Thomas More Society Scores "Wins" by Settlement of Pro-Life Free Speech Case
After more than five years of federal litigation, members of the Rockford Pro-Life Initiative have settled their federal lawsuit against the City of Rockford over the city's alleged harassment of pro-life individuals and other alleged federal civil rights violations. The agreement, reached between attorneys from the Thomas More Society and the city, will result in positive reforms and revisions of city ordinances, payment of attorney's fees, and compensation for losses suffered by the removal of pro-life advertising by members of the Pro-Life Initiative.
"We owe a solemn duty to our country as well as our clients to assure that state or municipal laws in direct conflict with the U.S. Constitution are revised to protect the fundamental rights of citizens to engage in a robust exercise of their First Amendment rights," explained Tom Brejcha, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Society, "After over five years of litigation, we are gratified that the city of Rockford has agreed to respect these rights as a key part of our final settlement of this federal lawsuit. This settlement agreement now guarantees that Winnebago County's pro-life advocates will be able to speak out, loud and clear, in support of the truly American principle, as proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence, that the life of every human being is sacred, and endowed with an inalienable worth and dignity, from beginning to end -- that is, as biological science and DNA now prove, from conception until natural death, no matter whether 'wanted' or 'unwanted,' flawed or flawless, humble or exalted."
Brejcha and co-counsel Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society, along with attorney Jason R. Craddock, reached a resolution of the federal lawsuit in a long series of meetings with Rockford officials, going back over several years, even after the city's lone abortion provider, Wayne Webster, was forced to shutter his highly controversial abortion operation. Webster achieved national notoriety for conducting his abortion business in an old abandoned school building, featuring hanging rubber chickens, nun dolls pierced by sewing needles, and other exotic and gruesome displays in his windows. Webster himself was once photographed while dressed in a red devil costume, yelling insults at pro-life demonstrators and even threatening to spray them with raw sewage from a truck parked on his property. Two years ago, an Elgin, Illinois pregnancy resource center began to send a bus with an ultrasound machine, staffed by nurses, to park nearby and offer free ultrasounds to abortion-bound moms. Webster tried to retaliate by parking old vehicles from his car collection to block all available parking spaces and getting the city to ticket the bus for parking violations. But all those contentious times now seem part of a bygone era, as early last year Webster's business was shut down by state authorities after failing repeated health & safety inspections.
According to the settlement agreement, the city of Rockford, Illinois, has agreed that its governing ordinances should not violate the fundamental rights of Rockford citizens to freedom of expression and assembly. The city will be revising a specific number of its ordinances and laws and implementing a training program for the Rockford Police Department in order to properly educate law enforcement about citizens' First Amendment rights. The settlement agreement's stated goals include the prevention of any wrongful arrest of citizens, including pro-life advocates, for participation in constitutionally-protected activities.
"In the past the city of Rockford had refused on numerous occasions to protect pro-life demonstrators against threats as well as actual assaults by lawless persons hostile to the pro-life view," said Kevin Rilott, one of the primary plaintiffs in the federal suit. "We brought our lawsuit against the Rockford to compel our own city's law enforcement officials to protect pro-lifers as well as other citizens from against such public and private harms."
The settlement dictates a comprehensive policy reform on Rockford's part, mandates law enforcement education and training regarding citizen rights, requires payment by the city for the plaintiffs' legal fees as well as modest compensation for damages incurred when a pro-life bus bench advertisement was defaced and obliterated and future advertisements barred. Also, a spurious city complaint against Rilott for alleged "jaywalking" outside Webster's abortion now-shuttered abortion premises was dismissed.
A copy of the settlement is available here.
Source: Thomas More Society
A new policy that was created in part with the consultation of Planned Parenthood of Illinois will require Chicago Public School students from kindergarteners and up to receive sexual health education instruction beginning in 2015.
According to the Chicago Public Schools website, the new policy passed last week requires "minimum instructional minutes" for students, and instructional material is tailored around age-appropriateness and "medically accurate information."
"It is important that we provide students of all ages with accurate and appropriate information so they can make healthy choices in regards to their social interactions, behaviors, and relationships," said Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett in a statement.
"By implementing a new sexual health education policy, we will be helping them to build a foundation of knowledge that can guide them not just in the pre-adolescent and adolescent years, but throughout their lives," she continued.
According to the Chicago Public Schools website, the new policy was developed by the Chicago Public School Office of Student Health and Wellness (OSHW). The Chicago Public Schools website said that since June 2012, OSHW has been in consultation with various stakeholder groups for feedback and recommendations in developing the policy.
"Among the participants were Mikva Challenge, Chicago Department of Public Health, Planned Parenthood of Illinois, University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health and CPS high school students," the website said.
CPS said that the policy, which replaces the district's 2008 Family Life and Comprehensive Sexual Health Education Policy, "will set more modern standards" for instruction for their students at all grade levels. Younger students will receive family life instruction that was also in the 2008 policy.
"For K-4 students, instruction will center on anatomy and physiology, reproduction, healthy relationships and personal safety," the website said.
"For example, younger students in this group will focus on the family, feelings and appropriate and inappropriate touching while students in fourth grade will learn about puberty, including the physical, social and emotional changes that accompany it, and the causes and transmission of HIV infection," it added.
"For older children in grades 5-12, instruction will include information appropriate for each grade level on human reproduction, transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), healthy decision-making, sexual orientation and bullying, and contraception, including abstinence," the website read.
At least two teachers from each school will be designated as sexual health education teachers.
CPS said that the policy "conforms to the Mayor's Healthy Chicago public health agenda" and aligns with and supports priorities in President Obama's HIV/AIDs strategy."
Source: CNSNews.com
A House bill with 50 co-sponsors was introduced Tuesday (March 5) that would exempt organizations and businesses from the Obama administration's abortion/contraceptive mandate.
Sponsored by Republican Reps. Diane Black (Tenn.), Jeff Fortenberry (Neb.) and John Fleming (La.), the bill would provide a full exemption to any organization or business whose religious beliefs are violated by the mandate, which requires organizations and businesses to carry employee insurance covering abortion-causing drugs and contraceptives. The abortion-causing drugs come under brand names such as Plan B and ella.
The bill, Black said after introducing it, would protect First Amendment rights.
"Non-compliance to the administration's mandate is forcing many Americans to choose between respecting their religious convictions or following the law," Black said. "If they refuse to comply, many will be forced out of business, leaving thousands of Americans without jobs or health care coverage."
At least 218 votes are needed to pass a bill in the 435-member House. But even if it passes there, it faces an uphill climb in the Democrat-controlled Senate and a likely veto by President Obama. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said "we would have some Democratic senators who would support the bill if it got on the floor" of the Senate. He mentioned Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (Pa.) as a likely yes vote.
Land supports the bill.
"This is a question of conscience, not contraception. It's a question of religious freedom, not reproductive freedom," Land said during a press conference at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville March 5. "... Freedom of religion leaves citizens of faith free to bring their religious convictions to bear in every arena of life."
The bill -- the Health Care Conscience Rights Act -- also would provide conscience protection to individuals and health care entities that refuse to provide, pay for or refer patients to abortion doctors.
The mandate was announced by the Department of Health and Human Services in August 2011 as part of the new health care law. Although the Supreme Court upheld the health care law last June, the justices' ruling did not deal with the religious liberty issues surrounding the mandate.
A total of 48 lawsuits have been filed against the mandate, and so far, opponents of the mandate are winning. Of the 17 court rulings involving businesses, opponents have won 12 times and lost five. The latest victory by opponents of the mandate came Feb. 28 when a federal court granted a temporary injunction to a Missouri-based plumbing products manufacturer, protecting the business from the mandate. The judge, Ortrie Smith, was nominated by President Clinton. Smith's jurisdiction resides within the Eighth Circuit, where the court of appeals previously had issued an injunction against the mandate.
"Americans should be free to honor God and live according to their consciences whether they are at home, church, or work," said Alliance Defending Freedom-allied attorney Jonathan R. Whitehead, who defended in court the Missouri company, Sioux Chief Manufacturing. "The court was right to stop enforcement of this unconstitutional mandate against Sioux Chief and its owners. They, like all other family-run businesses, have the God-given freedom to live and lead their company according to the values of their faith. American entrepreneurs cannot be forced to surrender their First Amendment freedoms when they go to work."
