National Right to Life Urges OPM Acting Director To Tell the President: We Cannot Break the Law on Abortion

 

 

 

 
National Right to Life Urges OPM Acting Director To Tell the President: We Cannot Break the Law on Abortion
 
The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of state right-to-life organizations, today formally urged that the director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) tell the White House that the agency cannot break the law by paying for health plans for federal employees that cover elective abortion – not even to accommodate the White House's desire to placate pro-abortion pressure groups.
 
The counsel came within NRLC's formal comment on a proposed rule published by OPM on August 8, with a deadline for public comment today.
 
A component of the "Affordable Care Act" (Obamacare) requires that Members of Congress and certain congressional staff buy their health plans on the new exchanges, starting January 1, 2014. OPM's proposed rule spells out how this transition will occur, without interrupting the contributions made by the government to the cost of such plans (approximately 75% of the premium cost).
 
NRLC's letter, a detailed critique submitted to OPM by NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and Senior Legislative Counsel Susan T. Muskett, J.D., cites multiple evidences that OPM intends to allow the federal employees affected by the change to purchase plans that cover elective abortion. If this occurs, it will violate an explicit congressional prohibition, the Smith Amendment, which for most of the past 30 years has prohibited OPM from any administrative involvement in purchasing any health plan for federal employees that covers abortion (except in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest).
 
The NRLC letter notes that OPM spokespersons have engaged in "blatant misdirection" in recent weeks, "attempting to mislead journalists and others into thinking that the new protests [against the proposed rule] are a reiteration of objections to the manner in which the new 'refundable premium assistance tax credits' will be used to subsidize private health plans that cover abortion" under Obamacare. That issue, while extremely important in its own right, has nothing whatever to do with the impending violation of the Smith Amendment, the NRLC letter explains.
 
The NRLC comment letter concludes:
 
If OPM proceeds on the course indicated – expending funds for administrative expenses in connection with federal employee health plans that cover elective abortions, those involved will be violating the plain language of a valid limitation on appropriations. This would be a lawless act, and in NRLC's view, would implicate the Anti-Deficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341. The Anti-Deficiency Act is a longstanding federal law that provides, in certain circumstances, civil and criminal liability for expenditure of congressional funds outside the limits set by Congress.
 
Those who dislike the policy that the Smith Amendment imposes, the President included, are free to urge Congress to repeal it. NRLC will continue to forcefully argue to Congress that federal agencies should not be engaged in any aspect of administering health plans that cover elective abortions, and that therefore the Smith Amendment should be preserved. Lawmakers may vote and be held accountable by constituents for how they vote on that question. That is the system provided by the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution does not confer on any President a retroactive, line-item veto, by which he may arbitrarily nullify specific provisions of duly enacted laws, when he finds those specific provisions inconvenient or offensive to various pressure groups to which he is politically indebted.
 
Therefore, NRLC urges that the OPM Acting Director inform the White House that she cannot be a party to a blatant violation of law, notwithstanding the pro-abortion pressure groups the White House feels bound to accommodate, and that OPM therefore must exclude from the program any health plan that covers abortion (except where the life of the mother is endangered, or in cases of rape or incest).
 
The complete text of the NRLC comment is posted on the NRLC website here.
 
Source: National Right to Life

Health concerns raised about Illinois kids receiving secret STD vaccinations

 

A new Illinois administrative rule allows children as young as 12 years old to request and receive vaccinations for sexually transmitted infections without their parents knowledge or permission. However, new medical data is raising serious concerns about the health risks associated with the vaccine.

 

The vaccine in question is Gardasil, made by pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. It is designed to fight the human papillomavirus, which can lead to genital warts and is connected to cervical cancer. However, medical experts are voicing concerns about the safety of the vaccination.

 

Dr. Lucija Tomljenovic, PhD from the Neural Dynamics Research Group at the University of British Colombia has strongly criticized the vaccine, saying "The efficacy of Gardasil in preventing cervical cancer has not been demonstrated and the marketing campaign has been misleading. The efficacy of Gardasil remains unsubstantiated since the vaccine hasn't been adequately tested on the primary age group to which it is currently given. Merck promoted Gardasil primarily as a vaccine against cervical cancer, rather than promoting it as a vaccine against HPV infection or sexually transmitted disease."

 

Last month, Japan's health ministry issued a nationwide notice that cervical cancer vaccinations should no longer be recommended, and several Japanese teens who received the vaccines are now in wheelchairs with damage to their brains and spinal cords.

 

In addition, the U.S. federal government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System's latest July 2013 report shows 30,674 adverse reactions after Gardasil vaccinations, with up to 963 recipients being left "disabled" and 140 dead.

 

 

Source: Illinois Review

Obama administration should comply with policy against abortion funding in federal health plans

 

The general counsel of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is urging the Office of Personnel Management to comply with a decades-old federal policy that prohibits "subsidizing federal employee plans that include elective abortions," according to a USCCB press release.

 

"In 2010, the new health reform law provided that members of Congress and their staff may only be offered health plans on the newly created state health insurance exchanges," the USCCB explained.

