The "Abortion Gang," a blog by "unapologetic activists for reproductive justice," is beating the drum for repeal of the Hyde Amendment.
In a Nov. 7 post, a writer for the Abortion Gang urged President Obama to act to put an end to Hyde, which has prohibited Medicaid coverage of most abortions since 1976. Obama "must take a stand this January and strike restrictions on Medicaid coverage of abortion when he presents his budget to Congress," according to the post.
The Hyde Amendment not only bars Medicaid funds for abortions but acts as a model for restrictions on abortion funding in other federal programs.
For the Abortion Gang and other abortion rights advocates, reproductive rights do not fully exist unless the government pays for the abortions of those who cannot afford them.
Contact: Tom Strode, Erin Roach and Diana Chandler Source: Baptist Press
Apparently, Planned Parenthood is no longer content exploiting just women and children–so they've moved on to the federal government. Over the past several years, it seems the country's biggest abortion provider has also been running one of the country's biggest scams: a Medicaid racket that's ripped off millions of taxpayer dollars.
Today, it appears that at least six states have been targeted by Cecile Richards's scheme, which reportedly conned the government with hundreds of thousands of bogus reimbursement claims.
One of those states–Texas–will be hearing its first arguments on the issue this week in U.S. District Court, thanks to former Planned Parenthood director-turned-whistleblower Abby Johnson. With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), she plans to expose at least 87,000 instances of fraud during her time as a clinic manager in Southeast Texas.
Based on her testimony and supporting documents, Planned Parenthood routinely submitted ineligible claims on everything from pap smears to STD and pregnancy tests. In fact, Johnson says her bosses at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast were under so much financial pressure that they would repeatedly tell staff, "We must turn every call and visit into a revenue-generating client."
A ring of at least 10 clinics were falsifying patient charts, which they would "fix" and "cover up" before the auditors and inspectors came.
"People may hold different views about abortion," Johnson says, "but everyone can agree that Planned Parenthood should play by the same rules as everyone else. It certainly isn't entitled to any public funds, especially if it is defrauding Medicaid and the American taxpayer."
In states like Iowa, the plot was so sophisticated that clinics were getting $26.32 reimbursement checks for a $2.98 package of birth control. State and local governments have poured more than a billion dollars into Richards's group–and this is how she repays them? Twenty-eight million in stolen funds in Iowa, $6 million in Texas, $180 million in California, and similar allegations in New York, New Jersey, and Illinois.
And while we can't say exactly where the dollars went, evidence suggests President Obama's campaign was one of the biggest beneficiaries of Planned Parenthood's largesse. Thanks to this extra revenue from overbilling, Richards's group had the flexibility to spend a whopping $15 million to put Barack Obama back in the White House, where he can keep the money flowing to his favorite chain
Martin Cullen, an intensive care physician in Sydney, writes that the increasing acceptance of euthanasia has helped increase patients' distrust of doctors.
"I never cease to marvel how deeply some families of my patients distrust the medical profession," says Martin Cullen. "Between me and them is a wall of suspicion. I know how used car salesmen must feel."
"No longer do families assume that their loved one will be cared for," he continued. "Families feel they need to be advocates for their sick relative. They aggressively question all of my suggestions for care. I really can't blame them. In the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been legalized, non-voluntary euthanasia, aka murder, is no longer unknown."
"Nowadays when I bring bad news to families and tell them that death is imminent and that we can do no more, I expect resistance and hostility," he added. "Just a few weeks ago I was treating an elderly woman who was very sick. Her family told me that they believed that their father had been euthanased years before. They weren't going to let us doctors take their mother, too. They looked at me as if I were a murderer. It was very unsettling for me."
In June of this past year, photos of a Chinese woman and her dead child flooded the Internet, accompanied by the account of how Feng Jianmei was abducted from her home and forced to undergo a late-term abortion by local family-planning officials. Mrs. Feng's story spread across international news headlines and provoked outrage by national governments. The European Parliament issued a terse statement calling the incident "unacceptable."
