Planned Parenthood - a primary healthcare provider?

Planned Parenthood is facing criticism for alleged false advertising.
 


The organization has been running ads in Washington, DC, claiming that 90 percent of its services are preventive and primary care, just like going to a doctor's office. Jim Sedlak of American Life League disagrees. With Obama's healthcare program, Sedlak contends Planned Parenthood is just trying to position itself to be in the mainstream of healthcare.
 
"The problem is that according to its last annual report, Planned Parenthood...primary care patients account for only seven-tenths of one percent of its total number of customers," he says.
 
Sedlak was asked if Planned Parenthood's recent report was designed to get more government money.
 
Jim Sedlak 1"Absolutely! They're trying to set the stage so that they get recognized as an entry point into the healthcare system, and that people don't have to go to another primary care physician, and they can get referenced to Planned Parenthood, that they can just walk in the door at Planned Parenthood and that will result in millions of more dollars to Planned Parenthood," he points out.
 
According to Sedlak, abortion accounts for about one-third of Planned Parenthood's income -- and government-funded abortion is likely to be a part of the Obama healthcare plan.

Click here to view Planned Parenthood's TV commerical.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: July 3, 2009
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How to get your girlfriend to abort

"Dealing With An Unwanted Pregnancy" blares the title of the article on AskMen.com, a website which claims 7 million readers a month.



AskMen.com has been criticized for the way it objectifies women with its "Top 99 Women" poll among other unfavorable facets of the site.

This particular article lays out a guide for men who don't want their partners to give birth to their preborn children. Written by a woman, Isabella Snow, it purports to be an inside look at how women think and act in such situations.

happy pregnant.jpg"For some women, getting pregnant can start clocks ticking and make them suddenly want to be mothers, despite previous agreements," warns Snow. In other words, she's not in her usual state of mind: you are going to have to do your utmost to convince her to deny new maternal feelings.

The entire article is geared against innocent preborn life and instead focuses on wants and lifestyles, primarily of the father....

Copious hints and suggestions are given to help the man make his partner feel relaxed and comfortable as he attempts to convince her that an abortion is the most favorable option. It's for a purely selfish motive: becoming a father could "put tremendous stress on a relationship, particularly if [he doesn't] want to have a child, but [doesn't] want to lose the girl, either."

harley.jpgThe third person in the relationship is brushed aside as a mere "issue of an unwanted pregnancy" which encourages men to treat the situation as if it is only themselves and their partner that need consideration: "Will you have to sell your Harley and get a station wagon?" asks the author.

Oh, what a terrible thought! Yes, clearly ending the life of your unborn child is more preferable!

Ultimately, according to Snow, if a man has made it clear he has no desire for the pregnancy to continue, he is freed from any obligation to stick with the relationship.

The only redeeming factor to the article is it suggests if mothers insist on allowing their preborn children to live, men should feel free to change their minds and embrace their future roles as fathers.

Contact: Andy M.
Source: JillStanek.com
Publish Date: July 3, 2009
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Is Obama Pushing Federally Mandated Futile Care Theory as Cost Control? It’s Hard to Know

I was away and completely off the grid when President Obama made his health care pitch. But several people sent me e-mails questioning whether he pushed futile care theory as a method of cost containment and health care reform. As usual with our president, it is hard to tell exactly what he wants as he tends to speak in overly broad generalities or take both sides of an issue at the same time. Here is the report from the LA Times:

    President Obama suggested at a town hall event Wednesday night that one way to shave medical costs is to stop expensive and ultimately futile procedures performed on people who are about to die and don't stand to gain from the extra care. In a nationally televised event at the White House, Obama said families need better information so they don't unthinkingly approve "additional tests or additional drugs that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care." He added: "Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller."

It all depends on who gets to decide, doesn't it? If people are to be educated about these matters, it is one thing. If they are going to be coerced, as in Futile Care Theory and rationing,  it is quite another. The devil will truly be in the details–especially with this president.

By the way, this isn't the first time Obama has a point about end-of-life care that is similarly wide-open to interpretation–as dutifully reported here at SHS.

Contact: Wesley J. Smith
Source: Secondhand Smoke
Publish Date: July 6, 2009
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Late-term abortionist Alberto Hodari fined $10k in death of patient

Dr. Monica Miller, Director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, issued a statement today revealing newly discovered information that MI late-term abortionist Alberto Hodari, pictured left, was fined $10k four months ago for his role in the 2003 death of 32-year-old Regina Johnson.

Johnson died from complications after a first trimester abortion committed at Hodari's Womencare abortion mill in Lathrup Village....

According to court documents (here and here), the abortion was committed September 17, 2003, by abortionist Milton Nathanson, then employed by Hodari.

Johnson died September 18 from "anoxic encephalopathy due to cardiac arrest." According to CPLS's statement:

    In addition to Hodari and Nathanson, anesthesiologist Barry Thompson and the abortion clinic's nurse, Cathy Litchig were also implicated in Ms. Johnson's death.

    The Attorney General's office... imposed the fine on Hodari March 4, 2009 - but the penalty only recently became publicly known. The complaint against Hodari found him guilty of "negligence," "incompetence" and lacking in "good moral character." Hodari paid the fine without contesting....

    Nathanson submitted to retraining. Thompson and Litchig were both placed on probation for a period of time and also subjected to fines.

There was not that much more value placed on Johnson's life than late-term abortionists charge to kill almost full-term babies.

hodari baby.jpgIf Hodari's name sounds familiar, it's because only 16 months ago members of CPLS found multiple remains of aborted babies as well as hundreds of medical records of aborting mothers in 2 of Hodari's dumpsters.

