemnation.
"This party at the grassroots, it's the party of Lincoln and Reagan. It's the party that was based on the idea that in America, everybody is protected by the words of our founding documents," Bauer states about the Republicans. "That includes, in the beginning of our party, slaves -- we were the party that said they were men; they should be welcomed. And today we're the party that believes that our children ought to be welcomed into the world, have a seat at the table and be protected under the law."
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden support abortion on demand, which, according to various polls, is a position shared by less than one quarter of Americans. For instance, The Daily Caller reports that Gallup recently found that 86 percent of Americans believe such abortions should be illegal.
Contact: Russ Jones
Source: OneNewsNow
Some 79 members of the US House of Representatives have signed amicus curiae briefs in support of the 40 Catholic institutions that have brought suit to halt enforcement of the Obama administration's contraceptive mandate.
The amicus briefs, prepared by the American Center for Law and Justice, oppose a bid by the Department of Health and Human Services to dismiss the lawsuits, which were brought by Catholic dioceses, schools, and charitable institutions.
The representatives who joined in signing the briefs were: Jeff Landry (LA), Robert Aderholt (AL), Todd Akin (MO), Mark Amodei (NV), Michele Bachmann (MN), Spencer Bachus (AL), Lou Barletta (PA), Roscoe Bartlett (MD), Dan Benishek (MI), Gus Bilirakis (FL), Diane Black (TN), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Charles Boustany (LA), Kevin Brady (TX), Paul Broun (GA), Dan Burton (IN), Francisco "Quico" Canseco (TX), Bill Cassidy (LA), Steve Chabot (OH), Michael Conaway (TX), Chip Cravaack (MN), Jeff Duncan (SC), Renee Ellmers (NC), Stephen Fincher (TN), John Fleming (LA), Bill Flores (TX), J. Randy Forbes (VA), Jeff Fortenberry (NE), Virginia Foxx (NC), Bob Goodlatte (VA), Gregg Harper (MS), Andy Harris (MD), Vicky Hartzler (MO), Wally Herger (CA), Tim Huelskamp (KS), Bill Huizenga (MI), Bill Johnson (OH), Walter Jones (NC), Jim Jordan (OH), Mike Kelly (PA), Steve King (IA), John Kline (MN), Raul Labrador (ID), Doug Lamborn (CO), James Lankford (OK), Bob Latta (OH), Dan Lipinski (IL), Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO), Dan Lungren (CA), Don Manzullo (IL), Jeff Miller (FL), Mick Mulvaney (SC), Tim Murphy (PA), Randy Neugebauer (TX), Alan Nunnelee (MS), Pete Olson (TX), Steven Palazzo (MS), Ron Paul (TX), Steve Pearce (NM), Joe Pitts (PA), Ted Poe (TX), Mike Pompeo (KS), Ben Quayle (AZ), Reid Ribble (WI), Phil Roe (TN), Todd Rokita (IN), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Dennis Ross (FL), Steve Scalise (LA), Bobby Schilling (IL), Jean Schmidt (OH), David Schweikert (AZ), Adrian Smith (NE), Chris Smith (NJ), Lamar Smith (TX), Glenn Thompson (PA), Tim Walberg (MI), Lynn Westmoreland (GA), and Joe Wilson (SC).
Source: Catholic World News
Our alma mater, Biola University, has now joined the growing number of Evangelical and Catholic colleges and universities suing the federal government over the Obama health care law's requirement that all health care providers provide medical insurance plans that include access to abortion and abortion-causing drugs.
Biola President Barry Corey explained why our school is fighting the Obama anti-conscience mandate in these eloquent words:
"It is simply a natural outgrowth of our calling to be stewards of the mission Biola's founders have trusted to us, to hold fast to biblical convictions even in the midst of shifting cultural sands. It is unjust that the federal government has mandated that institutions of faith like Biola, which has held biblically centered convictions for over a century, violate their consciences in this manner. It is an infringement on our freedom to be the university God has called us to be."