Source: Baptist Press
Wauconda resident Danielle Rowe headed the
baking project with assistance from her 13 year
old niece Kayla and Kayla's mother Dana Rowe
(Kayla is pictured). Volunteers distributed the
loaves at the Capitol.
For over 40 years, Illinois has been at the center of an effort to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling 20 years ago that the effort was dead, State Rep Lou Lang (D-Chicago) has consistently re-introduced the amendment session after session. Once again, Lang has introduced HJRCA 7, this year with the help of State Reps Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) and Naomi Jakobsson (D-Champaign).
As in the 1970s, the women's conservative organization Eagle Forum is leading an effort once again to stop the constitutional amendment from passing in Illinois. The group's legislative liason, Sharee Langenstein of Jackson County, is speaking with members of the House Judiciary Committee before Lang's HJRCA-7 is scheduled for hearing Wednesday, March 6th at 8:00 AM.
"When I was a kid in the 70's, some women thought we needed a Constitutional Amendment to guarantee equal rights for women," Langenstein said. "However, my hero Phyllis Schlafly proved to the world that the ERA would decrease women's rights, not increase them."
Against all odds, Schlafly and other women fought the ERA, Langenstein said. One of their ways of getting the attention of Illinois legislators was to bring them loaves of home-baked bread.
This week, Eagle Forum had several volunteers revived the tradition and made 118 loaves of home-baked bread to House members with a message "Preserve the Heart and Hearth of the Home. Vote NO on ERA" attached.
For more information on the ERA, please visit: http://www.eagleforum.org/era/
Source: Illinois Review
Turnabout is fair play, I always say. Many is the time I've dissembled pro-abortion rhetoric, piece by piece, so let's see how successful Tara Culp-Ressler is in her piece, "Your Glossary to Decoding the GOP's Anti-Abortion Rhetoric."
She tackles six subject areas but we only have time to take a look at a representative sample of her attempt to go "underneath all the euphemisms intended to disguise Republican affronts to women's health."
So, "fetal pain laws" (a reference to the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act). To Culp-Ressler, nobody can give any credence to the many, many studies that demonstrate the unborn IS capable of experiencing pain by the 20th week. It's all "junk science." Well, go to http://www.doctorsonfetalpain.com/ and then tell me it's all "euphemisms."
In this section she also misrepresents the legal status of a couple of the laws passed (as of today) in eight states and [deliberately?] misunderstands how banning abortions at this point is not "moving the goalposts," but recognizing that we now know things we didn't [couldn't] know 40 years ago.
By the way, so who's "anti-science"? Those who insist that our understanding of the unborn must forever be frozen in 1973 or those who recognize that the unborn child—nearly invisible four decades ago—is an astonishingly complex human being from the very beginning?
Two others: "webcam abortions" and "crisis pregnancy centers." Like all abortion advocates, Culp-Ressler tries to piggyback webcam abortions onto legitimate uses of telemedicine. At least she is honest enough to mention the real objective of webcam abortions (which unites together abortifacients and video conferencing in an unholy union): expand abortion access to rural areas. Not a word about how painful chemical (RU-486) abortions are, or how many women have died using these two powerful drugs, or how (because the abortionist is not onsite) he is not there when there is a complication.
Crisis pregnancy centers are the thorn in the side of the Abortion Industry, a direct (albeit hugely underfunded) alternative to the death peddlers. One way to tell how much of an irritant they are is to count the number of slurs, personal attacks, distortions, and sheer orneriness in her description. CPCs do NOTHING right, push misleading information, dole out propaganda, indulge in manipulation, "prey on vulnerable women"—and that's the best that Culp-Ressler can say about CPCs (also known more commonly as Pregnancy Care Centers and Women Helping Centers). It's not remotely true, but that's not the point; the point is to blanket them in criticisms.
The implication is that real "women's health clinics"—abortion clinics—are just the opposition. Like THEY offer ALL alternatives? (How many do adoption referrals?) And talk about preying on the vulnerable. Read anyone who formerly worked in an abortion clinic and you'll see the top priority almost always was volume: more abortions, more often=more money.
Finally, her charge that CPCs peddle "false medical information" is really a blanket denial that there can ever be ANY negative consequences to an abortion. No emotional aftermath, no greater propensity for premature deliveries in subsequent pregnancies, no greater risk for higher rates of anxiety, depression, alcohol use/misuse, marijuana use, and suicidal behavior, compared to those who have not had an abortion.
So, how did Culp-Ressler do in getting "underneath all the euphemisms intended to disguise Republican affronts to women's health"? Couldn't give her a passing grade.
But she does get an [unwanted] "A" for revealing just how shallow are pro-abortion criticisms.
Source: National Right to Life
Oh, oh. NYU Bioethicist Art Caplan seems to suggest–in the context of a story about former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon–that we should not maintain people like Terri Schiavo and others, who are either in a persistent vegetative or minimally conscious state–this even though new research suggests that at least some are more aware than thought previously. From the PRI story:
What these new technologies can reveal about brain activity is important, Caplan said, but it's important not to overstate their importance, because people end up in a comatose state for different reasons. "Even though people see certain things going on in someone in a permanent vegetative state, there are some reflexes there. They are digesting their food, they're not dead, there's some brain activity, we have to realize the quality of life can be awful," he said. In Sharon's case, Caplan said, he's in a state that's starting to be called "minimally conscious."
"But in all these situations, let's keep in mind, people of goodwill, loving family members, partners, friends, they could still say 'I don't care if his brain is active, he would not want to be bed-bound, in a minimally conscious state. That's not a situation I want to prolong with technology,'" he said. But the sort of care that's needed for these people can be incredibly costly. It can also take up valuable spots in hospitals and intensive care units. Caplan says family members should consider alternative means of caring for their relatives, if they find them in such a state. "We shouldn't have 5,000 to 10, 000 people in intensive care in the United States alone, when we can barely provide basic care for our children," he said.
The term "intensive care" in the last sentence is inaccurate in many–perhaps most–cases, since the vast majority of such patients are not hooked up to "machines" in the ICUs of hospitals–at least in the long term–but already receive skilled nursing or in-home care rather than remaining in hospital. Moreover, quite a few don't even need respirators, just food and water, warmth–and hey, how about a little love–like Terri Schiavo's family wanted to give her.
But to Caplan's last point: If we "shouldn't" have these patients draining our finances, what should be done to prevent it, particularly since we don't permanently maintain most of these patients in ICUs now? Sounds like implied death panel talk to me!
Source: National Review
The head of a conservative student organization at DePaul University has been sanctioned by the university and could be expelled after he released the names of vandals who destroyed a pro-life flag display.
Kristopher Del Campo, the chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom chapter, was found guilty by the university on two counts – "Disorderly, Violent, Intimidating or Dangerous Behavior to Self or Others" and "Judicial Process Compliance."
The charges were a result of posting a copy of the university's incident report on the YAF's website. Click here to read the posting.
DePaul University did not return calls seeking comment.
Last January Del Campo and other pro-life students received permission from the university to erect a pro-life display featuring 500 flags. Vandals later destroyed the display – stuffing a number of the flags into trash cans.
The university's public safety department launched an investigation and eventually identified 13 students who confessed to the crime. Those names were then released by the university to Del Campo.
On Feb. 5 the national Young Americans for Freedom organization posted the names of the vandals on their website. The posting generated negative comments directed at the vandals – and the university held Del Campo responsible.
Three days later, Del Campo was informed that he had violated DePaul's Code of Student Responsibility. He was formally charged ten days later.
"Instead of supporting a student whose free speech rights were violated, DePaul University bullied Kristopher Del Campo for daring to expose the 13 vandals," said Young America's Foundation President Ron Robinson. "They put him through a Soviet-style show trial."
Free speech and conservative groups said they are shocked that the university is punishing the victim of a crime.
"Simply publishing the names of the students who confessed to vandalizing YAF's display does not place them at 'substantial risk of physical harm," wrote Pete Bonilla, of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in a letter to the university's president.
"The 13 DePaul students named in the public safety report admitted not only to vandalizing YAF's display but also planning to do so," he wrote. "Students who purposefully vandalize the works of other students should not expect to be shielded from the public consequences of their actions."
According to an email obtained by Fox News, the dean of students warned Del Campo that he could ultimately be removed from the university.
"It is unfortunate that this incident is part of your educational career," wrote Dean of Students Art Munin. "Any further infractions of the Code of Student Responsibility during your probationary period may result in additional disciplinary action including removal from the university."