 

According to the Family Research Council, the Office of Personnel Management recently ruled that "federal dollars may now go to pay for plans offered on those exchanges that include abortion coverage."

 

"Changing the place where these employees must go to obtain their health plans does not affect the continued applicability" of the current policy, the USCCB added. "A contrary policy … would also contradict repeated assurances from President Obama and Administration officials that the health care reform law would not be used to weaken existing abortion policies or expand federal funding for abortion."

 

Source: Catholic World News

Abortion: the video game!

 

Because the evil legislators of Texas showed how much they hate women by putting laws in place that the majority of both Texans and Americans support, there is clearly a need to help those poor, poor Texas women forced to have abortions before 20 weeks of pregnancy in clean, well-regulated abortion clinics. And what better way to do that than with a video game? Introducing Choice: Texas, a "very serious game."

 

Choice: Texas, developed and designed by Carly Kocurek and Allyson Whipple, uses careful research into Texas legal regulations and demographics to create fictional characters. These characters encounter realistic situations, financial and geographic limitations, as well as personal choices and goals. By asking players to take on the role of one of these women, the developer invite players to consider the situation Texas woman might encounter, and asks the players for empathy and understanding.

 

"This game is about an important issue effecting women in Texas, and is intended as a means of furthering discussion and empathy," says Carly Kocurek.

 

… "We really think games can facilitate further conversation about and understanding of these kinds of issues."

 

The creators of the video game are asking for people to give money to help make this game a reality, using a video to explain all of the reasons why it is needed. What are the oh-so-awful barriers to abortion in Texas?

 

View the video of Carly Kocurek and Allyson Whipple (creators of this horrible game) promoting their game here: http://youtu.be/NEZ4gs2Iwng

 

Waiting periods! Parental consent! "Biased" counseling! Oh, and worst of all…mandatory ultrasounds which by no means are medically necessary, and definitely are not already the industry standard.

 

Gosh, Texas women must have it so hard, with these laws that they themselves supported and all. Clearly, this video game will make them all see how stupid they are and how terrible life is in Texas, what with abortion not being super-duper-easy, available in every single town, and most importantly, free. Thank goodness these warrior-women are putting their own personal feelings on abortion aside in order to bring a video game to the public that will enlighten us all!

 

Contact: Cassy Fiano, Live Action

National Day or Remembrance

 

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

 

Contact: Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow.com and John Ryan, Illinois Federation for Right to Life

Iowa Will End ‘Tele-med’ Abortions

 

The Iowa Board of Medicine has voted 8-2 to stop "tele-med" abortions in the state as early as November.

 

"Tele-med" procedures are performed when an abortionist communicates with a woman in another city or country via the Internet to prescribe abortion causing drugs like RU-486.

 

Medical board chairman Dr. Greg Hoversten, said he's personally pro-life, but the board's decision hinged on standard of care.

 

"How can any of us possibly find that a medical abortion performed over the internet is as safe as one provided by a physician in person?" he asked.

 

Carrie Gordon Earll with Focus on the Family, said the vote is important because Iowa is considered the birthplace of "webcam" abortions.

 

"This procedure was started in 2008 at Planned Parenthood of the Heartland in Des Moines," she said. "The abortion industry has been losing locations for some time now and this seems to be a way of adapting to these changes."

 

And, as always, there are risks.

 

"It's never safe for the baby and can be life threatening for the mother," she said. "And, it's hard to track RU-486 deaths because the death is often tied to infection and not the actual abortion. We know more than a dozen women died in US alone. To suggest that a doctor doesn't need to examine and see a woman before taking this drug just doesn't make sense."

 

Contact: Kim Trobee, CitzenLink

Sex education for kindergarteners has only one agenda

 

The Chicago Public Schools are this year mandating that kindergartners receive sex education lessons. Opponents say it's a way of exposing them to the homosexual lifestyle.

 

The CEO of the Chicago Public Schools is emphasizing that this curriculum will be age appropriate. But Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family Institute says that is misleading.

 

"What all the talk about is that from the perspective of those on the left, there is virtually nothing that is considered inappropriate," she points out. "But they believe that it's appropriate to talk to kindergarteners about diverse family structures. And what that means is talking about families that are led by homosexuals."

 

She says that sex education lessons for young students just beginning school are out of place.

 

"Five-year-olds are not sexual beings, except in the world of progressives," she says. "They're not thinking about sex, they're not having sexual feelings. And so this is completely unnecessary, and parents are capable of handling this."

 

She says parents of Chicago-area public school students should opt their children out of any lessons involving homosexuality or gender confusion.

 

Contact: Bob Kellogg, OneNewsNow.com

Viral BuzzFeed post on ‘outrageous’ Planned Parenthood sparks fury among pro-aborts

 

A list that appeared on Buzzfeed detailing "outrageous" incidents recorded at Planned Parenthood facilities by the pro-life group Live Action has now gone viral and infuriated abortion supporters in the process, who are demanding that it be removed from the wildly popular site.