Biola's suit, undertaken jointly with Indiana's Grace College and Seminary, is being filed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). As East Coast Biolans, we are proud of and grateful for the stand of our school.
We represent two different generations of Biolans (Rob, '79 and Julia,'09), but Biola represents something timeless: The eternal truth of the Word of God. For standing up for that truth, we're thankful for President Corey's leadership and the continued strong stance of our school.
Contact: Rob Schwarzwalder and Julia Kiewit
Source: FRC Blog
As we close out this historic month of August, 2012, I can't help but comment on a very sad day that marked the start of a new moment in American history. The infamous "contraceptive mandate" began its implementation stage on August 1, 2012, and on this day the landscape of the separation of Church and State as we have known it in the United States was drastically altered. On that day groups were forced to violate religious dictates and consciences on such matters as insurance coverage of contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs.
Those who have been following this debate will well remember that one year ago, the department of Health and Human Services used its regulatory power to mandate that the full range of Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptives be included in all health insurance plans, minus a very small group of religious employers, namely places of worship.
A massive public outcry ensued this decision, resulting in the Obama Administration announcing a purported "accommodation" last February (one that is yet to be worked through in any level of detail) as well as a one year "safe haven" for certain religious employers while they worked through the logistics of violating their consciences.
Organizations that do not fulfill the safe haven criteria include businesses, and groups that must not have provided any kind of contraception coverage before the February 10th regulation was issued. A number of lawsuits have been filed in response, including many asking for immediate injunctions against the mandate set to begin on Wednesday.
So who are the first casualties of the healthcare law? One such group is Weingartz Supply based out of Ann Arbor,Michigan. The organization provides supplies for lawn-mowing and snow removal. Until now the business, owned by a Catholic has not included contraception coverage, but now will be required to do so. Representing Weingartz and a Catholic business organization, Legatus, the Thomas More Law Center in Michigan filed a suit asking for an injunction from the mandate, but a hearing has not yet been set despite a May filing.
Similarly, a family-owned heating and cooling business in Colorado, Hercules, sought and received a temporary injunction the Friday before the mandate was to be implemented. But the injunction is specific to their family business, other groups are not covered.
Other casualties of the healthcare law include insurers and participants in the individual market who must to comply with the HHS Mandate as well as schools that have already removed health insurance coverage because of the HHS Mandate. To date this includes Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio as well as Ave Maria University in Florida. Note the irony, given that the goal of the healthcare law was to have more people covered, not less.
By far the vast majority of religious groups impacted by this mandate will feel the pinch once the safe harbor period (and the election) is over.
As we reflect upon this defining moment in history where HHS has in essence used regulatory power to redefine Church and State relations, I can still find comfort in the balance of power existing in our U.S. democratic system. The constitutionality of this regulation will ultimately be decided by the courts, where approximately 50 suits related to the HHS mandate currently wait to be heard.
Contact: Jeanne Monahan
Source: FRC Blog
A new poll from CNN shows that a majority of the U.S. is pro-life.
The CNN poll shows that 62 percent want abortions illegal in all cases or legal in only certain circumstances. Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America (CWA) suggests that the survey results reflect a better educated public.
"Quite frankly I think it shows that Americans are looking at the current situation when it comes to abortion and realizing that the vast majority of abortions are for a woman's convenience or for birth-control," she notes.
The public is beginning to see that more and more abortion patients are women who have had multiple abortions and are in their 20s and 30s, rather than the former image of a frightened teenager facing an unplanned pregnancy.
"So, I think people are looking at that and saying is this the kind of culture we want, where people on a whim just get rid of a pregnancy? And they're saying no, this is not the kind of country we want," Crouse offers.
With better technology, especially with sonograms, the CWA spokesperson says women realize they are carrying a real human being, not a clump of cells.
She goes on to attribute the better educated public to the 40 years of hard work on the part of grassroots pro-lifers.
