NEWS SHORTS FOR MONDAY

NEWS SHORTS FOR MONDAY (Referral to Web sites not produced by The Illinois Federation for Right to LIfe is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.) Sebelius: Everyone Will Pay Into Abortion-Coverage Fund What constitutes the notion of "public funds"? If the government forces us to pay into a fund, and then controls the distribution of those funds, are those funds not "public"? Morgen at Verum Serum catches a portion of an interview between HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and BlogHer interviewer Morra Aarons-Mele yesterday, in which Sebelius praises the abortion-funding language in the Reid bill, as it maintains a flow of funds for abortion coverage that everyone — and she means everyone. Click here for the full article. Georgetown faculty served as legal counsel to Planned Parenthood Two Georgetown University law professors have served as legal counsel to Planned Parenthood, according to the university's web site. Professor Peter J. Rubin, according to his web page, "served as counsel in the U.S. Supreme Court for, among others, Dr. Timothy Quill and two other doctors in Vacco v. Quill, a challenge to the constitutionality of New York's ban on physician assisted suicide, and Planned Parenthood in Rust v. Sullivan, the Supreme Court challenge to the abortion 'gag rule' imposed in the 1980s upon family planning clinics that received federal funding." Professor Julie E. Cohen, who has taught at Georgetown since 1999, was a "member of pro bono team that represented Bay Area Planned Parenthood affiliates in abortion clinic access litigation" from 1992 to 1995, according to her curriculum vitate. Click here for the full article. Senate Dems Push House to Take Their Version of Health Overhaul They aren't willing to say they'll roll over, but House Democrats on Sunday offered tacit acknowledgement of the narrow room for compromise Senate Democrats have on a massive health insurance overhaul that passed the Senate with no margin for error. They aren't willing to say they'll roll over, but House Democrats on Sunday offered tacit acknowledgement of the narrow room for compromise Senate Democrats have on a massive health insurance overhaul that passed the Senate with no margin for error. As lawmakers take a recess from the push and pull of Washington's hardscrabble politics, several Democrats on Sunday sounded ready to give in if it means getting the trillion dollar, 10-year legislation into Obama's hands as soon as possible. Click here for the full article. State Has Rising Costs in Defending Abortion Laws OKLAHOMA CITY - The costs of defending two controversial abortion measures continue to rise. In August, an Oklahoma County district judge tossed out Senate Bill 1878, which would have required a woman seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound within an hour of the abortion and have the details explained to her. Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki Robertson said the measure violated a provision of the Oklahoma Constitution that requires a law to deal with a single subject. The bill also covered the posting of signs in clinics, administration of the "abortion pill" RU-486 and lawsuits. Her ruling has been appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The state spent $97,000 to hire an abortion law expert to defend the law, said Charlie Price, a spokesman for Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Click here for the full article. Senate changes 'rules' to protect 'death panels' Fine print would require 67 votes to consider amendments Majority Democrats in the U.S. Senate pushing for President Obama's vision of a government takeover of health care have inserted in the fine print of the 2,000-plus page legislation a provision that it would take a supermajority of 67 votes in the Senate for future legislative bodies to even consider amendments to its provisions for "death panels." The revelation comes from the RedState.com blog, which analyzed the provisions and cited a challenge to the plan from Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. After being told by Democrats that the provision changing a standing Senate rule didn't actually change the rule but was just a change in the procedure of the rule, DeMint was frustrated... Click here for the full article.