For that, Hodari got a warning and is on probation.

In January 2008 Hodari garnered national attention for being caught on tape bragging during a lecture at Wayne State University in November 2007 that he didn't wash hands between patients and had a "license to lie."

Source: JillStanek.com
Publish Date: July 3, 2009
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Pregnancy Prevention, Contraception Recommended for ‘Priority Attention and Funding’

Taxpayer money should be spent to "compare the effectiveness of innovative strategies for preventing unintended pregnancies," according to a federal advisory committee. The "innovative strategies" to be studied include over-the-counter access to oral contraceptives and providing free contraceptive methods at public clinics and pharmacies.

Background

The Democrat-passed stimulus bill includes $1.1 billion to be spent on comparative effectiveness research, which a federal advisory panel defines as a way to identify "what works for which patients under what circumstances."
 
Specifically, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 called on the Institute of Medicine – part of the National Academy of Sciences -- to come up with a list of topics that will serve as a starting point for deciding which health care approaches work best.
 
A committee convened by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) says it received 1,268 unique topic suggestions from health professionals, consumer advocates, policy analysts, and others who submitted nominations through an online form.
 
That list has now been narrowed to 100 topics, divided into four quartiles (groups of 25).
 
Included in the highest priority group – the first quartile – is pregnancy prevention. The sentence reads as follows:
 
"Compare the effectiveness of innovative strategies for preventing unintended pregnancies (e.g., over-the-counter access to oral contraceptives or other hormonal methods, expanding access to long-acting methods for young women, providing free contraceptive methods at public clinics, pharmacies, or other locations)."
 
The complete list of national priorities for comparative effectiveness research can be found here.
 
Advocates say comparative effectiveness research will improve the quality and efficiency of health care. 

"Health care decisions too often area matter of guesswork because we lack good evidence to inform them," said Harold C. Sox, editor of Annals of Internal Medicine, who co-chaired the IOM committee.  "For example, we spend a great deal on diagnostic tests for coronary heart disease in this country, but we lack sufficient evidence to determine which test is best."
 
Critics, however, warn that comparative effectiveness research will be used to ration health care and minimize costs.
 
As CNSNews.com previously reported, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has pledged to take those rationing concerns seriously.
 
"We need to address the very real concern that this research (comparative-effectiveness) might be used to quote 'ration health care,'" Baucus told a Brookings Institution audience last month. "This is serious and needs to be addressed with integrity," he added.
 
In its report, the Institute of Medicine committee said comparative effectiveness research will fall short of its potential without vigorous efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services to promote adoption of the findings by health care providers and organizations.
 
The IOM study was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
 
Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine is a nongovernmental agency that provides "independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector and the public."

Contact: Susan Jones
Source: CNSNews.com
Publish Date: July 2, 2009
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NEWS SHORTS FOR MONDAY

Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.

Taxpayer Funded Abortion Referrals

Along with a "universal health care" experiment in the form of the taxpayer-funded Ennis Regional Medical Center and the Ennis Independent School District's Early Childhood Center for students' babies (EISD property taxes pay for that one) nearby, the City of Ennis is about to welcome a labratory in population control: Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood was approved by city officials and the elected representatives (the city commission) voters helped elect to office to be placed in dangerous proximity to the Early Childhood facility and the hospital. This paper Defends Truth and Freedom, and the truth is, life is a gift and abortions destroy life.
Click here for the full article.


Abortion Clinic 911 Emergency Calls: 'No lights and sirens, please!'

This is a composite of ambulance calls to Aware Woman abortion clinic in Melbourne, Florida. It shows the tragic results of botched abortions. Countless women have been injured at Aware Woman and other abortion clinics throughout the United States where abortion is legal but not safe.
Click here for Video 1
Click here for Video 2
Click here for the full article.


Obama Calls for Universal Access to Abortion at UN Meeting

At United Nations (UN) headquarters this week, the Obama administration continued its push for ever increasing access to legal abortion around the world. The Obama team has introduced language that has thrown a high level negotiation into a roil. The US proposal calls for "universal access" to "sexual and reproductive health services including universal access to family planning." The document under consideration will culminate in the 2009 Annual Ministerial Review, which convenes next week in Geneva.
Click here for the full article.


Alaska Proposal That Requires Parental Consent for Abortion Is Certified

A proposal to require parental notice or consent before a female younger than 18 could have an abortion was certified Thursday by the state so that its backers can seek enough signatures to get the initiative before voters next year. The proposed law would require the parental notice or consent except in these circumstances: -- The teen submits a notarized statement that she is a victim of abuse by a parent or guardian. -- The teen persuades a court to let her bypass notification. -- A doctor declares a medical emergency. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell certified the initiative. If its backers get at least 32,734 Alaskans from across the state to sign the initiative in the next year, the proposal will go on a statewide ballot for a public vote next year.
Click here for the full article.


Parents Denied Abortion Clinic Records

The Ohio Supreme Court Wednesday rejected a request from the parents of a girl who obtained an abortion for access to records from the clinic. The parents filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio in Cincinnati after their 14-year-old daughter's abortion in 2004. They say the clinic ignores evidence of sexual abuse, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reported. The girl allegedly was impregnated by her 21-year-old soccer coach, who posed as her father to get her an abortion and gave his "consent," the Dispatch said.
Click here for the full article.