 

The articled, titled "8 Outrageous Things Planned Parenthood was Caught Doing," was posted on the Buzzfeed Community forum, where anyone can post Buzzfeed-style lists of their own devising, by the pro-life group Personhood USA.  

 

As of this writing it has been viewed over 105,000 times since being put up on August 21, and has gone viral on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Since Personhood USA began posting their lists on BuzzFeed Community over a week ago, they have accumulated 16 automatically-generated BuzzFeed 'awards', including Gold Facebook (over 10,000 views), Gold Twitter (over 10,000 views) and Gold Views (over 100,000), according to the group.

 

BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith seems to have been caught off guard by both the popularity of the pro-life posting and by the harsh reaction of those opposing the appearance of the list on his website.

 

Smith told the New York Observer's Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke that BuzzFeed is "in the process of figuring out where and whether we should draw lines about what's appropriate on what we conceived as an open platform."

 

Smith added that, "one of the few ways these posts get seen are from stories like the one you wrote. There isn't a single link on BuzzFeed to this story, but there is one in the New York Observer."

 

According to a press release from Personhood USA, the reaction by abortion advocates to the popularity of the posting has prompted BuzzFeed to put up a Personhood USA-specific disclaimer.

 

"The new disclaimer, which Personhood USA researchers cannot find on any other BuzzFeed posts, states, 'Community posts are made by members of the community, and are not vetted or endorsed by BuzzFeed'," said Josh Craddock of Personhood USA.

 

Craddock pointed out that BuzzFeed staff have posted several pro-choice articles, including  "The Internet Celebrates Texas State Senator Wendy Davis' Filibuster" and "What the Language in Abortion Law Really Means," all with no disclaimer.

 

The "8 Outrageous Things Planned Parenthood was Caught Doing" list includes videos recorded in LiveAction.org sting operations showing PP staff accepting racist donations, telling lies about providing mammograms, giving misinformation about pregnancy, and hiding child rape.

 

"Instead of outrage at Planned Parenthood, who receives hundreds of millions of our tax dollars, the general outcry has been directed at BuzzFeed and Personhood USA, which is ridiculous," said Craddock.

 

"We at Personhood USA are using BuzzFeed to share a message, just like every other BuzzFeed contributor. It seems that many don't want to believe that Planned Parenthood would be guilty of such outrageous things, but Planned Parenthood's misdeeds are well-documented."

 

Personhood USA currently has seven pro-life posts on BuzzFeed that include "5 Incredible Videos of Life in the Womb" and "5 Bizarre 'Persons' Protected By Law. Their most recent posting is "10 Hollywood Movies That Accidentally Affirm Life."

 

Link to all the Personhood USA BuzzFeed postings here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/personhoodusa

 

Contact: Thaddeus Baklinski, LifeSiteNews.com

Judge Dismisses Aurora Zoning Violations in Planned Parenthood Case

Thomas More Society Set to Appeal Against City of Aurora

 

Aurora Planned Parenthood

 

Yesterday, DuPage County Judge Paul Fullerton dismissed a zoning lawsuit against the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Aurora, Illinois, brought by Thomas More Society attorneys on behalf of local residents and a community group, Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood.

 

The court ruled that the City of Aurora's decision to handle the facility under a more lenient zoning for a medical clinic instead of the more restrictive zoning for a non-profit health center was a legislative decision, entitled to the highest level of deference by the court. The Thomas More Society intends to appeal the decision.

 

"This non-profit facility is located in a business district in Aurora reserved for tax-paying for-profit businesses," said Peter Breen, Vice President and Senior Counsel for the Thomas More Society. "However, the court did not meaningfully analyze city officials' decision to treat this property as if it were a for-profit business, instead holding that the decision must be respected as 'legislative.' Our system of government requires the judicial branch to rein in unlawful executive branch decisions, but this ruling would insulate from review most decisions made by unelected administrators during the zoning process, leaving residents powerless to challenge illegal facilities in their neighborhoods. We give great weight to legislative decisions because they are made by the elected legislature, not by unelected administrators."

 

Thomas More Society attorneys have brought three separate administrative actions and two lawsuits against the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Aurora, Illinois, alleging numerous zoning and building code violations during the planning and construction of the facility. While the zoning process began in January 2006, Planned Parenthood's involvement in the project was hidden. Planned Parenthood obtained zoning and permits under the name of Gemini Office Development ("G.O.D."), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of 21st Century Office Development, which, in turn, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Planned Parenthood of Illinois. The intended use of the facility became known to the public in July 2007, shortly before its scheduled opening. Aurora city officials allowed the facility to open on October 1, 2007, and the first administrative zoning action against the facility was filed the next day. The lawsuit was filed in February 2008 and has been delayed repeatedly as it made its way through state court, and briefly in federal court.

 

Over the past five and a half years, eight different judges have presided over the case: six in DuPage County -- with three judges issuing substantive rulings, one judge being substituted and two judges recusing themselves from hearing the case, one U.S. District Judge, and one U.S. Magistrate Judge.