Del Campo, a 23-year-old psychology major, is about to graduate. He agreed to speak to Fox News knowing that he could face expulsion.
"I lost my dignity as a person," he told Fox News. "They told me I couldn't say anything and I had to keep all of this confidential."
Del Campo said he is speaking out because he doesn't want other conservatives to suffer through the ordeal he's been subjected to.
"The dean told me not to fight," he said. "He told me it wasn't worth it – that I just have 13 weeks left at the university. But I'm going to fight this. This is wrong. This university has a problem with free speech rights and this time they met a challenger who is not backing down."
Kate Edwards, of YAF, said they are demanding that DePaul University drop all charges against Del Campo.
"His free speech rights were completely violated," she told Fox News. "They intimidated him. They threatened him. They placed a gag order on him."
Edwards said the university even forbade Del Campo from contacting YAF and was not allowed to have any counsel during his tribunal.
"He couldn't get a lawyer – he was completely intimidated," Edwards said.
Source: OneNewsNow
On February 22nd the Girl Scouts of America celebrated "World Thinking Day."
On "World Thinking Day," they earn badges for thinking about hunger or talking to a Peace Corps volunteer. They also "give thanks for" their membership in the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), the creator of World Thinking Day. And to really show their thanks, they collect money to send it to WAGGGS. Parents, hold on to your pocketbooks!
A noted player on the international stage, WAGGGS is an ardent advocate for controversial social policies including abortion and sex rights for children. Girl Scouts USA is its single largest organizational funder. In fact, every American girl who joins a Girl Scout troop at her neighborhood church is made a de facto member of this radical group.
If you have not read about the plans, programs, and priorities of WAGGGS, you must do so today. I promise, it will give you something to think about.
Read about WAGGGS here:
http://www.100questionsforthegirlscouts.org/100/wagggs.cfm
http://www.girlscoutswhynot.com/WAGGGS.html
http://www.honestgirlscouts.com/files/HGS2011NatlConvFlyer.pdf
Source: FRCBlog
"Persistent vegetative state" is the only medical diagnosis I know of that contains a pejorative. No human being is a carrot. And the more we learn about these persistently unconscious patients, the more we seem to be discovering that they may not be "gone" after all. Now, a study shows that they may experience pain. From the New Scientist story:
IT IS a nightmare situation. A person diagnosed as being in a vegetative state has an operation without anesthetic because they cannot feel pain. Except, maybe they can. Alexandra Markl at the Sch̦n clinic in Bad Aibling, Germany, and colleagues studied people with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) Рalso known as vegetative state Рand identified activity in brain areas involved in the emotional aspects of pain.
Yikes. Some changes in care may be needed:
Nonetheless, Kotchoubey is confident that the way people with UWS are cared for will change, even if their diagnoses remain the same. "I know that many doctors working with such patients have been instructed to treat their patients as if they can understand them and perceive at least something in the environment, perhaps pain, pleasure, or emotion," he says.
But not all people are treated this way. Prior to the study, one of the people in Markl's study was given no anesthesia before a tracheotomy, which involves an incision in the neck to allow breathing without using the nose or mouth. As people with UWS are clinically considered unable to understand pain, doctors do not have to give an anesthetic.
Dehydrating to death over 14 days would also hurt. Terri Schiavo died that way without benefit of anesthesia, indeed, not even allowed ice chips on her lips. Her cruel case aside, don't expect the practice to stop. They will just be anesthetized while their bodies drain of fluids (some already are) or lethally injected.
Source: National Review
Last week, 72 members of Congress signed onto a letter initiated by Congresswoman Diane Black of Tennessee calling for the federal Government Accountability Office to investigate the amount of tax dollars Planned Parenthood and its affiliates are receiving annually from American taxpayers. No members of the Illinois delegation signed onto Black's February 21 request.
Illinois hosts 18 Planned Parenthood clinics, one of which is being sued for alleged negligent care of 24 year old Tonya Reaves. Reaves died last year at the Chicago Planned Parenthood clinic after her uterus was perforated during a late term abortion. The Planned Parenthood website says they offer birth control counseling and in two locations they now offer permanent sterilization for women and men.
Black's letter asks that the GAO check into the funds going to Planned Parenthood and its numerous affiliates because low and middle income women are going to these clinics for health services, and federal tax dollars are subsidizing Planned Parenthood services. A portion of Black's letter reads:
Source: Illinois Review
Robin Roberts
Once again a jaunt on the old Gold's Gym treadmill paid results. Although I had forgotten all about it, Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts was making her triumphant return to ABC's #1 rated morning show after being on medical leave following a bone marrow transplant to treat a rare blood disorder myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).
It was great television: a close up of Roberts who told her audience, ""I've been waiting 174 days to say this: 'Good morning, America.'"
During the course of the program (obviously much of which was devoted to Roberts), she reflected on faith, family and physicians.
"There's so many people that I want to thank throughout the morning, my doctors and nurses and family and colleagues and people who have sat in this chair and those who have blazed the trail before me," Roberts said. "As my mother said, 'We all have something.' Everyone's story has purpose and meaning and value and I share this morning, this day of celebration with everyone."
Besides a wonderful story of triumphing over cancer, there is a special association for pro-lifers. Indeed, if the full ramifications of the stories about Roberts were more widely known, it would be a real eye-opener.
MDS damages the bone marrow, making it no longer able to make the healthy cells and platelets we all need to live. Her older sister, Sally-Ann, was Robin's bone marrow donor. In the procedure, a patient's damaged bone marrow is eradicated and then replaced with healthy, donated marrow.
Although the words were not used, in fact, the transplant is another example of the successful, even routine use of adult stem cells.
As we reported at the time of the transplant, hematologist-oncologist Colleen Delaney, director of the program in cord blood transplant and research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said, "We always call it a bone marrow transplant, but really it is a transplant with blood stem cells."
Another terrific source is umbilical cord blood.
Obviously there is a better chance of success the closer the match between donor and recipient cells. Ms. Roberts was especially fortunate because her sister was an excellent match. (Finding a family match happens only about 30% of the time, according to a USA Today's story.)
"The other 70% (more than 10,000 patients each year) have to turn to an unrelated adult donor or donated umbilical cord blood," wrote Michelle Healy. "Often treated as waste and discarded, umbilical cords and placentas are rich with blood-forming cells, and more recent studies show the outcomes of cord blood transplants 'are just as good as conventional donor outcomes,' Delaney said."
And "Because cord blood transplants don't require the close genetic matching needed for more conventional bone marrow transplants, they hold special promise for the thousands of patients each year who can't find a well-matched, unrelated donor, a particular challenge for people of mixed ethnicity and minority backgrounds, says Delaney."
NRL News Today asked Dr. David Prentice, an expert on the issue of stem cells, to comment. "It is so heartening to see her return, and it further validates the life-saving abilities of adult stem cells," he said. "I hope she'll become a champion to speak out and educate people about the real promise of stem cells–adult stem cells. Many more lives could be saved if only more people were aware of the successes, shown by her example and thousands of others."
Prentice noted that "No doubt, it's a harrowing experience for MDS patients leading up to the transplant, with chemotherapy to destroy the cancer in the body." However, "the adult stem cell transplant is a short and simple procedure—an IV injection into a vein, and the millions of adult stem cells begin looking for a new home. In this case, they will look to make themselves at home as new bone marrow, and begin producing new red blood cells to carry oxygen, white blood cells for immunity, and platelets for clotting."
His conclusion speaks volume:
"The more we focus on adult stem cells, the sooner we'll find gentler and more efficient methods for transplants like this one, for other types of cancers, for anemias, as well as spinal cord injury, heart damage, and dozens of other conditions. Adult stem cells are truly the patient's best friend."
Source: National Right to Life
Jennifer Morbelli
On the webpage today of Newsday, next to the headline "Jennifer Morbelli, New Rochelle teacher, died of complications after abortion, medical examiner says," is a photo of pro-abortion New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the headline, "Cuomo proposes to expand legalization of late-term abortions."
Morbelli was 33 weeks pregnant when she was aborted at LeRoy Carhart's Germantown Reproductive Health Services clinic in Germantown, Maryland, and died Thursday, February 7 at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital.
Bruce Goldfarb, a spokesman for the Maryland medical examiner's office, told reporters that initial findings listed two causes for the death of the 29-year-old Morbelli.
The New Rochelle, New York teacher died when amniotic fluid seeped into her bloodstream ("amniotic fluid embolism following termination of pregnancy") and because of "disseminated intravascular coagulation," according to Newsday's Ken Schachter.