SC GOP Official Sues City over Abortion Protest

A state Republican Party official has sued the city of Orangeburg for a second time, saying a police officer prevented him from participating in an abortion protest. The (Orangeburg) Times and Democrat reports that the Rev. Charles Butler's lawsuit involved a January protest about then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's stance on abortion. The lawsuit says an Orangeburg Department of Public Safety officer told Butler, the second vice chairman of the S.C. Republican Party, that he couldn't protest without a permit.
Click here for the full article.


Anger At Abortion Increase

Sexual health campaigners have blasted government policy after Wales' teen abortion rate rose for the third year running. Latest figures from the Department of Health show the total number of abortions for under 18s across the nation rose from 894 in 2005 to 1,048 in 2008. Vivienne Rose, a clinic manager for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) – which runs Wales' only dedicated abortion clinic in Cardiff – said: "The Assembly Government (WAG) have all these initiatives but, at the core, what is happening?
Click here for the full article.

Issue of Covering Abortions Will Not Impede Health-Care Reform Legislation, Says ‘Pro-Life' Democratic Sen. Bob Casey

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), a self-proclaimed pro-life Democrat who now embraces President Barack Obama's call for "common ground," said Wednesday that the issue of abortion should not bog down passage of a health-care reform bill. 
 
"It hasn't been an impediment, and I don't expect it to be and it shouldn't be. There is no reason why in a health-care bill we have to have another debate about that issue (abortion)," Casey told CNSNews.com in a conference-call discussion about health-care reform in the Senate.

"I think it is abundantly clear what my position is on the issue of abortion," he added.
 
Casey has been clear about his opposition to abortion. The son of the late pro-life Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey, Sen. Casey has held that while the Constitution protects the right to privacy, it does not trump the rights of the unborn.
 
Yet Casey's statement that abortion should not impede health care reform flies in the face of 19 pro-life Democrats in the House, who recently sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) insisting that abortion funding should not be included in any health-care reform bill.

In fact, CNSNews.com specifically asked Casey about the House members' pledge to oppose any health-care bill that contains abortion funding: "Nineteen pro-life House Democrats sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi saying they would only support a health care package that  'explicitly excludes' abortion from the scope of the plan. Do you agree? And will you also only support a health reform plan that explicitly excludes abortion coverage?" 
 
"I can't speak for what the House is doing and what members are doing in the House, but in the Senate, I don't think that it (the abortion issue) is going to be an impediment to getting this legislation passed," Casey told CNSNews.com
 
In their letter to Pelosi, the pro-life House Democratic claimed that a health-care plan that mandates coverage for abortions would be an "unacceptable" option.
 
The congressmen explained that without an explicit exclusion, abortion could be federally funded as part of a government-subsidized health care plan. "We want to ensure that the Health Benefits Advisory Committee cannot recommend abortion services be included under covered benefits or as part of a benefits package," the House Democrats wrote.
 
"The health-care reform package produced by Congress will be landmark, and with legislation as important as this, abortion must be addressed clearly in the bill text," the letter continued. The pro-life Demcrats further explained that congressional funding restrictions on abortion have "saved lives by reducing the number of abortions."
 
'Common-ground' guy
 
While campaigning for his Senate seat, Casey supported overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion on demand.
 
But more recently, Casey also supported then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights.

As Casey told the Democratic National Convention last summer, "Barack Obama and I have an honest disagreement on the issue of abortion. But the fact that I'm speaking here tonight is testament to Barack's ability to show respect for the views of people who may disagree with him."
 
In January, Casey re-introduced the Pregnant Women Support Act (S.270), which would provide assistance to pregnant women both before and after delivery.
 
"I introduce this bill with the deepest conviction that we can find common ground," Casey said at the time. "I believe that we can transform this debate by focusing upon the issues that unite us, not the issues that divide us."
 
Obama also has called for "common ground" in the abortion debate, but many pro-life conservatives reject the notion.
 
"Over the years, we have come to understand that a desire for common ground translates into the view that principle must yield to pragmatism, and after that, to acceptance of abortion in some cases and after that, to abysmal defeat," wrote American Life League president Judie Brown in a May 29 column. "The common ground theory and those who advocate it remind me of quicksand … the slow, certain sinking of truth into the sands of deceit that clearly represent, among other things, Obamaland."

Source: CNSNews.com
Publish Date: July 2, 2009
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Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms

Having an abortion is dangerous for subsequent children, an international team of researchers has concluded.  The team, led by Dr. Robbert van Oppenraaij of Erasmus MC University Medical Centre, presented their findings on Monday to the 25th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Amsterdam.

In his presentation, Dr. van Oppenraaij reported that one abortion increases the risk of premature birth in a next pregnancy by 20 percent. With two or more abortions, the risk is raised by 90 percent, and the risk of a very premature birth - meaning 34 weeks or less - is doubled.

"It can be concluded," said Dr. van Oppenraaij, "that a history of abortion is associated with an increased risk for premature delivery and very premature delivery."

The conference presentation was based on a March 2009 article published by the team in the ESHRE's Human Reproduction Update.  The research consisted of a literature review of over 75 investigations conducted between 1980 and 2008, focusing on predicting the health of pregnancies based on early pregnancy complications.

The article admits the difficulty of predicting adverse pregnancy outcomes after abortion because of the many variables, such as different abortion methods and gestational age.  Nevertheless, they say, "it can be concluded that a history of TOP [termination of pregnancy] is associated with an increased risk for PPROM [preterm premature rupture of membranes], PTD [preterm delivery] and VPTD [very preterm delivery]. These risks depend on the number of TOP."