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
"The mainstream news media is once again demonstrating its eagerness to use any excuse to portray a Republican presidential ticket as out of the mainstream on abortion, while ignoring the truly extreme positions taken by the pro-abortion candidate -- this year, President Obama," said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).
The mainstream news media is again busy ginning up stories exploring the outer parameters of the abortion-related policy positions of pro-life Republican candidates, even where this involves remote, theoretical scenarios -- while demonstrating a near-total disinterest in putting the spotlight on the outer parameters of the "abortion rights" positions embraced by President Obama, even on matters under current legislative consideration.
The current media focus is on the position of the Romney-Ryan ticket on prohibiting abortion in cases of rape or incest. Governor Romney has been quite clear that he supports rape and incest exceptions to a law providing general protection for unborn children. This is the same position taken by pro-life President George W. Bush, who did much to advance federal policies to move towards a society in which all were "welcomed in life and protected in law."
According to a 2005 study published by the Guttmacher Institute, "Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions," one percent of the women who were surveyed while seeking abortions reported having an abortion because they were victims of rape. Legislation to prohibit early abortion in cases of rape and incest is not under consideration in Congress. Indeed, since 1993, Congress provided federal funding for abortion in cases of rape and incest. Starting that year, those exceptions were added to the Hyde Amendment (the law which generally prohibits federal Medicaid funding for abortion), in addition to the original life-of-mother exception. When the rape/incest exceptions were added to the law, the Clinton Administration estimated that it would result in federal funding of abortion "nationally to about 1,000 women," despite the huge size of the federal Medicaid program (over 33 million persons covered in 1995, and over 50 million today). (Letter from President Clinton to Gov. Robert P. Casey of Pennsylvania, February 22, 1994). Subsequent reports issued by HHS showed that the actual number of federally funded abortions nationwide, even with the rape-incest exceptions, ranged between 112 and 458 nationwide between FY 1994 and FY 2007.
Much has been made of Congressman Paul Ryan's cosponsorship of the "Sanctity of Human Life Act" (H.R. 212). This resolution-like bill affirms the general principle that every individual member of the species homo sapiens should be recognized as a human being. It does not contain any prohibition of anything, or any penalty for anything. The details of implementing such a principle, including the type and definition of exceptions to any enacted law protecting unborn children, would have to be contained in language enacted by elected legislators -- generally reflecting, presumably, the majority views of their constituents.
When covering such legislation, many reporters show themselves willing to embrace even extravagant extrapolations as factual, or to adopt tendentious, advocacy phraseology as their own. For example, Stephanie Condon, identified as "a political reporter for CBSNews.com," wrote in a "news" story on August 15, concerning Ryan and the "Sanctity of Human Life Act"[italics added for emphasis]: "Supporters of reproductive rights have loudly pointed out that this type of legislation would not only outlaw abortion but potentially some forms of contraception or even in vitro fertilization. Personhood initiatives are so extreme that even card-carrying conservatives like former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour have expressed concerns that they go too far . . ."
Despite the remoteness of these matters from any legislation currently under consideration in Congress or likely to be considered by the next Congress, the mainstream news media finds them worthy of sustained attention. Yet there is little interest by these journalists in performing a symmetrical exploration of the outer parameters of President Obama's policy positions on abortion -- even with respect to bills that are under active consideration in Congress.
For example, recently NRLC brought it to the attention of Congress that currently, in the District of Columbia -- a federal jurisdiction -- abortion is legal for any reason, until the moment of birth. (This is because the "District Council," utilizing delegated congressional authority, repealed the entire abortion law.) On July 31, 2012, by a solid majority of 66 votes (220-154), the U.S. House of Representatives voted for a bill (H.R. 3803) to overturn this policy, and replace it with a ban on abortion after 20 weeks fetal age (the beginning of the sixth month), except to save the life of the mother. At the same time, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) filed the same measure as an amendment to cybersecurity legislation (S. 3414) -- a White House priority -- that was pending in the Senate when the August recess began.
Source: National Right to Life