A recent article makes the case that any law which restricts abortion--such as waiting periods or parental consent--is the equivalent of China's brutal forced abortion policy that victimized Mrs. Feng. The article from the Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of the abortion group Planned Parenthood, says this because both represent "coercion in reproductive decision making." According to their analysis, "forcing a woman to terminate a pregnancy she wants or to continue a pregnancy that she does not want both violate the same human rights."
The article equates legal restrictions on abortion to enforced abortion by drawing false parallels with regard to both the nature and intent of the laws being compared. The article's author notably contrasts the continuation of a pregnancy, rather than conception, with its termination. No mention is made of any government policy which provides for the forced impregnation of women, only those which protect a pregnancy which has already been established. While this may be in part due to the fact that no country has a policy which allows for government-sanctioned rape, it also attempts to change the context of the debate.
A large portion of the article focuses on United States laws such as those requiring counseling prior to abortion and blocking taxpayer funds from subsidizing abortions. According to the author's thesis, these policies, like the Chinese family-planning regulations, force women "either to have or to not have children for the greater good of those other than themselves." While the article provides examples of national policies providing incentives or deterrents to childbearing enacted in response to fears of population explosion or implosion, no mention is made of the good of the child itself. The Guttmacher article fails to acknowledge any possible motivations for restricting abortion outside of "pronatalist" efforts by leaders to increase national birth rates.
However, government policies intended to increase childbearing typically focus on factors existing prior to the conception of a child, such as increased maternity leave, tax incentives, and housing benefits, such as those introduced in Russia in the 1980s. While abortion rates in Russia have been declining since the 1970s, the pronatalist policies instituted by the government have been incentives to childbearing, not restrictions on abortion. However, while the Guttmacher article fails to explicitly define which policies encouraging larger families it deems coercive, it provides only the most extreme instances of forced abortion and sterilization as counter-examples.
In their attempt to characterize restrictions on abortion in the United States as human rights violations comparable to forced abortion in China, the author completely ignores the argument that abortion itself is a violation of the human rights of the child, despite the fact that many Americans believe that life begins at conception.
A new report from the United Nations Population Fund declares that family planning is a global "right" for women, and calls for the removal of any social and financial obstacles to it.
"Every adult, adolescent and young person everywhere, regardless of sex, social status, income, ethnicity, religion or place of residence must be empowered to decide freely and responsibly how many children to have and when to have them," the document said.
On Nov. 14, the United Nations Population Fund released the report, titled "The State of World Population 2012." It is subtitled "By Choice, Not By Chance" and links family planning to international development.
In its analysis, the UNFPA called the July 2012 London Summit on Family Planning a "sign of progress."
The event, which the population fund hosted with the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, secured $2.6 billion in pledges from countries and foundations to provide family planning to 120 million women. It said $4.1 billion is needed to provide family planning to 222 million women who reportedly would use it but lack access to it.
The summit drew intense backlash, however, from critics ranging from the Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano to global pro-life advocates.
Meghan Grizzle, research and policy specialist at the World Youth Alliance, and Greg Pfundstein – executive director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation – said the figure of 222 million women in need of family planning is "misleading" and likely overstated.
"Many women have access to contraception and choose not to use it. Social scientists and public policy experts identify women as having an unmet need for contraception even when those women have not expressed a desire to use contraception," Pfundstein and Grizzle said in a July essay published in Public Discourse.
Wendy Wright, interim executive director of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, in July charged that the summit marks "a new chapter in the population control movement." She said the summit would use the goal of helping poor women to secure permanent funding for abortion-promoting and population control groups.
Wright said that resources used for family planning could be better directed to providing access to basic health care and maternal health care.
In its new report, UNFPA included some population control advocacy and depicted access to family planning as a "sound economic investment."
It attributed the growth of some Asian economies to a family planning-driven demographic shift which caused the numbers of income-generating adults to be higher than those dependent upon them for support. The report predicted a $30 billion growth in the Nigerian economy if its fertility rate falls by one child per woman in the next 20 years.