Schachter explained that as "a condition that occurs when small blood clots form in the blood vessels," adding, "Eventually, the proteins needed for clotting can become depleted, which can lead to extensive bleeding throughout the body." A headline for the White Plains Daily Voice read, "White Plains Teacher Bled To Death After Abortion."
Until yesterday, the medical examiner had listed the manner and cause of Morbelli's death as "pending." A spokeswoman for the Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Department, which is investigating Morbelli's death, said investigators are awaiting the full autopsy report. This is typically issued anywhere from 30-90 days after a death.
In Maryland the manner of death is defined as "natural," "undetermined," "accidental," "homicide" and "suicide." The medical examiner chose to designate the manner of death for Morbelli as "natural."
Morbelli's first visit to Carhart's Germantown Reproductive Health Services came Sunday, February 3. (Abortions this late in pregnancy take place over several days.)
"In the days after Feb. 3, the woman returned to the clinic several times, an indication of a multi-day abortion procedure that involved inducing labor, abortion opponents have said," the Washington Post's Dan Morse and Lena Sun reported. "Complications arose, and on Feb. 7, she arrived at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, where state and local officials say she died that day."
Morbelli's death "has again cast a national spotlight on a small clinic that opened inside a nondescript office park in Germantown a little more than two years ago," Morse and Sun wrote. "The clinic's leader, LeRoy Carhart, is one the few doctors nationwide who publicly acknowledges performing late-term abortions. He has declined to comment."
When news of Morbelli's death first broke, it was a reminder that Carhart had performed late-term abortions in Nebraska until 2010 when the state passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. "One hopes that Maryland authorities will do a thorough investigation in this case and what ramifications it will have on Carhart continuing to do late-term abortions in Germantown," said Nebraska Right to Life Executive Director Julie Schmit-Albin. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which is the law in seven states, bars abortions on babies capable of experiencing pain, established to be no later than 20 weeks.
Carhart still lives in Nebraska but flies into perform abortions at the Germantown, Maryland abortion clinic which is located about 30 miles north of Washington.
A few days after Morbelli's death the Omaha World-Herald reported that an online obituary said Morbelli was married and taught in New Rochelle, N.Y. Robby Korth and Roseann Moring concluded their story, "It also listed her baby girl as having died Thursday."
Source: National Right to Life
In a case that garnered national headlines, the parents of a pregnant 16-year-old girl have told a Texas judge that they will not use physical force or psychological coercion to try to compel their daughter to abort. The teenager, from Hockley, Texas, had sued her parents when, she alleged, they had threatened "to make her life miserable" unless she had the abortion.
The girl, who is ten weeks pregnant, was not named. The baby's father is Evan Madison. The parents did not talk with reporters after Monday's settlement but had denied the allegations.
"She wanted to have this child without coercion and she got that," Stephen Casey, one of the teen's attorneys, told the Houston Chronicle. "We're glad that our client recognized that her unborn child had a right to live, and she wanted to protect that."
The parents also agreed "to pay half of the hospital bill if the girl has not married when the baby is delivered and let her use her car to go to school and work," according to the Chronicle's Brian Rogers. The young man, also 16, told reporters he intended to marry his girlfriend.
"There were times when she was in tears," Madison told reporters about the coercion and the decision to file a lawsuit. "It was hard on her and me."
Madison told CNN's Piers Morgan last night that ""We were always determined to have the baby" and never considered an abortion.
It was Madison's mother who first contacted lawyers who then reached out to the girl and offered their services free of charge.
As reported previously in NRL News Today, the lawsuit alleged that the girl's mother threatened to "slip (the teen) an abortion pill." CNN noted that the mother allegedly "took her daughter's phone and car and kept her home from school to punish her for choosing not to abort her fetus. The mother told the teen that she was 'making the biggest mistake of her life' by choosing to have the child and that the mother herself had undergone numerous abortions, so her daughter should, too," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit added that the parents told their daughter she could "continue to live in misery" in their home or she could "have the abortion and tell everyone it was a miscarriage."
Source: National Right to Life
Priscilla Coleman, Ph.D.
A recent study published in the Medical Science Monitor indicates that women who undergo abortions have a higher mortality rate than women who give birth.
The researchers, Priscilla K. Coleman (Bowling Green State University) and David C. Reardon (the Elliot Institute), note the limitations of previous studies on this issue:
All existing studies of mortality rates associated with prior pregnancy outcomes have been limited to pregnancies within an arbitrary range of women's reproductive lives and have lacked information on the subjects' complete reproductive history. Therefore, one of the main purposes of this study is to eliminate the potential confounding effect of unknown prior pregnancy history by examining mortality rates associated specifically with first pregnancy outcome alone.
The authors summarize the findings of their study, which used detailed medical records from Denmark:
A total of 463,473 women had their first pregnancy between 1980 and 2004, of whom 2,238 died. In nearly all time periods examined, mortality rates associated with miscarriage or abortion of a first pregnancy were higher than those associated with birth. Compared to women who delivered, the age and birth year adjusted cumulative risk of death for women who had a first trimester abortion was significantly higher in all periods examined, from 180 days through 10 years, as was the risk for women who had abortions after 12 weeks from one year through 10 years.
"[C]ompared to a first pregnancy ending in a live birth," Coleman and Reardon write, "an abortion prior to 12 weeks is associated with 80% higher risk of death within the first year and a 40% higher risk of death over 10 years."
Source: National Right to Life
Almost 1 in 9 young women who are sexually active have used the morning-after pill after sex, nearly three times the rate that used it 11 years ago, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Feb. 14.
The study, which evaluated women between 15 and 44, found that 5.8 million women -- 11 percent -- used the morning-after pill between 2006 and 2010, compared to 4 percent in 2002. For women between 20 and 24, the rate was even higher: 1 in 4 women who had ever had sex used the drug at some point.
The increased popularity of the drug stems in part from easier access and media coverage of efforts to lift the age limit for the over-the-counter sales. Women over 17 do not need a prescription to buy the morning-after pill but must request it from a pharmacy.
Under President Obama's health care reform, employers will be required to cover birth control, including morning-after pills, which likely will increase their use in the future.
Supporters of morning-after pills, which are sold under the names Plan B, ella and Preven, claim they are merely contraceptive drugs that delay or prevent ovulation, so the egg is never fertilized. But pro-lifers note that a second mechanism of the pill prevents a fertilized egg from implanting, which makes it an abortifacient drug.
The effectiveness of the morning-after pill also has been called into question. Researchers who demanded making it non-prescription found in 2007 that the pill does not reduce either abortion or pregnancy rates. "No study has shown that increased access to this method reduces unintended pregnancy or abortion rates on a population level," the authors wrote. They also said the drug's effectiveness may be "substantially" overstated.
Americans United for Life (AUL) attorney Anna Franzonello said in a statement the increase in use shows many women don't know what the drugs really do:
"AUL's concern that life-ending drugs are being deceptively labeled as 'contraception' has only increased since the period that the CDC's national Center for Health Services (NCHS) study examined."
Source: Baptist Press
The Southern Baptist Convention's ethics entity has told two more federal appeals courts the Obama administration's abortion/contraception mandate violates religious liberty.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission signed on to friend-of-the-court briefs filed Feb. 19 with both the Sixth and 10th Circuit Courts of Appeals in supporting lawsuits against the mandate, which requires employers to pay for coverage of drugs defined by the Food and Drug Administration as contraceptives, even if they can cause abortions. The ERLC has now endorsed five briefs defending the religious freedom of entities challenging the requirement at the appeals court level.
The administration proposed a change Feb. 1 supposedly designed to satisfy the concerns of faith organizations, but religious freedom advocates said objecting employers -- other than churches and church ministries -- still would be unwilling participants in underwriting both contraceptive and abortion-causing pills. Under the revision, dissenting employers would have to be affiliated with an insurance plan connected to coverage of such pills and may end up absorbing increased costs for the drugs if the insurance companies pay for them and consequently increase rates.
Religious institutions and business owners with conscience objections to paying for contraceptives or abortion-causing drugs have challenged the mandate in more than 40 lawsuits against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which issued the rule. So far, owners of for-profit companies that have challenged the rule have won injunctions blocking enforcement of the mandate 11 of 14 times.