 

Contact: Tom Ciesielka, Thomas More Society

New rule allows Illinois kids to get secret STD vaccinations

 

The Illinois Department of Public Health has confirmed to Illinois Review that twelve-year-old children could now be getting Gardasil vaccine shots without their parents' knowledge or permission.

 

A new administrative rule set into place in late June (see below) added vaccinations to the medical care and counseling children ages 12 and up may give themselves permission to receive if they think they've been in contact with a sexually-transmitted infection (STI):

 

 

Parents are raising three key objections to the rule change

 

1. The age of consent in Illinois is 17 years old. If any child as young as 12 is concerned that they may have come into contact with an STI, then a crime has been committed.

 

The older partner commits criminal sexual abuse if he or she commits an act of sexual penetration or sexual conduct with a victim younger than 17 years of age and the accused was less than 5 years older than the victim. This charge is raised to criminal aggravated sexual abuse if the perpetrator is more than five years older then the victim.

 

There are no "close in age" exemptions or "Romeo and Juliet laws" to Illinois's age of consent. This means that anyone that engages in sexual activity with someone under the age of consent in Illinois is liable for prosecution, including people only a few years older then their sexual partner and even two individuals who are both under the age of consent.

 

2. Gardasil can have health-endangering side effects. The vaccine most commonly associated with STIs is Gardasil, a vaccine to ward off four strings of the human papillomavirus.

 

There are about 30 to 40 types of HPV that can affect the genital area. And, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are about 6 million new cases of genital HPV infections in the United States each year. An estimated 74% of them occur in 15 to 24 year olds.

 

Merck & Co., the producer of Gardasil, says for most people HPV clears up on its own. But, for others who don't clear certain types, HPV could cause significant consequences: cervical, vaginal, and vulvar cancers in females. Other types could cause genital warts in both males and females.

 

Gardasil is known to have serious to mild side effects including seizures, strokes, dizziness, fatigue, weakness, headaches, stomach pains, vomiting, muscle pain and weakness, joint pain, auto-immune problems, chest pains, hair loss, appetite loss, personality changes, insomnia, as well as menstrual cycle changes, fainting, swollen lymph nodes, night sweats, nausea, temporary vision/hearing loss.

 

News sources have reported the deaths of nearly 50 young women as the result of the Gardasil 3-series shots.

 

Despite legislative efforts a few years ago to mandate the vaccine for those 11 years and older, Gardasil is not required for school attendance in Illinois.

 

3. Parents are not being notified about this rule change. Parents are not being told by schools or the state that their children can have this medical care without their parents' knowledge or consent, and federal HIPAA laws will keep parents from ever finding out exactly how their underage children are being treated concerning STIs.

 

Most parents are aware that school nurses can't administer aspirins or pain killers without a parents' consent, but parents are not made aware that Illinois law now allows their children to receive medical care, counseling or vaccinations without any notification - and parents are actually restricted from accessing the information about their children.

 

Source: Illinois Review

ACLU helping underage girls circumvent Illinois' new parental notification law

 

A child wanting to get an abortion without notifying her parents has become the first to challenge a state law that took effect Aug. 15 after pro-abortion activists delayed enforcement with nearly two decades of litigation.

 

Richard Muniz, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said he expects, and is encouraging, many more minor children to bypass the parent notification law, which state legislators approved in 1995.

 

The ACLU of Illinois has created a hotline and has has trained 30-40 volunteers on how to circumvent the statute, as well as the steps required for girls to obtain a judicial bypass. They've also been inculcating primary care providers and clinics about their ACLU-defined role in the process.

 

While the left-wing ACLU has between 60-70 lawyers, they are actively recruiting more, "especially Downstate," said Muniz.

 

Source: Illinois Review

52 abortion clinics close nationwide, none shutter in Illinois

 

During Women's Equality Day Monday, abortion activists angrily tied celebrating women's right to vote to women's right to abort, and bemoaned the number of states that have successfully passed constitutional restrictions on certain types of abortions. Those efforts in individual states have have contributed to 52 abortion clinics being closed.

 

A Huffington Post graphic, circulated by The Progress Report, showed the states that have moved legislatively to protect unborn children and their mothers and those who've successfully protected the right to abort anytime, for any reason. See graphic below the fold:

 

 

Source: Illinois Review

Illinois Abandons Abstinence-Only Program

 

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn recently signed a bill into law requiring public schools to teach Planned Parenthood's version of sex education. Students in sixth through 12th grade will receive comprehensive sex education, which includes information about birth control and sexually transmitted diseases.

 

This will only give young people a false sense of safety.

 

"The type of education that the Illinois governor is lauding here actually teaches that abstinence is simply one option on a continuum of choices," said Mary Ann Mosack, a member of the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) board of directors. "That really gives young people the false information and the false sense of security that if they use protection, as they call it, or contraception, that that makes sex safe."

 

For decades, the state sex education curricula focused on encouraging abstinence until marriage. State and federal agencies even subsidized groups promoting such programs.

 

Planned Parenthood claims that when comprehensive sex education is taught, that kids wait to have sex until later.