Numerous independent studies have found this link between abortion and premature births in subsequent pregnancies, as LifeSiteNews.com has reported.  Most significantly, LSN reported in February this year on the findings of a German team who evaluated over two million pregnancies between 1995 and 2000. According to this study, the risk of very premature birth is increased by 30 percent after one abortion, and by 90 percent after more than one.

Contact: Patrick B. Craine
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Publish Date: June 29, 2009
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Just say no to Gardasil

With school physicals right around the corner, parents should be cautious about allowing their daughters to receive the vaccine called Gardasil, a yet unproven vaccine for HPV, a disease only transmitted by sexual activity. The vaccine is pushed as a means to prevent cervical cancer, which has been connected to HPV, but Gardasil does nothing to prevent HPV strains causing 30% of cervical cancers.

Gardasil has developed a track record of unusual and dangerous side effects. The death toll from the drug has reached at least 47. There were also 1061 "serious" reports of complications including 142 classified as life-threatening, 147 spontaneous abortions, and 29 cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Is use of this vaccine really worth the risks?

More specifics on complications should really raise questions about the risk versus benefit of this vaccine.  Reports indicate that 62 girls developed warts after receiving the vaccine, even though Gardasil is designed to prevent two strains of genital warts and is not supposed to react with other HPV strains.  However, not only did previously healthy women experience genital warts after the vaccination, but 21 girls developed warts on other areas, most commonly the face, hands and feet, and in one case, "all over her body."

Situations like this must be devastating to teenage girls and their parents, who were just following their doctor's recommendation and had no idea there were any risks of note.  FDA's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports show that since June 2008, 235 cases have involved permanent disability.  Just say no to Gardasil!

Source: Illinois Right to Life
Publish Date: July 2, 2009
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General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats

General Electric has announced that it will use embryonic stem cells provided by Geron Corporation for the purpose of testing toxic effects of drug treatments.

GE issued a statement, attempting to preempt criticism over the decision, saying, "We acknowledge the considerable debate and take very seriously the ethical and societal issues associated with research using stem cells derived from embryonic or fetal tissue."

"We conduct our research in an ethically and scientifically responsible manner," the statement said.

However, embryonic stem cells have been the center of heated controversy since harvesting the cells requires the destruction of embryonic human beings.

But Geron Corporation indicates that in this case it believes that the ends justify the means.

"Up to three quarters of toxicity problems are not detected until preclinical or later stages of drug development and this significantly increases the cost of developing new drugs," Geron Corporation said in a press release, "Earlier detection of toxicity problems could reduce both overall drug development costs and potentially harmful patient exposure in clinical trials."

Konstantin Fielder, General Manager of Cell Technologies at GE Healthcare said that stem cells harvested from human embryos could even replace lab rats as the primary scientific testing method.

"Once you have human cells and you can get them in a standardized way, like you get right now your lab rats in a standardized way, you can actually do those experiments on those cells," he said.

Both GE and Geron have said that the stem cells to be used are listed on a National Institutes of Health registry, making them eligible for use in the United States.

Click here for contact Information for General Electric.

Contact: Alex Bush
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Publish Date: July 1, 2009
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U.N. Population Agency Receives $50 Million in Taxpayer Money, Despite Its Involvement in China Where Government's Population Control is Coercive

"UNFPA moves quickly when emergency strikes, to protect the reproductive health of communities in crisis," the United Nations population-control agency says on its Web site. This photo shows a UNFPA clinic in an unspecified country, and it comes from UNFPA's Web site.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) received $50 million from the United States government this year, despite its involvement in China, where the government's population program, according to the U.S. State Department, includes a "coercive birth limitation policy" that in some cases results "in forced abortion or forced sterilization."

The UNFPA says its programs in China are voluntary and respect human rights.
 
Funding for the group was included in an omnibus appropriations bill that Congress passed in March, which represents a reversal from the Bush Administration's refusal to fund UNFPA.
 
During a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, UNFPA discussed "the status of family planning in the developing world and its impact on population dynamics and inequality." Geeta Sen, an adjunct professor of global health and population at the Harvard School of Public Health, described UNFPA's mission.
 
"Like our need for food and air and water, sex and reproduction are a hearty perennial of human existence," Sen said. "We are always going to be doing those things and we need be able to do them safely. We need to make sure poor people have the same rights in this area as rich people do. We need to make sure that young people have the same rights and abilities in sex and reproduction as older people do."
 
The fund's Web site repeats the phrase: "No woman should die giving life."
 
But critics of UNFPA say that phrase is a euphemism for population control. Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, says UNFPA is pro-abortion.
 
The Population Research Institute describes its mission as exposing the "myth of overpopulation" as well as human rights abuses committed in population control programs.
 
"Reproductive health is a misleading phrase," Mosher told CNSNews.com. "Their measurement of reproductive health is . . .  how many, what percentage, of women in a population of reproductive age are (using contraception) or have been sterilized."
 
"(T)his is the U.N. Population Fund, this is not the U.N. Maternal Health Fund, or the U.N. Natural Family Planning (Fund)" he said. "This is a population-control group."
 
Mosher said UNFPA's assertion that "no woman should die giving life" can be better met by offering prenatal care, attending to the mother at the time of birth, and providing a means to get to a clinic in the case of complications.
 
"You can reduce maternal mortality down to very low levels, levels that we see in Germany, Sweden and the United States, but that's not the solution offered by the U.N. Population Fund," said Mosher, who first traveled to China in 1979 to interview women there about China's "One Child" forced abortion and sterilization program.
 
