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.
Mary Ann Glendon to Receive Pro-Life Award for Notre Dame Decision
Bradley Mattes, Executive Director of Life Issues Institute, announced today that they will present the group's prestigious "Hero at Heart" award to Mary Ann Glendon, former Ambassador to the Vatican. The honor is given annually to individuals who demonstrate outstanding courage or compassion on behalf of innocent human life. Recipients have included Congressman Henry Hyde and former Kansas Attorney General, Phill Kline.
Ambassador Glendon recently declined the University of Notre Dame's most revered honor, the Laetare Medal, which was to be presented to her during the university's May commencement ceremony.
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Pro-Abortion John Kerry Advises Obama to Select a Pro-Life Ambassador to the Vatican
Senator John Kerry, one of the most prominent pro-abortion Catholic politicians in the US, told an interviewer last week that it is only logical for the White House to appoint a pro-life ambassador to the Vatican.
Kerry, a former Democratic candidate for US president, said, "I think that if you're going to have an ambassador who has access to His Holiness and who has the ability to be able to represent all the other things which you want to come together on, it is best not to, you know, make things difficult from the outset."
"And obviously given the position of the Church, that's difficult. And so an honest answer is, you know, I'd try to find someone who doesn't open up that front, so to speak, and has the ability to represent where we find the common ground."
He added, "Does it have to be [a pro-life person]? No, but that would be my recommendation."
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Morning After Pill for UK School Girls by Text Message: Catholic Secondary School to be Forced to Participate
A UK Catholic bishop has condemned a plan by Oxfordshire health officials to allow girls as young as eleven to order the abortifacient morning after pill by text message from their school nurse. An auxiliary bishop of the Catholic archdiocese of Birmingham told local news media that the proposed plan by local health authorities and the Oxfordshire County Council "goes against the very central idea the Catholic church has on human life."
Bishop Leonard William Kenney told the Daily Telegraph, "It is sending out the message that it was better to deal with the aftermath of what people do, rather than the causes.
"I don't think this will help solve the teenage pregnancy rate and is taking away responsibility from parents."
Set to begin in July, the pilot program will apply to six secondary schools in Oxfordshire county, including St. Gregory the Great Catholic school in Oxford. Authorities have informed the schools that there will be no opt-out allowed, claiming that the texting service is "outside the governance of the schools" because it is offered outside of school hours.
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Court Gives OK to Link Bill on Child Sex Abuse to Abortion Suit
A state representative will get the opportunity to explain how his bill strengthening reporting requirements for child abuse relates to an Ohio Supreme Court case on abortion. The Supreme Court yesterday allowed Rep. Robert Mecklenborg, R-Cincinnati, to join a case in which Planned Parenthood is accused of ignoring evidence of physical abuse against women visiting its clinics for abortions. The case already has scores of individuals and groups filing friend-of-the-court briefs on both sides.
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Missouri Legislation Would Let Pharmacies Refuse 'Plan B' Sale
The Missouri House has endorsed a measure specifically allowing pharmacies to decide whether to stock the "morning-after" emergency contraceptive or abortion pills. The House voted 115-43 on Tuesday to amend the provisions to professional licensing legislation that already cleared the Senate. But the House quit for the day before taking a vote on the overall bill. Missouri's pharmacy licensing laws currently don't address whether pharmacies must carry emergency contraceptives or abortion drugs.
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Okla. Fails To Ban Embryonic Research
Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry has succeeded in having his veto of a prohibition on stem cell research that destroys embryos upheld by the state Senate. The Senate voted 26-19 April 23 to override Henry's veto, six votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for an override. The failure in the Senate to overturn the veto followed the House of Representatives' successful effort. The House voted 68-26 for the override.
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Indiana Abortion Bill At Impasse
Indiana lawmakers are deadlocked over an abortion bill, and chances seem slim that they'll find common ground before the legislative session ends Wednesday. A standoff over women's health screenings could kill the legislation, which would require doctors who perform abortions in Indiana to have admitting privileges in a nearby hospital. The bill also would inform women seeking abortions that a fetus might feel pain.
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Pro-lifers assaulted while collecting signatures against abortion
On Saturday, April 25, three volunteers of the Right to Life organization and a Chilean in the town of El Ferrol were victims a brutal assault by a group of seven young people who attacked them as they were collecting signatures against the law on abortion sponsored by the Socialist government.
Gador Joya, the organization's spokeswoman, is demanding the attack be condemned by federal officials in the province of Galicia and that they bring the assailants to justice.
"Once again we see the lack of arguments of those who defend the most radical positions: intolerance and violence have no place in a state based on the rule of law," she said.
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