 

"We would really like to see the definitive studies and the documented studies that show that," Mosack told CitizenLink. "We know that Planned Parenthood sex education has had the lion's share of money for the last 30 years. And they have a dearth of studies that would really validate that claim. But it's a good sound bite, and it makes sense to the public."

 

Abstinence education, however, is affirmed by 26 peer-reviewed studies.

 

"(They) show not only that students are likely to delay sex, but they're also no less likely to use a condom if they do become sexually active — which is only a myth portrayed by those who believe abstinence education is ineffective."

 

Most parents support abstinence education.

 

In fact, "Parents Speak Out," a national survey released by NAEA last year, shows that nearly 76 percent of Democrat parents with school-aged children support it; the poll found that about 87 percent of Republican parents of school-aged children support it.

 

The survey also shows that 85 percent of parents believe that all youth — including those with same-sex attractions — benefit from skills that help them choose to wait to have sex.

 

The Illinois law is not a "done deal," Mosack explained.

 

"As long as parents speak up and become the squeaky wheel in their school districts, I believe that they can thwart those attempts to really force their schools and their districts to mandate this kind of education."

 

Contact: Bethany Monk, CitizenLink

Quest for ethical stem cells prompts moral questions

Embryonic Stem Cells

 

The first human trials for the treatment of blindness using induced pluripotent stem cells has brought the hope of creating stem cell therapies that do not rely upon destroy embryos back in the public eye.

 

However, moral and medical questions surrounding the research on "iPSCs" have raised questions about whether the process is living up to its hopes of providing an innovative advance in biotechnology without relying on the destruction of embryos.

 

"Morally, there is no doubt that iPSC technology is a huge improvement over destroying IVF embryos or cloning embryos to gain pluripotent stem cells," Rebecca H. Taylor, a molecular biologist and author of the Catholic bioethics website "Mary Meets Dolly," told CNA, "but they are not totally free from ethical issues."

 

Taylor pointed to the widespread use of some "morally tainted" cell lines – that is, cells taken from aborted human beings – in various branches of scientific research, including in the creation of induced pluripotent stem cells.

 

The upcoming medical trial, approved by the Japanese government in late July, will be the first human trials using induced pluripotent stem cells.

 

To treat the patients' macular degeneration, scientists will take cells from tissue elsewhere in the patients' bodies and introduce genetic factors that allow the adult cells to become pluripotent stem cells: a type of cell capable of turning into a wide variety of tissues.

 

Having converted the cells into stem cells, the scientists will program the cells to grow new retinal material which can then be transferred back into the patients' eyes. Since the tissue comes from the patient's own body, scientists expect that there will be little or no chance of rejection of the new retina pieces.

 

The scientists anticipate that this therapy will be able to stop damage and vision loss caused by macular degeneration, while current drug therapies can only slow the disease's progress.

 

The technique used in these human trials differs greatly from other stem cell techniques used in the past. Unlike adult stem cells, which are already coded to make only certain kinds of cells, the induced pluripotent cells can be harvested from a number of tissue sources, and turned into almost any other kind of tissue in the body.

 

The only other kind of tissue with such diverse potential is embryonic stem cells, which have been the subject of research hopes for decades.

 

Since embryonic stem cells come from "a human organism that is genetically different" than the subject who will be treated with them, Taylor explained, they are more likely to be rejected by the subject than are tissues grown from induced pluripotent stem cells.

 

"If proven safe to use in patients, iPSC technology may mean genetically-matched stem cell therapy for a variety of diseases," she added.

 

The creation of induced pluripotent stem cells also offers the hope of a morally superior means of advancing stem cell research. Embryonic stem cells have been the subject of controversy for nearly two decades because the harvesting of embryonic stem cells requires the controlled creation and subsequent destruction of human life in its earliest stages.

 

Since induced pluripotent stem cells offer "patient-specific pluripotent stem cells without creating and destroying a cloned embryo," Taylor said, they offer a "huge improvement over destroying" human embryos for stem cell research.

 

However, norms surrounding the way scientists induce a pluripotent state introduce moral concerns to induced pluripotent stem cell research.

 

In order to induce a pluripotent state in adult cells, two things must typically happen: genetic factors must be introduced into the cell, and the factors must be activated. However, the current standard processes to achieve both of these steps involve the use and destruction of human embryos.

 

Dr. Mahendra Rao, director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, explained to CNA that "the Yamanaka protocol is routine" in the medical community.

 

This process, created by Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka, was used as a means of limiting the creation and destruction of embryos for research. His technique calls for the growth of factors in a human cell line, Hek293, and  the activation of those factors by a virus in order to induce a pluripotent state. This process will be used in the Japanese human trials.

 

However, the Hek293 cell line was begun with tissue taken from the kidney of a human person who was aborted in the Netherlands during the early 1970s.

 

"The fact that a cell line of illicit origin was used as a tool in this technique does morally taint the research," Taylor explained.

 

She added that this cell line is "ubiquitous in labs all over the world," and that it and other "cell lines derived from abortions that occurred decades ago are common tools in biotechnology." Taylor added that it is so common, that she was "sure many researchers have no idea where these cell lines originated or that they are morally tainted."