"(The fund) is going to ensure that no women die in child birth by ensuring that no women get pregnant," he added. "Well, that's like saying if you prevent people from driving cars, they won't die in traffic accidents. It's true, but who would ever advocate that?"
 
In 1983, the U.N. agency gave its first World Population Award to Qian Xinzhong, the minister of China's State Family Planning Commission, who was charged with overseeing that country's "one-child policy." At a family planning conference the prior year, Xinzhong made it known that his goal was 100 percent sterilization by 1985 for couples that already had two children.
 
A 2001 report Mosher authored for the Population Research Institute details population-control efforts in China, where the UNFPA allegedly supports the one-child policy and even funds programs sterilizing women and aborting additional children.
 
Mosher said little has changed since Xinzhong's tenure: "It's still just as brutal as it was in the beginning, 30 years ago," he said. "Women are arrested and aborted there, sometimes in the (last months) of pregnancy," he said.
 
The PRI report includes interviews that were submitted as congressional testimony in 2001 showing widespread human rights abuses in Sihui County. That county is said to be representative of the rest of the country. Although UNFPA denies any coercion takes place, Mosher says the UNFPA works with China's family planning authorities.
 
The subjects in the 2001 testimony include:
 
-- A woman who was forcibly sterilized after having a second child, but then had a third child after the operation failed. She was sterilized a second time and has not become pregnant again.
 
Asked by the interviewers what would happen if she tried to evade family planning workers who came to sterilize her, she said, "That wouldn't work. They would tear down my house."
 
Pointing at the ceiling, she said, "They would wreck it."
 
-- A woman who was pregnant with her second child and refused to abort it. She went into hiding until three family members were arrested, then was forced to hide with her in-laws, six of whom were then arrested and three of whose homes were destroyed by authorities armed with jackhammers.
 
"Look at this," her father said. "All of the doors and windows destroyed . . . It took forty bags of cement to repair the holes."
 
Local officials also told the PRI's investigative team, according to the report, that "there is no distinction between UNFPA's program in Sihui and the Chinese family planning program (there)."
 
UNFPA, however, maintains that no coercion is happening in Sihui County, and it told CNSNews.com that their programs are entirely voluntary.
 
"(W)e have been found by the U.S government, by the Secretary of State, Secretary Clinton, to not be in violation of any U.S. laws," Sarah Craven, chief of UNFPA's Washington, D.C., office, said. "Our program in China promotes an approach based in voluntarism and human rights."
 
The Kemp-Kasten amendment, regularly found in appropriations bills including the March omnibus appropriations bill, forbids federal money from going to any organization that "supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization."
 
The Obama administration and Secretary Clinton have found that UNFPA does not violate Kemp-Kasten, and House Democrats also authored language guaranteeing funds to UNFPA.
 
But Mosher finds the certification incomprehensible.
 
"I have talked to literally hundreds of people on the ground in China in the last few weeks, and the program is clearly coercive," he said.
 
"(The fund) is not making a difference in the direction of voluntarism, which it claims to be, and there's no way that Secretary Clinton couldn't know that."
 
Indeed, the State Department's 2008 Human Rights Report on China, published on February 25 of this year, describes China's population control program as sharply coercive.

"The government continued its coercive birth limitation policy, in some cases resulting in forced abortion or forced sterilization," said the State Department.

"Those who violated the child limit policy by having an unapproved child or helping another do so faced disciplinary measures such as social compensation fees, job loss or demotion, loss of promotion opportunity, expulsion from the party (membership in which was an unofficial requirement for certain jobs), and other administrative punishments, including in some cases the destruction of private property," said the State Department. "In the case of families that already had two children, one parent was often pressured to undergo sterilization. The penalties sometimes left women with little practical choice but to undergo abortion or sterilization."

One Chinese woman's case, according to the State Deparment, ended with Chinese officials killing a child who had just been born.

"In March family-planning officials in Henan Province reportedly forcibly detained a 23-year-old unmarried woman who was seven months pregnant," said the State Department. "Officials reportedly tied her to a bed, induced labor, and killed the newborn upon delivery."

According to its annual report, UNFPA spent more than 66 percent of its 2008 Asia budget on "reproductive health."
 
"(N)o one is saying that the UNFPA office staffer in Sihui County is actually out there doing abortions, but does he know about them? Is he complicit? Does he work with the family planning authorities?" Mosher asked.
 
"Do they know what the quotas are, the targets? Do they know that women are arrested and (undergo abortions) sometimes in the eighth and ninth months of pregnancy? Of course they know. Are they funding the program? Of course they are."
 
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell made similar findings when he sent a fact-finding mission to China in May 2002, saying, UNFPA's "support of, and involvement in, China's population-planning activities allows the Chinese government to implement more effectively its program of coercive abortion."
 
The UNFPA's Craven said: "(W)e are absolutely delighted that the United States has come back as a funding partner and joined the 180 other countries around the world that support (us)."
 
The $50 million from the omnibus bill makes the United States one of the top UNFPA donors, along with the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.

Contact: Christopher Neefus
Source: CNSNews.com
Publish Date: July 2, 2009
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You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.

Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chair of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote to members of the House Appropriations Committee yesterday urging them not to fund abortions in the District of Columbia. Last week the House subcommittee that is considering the Financial Services appropriations bill for 2010 voted to permit direct public funding of abortion in the nation's capital.

Cardinal Rigali said that the subcommittee's action "effectively nullifies the Dornan amendment," which for a total of 18 years has prevented public funding of elective abortions in the District. He said this move, "presumably the first step in a broader effort to restore such funding throughout the federal government," is misguided for three reasons.