The latest ERLC-endorsed briefs -- written by the Christian Legal Society -- are in support of two for-profits that have not gained injunctive relief -- Hobby Lobby in the 10th Circuit and Autocam Corp. in the Sixth. The ERLC also has signed on to CLS-authored briefs regarding the mandate in these circuits: District of Columbia (Wheaton College v. Sebelius); Seventh (Korte v. HHS) and Eighth (O'Brien v. HHS).
In the latest briefs, the ERLC and other organizations join CLS in saying the mandate's "current definition of 'religious liberty' is grossly inadequate to protect meaningful religious liberty." In the mandate, HHS chose to go with a narrower definition of "religious employer" than a standing definition under federal law, according to the brief.
"The proposed rule would continue to violate the [First Amendment clauses protecting religious free exercise and barring government establishment of religion] because the government would continue to squeeze religious institutions into an impoverished, one-size-fits-all misconception of 'religious employer,'" the brief said.
The HHS mandate "departs from the [United States'] bipartisan tradition of respect for religious liberty, especially its deep-rooted protection of religious conscience rights in the context of participation in, or funding of, abortion," according to the brief.
"At the end of the day, this case is not about which religious viewpoints regarding contraceptives or abortion are theologically correct -- a question, of course, beyond the competency of the courts -- but whether America will remain a pluralistic society that sustains a robust religious liberty for Americans of all faiths."
Federal judges ruled the HHS mandate does not substantially burden the religious liberty of Hobby Lobby and Autocam -- or their owners.
Hobby Lobby -- founded by evangelical Christian David Green, who remains its chief executive officer -- opposes providing insurance for abortion-causing drugs and has said it will not obey the mandate. As a result, the 525-store chain based in Oklahoma City ultimately could face government fines amounting to $1.3 million a day.
Autocam -- a Michigan-based auto parts firm owned by John Kennedy, a Roman Catholic -- opposes the contraceptive mandate as well as the requirement to cover abortion-causing drugs.
In addition to the ERLC, others signing on to the latest CLS briefs were the National Association of Evangelicals, Prison Fellowship, Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, Association of Christian Schools International and Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance. The C12 Group, which serves Christian CEOs, joined in the brief on behalf of Hobby Lobby.
Drugs considered contraceptives under the mandate -- which HHS issued to implement the 2010 health care law -- include Plan B and other "morning-after" pills, which can prevent implantation of tiny embryos. That secondary, post-fertilization mechanism of the pill causes an abortion. The mandate also covers "ella," which -- in a fashion similar to the abortion drug RU 486 -- can even act after implantation to end the life of the child.
Source: Baptist Press
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has ties to late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart, who was involved in the 33-week abortion death of Jennifer Morbelli on February 7, 2013, in Maryland, that raise concerns that she may attempt to interfere in ongoing investigations involving Carhart.
Operation Rescue obtained photographs of a secret party held by Sebelius in 2007 while serving as Governor of Kansas that honored late-term abortionist George Tiller and his entire abortion clinic staff. Carhart and his wife, Mary Lou, were present at that party, which was held while they were under investigation by the State Attorney General's office for suspected illegal late-term abortions.
Operation Rescue also has documentation that indicates that Sebelius interfered in a medical board investigation into the death of another of Carhart's third-trimester abortion patients, Christin Gilbert, on January 13, 2005. An investigation was launched by the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts based on a complaint filed by Operation Rescue. Gilbert's death prompted the Kansas Legislature to pursue a law that year, which would have regulated abortion clinics in Kansas. Sebelius adamantly opposed any regulation or accountability for abortion clinics, having vetoed similar laws in previous years.
After a Board investigation was opened, Sebelius wrote to her appointee, KSBHA Ex. Director Larry Buening (who was later forced to resign his position), asking for him to report to her on Gilbert's death investigation and to give her an opinion about how the proposed new law would have affected her care. The pro-abortion political climate created by Sebelius, along with her personal interjection into the investigation, led the Kansas Board of Healing Arts to prematurely and publicly "clear" Tiller and Carhart of any culpability in the death of Gilbert a full five months before the politically sanitized autopsy report was even completed. It is no coincidence that the Board's opinions on the Gilbert death were released the same day that an important vote on the clinic regulations bill was scheduled in the Senate.
Operation Rescue helped convene a citizen-called grand jury to look into Gilbert's death. During that investigation, Carhart dodged a subpoena for his testimony by staying out of Kansas while the grand jury was in progress. He never testified. The Grand Jury disbanded without handed down indictments. (Read more about this.)
"It is regrettable that political corruption in Kansas that was orchestrated and controlled by Sebelius thwarted efforts to hold Carhart accountable in the death of Christin Gilbert. If she had not interfered and an honest investigation had been allowed to proceed, Jennifer Morbelli might be alive today. In a very real sense, the blood of Mrs. Morbelli is on Kathleen Sebelius' hands," said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation.
Now the concern is that Sebelius, with her added power as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the pro-abortion Obama Administration, will also interject herself into the ongoing investigations into the death of Jennifer Morbelli in order to protect her friend, Carhart.
"Our experience with Sebelius is that her number one priority is protecting and promoting abortions - even if it means the death women and their babies that our laws are supposed to protect," said Newman. "We call on all authorities investigating the death of Jennifer Morbelli to conduct independent and honest investigations that are free from the influence of Sebelius and her pro-abortion cohorts in the Obama Administration."
Souce: Operation Rescue via Pro-Life Blogs
Though Congress seems unable to pass pro-life legislation at this point, state legislatures are seeing success.
Mary Spaulding Balch of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) believes 2013 will be another year of hard work for pro-lifers in some states.
"In Texas, the bill has already been introduced," she tells OneNewsNow. "They're going to be pursuing a Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and the chance for success looks good. The governor (Rick Perry) has come out in support of it, and it looks like a good possibility that it will pass."
Several other states are considering similar measures to ban abortions at the point that a baby can feel pain -- generally considered 20 weeks into the pregnancy or less. In addition, several states are considering a bill that ban abortions on the basis of the sex of the child.
"I think that that's an issue that unfortunately is here in the United States," she laments. "We now know that sex-selection abortions are not confined to China; they're not confined to India. They are here in the United States, and we think that we have to address that now."
Other bills being pursued are laws to ensure that women have information on the dangers of abortion and their rights. States are also moving to make sure abortionists have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and that clinics are regularly inspected.
Mississippi is working on legislation to force abortionists to follow federal protocol on use of the abortion drug RU-486.
Source: OneNewsNow
Pregnant teenagers, not a good thing. Usually, stories involving children who get pregnant involve the girls obtaining wanted abortions over the objections, or without the knowledge, of parents. But in Texas, a pregnant teenage girl is suing her parents to prevent them from forcing her to have an abortion. From the Court House News Service story:
HOUSTON (CN) – A 16-year-old sued her parents, claiming they are trying "to coerce her to have an abortion." R.E.K. sued her parents, Jeffrey Koen and Denise Watts Koen, in Harris County Court. "R.E.K., plaintiff, is a 16-year-old girl, who is nine (9) weeks pregnant," the complaint states. "She does not want an abortion but her mother and father are attempting to coerce her to have an abortion." R.E.K. says she lived with the baby's father, her 16-year-old boyfriend, and his parents, for some time "because her mother routinely does not supervise her, frequently spending her evenings at a local bar, and R.E.K. avoided her father's presence because of his tendency towards physical violence, which she has observed on multiple occasions."
Teen pregnancies don't "just happen," do they?
The pressure allegedly got intense, including threats of violence and continual pressure and coercion. And what does the girl want from the court?
R.E.K. seeks an injunction to stop her parents from forcing her to have an abortion, and a declaration that "she has the right, under federal constitutional law, to make her own reproductive decisions, including the decision to carry her child to term and give birth."
That is the law, it seems to me.
This is a terrible situation, no doubt about it. But regardless of one's position on the legality of abortion–and certainly teenage parenthood is a daunting thing–at least we can all agree that this girl should not be forced into having her unborn child killed. Right? I mean, "choice" and all that, right? Right? Right?
Source: Life and dignity with Wesley J. Smith
National Right to Life denounces bill to force DNR orders against patient wishes
The National Right to Life Committee, the oldest and largest pro-life organization in the United States, is calling for the defeat of a Texas bill -- S.B. 303 -- that would allow doctors to impose "Do Not Resuscitate (DNR)" orders on patients even if doing so would violate the patient's express wishes.