 

The use of this cell line and other research derived from aborted subjects has been addressed by Vatican theologians. In its 2005 "Moral Reflections on Vaccines Prepared from Cells Derived from Aborted Human Foetuses," the Pontifical Academy for Life noted that even though the abortions occurred over 40 years ago, "they do not cease to pose ethical problems."

 

They concluded that "vaccines with moral problems pertaining to them may also be used on a temporary basis" if it is a life-threatening disease and there are no alternative vaccines.

 

Otherwise, Catholics and others who wish to respect life at all stages ought to abstain from their use, as well as further research using that technique.

 

The Pontifical Academy for Life emphasized, "there remains a moral duty to continue to fight and to employ every lawful means in order to make life difficult for the pharmaceutical industries which act unscrupulously and unethically," and encouraged the creation and investigation of morally sound research alternatives.

 

In the years since the creation of induced pluripotent stem cells, there has been the creation of morally sound research alternatives, and new techniques that do not depend upon the destruction of embryos are in development.

 

The genetic factors used in the Yamanaka process can be cultured in "other cell lines, that were obtained morally," Taylor clarified.

 

Brendan Foht, assistant editor of the bioethics journal The New Atlantis, explained to CNA that "there are other ways of getting those genes expressed and reprogrammed" that avoid the use of genetic factors and proteins altogether.

 

He noted that research has been done on moving past the Yamanaka process because of the virus' tendency to mutate cells during the activation of the genetic factors, thus potentially creating cancers.

 

In 2008 Yamanaka discovered that pluripotent stem cells could be created through the introduction of plasmids – a ring of genetic material – into an adult cell. These rings of genetic code are easily grown in bacterial cells, and would not rely upon embryo destruction at all.

 

Scientists are also looking now to replace the use of the genetic factors with drug-like chemicals, which are created in a lab and do not depend upon growth in the objectionable embryonic cell line or any other living cell.

 

Given the forward steps toward creating ethically-produced induced pluripotent stem cells, the moral standing of the induced pluripotent stem cell trial in Japan is thrown into serious doubt.

 

Pointing to the Vatican's statements on the use of vaccines relying on embryo-destructive research and their permissibility only in in life-threatening cases with no other moral alternatives, Foht suggested that the Japanese trial is immoral.

 

Even with the alternatives and breakthroughs present, however, Foht said pro-life advocates "need to persuade the scientific community to do ethical research," and continue to speak against unethical and objectionable research.

 

Taylor echoed the need to speak out against induced pluripotent stem cell research that uses embryonic cells.

 

"We need to make sure that we object to cell lines of illicit origin whenever we hear of their use in science or medicine," so that investigation of moral research will be continued and that "iPSC technology may soon be free of that particular moral stain."

 

Source: CNA/EWTN News

Proponents of Plan B restriction undeterred

 

A lawmaker in Oklahoma says her state is likely to restrict use of the "morning-after" pill for minors in spite of an initial court ruling.

 

Earlier this week a federal judge blocked today's implementation of a law that would have required minors in Oklahoma to obtain a prescription for Plan B, which is otherwise sold over the counter. The Center for Reproductive Rights, a pro-abortion group, obtained the order based on a technical issue that state law bars legislation covering more than one subject.

 

Oklahoma Senator AJ Griffin believes the court won't have the last word on the substance of the measure. "I feel very confident that if this ruling is held up, we will run the same language during our next session in a standalone bill so that it cannot be challenged because of the loophole in our rule," she tells OneNewsNow.

 

As the Republican lawmaker points out, Plan B is nothing more than a mega-dose of birth-control medication. "All other forms of chemical birth control that use hormones are only available by prescription – for numerous reasons," she notes. "They have potential side effects, especially if used incorrectly."

 

In addition, says Griffin, there is no research to prove that it's safe for minors. "We [also] have the issue of the potential pregnancy," she adds, "but more importantly we have the issue of the behavior that puts a young person in a position to need this medication."

 

Over the counter availability, she argues, will not change that behavior.

 

Charlie Butts (OneNewsNow.com)

Living a double life? Doc balances pre-natal work with abortions

Dr. Larry Leeman

 

A pro-life group in New Mexico says it is alarmed that a physician who delivers babies at the University of New Mexico Hospital crosses town to kill babies in the womb.

 

Tara Shaver of Defending Life identifies the physician as Larry Leeman, whose UNM biography states that he is co-director of the Mother-Baby Unit at the hospital.

 

"Dr. Leeman practices the family medicine with a special interest in the care of pregnant women and newborns," the website states.

 

However, few people realize that Leeman performs abortions at the hospital's Center for Reproductive Health, Shaver tells OneNewsNow.

 

"It's the University of New Mexico's own free-standing abortion clinic," she says.

 

Dr. Leeman's work at the abortion clinic is not listed in his 169-word biography, though it does refer to "family planning" among his "areas of research."