The UNFPA report summary said family planning is "almost universally recognized as an intrinsic right" that should be "available to all." It said family planning should be promoted as "a right" which enables "a whole range of other rights."
The report does, however, include a favorable mention of family planning methods the Catholic Church does not recognize as sinful.
"Fertility awareness-related methods are also quite effective if used correctly," it said, citing Guttmacher Institute statistics indicating that these methods are only slightly more likely to result in pregnancy in the first year of use than condoms and are much less likely to result in pregnancy than no family planning method.
People with pro-abortion and pro-life views aren't necessarily rigid or consistent in their views.
In direct contrast to common assumptions, not all evangelicals and conservatives believe abortion should be outlawed in every situation, and many liberals do not want abortion available in all circumstances. Ron Sellers of Grey Matter Research conducted a survey that found evidence of this.
"Only 28 percent of all Americans believe that abortion should be legal in every situation," he indicates. "Only 18 percent believe abortion should be illegal in every situation. Thirty-eight percent said there are some cases where it should be legal; others said it should not. And then 16 percent frankly said, I honestly haven't decided how I feel on this issue. I just don't know."
So Sellers says the survey stresses that people may lean in a particular direction but are not totally one-sided. Sellers is not surprised that 30 percent of those surveyed support sex-selective abortions.
"The attitude among some of the folks who believe that abortion should be legal is that it is not a life, it is not a baby -- it is simply a mass of cells," he explains. "I mean, from a moral standpoint, [they believe] it's really no different than the mother having a growth or a tumor removed from her body."
What did surprise Sellers, "in a sense, is the lack of constancy from those on both sides of the debate."
Scientists continue to communicate with people thought to be oblivious and without awareness. From the BBC story:
A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, has been able to tell scientists that he is not in any pain. It's the first time an uncommunicative, severely brain-injured patient has been able to give answers clinically relevant to their care. Scott Routley, 39, was asked questions while having his brain activity scanned in an fMRI machine. His doctor says the discovery means medical textbooks will need rewriting…
And here's something that is fairly typical:
Scott Routley's parents say they always thought he was conscious and could communicate by lifting a thumb or moving his eyes. But this has never been accepted by medical staff.
Time to start listening more to families!
People such as Routley are dehydrated to death every day in all fifty states and in many countries around the world by having their tube-supplied sustenance withdrawn–supposedly based on their lack of personhood. But don't expect this to stop the dehydration imperative. Bioethicists will merely say this is even more reason to kill them since they are aware of their profound disabilities and suffering. Indeed, that argument has already started.
And of course, the media will insist–as they do nearly every time such stories hit the news–that it has nothing to do with Terri Schiavo. No, I will never let it go!
The professional fate of Phill Kline, Kansas's former attorney general, is now in the hands of the Kansas Supreme Court. A complaint was filed against him for trying to prosecute abortion providers.
A hearing was held yesterday before the state Supreme Court in the continuing effort to disbar Kline for alleged ethics violations. Dana Cody of the Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF) tells OneNewsNow Disciplinary Administrator Stanton Haslett has recommended that Kline's license be revoked.
"The disciplinary administrator and his deputy took things out of context, made conclusions inferring things like … they could get inside Phil Kline's head," Cody details. "There was really no evidence that he violated any ethical directive in his role as the state attorney general, or later on as the Johnson County district attorney."
In fact, the LLDF spokesperson tells OneNewsNow Kline did an excellent job as a prosecutor.
"He went after Planned Parenthood and George Tiller's clinic for not reporting statutory rape, for not protecting young girls who were victims," she reports. "It just appears to be a totally politically-motivated prosecution" that came about because the state was under the control of then-Governor Kathleeen Sebelius (D), a strong supporter of abortion and Planned Parenthood.
Sebelius is now U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, and her appointees dominate the disciplinary administrators and the Kansas Supreme Court.