"First, he said, "public funding of abortion is rejected by the American people, as numerous surveys of public opinion have shown." He also noted that Catholics recently sent "tens of millions of postcards to their elected representatives in Congress, opposing   any weakening or reversal of current appropriations riders on abortion."

"Second, no lawmaker or Administration can support such a policy change and still claim to support 'reducing abortions.' The evidence is overwhelming, and universally recognized by groups on all sides of the abortion issue, that the availability of public funds for abortion greatly increases abortions."

"Third, this action takes place as Congress is working to win broad support for a much-needed major reform of our health care system," Cardinal Rigali noted. "This is the worst of all possible times to be injecting the divisive issue of public abortion funding into the debate on government health policy."

Cardinal Rigali concluded by urging the full House Appropriations Committee to reverse the subcommittee's action and retain the funding ban in current law.

Click here to read the full text of his letter.

Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Publish Date: July 1, 2009
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NEWS SHORTS FOR THURSDAY

Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.

Planned Parenthood to Investigate Undercover Actor's Claim That `Baby Killers' Broke Laws

Planned Parenthood of Alabama will investigate claims by a self-proclaimed "undercover actor and investigative journalist" that the organization's Birmingham clinic is failing to report the sexual abuse of minors and "bending rules" on parental consent laws for abortions, a spokesman said Tuesday. The allegations were made by 20-year-old Lila Rose, a UCLA college student who has posted on the Internet a series of audio and video recordings of her visits to Planned Parenthood clinics across the nation.
Click here for the full article.


Alabama AG Seeks Undercover Tape of Planned Parenthood's Sex Abuse Coverup

Attorney General Troy King said Wednesday he's asked for the tape of a Birmingham Planned Parenthood clinic staffer allegedly saying the law about reporting sexual abuse is "bent" by the clinic. "If that tape is an accurate depiction of what's happening, that's very troubling," King said in an interview. "Live Action" undercover reporter Lila Rose, a 20-year-old student, said she posed as a 14-year-old girl at the Birmingham Planned Parenthood clinic a year ago. Rose said she told a staffer she got pregnant by her 31-year-old "boyfriend" and needed a secret abortion.
Click here for the full article.


Arizona Lawmakers Outlaw Planned Parenthood's Killer Nurses

Lawmakers voted Wednesday to make it illegal for anyone other than a physician to perform a surgical abortion. SB 1175 is aimed at a practice used by Planned Parenthood Arizona that allows nurse practitioners with special training to terminate pregnancies in the first trimester. The legislation overrules regulations from the state Board of Nursing, which concluded that those with the specialized training are qualified to perform the procedure.
Click here for the full article.  (scroll down)


Minors' Abortion Records Off Limits for Proving Criminal Pattern, Court Says

In a split decision released Wednesday, July 1, the Ohio Supreme Court said the parents of a Cincinnati teen who had an abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic do not have the right to other minors' medical records. The parents of "Jane Roe," who had an abortion in March 2004 as a 14-year-old, filed suit against Planned Parenthood, alleging the clinic didn't properly get parental consent for the abortion or notify authorities of suspected sexual abuse of a minor. The lawsuit claimed Planned Parenthood's handling of Jane's case is part of a pattern involving minors who had obtained abortions.
Click here for the full article.


Minn. Health Department News of Abortion Decline Is FALSE, Report Does Not Count `Plan B', `RU-486' and Other Chemically Induced Abortions

False News Report by Winona Daily News:

The number of abortions performed in Minnesota in 2008 fell to the lowest level since the 1970s, and marked the second straight year of declines, the state Health Department reported Wednesday. The annual report said 12,948 abortions were performed in Minnesota last year, down about 6 percent from 13,843 in 2007. There were 14,065 abortions in 2006. Despite a spike in 2006, both the total number of abortions and the abortion rate per 1,000 women of childbearing age have been on a steady decline since 1980. The 2008 total is the lowest since the 10,565 abortions reported in 1975.
Click here for the full article.


Nineteen House Dems Plan To Vote Against Health Reform If Abortion Funding Is Included

Nineteen House Democrats recently sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) stating that they will not vote for health care reform legislation "unless it explicitly excludes abortion funding from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan," CongressDaily reports. In the letter, the lawmakers wrote that they want to ensure that the Health Benefits Advisory Committee cannot recommend that abortion services be included as part of benefits packages. They wrote, "Without an explicit exclusion, abortion could be included in a government-subsidized health care plan under general health care."
Click here for the full article.

ACTION ALERT ! ! !

Help Protect the Pre-Born
 
The House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee has approved its annual appropriations bill with language to gut the longstanding ban on taxpayer funding for abortion in the District of Columbia.

The bill adopted the Obama administration proposal to make public funds available for abortion in D.C.  It represents a removal of what has come to be known as "the Dornan amendment," which prohibits  taxpayer dollars appropriated for D.C. from being used for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.

Please take a moment to contact your member of Congress and ask him or her to support the reinstatement of the Dornan amendment into the Financial Services Appropriations bill.  Members are back home in their districts right now, so please contact their district offices.

Click here for your Congressional Member's contact information.

Update: Healthcare Forum

Last night's healthcare forum hosted by 3rd Congressional District Representative Dan Lipinski was attended by a number of pro-life individuals.  Representative Lipinski expressed a clear and strong commitment to fight to retain Hyde language barring the use of any federal funds for abortion in any national healthcare plan. 