 

"And he is also involved in training what they hope to be up-and-coming abortionists," Shaver alleges.

 

Shaver suggests it's hypocrisy on the part of Leeman who should be above the less educated view of life.

 

"They really just are living under the myth and the lie that life begins when a baby is born," says Shaver. "And it's just not scientific and it's certainly not the moral position to take, when we all know that life does begin at conception in the womb."

 

Shaver is hopeful there will be an opportunity for someone with a pro-life view, perhaps a pro-life physician, who sits down with Leeman "to see if he is conflicted at all."

 

Contact: Charlie Butts (OneNewsNow.com)

Federal dollars flow to Planned Parenthood to trumpet ObamaCare

 

 

Planned Parenthood is the beneficiary now of even more federal funds than the $500 million it already receives annually from the federal government.

 

Estimates suggest 40,000 uninsured people live in Washington, D.C., but 100,000 need to sign up to qualify for an insurance exchange under ObamCare. So the government is providing grants, including to Planned Parenthood, to sign up the abortion business's clients.

 

"This is just the latest installation of getting Planned Parenthood involved in running our national health care," says Paul Rondeau of American Life League, noting that the pro-abortion organization spent $14 million to get Obama re-elected.

 

"Just about everything in Obamacare, in the Affordable Care Act, which Planned Parenthood proudly advertises they helped write, creates more customers, more revenue and more wreckage for Planned Parenthood," Rondeau tells OneNewsNow.

 

Planned Parenthood will not only profit from $1 billion for abortions but also from free birth control coverage, ignoring the fact birth control has been linked to breast and cervical cancers.

 

"And yet we are pushing free contraception and free morning-after pills," says Rondeau, "which is a megadose of the same artificial steroids that the World Health Organization has classified as a Class 1 carcinogen."

Rondeau adds Obamacare "is written and driven by a Planned Parenthood population control, contraceptive mentality and ideology."

 

Contact: Charlie Butts (OneNewsNow.com)

U.S. Supreme Court Orders Oklahoma Supreme Court to Answer Two Certified Questions Regarding State Regulation of Medicated Abortion

Attorneys from the Jubilee Campaign's Law of Life Project (JC-LOLP) yesterday afternoon, as authorized by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, filed a "friend-of-the-court" brief in that court on behalf of Oklahoma doctors specializing in obstetrics and gynecology in the case of Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice.  82 Oklahoma legislators were also permitted to file their "friend of the court" brief supporting Oklahoma's law regulating medication abortions.

In 2011, Oklahoma passed a law banning "off-label" use of the abortion-causing drug regimen known as RU-486.  The law was challenged by the abortion industry and made its way up to the United States Supreme Court, who granted certiorari to review the case this past June.  This past April, representing thousands of medical doctors from around the country, JC-LOLP submitted a "friends of the Court" brief to the United States Supreme Court supporting Oklahoma's law regulating RU-486, as well as Oklahoma's request that the United States Supreme Court grant certiorari and reverse the Oklahoma Supreme Court's cursory memorandum decision, rendered late last year without analysis or discussion, that Oklahoma's law regulating RU-486 constituted an undue burden on women's access to abortion as proscribed in the United States Supreme Court's 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.  

When the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari, it directed the Oklahoma Supreme Court to answer the following two certified questions regarding Oklahoma's law:

Whether H. B. No. 1970, Section 1, Chapter 216, O.S.L. 2011 prohibits: (1) the use of misoprostol to induce abortions, including the use of misoprostol in conjunction with mifepristone according to a protocol approved by the Food and Drug Administration; and (2) the use of methotrexate to treat ectopic pregnancies.

The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed further proceedings in this case until they receive a response from the Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

In response to the Oklahoma Supreme Court's schedule for briefing these certified questions and the invitation to submit a "friend of the court" brief in that court by the Oklahoma Attorney General, who has also filed his own brief, a group of Oklahoma doctors specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, represented by attorneys from JC-LOLP and the Alliance Defending Freedom, yesterday submitted their brief. These Oklahoma doctors advise the Oklahoma Supreme Court that the challenged law is a reasonable medical regulation enacted to protect women's health by requiring that RU-486 be administered consistently with the protocol approved in 2000 by the FDA.  The brief sets forth the substantial medical literature document that the abortion industry's off-label use of RU-486 poses significant well-documented health risks for women.  Based upon the existing state of medical knowledge, the law is rationally related to the protection of a pregnant woman's health and neither bans the use of misoprostol nor restricts the use of methotrexate in the treatment of an ectopic pregnancy.  Thus, the challenged statute does not on its face impose a substantial "undue burden" on a woman's access to abortion since it neither bans the use of RU-486 as approved for use by the FDA, nor does it ban the use at any time of surgical abortion that is always safer than RU-486 to terminate a pregnancy.

As documented by Oklahoma's Attorney General before the United States Supreme Court, eight women have died from bacterial infections following an RU-486 medical abortion administered according to one of the off-label protocols, whereas no women have died from such infections following use of the FDA-approved protocol.  Thus, the Oklahoma Legislature properly acted to address this serious health and safety problem by requiring that RU-486 and other abortion-inducing drugs be administered according to the FDA's prescribed protocol.