The primary purpose of the corporation is to present fully detailed and factual information upon which individuals and the general public may make an informed decision about the various topics of fetal development, abortion, alternatives to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia by:
- Developing and maintaining educational programs factually depicting the growth and development of the unborn child, such programs suitable for children of various ages for use by colleges, universities, civic groups, clubs, organizations, and churches.
- Developing and maintaining similar educational programs on the issues of abortion, abortion alternatives, infanticide and euthanasia.
- Providing educational materials including, but not limited to, films, books, slides, and pamphlets to all interested individuals, schools or organizations.
- Publishing the IFRL News to provide current information on recent events related to the aforementioned topics.
- Providing information to the general public, and in particular to women who are or may be faced with untimely or problem pregnancies, concerning support systems and services available to provide assistance to them.
- Providing knowledgeable individuals from the fields of medicine and law to participate in radio and television programs on the above topics.
- To provide an organizational structure, as broadly based as possible, for collective citizen action in defense of the right to life and as an affiliate to National Right to Life Committee, Inc., to carry out their aims and purposes at the Congressional District level.
- To promote and fully support the candidacy for elective office of those persons committed to the above purposes.
- To promote with unceasing perseverance, the passage of a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, that will guarantee the right to life of every innocent person from the moment of fertilization to natural death.
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Cities throughout America are getting set for the National Day of
Remembrance for Aborted Children.
The date, Saturday, September 14, marks the historic burial of hundreds of
bodies of aborted babies in Milwaukee 25 years ago. Eric Scheidler of the
Pro-Life Action League tells OneNewsNow 37 gravesites and 360 memorials for the
unborn have been discovered.
"We are going to these gravesites and other memorial locations for the
unborn victims of abortion to pray for our country, to pray for an end to
abortion and to mourn the loss of these children of God to abortion over the
years," he shares.
Those sites are listed on a special website.
In Illinois, some sites include: St. Mary Cemetery in Evergreen Park in
which Bishop Alberto Rojas, a Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, and Carol
Rybacki, a representative of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, will speak.
There is also a memorial at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside where Cardinal
Francis George of Chicago and Joe Scheidler will be attending and a memorial at
Resurrection Cemetery in Romeoville where Bishop Joseph Siegel, the Catholic
Bishop of Joliet, and national activist and blogger Jill Stanek, who is from the
far southwest suburbs of Chicago, will participate.
"You can go to AbortionMemorials.com and find those
locations and even volunteer to coordinate a memorial service," the pro-lifer
reports. "It can be anything from an elaborate service with pastors and with
special prayers and a program and maybe even invite the media, to simply going
out with a group of fellow committed pro-lifers to pray on that day in
solidarity with others around the country who are remembering the victims of
abortion," Scheidler suggests.
Those victims include the women who have aborted their children.
Event organizers are also asking people willing to set up memorials and
conduct a National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children event either this
year or in the future to contact them for information on how to do so.
More than 56 million babies have died through abortion in America
State Legislation HB 3027: Amends School Code to dilute abstinence education
With the failure to pass SB 1619 in 2011, the bill sponsor amended
another education bill (HB 3027) to become a similar and equally
dangerous sex education bill. The State Senate passed HB 3027 with
Senate Amendment 1 and sent it back to the House. Click HERE to send an
email or a fax to your state representative.
HB 3027 should have died with the adjournment of the legislative
session, but it was brought back for consideration by the House in 2012,
so state reps need to be informed that they should oppose this
dangerous bill. Focus on HB 3027 when you call.
Additionally, an equivalent bill (HB 4616) was introduced in 2012.
Either HB 3027 or HB 4616 would amend the Illinois school code to remove
most requirements to teach about abstinence until marriage from the
section on "sex education" and instead require use of graphic
"comprehensive" sex education. HB 4616 was sent to the Human Services
Committee where it was not considered so it was returned to the Rules
Committee so it should be dead.
