False charges against Chicago pro-life counselor dismissed

A pro-life counselor in the Chicago area had to wait half a year for prosecutors to admit they didn't have a case against him.

For two decades, Warren Dorman has been a sidewalk counselor at Albany Medical Surgical Center, an abortion clinic. Thomas More Society attorney Corrina Konczal picks up the story.

“On December 27 of this past year, there was an incident that resulted in Mr. Dorman's arrest,” she says. “It was described as battery, and we've been defending Mr. Dorman because it simply wasn't.”

In fact, it was Dorman and an abortion clinic worker accidentally bumping into each other, which Konczal says video cameras would have revealed.

Click here for the originating article from OneNewsNow.

Pro-abortion Senator Kirk collaborating with Illinois' Planned Parenthood?

On August 3, U.S. Senator Mark Kirk was the lone* Republican to vote against a measure to defund Planned Parenthood, this despite horrific revelations from, at that point, four undercover videos showing various Planned Parenthood high level executives admitting - bragging even - about selling aborted baby parts for profit.

Former Congressman Bobby Schilling penned an op ed in the Chicago Tribune imploring Kirk to reconsider his position. He, too, agreed someone needs to challenge Kirk, and rumor has it that someone could be him.

By the night of August 5, Kirk was feeling the heat. One of his campaign staffers forwarded Fran Eaton, editor of Illinois Review, what appears to be the only known copy of the following press release. It is not and never has been on his website, nor has it been sent to anyone else that we know of. This is because it contains a glaring oopsie. See if you can spot it:

Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review.

National Protest of Planned Parenthood scheduled for Saturday morning

The Planned Parenthood Center in Aurora Illinois will one abortion clinic throughout the nation that will be protested Saturday, August 22 from 9 to 11 am.  Multiple protests will be held in 37 states in response to undercover videos that show Planned Parenthood officials in California, Texas and Colorado negotiating with fetal tissue buyers and inside looks at labs where aborted baby parts are gathered.

Chicago's Pro-Life Action League, led by Eric Scheidler, is one of the national protest organizers.

"The protests will declare," their website says, “'Planned Parenthood sells baby parts!' to raise public awareness of this scandalous practice, which was recently brought to light in a series of undercover videos by the Center for Medical Progress."

Click here for locations and the originating article from Illinois Review.

When the Senate won't defund Planned Parenthood, states will

Alabama on Thursday became the third U.S. state this week to withdraw funding from its local branches of Planned Parenthood, after the U.S. Senate failed to bring to the floor a bill that would have blocked federal funding of the abortion group.

On Aug. 5, New Hampshire's Executive Council (the state's executive body alongside its governor) voted 3-2 to deny the state's contract with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. The decision will remove $639,000 in state funding of the organization.

Louisiana's health department ended its Medicaid provider contract with Planned Parenthood Aug. 3, though it will take effect in 30 days. The decision was made, according to Governor Bobby Jindal, because “Planned Parenthood does not represent the values of the people of Louisiana and shows a fundamental disrespect for human life. It has become clear that this is not an organization that is worthy of receiving public assistance from the state.”

Click here for the originating articl from CNA Daily News.

Tell Congress You Don’t Want Tax Funds to Push Older People to Agree to Premature Death!

Ask Your Representative to Co-Sponsor H.R. 3251 against Biased “Advance Care Planning” Under Medicare

During the debate over the enactment of Obamacare, there was considerable controversy over paying Medicare health care providers to conduct “advance care planning,” which counsels patients on deciding whether to choose or reject life-preserving medical treatment (and even food and fluids) and advising on legal documents implementing that decision. That provision was taken out of the ultimately enacted law because of an outcry by those who feared it would be used to limit health care spending by persuading people to agree to forego life-saving treatments. Now, the Obama Administration is proposing to use executive power to revive it as a regulation to take effect January 1, 2016.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has introduced a bill, H.R. 3251, to prevent the Administration from implementing new Medicare payments for “advance care planning” sessions, which substantial evidence shows are in most cases likely to “nudge” seniors to accept denial of life-preserving care and medically assisted provision of food and fluids.

Click here to Contact your Representative to urge him or her to cosponsor H.R. 3251!

Documentation and multiple examples of bias can be found in a report entitled “The Bias Against Life-Preserving Treatment in Advance Care Planning,” available HERE.

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life.