JC-LOLP's General Counsel, Sam Casey, said yesterday afternoon at the time the brief was filed:

"The abortion industry's longstanding opposition and ignorance of any reasonable safety regulation of two powerful drugs never intended by their manufacturers to be used for abortion, because of the industry's selfish desire to make more money while providing less than safe medical supervision for abortion is unconscionable. Hopefully, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma will accept our Oklahoma Doctors' 'friend of the court' advice that Oklahoma law properly reflects the sound medical evidence which demonstrates that the FDA-approved Mifeprex Regimen, including the use of misoprostol as prescribed in the FDA-approved Mifeprex Regimen, is safer than off-label uses of mifepristone and/or misoprostol to induce a medical abortion.  Since surgical abortion is always available as an option throughout the first trimester, and since it is safer and faster than medical abortion, the State's restriction of medical abortions from 63 to 49 days poses no undue burden on access to abortion.  Further, since treatment of ectopic pregnancy and medical abortion are considered separate procedures by the medical community, the Act's restrictions on medical abortions in no way restrict the use of methotrexate to treat ectopic pregnancies.  Consequently, this Oklahoma law best protects women's health while constitutionally posing no undue burden on women's access abortion, as required by the United States Supreme Court."

Contact: Amy Pedagno, Jubilee Campaign's Law of Life Project (JC-LOLP)

Elgin Escalates Assault on Mobile Pregnancy Services

City Appeals Court Order Protecting Women's Access to Free Services

 

 

Within hours of receiving an additional 30 days from the judge to explore settlement of the case, the City of Elgin filed its appeal of the court's August 8, 2013 injunction order. The court's decision had called Elgin's "effort to curtail private entities from providing free and valuable services to its young women ...ill-advised" and permanently enjoined Elgin's code restrictions which had been used to halt The Life Center's ("TLC") mobile pregnancy services.

 

In March, the Court had found that the young women of Elgin were likely to suffer irreparable harm if Elgin's zoning restrictions were applied to deny them access to the free services and support TLC's mobile ultrasound facility provides. The City then filed a motion to dismiss the case, but the City's motion was denied in its entirety on August 8, 2013. Instead, the court permanently enjoined Elgin from enforcing its "temporary land use" law which it had used to shutdown the mobile ultrasound facility.

 

"We are confident that at the end of the day, the welfare and rights of young women to be fully informed and have access to free pregnancy services will prevail over municipal zoning interests." said TLC's attorney John W. Mauck. "Unfortunately, Elgin taxpayers are going to be paying for the City's ongoing opposition to the rights of a charitable service that is otherwise welcomed in the community."

 

TLC's board chairman John Juergensmeyer added, "In September and October of last year, TLC wrote the City to implore it to accommodate our charitable services to young women. Had Elgin showed it cared for our services, this whole matter could have been avoided at no cost. We regret that Elgin has rejected our multiple attempts to resolve any city concerns and forced us to file this case. While they say they want to resolve our dispute, today's appeal points in the other direction."

 

With the injunction still in place while the case goes up on appeal, TLC's mobile pregnancy services will continue to operate at the usual locations at the Evangelical Covenant Church of Elgin on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and JB's Pub & Bar on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and may expand its mobile pregnancy services to other locations.

 

View the Permanent Injunction Order here and the original Complaint here.

 

For additional supporting documents or to schedule an interview, please contact Tom Ciesielka, 312-422-1333, tc@tcpr.net.

 

For Elgin City Council press inquiries, contact Cheri Murphy the Assistant to the City Manager for Community Engagement at 847-931-5667 or Murphy_c@cityofelgin.org.

 

Contact: Tom Ciesielka,  The Life Center (TLC)

HHS Mandate Case Appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court

 

A Christian-owned business suing the government over a mandate requiring most businesses to offer potential abortion-inducing drugs is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case.

 

Conestoga Wood Specialties, in Lancaster, Pa., filed the suit last year. Its owners, a Mennonite family, want to run the company according to their faith.

 

"The religious liberty of Americans is not something that should be withheld or dispensed by the government as it arbitrarily sees fit," said Charles W. Proctor III, lead counsel of the Independence Law Center (ILC), representing the Hahn family, along with Alliance Defending Freedom.

 

Earlier this month, the full 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to review an earlier three-judge-panel decision supporting the mandate.

 

The Obama administration required for-profits to comply with the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate by August 2012. Nonprofits get a "safe harbor" until January 2014.

 

"Americans should be free to live out their faith in all areas of life — including the way they run their business," said ILC Chief Counsel Randall Wenger.

 

He's hopeful the Supreme Court will understand this and the "heart-wrenching violation of conscience that it would be to the Hahns to deny them that right."

 

Take Action for Religious Freedom

 

Urge Obama to stop the HHS mandate requiring businesses to provide contraceptives and possible abortion-inducing drugs to their employee health plans.

 

Contact: Bethany Monk, Source: CitizenLink