 

He did not address whether or not he would ultimately withhold support from any plan that did not include the Hyde prohibitions.

 

In a brief conversation after the public program when I thanked Representative Lipinski for his support for pro-life positions on both abortion and life-destructive stem cell research he said he intends to continue to address both as matters of principle although he does expect to be attacked more aggressively than here-to-fore on these stands because of the combined pro-death positions of city hall and the locally rooted federal administration.  The congressman's legislative director also expressed Rep. Lipinski's committment to these positions and the expectation that the position will be attacked as well.  Although this was not pursued in the public meeting at all neither Rep. Lipinski nor his legislative director professed awareness of the "Dear Colleague" letter to Speaker Pelosi signed by 19 pro-life Democrats last week. 

 

Clearly Rep. Lipinski needs the continued support and encouragement of pro-lifers -- along with our thanks -- for his principled stands on both abortion and life-destructive stem cell research.  For those who may not know Rep. Lipinski suffers from juvenile diabetes and has used his own health status to buttress the importance of opposition to federal involvement in life-destructive stem cell research.

Montana and Colorado Join National Momentum With New Personhood Campaigns

Personhood Campaigns will re-launch this week in two states.



Today, July 1 Montana will launch a new personhood campaign. On Thursday, July 2 Colorado will launch their personhood campaign. Both have the goal of protecting every child by love and by law.

Montana and Colorado will join Oregon and Mississippi in gathering signatures for a citizens' initiative to affirm the personhood rights of all humans. Several more states plan to launch later in 2009.

Montana State Representative Wendy Warburton, working with the Montana Pro Life Coalition and Personhood USA to organize the effort in Montana, said, "This effort is about loving mothers, loving babies, and building a society where every single one of us is valued, no matter how young."

Warburton, the Montana Pro Life Coalition and other supporters of Montana's initiative will hold a rally on the steps of Montana's state capitol on Wednesday, July 1 at 9:00 AM.

On July 2, Colorado Right to Life and Personhood USA will introduce a similar amendment for Colorado's constitution. A Press Conference will be held Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. Colorado State Capitol in front of the west steps.

Keith Mason of Personhood USA said, "This question should have been settled in 1865. There should be no 'three-fifths of a person' – not in Montana, not in Colorado, not anywhere. All humans are people."

Dr. Annie Bukacek, President of the Montana Pro Life Coalition, said, "Based on their intrinsic value and dignity, every human being, from the moment life begins, deserves equal protection under the law. This is the principle of personhood. It's high time the people of Montana had an opportunity to vote on this fundamental human rights issue."

Click here for a video Promo.

Contact: Dr. Annie Bukacek
Source: Montana Pro Life Coalition, Personhood USA
Publish Date: June 30, 2009
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Planned Parenthood’s Animated Cartoon Advises Teens on Benefits of ‘Sex Play’ and ‘Outercourse’

"Farmer Tina" in the Planned Parenthood Web cartoon about Sexually Transmitted Infections.

In an animated video cartoon on its Web site, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America advises teens that taking part in "sex play" and "outercourse" can greatly reduce their risk of getting a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

The cartoon features Tina the Farmer who gives viewers a tour of her "Sexually Transmitted Infections Petting Zoo." At the end of the video, viewers are asked to take a quiz.

The second question on the quiz asks about protecting oneself from getting a STI.

"The only way to protect yourself from sexually transmitted infections is not having any sex play at all," the second quiz question asks.

There are two choices to click on to answer: "This Sounds Right" and "This Couldn't Possibly be Right."

If you click on "This Sounds Right," animated creatures representing the SDIs run across the screen and scream "WRONG!"

By clicking on the "correct" answer – "This Couldn't Possibly be Right" – they are rewarded with the visual and audio message "RIGHT-O" and this message appears:

"You can still get it goin' on without having intercourse. Ever hear of outercourse? That's right, outercourse. Outercourse includes body rubbing (people who are less polite might call it 'dry humping'), masturbation, deep kissing, and erotic massage. Outercourse can GREATLY reduce the risk of many sexually transmitted infections – unless body fluids are exchanged through oral sex or anal intercourse."

Planned Parenthood, which, according to its annual report for 2007-2008, got $349.6 million dollars from the federal government, did not respond to repeated calls and e-mails from CNSNews.com asking several questions, including what age group the cartoon is targeting, whether the organization believes the cartoon encourages teens to be sexually active, and if any of the federal funding goes toward producing the cartoon.

In the cartoon, Farmer Tina says nature gives us lots of good things, like cows and pigs. Then she shows viewers a pen filled with sexually transmitted infections.

"But sometimes nature gives things we don't want," Tina says in the cartoon."Yep, these are sexually transmitted infections."

"Let's see, there's herpes and gonorrhea over there. That's Chlamydia and genital warts fighting over a warm place to bred. That's syphilis and HIVover yonder there just waitin' for someone to get careless so they can hop over the fence and put a serious hurtin' on ya," Tina says.

Then the cartoon shows a naked man and woman partially hidden behind a cow.

"And look at this over there," Tina says. "That dude and dudette over yonder just don't get it. They're horsin' around without a condom. Puttin' themselves at great risk for getting one of those sexually transmitted infections."

"STI are bad news," Tina says. "You don't want to catch them and you don't want to pass them on neither. The good news is there are things you can do to reduce your risk. So take this little quiz and the only place you'll see these nasty infections is right here in my overpriced pettin' zoo."