Illinois conservatives react to Kirk's Planned Parenthood compromise bill

Illinois conservatives are reacting negatively to U.S. Senator Mark Kirk's announcement Wednesday night that he and two other Republican senators were introducing legislation calling for the Department of Justice to investigate Planned Parenthood and its affiliates.

The bill, Kirk's press release says, calls on the federal government to defund any affiliates found to be involved in trafficking aborted babies' remains.

It is difficult to assess exactly how Kirk and his colleagues want all they say they want will happen, because as of Thursday morning, the text of the bill hasn't been posted.

Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review.

Breen introduces bill to ban baby body part trafficking in Illinois

While there is no evidence to substantiate U.S. Senator Mark Kirk's claims that Planned Parenthood in Illinois is not involved in trafficking baby body parts as undercover videos revealed such involvement in California, Colorado and Texas, concerns about similar activities in Illinois abortion clinics remain unanswered.

In response to the controversial videos surrounding the harvesting and sale of aborted fetal body parts and tissue, State Representative Peter Breen (R-Lombard) filed legislation this week to amend and clarify the Illinois Anatomical Gift Act as it relates to tissue and body parts that can be legally donated or sold.

HB4266, filed Wednesday in Springfield, would amend the Anatomical Gift Act by expanding the definition of “decedent” to include a deceased fetus or unborn child using definitions outlined in the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975. The proposed new language also expressly prohibits the donation or sale of aborted fetuses and fetal tissue.

Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review.

Illinois' Mark Kirk only Republican to support Planned Parenthood in U.S. Senate vote

With U.S. Senator Mark Kirk as the only Republican to oppose stopping the taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, he U.S. Senate fell six votes short Monday afternoon.

The Washington Post writes:

Two prominent moderates, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), voted to defund Planned Parenthood. Two others who were considered to be likely swing voters, Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), voted against the bill, joining 43 other Democrats and Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois to defeat the measure. 

"I commend the Senators that lead this initiative and and would like to thank all those who voted in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood today," Phyllis Schlafly said.  "We were all sickened by content released in several videos over the last few weeks showing Planned Parenthood executives and employees discussing the sale and profit of the organs and body parts of unborn babies.

Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review.

The Abortion Pill Known as “RU-486”: By any other name… Just as deadly

If there wasn’t enough confusion already, we now find that the abortion drug mifepristone (the generic name for RU-486) is being produced in other countries and sold under other names. Why does that matter?

It’s a wake-up call for anyone who thought that the abortion pill was just about adding one other boutique abortion option to American clinics. What is clear now is that chemical abortion has become big business, on a global scale, and a lot pharmaceutical entrepreneurs are looking to cash in. And they don’t care much about the risk these online drug stores pose to women in countries all over the globe.

Mifepristone originally was named RU-38486, as it was the 34,486th chemical compound synthesized by French pharmaceutical maker, Roussel-Uclaf. Calling it RU-486 is a matter of shorthand, though it also has the unintentionally ironic feature of being an abbreviated textual form of the question “Are You For 86?” To “86″ something has long been American slang for getting rid of that thing or person.

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life.

Senate Democrats Block Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood

Senate Democrats yesterday (August 3rd) voted to block a bill that would end all federal funding of the nation’s largest abortion provider.

The measure, S. 1881, would block funding of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its affiliates. The vote to advance the bill was 53 to 46. However, 55 current senators actually support advancing the bill (one pro-life senator was absent, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) switched his vote to opposition only so that he would be eligible to enter a motion to reconsider, as he promptly did).

On the most recent previous occasion when the Senate voted on whether to defund Planned Parenthood, on April 14, 2011, only 42 senators voted for the cutoff.

“Planned Parenthood’s political arm is a major backer of many Democratic senators – who today voted to block a bill to defund their political ally,” said Carol Tobias, National Right to Life president. “We recognize that cutting off this politically connected abortion mega-marketer is a long-term project, and we are encouraged that today’s tally represents a marked increase in opposition to Planned Parenthood since 2011, when only 42 senators voted to support a cutoff. Shame on Senate Democrats for voting to allow hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to fill the coffers of the nation’s largest abortion provider.”

Sponsored by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), S. 1881 states, “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Federal funds may be made available to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, or to any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, successors, or clinics.” The bill also contains language to provide that “all funds no longer available to Planned Parenthood will continue to be made available to other eligible entities to provide women’s health care services.” In other words, any funds removed from Planned Parenthood would be reallocated to women’s health services provided by others.