HB 4085 (Ultrasound Opportunity Act)
Requires offering an opportunity to view an ultrasound of the baby
before an abortion. Get details for HB 4085. Take action. (Dead for
2012)
HB 4117 (Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center Act)
Expands the medical regulations that apply to abortion facilities, both
ASTCs and any facility where 50 or more abortions are performed
annually. Get details for HB 4117. Take action. (Dead for 2012)
Federal Legislation
Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA) (ban on sex-selection abortions) Bill # S.3290
The Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (or PRENDA, pronounced PREN-dah), S.
3290, would apply federal criminal penalties to any person who does any
of the following four things: (1) performs an abortion knowing that
such abortion is sought based on the sex of the child; (2) uses force or
the threat of force to intentionally injure or intimidate any person
for the purpose of coercing a sex-selection abortion; (3) solicits or
accepts funds for the performance of a sex-selection abortion; or (4)
transports a woman into the United States or across a State line for the
purpose of obtaining a sex-selection abortion. The bill provides that a
woman cannot be prosecuted or sued in connection with her own
abortion.
Respect for Rights of Conscience Act Bill # S.1467
The Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (S. 1467), introduced by Sen.
Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), would amend the Obama health care law ("ObamaCare")
to prevent the imposition of regulatory mandates that violate the
religious or moral convictions of those who purchase or provide health
insurance. Specifically, the bill would exempt institutions or
individuals from providing health coverage for any specific services
that violate their religious or moral convictions, even if those
specific services are otherwise mandated by federal regulatory mandates.
This protection would apply, among other things, to any mandates
involving abortion or abortion-inducing drugs. However, the bill does
not authorize denial of health benefits to "individuals against their
wishes on the basis of the individuals' age or expected length of life
or of the individuals' present or predicted disability, degree of
medical dependency, or quality of life." The House companion bill is
H.R. 1179.
Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA) Bill # S.1241
The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA), sponsored by
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fl.), requires any abortionist to notify a parent
before performing an abortion on a minor who is a resident of another
state, unless the minor has already received authorization from a court
in her home state, or unless the abortionist is already required to
provide such parental notification by a current law in the state in
which he practices. If the minor asserts that she is the victim of
abuse, the abortionist must notify the appropriate state child abuse
agency instead. The bill also would make it a federal offense to
transport a minor across state lines for an abortion without fulfilling
the requirements of a parental notification law in effect in the home
state.
The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (S. 906), is sponsored by
Senator Roger Wicker (R-Ms.). This bill is identical to H.R. 3, which
was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 4, 2011, by a
vote of 251-175. The bill would establish a permanent, government-wide
prohibition on federal subsidies for abortion and for health plans that
cover abortion (with narrow exceptions). This policy would apply both
to longstanding federal programs and to the new programs created by the
health care bill signed by President Obama in 2010. The bill also would
close certain loopholes that give tax-preferred status to abortion, and
would codify and strengthen conscience protections for pro-life health
care providers.
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law a massive health care
restructuring bill (Public Law 111-148, sometimes called "Obamacare")
that allowed certain federal agencies to subsidize and administer health
plans that cover abortion on demand, and authorized federal subsidies
for abortion in various other federal programs as well. The Protect
Life Act (H.R. 358), introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), is an
NRLC-backed bill that would repeal and/or correct all of the
pro-abortion components of Public Law 111-148. The Protect Life Act is
modeled on the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which pro-life forces tried to
attach to the health care bill during 2009-2010, but which President
Obama and congressional Democratic leaders prevented from becoming part
of the final, enacted health care law.
The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act is sponsored by Senator Mike Johanns
(R-Ne.). This bill would require every abortionist to provide,
whenever a woman seeks an abortion past 20 weeks after fertilization,
specified information about the capacity of her unborn child to
experience pain during the abortion, after which the woman must either
accept or refuse (by signing a form) the administration of pain-reducing
drugs directly to the unborn child. The bill would apply to all
abortions past 20 weeks, regardless of the method used. The bill also
contains a number of proposed congressional "findings" regarding the
scientific evidence that unborn children experience great pain during
abortions at 20 weeks (and perhaps earlier), and cites a number of
existing federal laws that seek to diminish the suffering even of
animals, such as restrictions on how livestock are slaughtered and
restrictions on the use of animals in medical research.
Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (ANDA) Bill # S.165
The Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (ANDA), sponsored by Senator David
Vitter (R-La.), would prohibit health care providers from being
penalized for declining to participate in providing abortions. The bill
would cover individual health care professionals, hospitals, insurers,
and other health care providers.
1. What is the IFRL, Inc.? The IFRL is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in Illinois. A non-profit organization, that serves as the state coordinating body for local pro-life chapters representing thousands of Illinois citizens working to restore respect for all human life in our society. The IFRL is composed of people of different political persuasions, various faiths and diverse economic, social and ethnic backgrounds. Since 1973 the Illinois Federation for Right to Life has been working to end abortion and restore legal protection to those members of the human family who are threatened by abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. Diverse though we are, we hold one common belief - that every human being has an inalienable right to life that is precious and must be protected. IFRL is dedicated to restoring the right to life to the unborn, and protection for the disabled and the elderly. The IFRL, Inc. is the Illinois Affiliate to the National Right to Life.
2. What does IFRL do? Publishes IFRL News, the only statewide pro-life newspaper in Illinois.
Sponsors educational seminars and conventions to train volunteers and educate the public on the life issues.
Encouraging the creation and strengthening of pro-life affiliates throughout Illinois.
Serves as a communications center for the interchange of ideas and news of interest to pro-life people in Illinois.
Coordinates activities through its IFRL federal and state Political Action Committees, to elect pro-life candidates to state and federal office.
Provides knowledgeable individuals to participate in radio & television programs and public forums to discuss the life issues.
Testifies at legislative hearings on life-related bills.
Promotes programs and activities which increase respect for the dignity and value of every human life.
3. How does IFRL work? The founders of IFRL wanted to be sure that the grassroots were involved in the decision making. A Board of Directors with a Director for each Congressional District meets quarterly. Membership in each CD elects their own Director. IFRL is the vehicle through which individual pro-lifers and their local organizations can be involved in lobbying, education and political action.
IFRL represents Illinois on the National Right to Life Committee's Board of Directors All Board members of IFRL are volunteers.
To do the work that must be done takes willing hearts, helping hands and money to pay for all of our efforts. With the continued growth of our local, state and national organizations we become stronger with each new member.
The professional fate of Phill Kline, Kansas's former attorney general, is now in the hands of the Kansas Supreme Court. A complaint was filed against him for trying to prosecute abortion providers.
A hearing was held yesterday before the state Supreme Court in the continuing effort to disbar Kline for alleged ethics violations. Dana Cody of the Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF) tells OneNewsNow Disciplinary Administrator Stanton Haslett has recommended that Kline's license be revoked.
"The disciplinary administrator and his deputy took things out of context, made conclusions inferring things like … they could get inside Phil Kline's head," Cody details. "There was really no evidence that he violated any ethical directive in his role as the state attorney general, or later on as the Johnson County district attorney."
In fact, the LLDF spokesperson tells OneNewsNow Kline did an excellent job as a prosecutor.
"He went after Planned Parenthood and George Tiller's clinic for not reporting statutory rape, for not protecting young girls who were victims," she reports. "It just appears to be a totally politically-motivated prosecution" that came about because the state was under the control of then-Governor Kathleeen Sebelius (D), a strong supporter of abortion and Planned Parenthood.
Sebelius is now U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, and her appointees dominate the disciplinary administrators and the Kansas Supreme Court.
Scientists continue to communicate with people thought to be oblivious and without awareness. From the BBC story:
A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, has been able to tell scientists that he is not in any pain. It's the first time an uncommunicative, severely brain-injured patient has been able to give answers clinically relevant to their care. Scott Routley, 39, was asked questions while having his brain activity scanned in an fMRI machine. His doctor says the discovery means medical textbooks will need rewriting…
And here's something that is fairly typical:
Scott Routley's parents say they always thought he was conscious and could communicate by lifting a thumb or moving his eyes. But this has never been accepted by medical staff.
Time to start listening more to families!
