NEWS SHORTS FOR TUESDAY
Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.
Guttmacher Report: Public Funded Family Planning Prevents 800,000 Abortions Each Year and Saves Billions of Dollars
Editor's note: In this AP article, The Alan Guttmacher Institute, research arm of Planned Parenthood, is saying that federal taxpayer funding of family planning programs "saves lives!" I guess it won't be long now before we hear that Planned Parenthood is receiving multi-million dollar grants from Obama's Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to "reduce abortions." It's just another example of the pro-aborts spinning "the data" to mean whatever they want it to mean."
Family Program Praised
Publicly funded family planning prevents nearly 2 million unintended pregnancies and more than 800,000 abortions in the United States each year, saving billions of dollars, according to research intended to counter objections to expanding the program. The data is in a report being released today by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health think tank, whose research is generally respected [sic], even by experts and activists who don't share its advocacy of abortion rights. Report co-author Rachel Benson Gold called the family planning program "smart government at its best," asserting that every dollar spent on it saves taxpayers $4 in costs associated with unintended births to mothers eligible for Medicaid-funded natal care.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090224/NATION/902240342
Parents Unknowingly Donate Children's Blood to Research
Medical privacy advocates, ethicists say parents should be asked for consent before newborns' screening samples are kept. For almost seven years, the state has been indefinitely storing blood from nearly all newborns in Texas without their parents' consent for possible use in medical research. The blood is collected as part of a 44-year-old state-mandated newborn screening program in which hospitals, birthing centers and midwives draw blood from a baby's heel — parental consent isn't required for that, either — so the state can test for a host of birth defects. The state either discarded the blood after six months or, more recently, stored it for three years before destroying it.
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/02/22/0222dna.html
Abortion Opponents Target Planned Parenthood Funding
Undeterred by solid Democrat gains in November's national elections, religious conservatives who oppose abortion are going on the offensive with a new weapon: a sick economy. In its largest-ever state-based initiative, the Family Research Council (FRC) is contacting every state lawmaker in the country with a plea to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, one of the nation's largest providers of family planning and abortion services. Their argument is fairly simple: lots of organizations need public money now, but Planned Parenthood — with a $1 billion budget and a $114 million operating surplus — isn't one of them.
http://www.sj-r.com/beliefs/x1434779582/Abortion-opponents-target-Planned-Parenthood-funding
Catholic Judges and Abortion: Did the Pope Set New Rules?
Much has been made of the statement on abortion that Pope Benedict XVI issued earlier this week after meeting with Nancy Pelosi. But the Vatican's choice of words as they related to the Speaker of the House was quite predictable, given her pro-choice stance and her position as a high-ranking Catholic Democrat. The Holy Father simply made clear their differences on the issue and reminded the American politician of her responsibilities as a Catholic to protect life "at all stages of its development."
What was quite surprising, and overlooked, had to do with a different branch of the U.S. government. If you read it carefully, the statement is actually quite radical — perhaps unintentionally so. The brief message — just two short paragraphs — draws no distinction between the moral duties of Catholic policymakers and Catholic judges to work against abortion.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1880977,00.html
At Tonight's Address, What Obama Should Say About Abortion
In Sunday's issue of the New York Times, William Saletan confirms that "President Obama wants to end the culture wars" and reminds us that his "joint address to Congress this week could be an opportunity to change that debate." I couldn't agree more.
But, I disagree with Saletan about what President Obama should say. Saletan argues that Obama should defuse the culture war by telling pro-choice pragmatists to get a sense of morals and telling pro-life moralists to get realistic. I think that President Obama should acknowledge the unique and legitimate moral and emotional experiences of women who have had abortions - instead of focusing on the opinions and convictions of those who haven't stopped to listen.
http://rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/02/23/at-state-union-what-obama-should-say-about-abortion
Dealing in death
Abortion: Venture with Chinese firm raises questions about Minnesota company's core values
Medtronic, the world's leading manufacturer of medical technology, issues every new employee a medallion inscribed with the corporate mission that co-founder Earl Bakken hammered out a half-century ago: "Contributing to human welfare by the application of bio-medical engineering to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life."
Now, though, a brewing controversy may test the durability of the Minneapolis-based firm's philosophy when pitted against the benefits of global expansion and politically correct views of abortion.
http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15041