Sen. Ernst introduced S. 1881 last week with the strong backing of Majority Leader McConnell, in response to a series of videos released by The Center for Medical Progress. The videos, which underscored the need for passage of legislation to cut off all federal funds to Planned Parenthood and its affiliates, show top Planned Parenthood officials discussing the harvesting and trafficking of body parts from unborn babies killed by abortion.

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life.

Ethically acceptable non-embryonic stem cells once again in the news

Remember when THE SCIENTISTS! insisted that embryonic stem cells and human cloning were the ONLY HOPE to create a vibrant regenerative medical sector? People bought the mendacity, and as one consequence, California is now stuck with the borrow-and-spend-billions boondoggle known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

 One Japanese scientist [Shinya Yamanaka] saw his own daughters in embryos under a microscope and invented induced pluripotent stem [iPS] cells–that is, stem cells (undifferentiated cells) made from skin cells, that can then be transformed (differentiated) into other kinds of tissues.

In other words the “authorities” adamantly insisted that the future of regenerative medicine– restoring structure and function to damaged tissues and organs–will run through the harvesting of stem cells tissue extracted from embryonic human beings.

But Prof. Yamanaka found an ethical alternative.

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life

Eighth Circuit Allows Religious Liberty Suit vs. Obamacare Abortion Pill Mandate

This morning, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit handed down a unanimous decision in favor of Thomas More Society's clients, Missouri State Senator Paul Wieland and his wife Teresa, ruling that their lawsuit against Obamacare's HHS Abortion Pill Mandate may proceed to be heard on its merits. The HHS Mandate directs that - despite religious objections - all health insurance plans must cover contraception, including FDA-approved abortifacients (Plan B, Ella) as well as sterilization. The court overruled the lower court's dismissal of the case on procedural ("lack of standing to sue") grounds, sending it back to the federal district court for further proceedings on the merits of the Wielands' claims that they deserve a religious exemption from these compulsory insurance coverages.

The suit, filed back in November, 2013, contended that the HHS mandate infringed upon the Wielands' religious liberty rights under the First Amendment, because it forced them to violate their sincerely-held religious beliefs by providing health insurance coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and birth control to their teenage and adult daughters.

"Today's ruling is a huge victory for religious liberty," said Tom Brejcha, Thomas More Society President and Chief Counsel. "Last year, for profit business owners prevailed against the HHS mandate imposed by Obamacare when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby. Now, individuals and families may also sue to win protection from the Obamacare Mandate, when they have conscientious objections based on sincerely held religious beliefs. As the case has been remanded to the federal district court where our clients' religious liberty claims will be evaluated in light of the governing Hobby Lobby precedent, we hope to prevail in the end."

Click here for the originating article from Christian Newswire

Abortionists deny risks for premature births

In June, Dr. David Grimes wrote a piece for the Huffington Post in which he states the idea that abortion impacts future pregnancies is a pipe dream of "naïve" pro-lifers. On the other hand, Bradley Mattes of Life Issues Institute says evidence shows that abortion does impact later pregnancies.

“Largely, it's because when they go in and artificially dilate the cervix [during an abortion] they have to stretch it to get their tools in and the baby out,” he explains. “The procedure damages or tears that tissue, which then affects future pregnancies. The further into pregnancy [a woman is], the more they have to artificially and quickly dilate the cervix.”  Often, he says, the cervix then becomes weak or unable to sustain a full-term pregnancy, so subsequent babies are born prematurely. “The scarring that sometimes occurs on the lining of the womb is damaged, which can also cause problems leading to preterm birth,” he adds.

More than 120 studies prove premature births can occur in future pregnancies after an induced abortion - so the question is why David Grimes and others in the pro-abortion camp deny it.

Click here for the originating article from OneNewsNow

Second Planned Parenthood senior executive haggles over baby parts prices

The Center of Medical Progress released a second video Tuesday morning in which a second Planned Parenthood official haggles with two persons pretending to be human tissue buyers.

"What would you expect for intact tissue?" the buyer asks.

"Why don't you start by telling me what you're used to paying?" says Dr. Mary Gatter, President of the Planned Parenthood Medical Directors' Council.

Dr. Gatter goes on to agree to check with other California Planned Parenthood clinics to see what prices they're getting for intact fetal tissue. She also suggests changing abortion methods on 10 to 12 week preborn baby parts in order to make sure the tissue would be intact, rather than using methods that are more "crunchy," she says.



Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review

Christian publisher wins permanent injunction against contraceptive mandate

An Illinois publishing house that specializes in Bible sales has won a permanent injunction against enforcement of the contraceptive mandate in the federal health-care program.