"Texas S.B. 303 violates the most fundamental tenet of patient autonomy by allowing doctors to strip patients (or their surrogates), of the right to dictate their wishes with regard to CPR," said Burke Balch, J.D., director of National Right to Life's Powell Center for Medical Ethics. "Texas S.B. 303 gives doctors the unilateral authority to deny CPR, thus imposing involuntary death on patients, with little recourse for patients or their surrogates to seek relief from an imposed DNR order."
Under the bill, sponsored by State Senator Bob Deuell, Vice-Chair of the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, a doctor is authorized to impose a "DNR" order even over the protest of a patient or surrogate.
The bill provides that the most a patient or surrogate who wants the DNR removed can do is pay for "a second opinion at the patient's or surrogate's expense" and -- only after that "opinion has been obtained" -- appeal to the health care facility's ethics committee. If the patient should go into cardiopulmonary arrest in the meantime, the patient will suffer involuntary death without resuscitation. In some circumstances, the patient would be denied even the opportunity for a second medical opinion or resort to the facility committee.
"We appeal to anyone who cares about patient autonomy or the right to live to shine the light of outraged public opinion on this dangerous bill," Balch added.
National Right to Life's Powell Center for Medical Ethics has an analysis of S.B. 303 posted here.
The full text of the legislation is here.
Source: National Right to Life Committee
29 year old Jennifer Morbelli's instructions after her 33
week abortion at Leroy Carhart's Maryland abortion clinic,
was to NOT go to the ER in the event of an emergency.
At a Maryland Coalition for Life (MDCFL) press conference in Germantown, Maryland where it was announced that a 29 year-old woman was pronounced dead at a Germantown hospital as a direct result of complications from a 3rd trimester abortion.
The abortion was performed by Dr. LeRoy Carhart. Carhart, former associate of late-term abortionist George Tiller, was recently hailed a "hero" in the film "After Tiller" at the Sundance Film Festival. Carhart was the abortionist who performed a late-term abortion on a young woman with Downs Syndrome who died following complications from that abortion in 2005 at Women's Heath Care Services in Wichita, KS.
The young woman who died Thursday was approximately 33 weeks pregnant and came to see Carhart for an abortion procedure that lasted four days and ended in her death from apparent blood loss and shock, according to MDCFL.
Another botched abortion at an Elkton, Maryland resulted in a woman suffering from a ruptured uterus and the discovery of three dozen late-term aborted fetuses in the clinic freezer. This led Maryland, one of the most abortion-friendly states in the country, to quietly enact stricter abortion facility regulations in July, 2012. Those regulations require licensure of facilities and basically mirror regulations that govern outpatient surgical facilities.
MDCFL has learned that while Carhart's facility was recently licensed by the state, no actual inspection took place prior to that licensure to guarantee that the facility conformed to the new MD regulations. This senseless tragedy should serve as a wake-up call to abortion supporters who continually insist that abortion is "health-care" and is safe for women.
As we have seen over and over again in states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Marylandand Kansas, abortion facilities and procedures remain unsanitary and unsafe. Late-term abortions are particularly dangerous. Late term abortion complications include, but are not limited to pain, bleeding, shock, infection and instrumental injury, according to S.V. Gaufburg, professor of medicine at Harvard University.
U.S. mortality rates per 100,000 abortions are 14.0 for procedures at 16-20 weeks of gestation and 18.0 for procedures after 21 weeks of gestation, according to Gaufberg. A Bartlett study conducted during the years of 1988-1997 paints an even more dire picture. Specifically, it found that per 100,000 abortions, the relative risk of abortion-related mortality was 14.7 at 13–15 weeks of gestation, 29.5 at 16-20 weeks, and 76.6 at or after 21 weeks.
The death of the young Maryland woman could have been prevented had abortion been more tightly regulated in her home state. In light of this tragedy, Maryland should consider a total ban on late-term abortions in order to better protect women and families.
Maryland, a staunchly pro-abortion state, is not likely to re-think those laws anytime soon, according to LeRoy Carhart, who said in a 2011 interview, "[I] don't think the laws here will change. Maryland is one of the most pro-choice communities in the country." It is time for Maryland to prove Carhart wrong by putting the safety and dignity of its citizens first and outlawing these dangerous procedures.
Source: FRC
The NAACP has threatened to sue the Radiance Foundation for trademark infringement. The Radiance Foundation has responded by filing a suit of its own and is waiting for an answer.
The NAACP is upset because the Radiance Foundation has publicly revealed the former civil rights organization's support for abortion and close ties with Planned Parenthood. Foundation founder Ryan Bomberger tells OneNewsNow the NAACP has threatened to sue them unless they remove every reference to their name and seal. However, those items are things the media and other organizations commonly use in stories or in issuing press releases.
"They're particularly irked by the fact that we have given them, satirically, the name of the 'National Association for the Abortion of Colored People,'" he explains. "That has apparently pushed them over the line."
While the information Bomberger has put out about the NAACP is factual, he argues that organization is not demonstrating appreciation for constitutional protections for freedom of speech.
"The issue is we've got the NAACP celebrating abortion," he says. "In fact, their president, Julian Bond, praised the high abortion rates among black women. We're talking about black children being aborted at rates of up to six times more than the majority population. In fact, in New York City -- that's where Julian Bond gave that address -- more black babies are aborted than are born alive."
Responding to the threat of a lawsuit, Alliance Defending Freedom is representing the Radiance Foundation and has gone to court asking for a judge to rule in the Foundation's favor.
Source: OneNewsNow
Thomas More Society Files a Formal Complaint on Behalf of Chicago's Pro-Life Action League
Yesterday, the Pro-Life Action League ("the League"), acting through its legal counsel, the Chicago-based Thomas More Society, filed a formal administrative complaint with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation ("IDPR"), urging in the public interest that the IDPR undertake an immediate investigation as to whether substandard medical care led to the death last summer of Tonya Reaves, shortly after she had a late term abortion at a Planned Parenthood facility in Chicago. In five single-spaced pages with ten attached exhibits (Exhs. A-J), the complaint raises a series of questions -- arising from news reports, Web postings, 911 records, the autopsy report of the Cook County Coroner, and other sources -- as to whether Ms. Reaves, a 24-year-old single mother, who died on July 20, 2012, after she underwent a surgical abortion at Planned Parenthood's "Loop Health Center" facility at 18 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60603, received unprofessional care from Illinois licensed physicians.
Thus the League and the Thomas More Society have detailed a series of serious concerns about apparent inadequate and substandard care given to Ms. Reaves -- concerns that are immediately prompted by critical facts of the case that have become public up to this date. First, Planned Parenthood's website for the 18 S. Michigan facility, where Ms. Reaves had her abortion, recited (in a passage that was later deleted) that only limited services -- birth control, emergency contraception, and medication abortion (i.e., the abortion pill) -- were available at that facility. Yet Ms. Reaves, then 16 weeks pregnant according to her autopsy report, underwent an invasive, surgical dilatation & evacuation (D&E) abortion. Thus these facts suggest that this facility was inadequately equipped and/or staffed to handle either the D&E procedure or complications arising as a result -- complications that later led to the patient's demise. Any physician taking responsibility for performing surgery in such a sub-par setting, who inflicts the ultimate "harm" (death) on his or her patient, is not even remotely "properly qualified or competent" to render such potentially fatal surgical services, which is "dishonorable, unethical or unprofessional conduct" or "questioned activities" that flout regulatory norms.
Moreover, while Ms. Reaves' abortion was performed at about 11:00 a.m. on July 20th, her autopsy shows that she was not transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, which was fully equipped to handle post-surgical emergencies, until 5½ hours later. Capable, experienced medical staff should have noted that the patient was not recovering properly and needed emergency medical care. Even after Ms. Reaves' ultimately fatal complications must have been plainly apparent, staff failed to call 911. The autopsy also indicates that she received large quantities of saline solution, but no effective medical help. No city ambulance was summoned, so Ms. Reaves may well have been taken to the hospital in a non-emergency vehicle, unequipped for transport of life-threatening cases. These facts alone cry out a chilling message that Ms. Reaves was victimized by woefully inadequate emergency care, far from what proper medical standards required in such a grave, exigent situation.