People such as Routley are dehydrated to death every day in all fifty states and in many countries around the world by having their tube-supplied sustenance withdrawn–supposedly based on their lack of personhood. But don't expect this to stop the dehydration imperative. Bioethicists will merely say this is even more reason to kill them since they are aware of their profound disabilities and suffering. Indeed, that argument has already started.
And of course, the media will insist–as they do nearly every time such stories hit the news–that it has nothing to do with Terri Schiavo. No, I will never let it go!
People with pro-abortion and pro-life views aren't necessarily rigid or consistent in their views.
In direct contrast to common assumptions, not all evangelicals and conservatives believe abortion should be outlawed in every situation, and many liberals do not want abortion available in all circumstances. Ron Sellers of Grey Matter Research conducted a survey that found evidence of this.
"Only 28 percent of all Americans believe that abortion should be legal in every situation," he indicates. "Only 18 percent believe abortion should be illegal in every situation. Thirty-eight percent said there are some cases where it should be legal; others said it should not. And then 16 percent frankly said, I honestly haven't decided how I feel on this issue. I just don't know."
So Sellers says the survey stresses that people may lean in a particular direction but are not totally one-sided. Sellers is not surprised that 30 percent of those surveyed support sex-selective abortions.
"The attitude among some of the folks who believe that abortion should be legal is that it is not a life, it is not a baby -- it is simply a mass of cells," he explains. "I mean, from a moral standpoint, [they believe] it's really no different than the mother having a growth or a tumor removed from her body."
What did surprise Sellers, "in a sense, is the lack of constancy from those on both sides of the debate."
A new report from the United Nations Population Fund declares that family planning is a global "right" for women, and calls for the removal of any social and financial obstacles to it.
"Every adult, adolescent and young person everywhere, regardless of sex, social status, income, ethnicity, religion or place of residence must be empowered to decide freely and responsibly how many children to have and when to have them," the document said.
On Nov. 14, the United Nations Population Fund released the report, titled "The State of World Population 2012." It is subtitled "By Choice, Not By Chance" and links family planning to international development.
In its analysis, the UNFPA called the July 2012 London Summit on Family Planning a "sign of progress."
The event, which the population fund hosted with the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, secured $2.6 billion in pledges from countries and foundations to provide family planning to 120 million women. It said $4.1 billion is needed to provide family planning to 222 million women who reportedly would use it but lack access to it.
The summit drew intense backlash, however, from critics ranging from the Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano to global pro-life advocates.
Meghan Grizzle, research and policy specialist at the World Youth Alliance, and Greg Pfundstein – executive director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation – said the figure of 222 million women in need of family planning is "misleading" and likely overstated.
"Many women have access to contraception and choose not to use it. Social scientists and public policy experts identify women as having an unmet need for contraception even when those women have not expressed a desire to use contraception," Pfundstein and Grizzle said in a July essay published in Public Discourse.
Wendy Wright, interim executive director of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, in July charged that the summit marks "a new chapter in the population control movement." She said the summit would use the goal of helping poor women to secure permanent funding for abortion-promoting and population control groups.
Wright said that resources used for family planning could be better directed to providing access to basic health care and maternal health care.
In its new report, UNFPA included some population control advocacy and depicted access to family planning as a "sound economic investment."
It attributed the growth of some Asian economies to a family planning-driven demographic shift which caused the numbers of income-generating adults to be higher than those dependent upon them for support. The report predicted a $30 billion growth in the Nigerian economy if its fertility rate falls by one child per woman in the next 20 years.
The UNFPA report summary said family planning is "almost universally recognized as an intrinsic right" that should be "available to all." It said family planning should be promoted as "a right" which enables "a whole range of other rights."
The report does, however, include a favorable mention of family planning methods the Catholic Church does not recognize as sinful.
"Fertility awareness-related methods are also quite effective if used correctly," it said, citing Guttmacher Institute statistics indicating that these methods are only slightly more likely to result in pregnancy in the first year of use than condoms and are much less likely to result in pregnancy than no family planning method.