A federal district court ruled that Tyndale House Publishers—a privately held corporation, which donates most of its profits to religious institutions—should not be required to provide contraceptive coverage in health-care insurance for employees.

Other companies and religious institutions have won temporary injunctions against the mandate, which have halted enforcement until the cases are decided. The Tyndale House decision is a final judgment.

Click here for the originating article from Catholic World News

Warning is out over FDA-approved Essure

A medical expert believes the Food and Drug Administration needs to take precautionary action to warn women using birth control pill Essure. 

Side effects of Essure range from headaches and cramps to uterine perforation and infection in the fallopian tubes, he says. "And also tubal pregnancy," says Dr. Hager, "where in spite of the device, a pregnancy has occurred in the fallopian tube and there's the potential for that pregnancy to rupture. There've even been some deaths that have occurred."

Dr. Hager contends the FDA needs to act, at least in a precautionary manner with a "black box" warning.

FDA has finally listed possible health dangers associated with Essure. It's a shame that the FDA didn't move sooner, Hager adds, because women with long-term use of Essure had been sending in complaints for two to three years.

Click here for the originating article from OneNewsNow

White House Press Secretary evades questions about Planned Parenthood video

I didn’t expect that the White House press corps would questioned Press Secretary Josh Earnest as vigorously about the now infamous undercover Planned Parenthood video as they did on the controversial deal with Iran. But it would have been nice if they had followed up on the initial question with some of the same skepticism.

(You can see the question and answer at http://www.c-span.org/video/?327168-1/white-house-daily-briefing beginning in the 35th minute).

A reporter described what she described as a “domestic issue” that is “something that has been the topic of big debate. Some employees with Planned Parenthood were captured on video talking about fetal remain, the remains of aborted fetuses. Does the President have a reaction to this debate?”

Earnest responded, “I haven’t spoken to the President about this particular issue,” adding,  “ I will acknowledge that I have not seen the particular video.”  Earnest also evaded the question of whether President Obama thinks it “is ethical to use the remains of aborted fetuses for medical research?” Ask Planned Parenthood.

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life

Hultgren: Planned Parenthood Discusses Aborted Body Parts over Red Wine

U.S. Representative Randy Hultgren (IL-14) today delivered a statement on the House floor deploring the actions of Planned Parenthood and its affiliates following an undercover video investigation into the organization. Hultgren called for an end to Planned Parenthood’s practice of harvesting the organs of aborted babies, supported the renewed congressional investigation into the organization, and urged Senate action on the House-passed legislation H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2015.

Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review.

Transcript shows Planned Parenthood director told baby part buyers to contact Cook County's Stroger Hospital

Concerns about medical procedures at Chicago's publicly-funded Stroger Hospital are being raised after a mention of the hospital was found in the published transcript of a conversation that is drawing national attention this week. In the conversation a year ago in California, a high-level Planned Parenthood official discussed harvesting and selling human body parts.

While talking about possible contacts throughout the nation that may be sources for available human tissue following abortions, Planned Parenthood of America Federation's Senior Director of Medical Services, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, suggested the "buyers" check with the family planning director at Cook County's Stroger Hospital.

While there is yet any confirmation as to whether Stroger Hospital is a source for baby body parts, the Planned Parenthood medical director was correct that the family planning department director at Stroger Hospital is Ashlesha Patel, MD. Stroger Hospital's website currently lists the name and position...

Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review.

House cancels vote on breast cancer coin after conservatives revolt over Komen/Planned Parenthood ties

The House cleared a Unanimous Consent request to amend H.R. 2722 by removing all references to Susan G. Komen.

Indeed, as apparent fallout to the firestorm created yesterday by a video released by The Center for Medical Progress, which showed Planned Parenthood’s ghoulish participation in aborted baby parts trafficking, the relationship between breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen Foundation and the abortion giant was recalled by pro-life legislators with a vengeance.

According to CNN:

House Republican leaders canceled a vote on Tuesday on legislation that would have created a commemorative coin to raise money for breast cancer awareness, after some House conservatives raised concerns the coin sale funds would be used to support an abortion rights group at the center of a controversial new video.

Heritage Action, a conservative advocacy group, sent out a “key vote” alert to members.

“The bill would require the U.S. Treasury to mint coins that would funnel up to $4.75 million to Dallas-based Susan G. Komen – an organization that notoriously funds abortion giant Planned Parenthood,” the group said.

Click here for the originating article from Jill Stanek.