Finally, the autopsy shows that when the patient finally arrived at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH), she was given an ultrasound and re-suctioned. But the autopsy does not indicate that NMH doctors considered whether she had suffered a uterine perforation -- what the Planned Parenthood physician must have suspected, given profuse bleeding and statistical likelihood of such an event occurring during an abortion procedure. Indeed, it was only after the hospital doctors conducted another abortion (perhaps her third of that fateful day) that staff noted the build-up of fluid in the abdominal cavity. But by 10:15 p.m., it was already too late to save Ms. Reaves' life. All these facts suggest a gross failure of the Planned Parenthood physician to communicate to hospital staff all of the relevant and urgent facts about this gravely endangered patient immediately upon her transfer to the hospital, amounting to a flagrant case of utterly unprofessional "patient abandonment."
While normally, such violations of professional medical standards would be reported to the Illinois Department of Public Health, all Illinois Planned Parenthood clinics are unlicensed. As a result, any investigation relating to sub-standard medical care on their part is entrusted to IDPR.
"We request, respectfully but urgently, that the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation investigate and scrutinize all relevant facts surrounding the death of Tonya Reaves," said Tom Brejcha, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Society. He added: "It is IDPR's solemn duty to protect patients from dangerous medical treatments, and Illinois citizens sorely need dependable assurance that Tonya Reaves' tragedy will never be allowed to recur."
To read the complaint letter in its entirety:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/124380236/Tonya-Reaves-Complaint
To read an excerpt of the Tony Reaves autopsy:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/124383425/Tonya-Reaves-Autopsy
To read the Illinois Health Medical Practice Act:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/124382384/Health-Medical-Practice-Act-of-1987
Source: Thomas More Society
In proposed revisions to the preventive services mandate issued today, the Obama Administration once again employs changes in packaging in an attempt to conceal continuity in substance. This latest revision continues to compel countless employers to purchase health plans that will pay for drugs and procedures to which they are opposed on moral and religious grounds.
For a nonprofit organization that "holds itself out as a religious organization," the Administration claims that it is relieving the employer of the moral conflict by obligating the insurer to pay for the objected-to drugs and services. This is a subterfuge, since the employees would not be getting the objected-to services if the religious employer was not paying for the health plan.
Moreover, the Administration once again puts forward the rationale that "issuers generally would find that providing such contraceptive coverage is cost neutral because they would be insuring the same set of individuals under both policies and would experience lower costs from improvements in women's health and fewer childbirths." This justification -- which essentially argues that contraceptive coverage really costs nothing -- could later be employed by the Administration to attempt to mandate coverage of surgical abortions in at least some health plans, on similar grounds that each abortion prevents the higher costs of prenatal care and childbirth.
The proposed revision also continues to apply the mandate to for-profit businesses run by people of faith, without even the cosmetic changes discussed above, and provides no options for individuals seeking plans that accommodate their values on the exchanges.
National Right to Life applauds the ongoing work of Alliance Defending Freedom and others in challenging the Obama Administration's infringements on the free exercise of religion in the courts. National Right to Life will continue to work with like-minded members of Congress to seek legislative remedies, as well.
Source: National Right to Life Committee
Two well-known Michigan abortionists are apparently retiring. But one pro-lifer believes business will continue as usual in most of their facilities.
Monica Miller of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society confirms that Alberto Hodari and Enrique Gerbi have allowed their medical and pharmacy licenses to expire. Miller says this is good news, especially considering Hodari's history.
"This is a guy who has a long track record of malpractice," she reports. "At least three women have died in his abortion clinics."
In 2008, Miller was part of a team that discovered hundreds of patient records with confidential information in a dumpster behind one of the clinics, "including the remains of aborted babies that we found there also."
In addition, Hodari was sued by an 18-year-old woman. She reportedly changed her mind about an abortion, but in her court filings she claims she was held down while Hodari went ahead with the procedure. Moreover, he has openly stated that he never washed hands between abortions.
"The bad news is that at least four of his remaining five abortion clinics are still up and running because of the sale to these other abortionists who basically are not much better in terms of what we know about them and their medical practice," Miller laments.
But she asserts those facilities will remain under pro-life scrutiny.
At one time, Hodari owned 15 abortion clinics.
Source: OneNewsNow
A senior fellow for policy studies says the program allowing thousands of girls as young as 14 to receive emergency contraception and other forms of birth control from the New York public schools without parental consent is an infringement on parental rights.
The New York Post has uncovered the fact that this Plan B giveaway program, part of the Reproductive Health Project, is far more extensive than originally thought. Forty separate "school-based health centers" distributed nearly 13,000 doses of the "morning-after pill" during the 2011-2012 school year -- up from 10,720 in 2010-11 and 5,039 in 2009-10. "Handouts … to sexually active students have skyrocketed under an unpublicized project," the exclusive article asserts.
Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council (FRC) sees an obvious need in those numbers.
"This suggests that there is a desperate need for abstinence education in the New York City public schools to explain to young people the dangers of early sexual activity or of sexual activity outside of the context of marriage," he asserts.
And the FRC senior fellow contends that this low-profile program is a flagrant infringement upon parental rights, as minors do not need parental approval to get contraceptives, while "there are laws in some states that won't allow a young person to get their ears pierced or get a tattoo, or maybe even visit a tanning salon without permission from their parents."
According to city officials, more than 6,000 New York girls got pregnant by age 17 last year, and more than half chose to have abortions.
Mona Davids, whose 14-year-old attends a Manhattan high school, tells the Post that she is "in shock." She wonders, "What gives the mayor the right to decide, without adequate notice, to give our children drugs that will impact their bodies and their psyches? He has purposely kept the public and parents in the dark with his agenda."
The school-based health centers run under contract with local hospitals. Davids, who is black, says most of those facilities are located in poor neighborhoods.
Source: OneNewsNow
A recent report indicates that numerous states are passing restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion under the health care reform law.
Mary Harned, staff counsel at Americans United for Life, said that state-level pro-life laws passed in recent legislative sessions have "been a great victory for the unborn and women across the country."
"The fact that these types of laws are successful," Harned told CNA on Feb. 5, "shows that many Americans do not want public funds paying for abortions, and they also do not want their own insurance premiums paying for abortion."
Harned responded to a new report by the Guttmacher Institute, an organization committed to "reproductive health" and formerly connected to Planned Parenthood.
The report analyzes state laws as the date approaches for the Affordable Care Act to go into effect. The law, which provides for state health care exchanges in which individuals and small businesses can find insurance plans, also gives states express authority to limit abortion coverage.
According to Guttmacher, 20 states have passed legislation to restrict abortion coverage in insurance plans offered through the health care exchanges.
Some states require abortion coverage to be purchased separately so as to avoid using taxpayer money to fund abortions. Others prohibit abortion coverage in the exchange health plans except in the cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
Eight states have laws "restricting insurance coverage of abortion" altogether in private plans, including those in the exchanges.
In addition, 18 states limit "abortion coverage in insurance plans for public employees," and 13 states have more than one kind of restriction.
Harned said that the institute's assessment of insurance coverage laws is "pretty accurate" and matches the study carried out by Americans United for Life.
"Polls show that the vast majority of Americans oppose the public funding for abortion," she noted.
Public discussion of the Affordable Care Act "drew a lot of people's attention to the fact that many insurance plans do cover abortions," she added, and many states are now "very interested" in modifying such insurance coverage.
Harned said "an increase in interest" among the general American population has also been a driving force behind measures to restrict both public and private insurance funding of abortion procedures.
Citizens have come to the conclusion that they "do not want their tax dollars paying for their public employees to have abortions," she explained, and in many states "they don't want their premiums covering abortions for other people" either.
Americans United for Life has worked to provide legal counsel and model legislation for states wishing to enact pro-life laws.
Several states, including Alabama, Nebraska, South Carolina and Virginia, have relied upon the pro-life organization's language in enacting laws restricting insurance coverage of abortion in the exchanges, Harned said.
"Our conclusion is that this is a great victory for the unborn, and for their mothers and for taxpayers," she explained, adding that "we expect more states to follow."
Source: CNA/EWTN News
Ruling against the Obama administration's motion to dismiss the case, a US district court judge has determined that the Diocese of Fort Worth's lawsuit against the HHS mandate may proceed.
"Because the Mandate is 'on the books,' there is nothing improper about subjecting it to the limitations of the United States Constitution and other applicable laws," ruled Judge Terry Means, who said the administration was "disingenuous" when it argued that the case was not ripe because the diocese has not yet suffered injury.
Quoting a decision by a US district court in New York, Judge Means, an appointee of President George H. W. Bush, added:
Moreover, the First Amendment does not require citizens to accept assurances from the government that, if the government later determines it has made a misstep, it will take ameliorative action. There is no, "Trust us, changes are coming" clause in the Constitution. To the contrary, the Bill of Rights itself, and the First Amendment in particular, reflect a degree of skepticism towards governmental self-restraint and self-correction.