Wendy Wright, executive director of Concerned Women for America, said the cartoon is in opposition to Planned Parenthood's claim of the importance of medically accurate information being used in "comprehensive" sex education programs for teens

"It's medically inaccurate," Wright said about the answer to the Planned Parenthood quiz stating outercourse reduces the risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease (STD) or an STI.

Wright said genital human papillomavirus (HPV)  – one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases and one that is linked to uterine cancer in women -- can be transmitted genital-to-genital or skin-to-skin without intercourse or the exchange of bodily fluids.

"This is very important because Planned Parenthood, Guttmacher (Institute), the whole comprehensive sex-ed crowd insists that the government should only fund sex-ed programs that are medically accurate," Wright told CNSNews.com. "In this case, the information they are putting out there is medically inaccurate."

Wright said she thinks that the cartoon's message also will mislead teens about the risks of being sexually active.

"For a teenager -- and teenagers are the target market here -- they are going to read that and they are going to come away with the deepest impression that as long as you don't exchange bodily fluids, as long as you don't have oral, vaginal, or anal sex then you are safe from getting an STI or an STD and that's just not true," Wright said.

Click here to view the cartoon (not for children)

Contact: Penny Starr
Source: CNSNews.com
Publish Date: July 1, 2009
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First Clinical Trials Completed of Adult Cardiac Stem Cell Repair

Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles have announced the successful completion of the first human trials in growing new heart tissue from adult cardiac stem cells, which the researchers hope will be successful in repairing damage due to heart attacks.

In a cutting edge procedure the patient's own heart tissue is used to grow specialized heart stem cells that are then injected back into the patient. The first patient to actually receive the infusion of cells is heart attack victim Ken Milles, who underwent the procedure on Friday.

Milles is part of a 24-patient clinical trial that is the first test in using adult stem cells from a patient's own heart to attempt to heal injured heart muscle.

Dr. Eduardo Marbán, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute who developed the technique, said, "Five years ago, we didn't even know the heart had its own distinct type of stem cells. Now we are exploring how to harness such stem cells to help patients heal their own damaged hearts."

"We seek to actually reverse the injury that has been caused by the heart attack, by re-growing new heart muscle to at least partially replace the scar that's formed."

Healthy heart cells are collected from the patients and coaxed to form up to 25,000,000 stem cells. These cells then create complex cardiospheres which can actually start beating in the lab. The doctors inject these back into the patients and expect to report results within six months.

The Cedars-Sinai treatment follows years of work in using adult stem cells from various parts of the body to treat heart tissue damage. In the UK in 2006, researchers reported that a procedure that was introduced at University College London Hospital in which patients suffering a heart attack will undergo regular treatment of an angioplasty, followed by an injection of stem cells harvested from the bone marrow to help re-grow damaged tissue.

In 2007, Rush University Medical Center reported on the development of Provacel, an intravenous preparation of adult stem cells that has been shown in preclinical animal models to prevent scar formation in the area of the heart after heart attacks.

Contact: Hilary White
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Publish Date: June 30, 2009
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Investigation sought into abortionist's practices

Operation Rescue is conducting a research project on Nebraska abortionist Leroy Carhart.


LeRoy Carhart clinic (Abortion & Contraception Clinic of Nebraska)

Operation Rescue president Troy Newman wants to hear from women who may have been harmed or suffered botched abortions and have not spoken out. He also tells OneNewsNow about Carhart's working environment in Nebraska.
 
"Mr. Carhart has a long history of operating a shoddy, slovenly abortion clinic," he explains. "Things like trash piled up in the basement that would cause a fire. After that fire, he actually tried to operate his abortion clinic from a generator."
 
Newman also says an old pickup truck, sitting on its wheel rims, has been parked in front of the building for weeks. The shop was closed down temporarily by local officials. Newman says there are further reasons for his research.
 
"We believe he's breaking the law, but we're also asking for women who have had abortions or have had contact with Mr. Carhart in the last five years to contact us and tell us of some of the miseries or complications that they've had from their abortion," he says. "We want to include that in a report to the attorney general."
 
According to Newman, all information will be kept confidential. The pro-life group will be asking the attorney general to close the clinic, and will ask the Nebraska Medical Association to revoke Carhart's medical license.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: June 30, 2009
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‘Groundbreaking’ invention creates life-sized 3D models of unborn children

'Groundbreaking' invention creates life-sized 3D models of unborn children



An art design student in Britain has developed a new method to use ultrasound and MRI scans to create life-sized plaster models of living embryos. One leading obstetrician has called the invention "absolutely unique" and a "fantastic development."

Jorge Lopes, the Brazilian design student whose invention was part of his Royal College of Art doctorate work, calls the method rapid prototyping, the Daily Mail says. The device used is comparable to a printer that prints plastic powder instead of ink, slowly building a three-dimensional model.

"It's amazing to see the faces of the mothers. They can see the full scale of their baby, really understand the size of it," Lopes remarked.

Lopes is sponsored at the college by the Brazilian government. His research examined the practical use of model-making over the centuries, beginning with mummies then moving to dinosaurs and then fetuses.

His work uses computer techniques first shown by Ron Arad, a designer famous worldwide who heads design products at the Royal College of Art.

Arad called Lopes' work a "ground-breaking new field of world importance."

One reviewer of Lopes' doctoral work said he did not know whether he was looking at science or art.

King's College head of obstetrics Stuart Campbell, who supervised Lopes, said the technology was "absolutely unique" and "a fantastic development."

Campbell, a pioneer in ultrasound use, hoped the development would help mothers, especially blind mothers, bond with their babies, the Daily Mail says.

Source: CNA
Publish Date: July 1, 2009
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