Source: CWN
Forty years ago this past Tuesday marks the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous, reckless and inhumane abandonment of women and babies to abortionists.
Forty years of victims--dead babies, wounded women, shattered families.
Forty years of government sanctioned violence against women and children.
Since 1973, more than 55 million children have been killed by abortion--a staggering loss of children's precious lives--a death toll that equates to the entire population of England.
The passage of time hasn't changed the fact that abortion is a serious, lethal violation of fundamental human rights. And that women and children deserve better. And that the demands of justice, generosity and compassion require that the right to life be guaranteed to everyone.
Rather than dull our consciences to the unmitigated violence of abortion, the passage of time has only enabled us to see and better understand the innate cruelty of abortion and its horrific legacy—victims—while making us more determined than ever to protect the weakest and most vulnerable.
In his inaugural speech on Monday, President Obama said "together, we resolve that a great nation must care for the vulnerable…that all are created equal…and our journey is not complete until all of our children…are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm."
We indeed, Mr. President, must care for the vulnerable—but that also includes unborn children and their mothers. No one gets left out or left behind. All people are created equal. And our journey is not complete until all our children—including the child in the womb—are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.
Yet, President Obama systematically and aggressively promotes abortion at home and overseas.
Despite the fact that taxpayer-subsidized Planned Parenthood claims direct responsibility for killing over 6 million unborn babies, Planned Parenthood remains President Obama's favorite organization.
Someday future generations will look back on America and wonder how and why such a seemingly enlightened society could have failed to protect the innocent and inconvenient. They will wonder how and why a Nobel Peace Prize winning President who spoke eloquently about caring, cherishing and safeguarding all our children, could also simultaneously have been the Abortion President.
Know this Mr. President, we will never quit. In adversity our faith and trust in God is tested, but it also deepens and overcomes and forges an indomitable yet humble spirit.
Know this, the pro-life movement is comprised of noble, caring, smart and selfless people. It is an extraordinarily powerful, non-violent, faith-filled human rights struggle that is growing in public support, intensity, commitment and hope.
And know this Mr. President, the pro-life movement is not only on the side of compassion, justice, and inclusion; we are on the right side of responsible science and of history.
Source: Rep. Chris Smith
Illinois citizens continue to speak out against abortion, with the 22nd annual SpeakOut Illinois conference this Saturday, February 2, at the Crowne Plaza O'Hare Hotel in Rosemont. The conference, titled "50 Million and Counting: Forty Years of Roe v. Wade," will feature presentations on "Stand Up for Life: Why Your Witness Matters" and "Fatherhood in the Culture of Abortion." The Henry Hyde Life Leadership Award and Illinois Life Advocate Awards will be presented. The event will culminate with a solemn Memorial for the Unborn.
Event Details
WHAT: SpeakOut 2013 "50 Million and Counting: Forty Years of Roe v. Wade"
WHEN: Saturday, February 2, 2013, registration opens at 8:30 a.m.
WHERE: Crowne Plaza O'Hare Hotel, 5440 N. River Road, Rosemont, IL 60018
MAP LINK: bit.ly/14pzgdo
WHO: Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League
Ryan Bomberger, founder of the Radiance Foundation
Star Parker, president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education
Dick Walsh, founder of Americans for Life
35+ sponsoring organizations
Illinois pro-life citizens
REGISTRATION & INFORMATION: www.speakoutillinois.org
"After four decades, and the deaths of 55 million babies, those who value the sanctity of human life are still standing as strong as ever and speaking out -- and they have made a huge and positive impact," said Ann Scheidler, co-chair of the SpeakOut Illinois committee and vice president of the Pro-Life Action League, a key sponsor of the annual event. Scheidler, along with her husband, the iconic Joe Scheidler, has been speaking out for life since abortion was legalized in the U.S. in 1973.
This year's conference speakers bring passionately diverse perspectives to the cause:
Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League and son of Ann and Joe, brings his experience from pro-life activism's "first family" to the fight against abortion. His leadership has been instrumental in numerous victories for the pro-life movement as he works closely with local groups to shut down abortion providers in neighborhoods across the country.
Ryan Bomberger, founder of the Radiance Foundation, is an Emmy award winner whose personal story is rooted in pro-life choices. Conceived in rape and adopted into a large multiracial family, he embodies a compelling argument against abortion in even the most traumatic circumstances.
Star Parker, president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, understands the pressures of women on welfare, having walked that road herself. Unabashedly pro-life and anti-poverty, she has brought her expertise to Capitol Hill, university lecture halls, and corporate conference rooms. At SpeakOut 2013, Parker will be the recipient of the Henry Hyde Life Leadership Award for her tireless commitment to promoting the sanctity of life.
Additionally, a special Illinois Life Award will be presented to longtime pro-life advocate Dick Walsh, founder of Americans for Life, for his undaunted dedication to the values of life and family.
SpeakOut 2013 takes place on the heels of the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, which resulted in the death of over 50 million lives and the decimation of more than one generation. SpeakOut seeks to challenge the latest generation to continue the battle for life into the future with a special youth-oriented program titled TeenSpeak.
SpeakOut Illinois brings together more than 35 organizations from across the state to openly champion the sanctity of human life. Sponsors include the Pro-Life Action League, crisis pregnancy centers, law firms, political groups, women's groups, media outlets, and religious organizations. Illinois is the only state to have such a broad pro-life coalition.
More information on the event and a registration link is at www.speakoutillinois.org.
President Obama nominates Sen. John Kerry to serve
as Secretary of State in the Roosevelt Room on Dec.
21, 2012. Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy.
As Senator John Kerry is confirmed as Secretary of State for Obama's second administration, pro-life groups have encouraged the official to protect human rights, especially for the unborn.
"International diplomacy with a central focus on the dignity of the human person will bear tremendous fruit in building a more loving, healthier and more stable world," Jeanne Monahan, president of March for Life, told CNA Jan. 31.
"The March for Life Education and Defense Fund deeply hopes that the new Secretary of State will work to combat the human rights abuse of today, abortion – both in the U.S. and internationally."
Kerry was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Legislators voted 94-3 to confirm the nomination on Jan. 29. The three no votes came from three Republicans – Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, and both of Texas' senators.
Kerry was the Democratic candidate for president in 2004, and his abortion advocacy views have drawn ire from many in the Catholic sphere.
Critics have been quick to point out, however, that during his presidential campaign he said that "life begins at conception," while also supporting legislation to promote abortion rights.
"John Kerry...is an outspoken champion of abortion and homosexual marriage," Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, told CNA.
"There is little doubt that this unfaithful Catholic will continue the policies of Hillary Clinton and push the developing world, under threats of losing development aid, into accepting abortion on demand and homosexual marriage. I have little doubt that traditional peoples around the globe are cringing today at this choice of the Obama administration for Secretary of State."
The state department is responsible for America's foreign relations. Under Clinton, the department promoted abortion access overseas as part of "reproductive health."
"We are concerned Sec. Kerry will seek to impose his extreme anti-life views in America's name. In addition, there are serious questions about his commitment to religious freedom, having been part of an effort to gut the vital USCIRF as a senator," Ashley McGuire of The Catholic Association said Jan. 31 to CNA.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is a commission of the federal government which supports religious freedom throughout the world.
The issue of religious freedom was raised during Kerry's confirmation hearings this week. Senator Marco Rubio questioned him about the case of Saeed Abedini, a Christian pastor and an American citizen who was recently sentenced to eight years in an Iranian prison for his work with Christian churches in the nation.
Kerry indicated that he, and the federal government, condemn Iran's violations of religious freedom and are calling for Abedini's release.
"Sen. Kerry, who has now been confirmed and will take the oath of office soon, has the opportunity to lead a worldwide effort needed to free Pastor Saeed...it's our hope that the strong statements he put on paper during his confirmation process will be transformed into full engagement when he takes office," Jordan Sekulow, director of the American Center for Law and Justice said.
The Center also indicated that they "fully intend to hold him to this commitment upon his confirmation. Senator Kerry has an ideal opportunity to begin his tenure at the State Department by reaffirming American commitments to religious freedom."
Kerry has served as a senator for Massachusetts, and his resignation will be effective Feb. 1. The state governor has appointed William Cowan to take his senate seat until elections can be held this summer.
Source: CNA/EWTN News
