NEWS SHORTS FOR MONDAY

NEWS SHORTS FOR MONDAY
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County Judge in Illinois Delays Parental Notification Regulation



Enforcement of a parental notification law for minors seeking an abortion in Illinois remains on hold, probably until sometime early next year. During a Nov. 19 hearing, a Cook County Circuit Court judge sustained a temporary restraining order against enforcement despite the arguments of three attorneys from the Thomas More Society, an anti-abortion, nonprofit law firm, who support the law. The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, Hope Clinic for Women and Dr. Allison Cowett of the clinic were granted a temporary restraining order earlier in November against the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
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Researchers seek to prevent unborn deaths in car crashes



Ford Motor-funded research at Virginia Tech and Wake Forest universities is near completion on mathematical models that measure how crash forces affect pregnant women and fetuses.

States are not required to report fetal deaths in data sent to the federal fatal accident system -- some do, and some don't. But researcher Stefan Duma of Virginia Tech says reliable studies show from 300 to 1,000 fetal deaths because of car accidents each year.

Duma says the fatality rate of unborn babies in crashes is about four times the rate for infants to 4-year-olds....

Duma says the mathematical models are a step in the process and that the auto industry could be 15 years away from new technology to help protect fetuses.
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Baby Gabriel - No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is not worth saving



KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed an emergency motion in court Monday to save the life of nine-month-old Gabriel Palmer. East Tennessee Children's Hospital says it may abandon his medical care and thus cause his death even though the child is stable and a doctor says he could live for a long time.

The hospital did not change course after a letter sent Friday by an ADF-cooperating attorney on behalf of Baby Gabriel's mother which urged hospital officials to continue his medical treatment. Hospital staff told Catherine Palmer that they will no longer provide medical care for her baby despite her objections. The boy is on a respirator and medications to treat pulmonary vascular problems he developed after procedures that the hospital performed on him in October.
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Where Are the Pro-Choicers to Defend the African American Teen Who Says She Suffered a Forced Abortion, Asks Dr. Alveda King



ATLANTA - Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life, reacted today to the case of an African American teenager who is suing a Michigan doctor for an alleged forced abortion.

"I can't help but notice that no so called 'pro-choice' leaders are rushing to the aid of a black Michigan teenager who says she was held down on an operating table while an abortionist took her baby without consent," said Dr. King.  "The silence of the pro-abortion 'champions' is deafening, but the silence of the lambs slaughtered in the clinics is heart wrenching.  Once again, it's clear that the abortion lobby supports only one choice."
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Swim Coach Impregnated 14-year-old Girl who then Murdered Baby by Abortion



A former swim coach who pleaded no contest to felony child molestation impregnated one of his victims when she was 14 years old and was investigated in two other areas before he finally was charged in San Jose this spring. The girl, who lived in the East Bay, had an abortion and never told anyone until she was interviewed by police earlier this year as part of the case here, according to court documents released Thursday. Andrew King, 61, former head coach at San Jose Aquatics, who often worked with elite swimmers hoping to make the Olympics, remains in jail in lieu of $3 million bail. He awaits sentencing on charges that could keep him in prison for the rest of his life.
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Abortion Drug May Cause Complications



20 Percent of NZ Schoolgirls using RU486 Abortion Drug may face Complications: Parents needn't be told. A new study in Finland published in the October issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has found that 20 percent of women using the abortion drug RU486 suffer at least one significant complication. Nearly 4 percent reported two or more complications. NZ parents should be concerned about this Finnish study, says Catherine Gillies, Voice for Life national president. Family Planning in Hamilton has applied to the Abortion Supervisory Committee for a license to provide RU486 medical abortions at their clinic.
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Happy Thanksgiving from the Illinois Federation for Right to Life

Happy Thanksgiving from the Illinois Federation for Right to Life

 

The Illinois Federation for Right to Life would like to wish you and your family and warm, safe and blessed Thanksgiving holiday. 

Reid Bill Provisions Threaten Rationing

Reid Bill Provisions Threaten Rationing



WASHINGTON - The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of right-to-life organizations in all 50 states, today released an analysis of provisions in the Senate health care bill crafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) relating to the rationing of lifesaving medical treatment. The analysis concludes:
Senior citizens' ability to use their own money, if they choose, to avoid involuntary denial of medical treatment under Medicare could be severely limited.

State commissioners of the new health insurance exchanges created by the bill would be given power to deny people who are trying to obtain policies in the exchange the option of choosing health plans less likely to deny treatment, by limiting what they would be allowed to pay for such policies.

In response to public reaction over the summer denouncing efforts to encourage patients to agree to reject treatment as a way of saving costs, the Senate avoided including the "advance care planning" provisions still in the House bill. Instead, it has sought to achieve a similar result under a different name, Under the title "Shared Decisionmaking," the bill funds and promotes "patient decision aids" to "help" patients make treatment decisions.

A Medicare Advisory Board is established to force Medicare payments below the rate of medical inflation.

In releasing the analysis, which appears below, Burke J. Balch, J.D., director of NRLC's Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics noted:

Since its inception, the pro-life movement has been as concerned with protecting the lives of older people and people with disabilities from euthanasia, including the involuntary denial of treatment, food, and fluids necessary to prevent death, as it has been dedicated to protecting unborn children from abortion. Sen. Reid's bill contains multiple provisions that threaten these lives.

The Reid Bill contains important elements that would greatly impact the ability of patients to receive unrationed medical care. These elements, combined with inadequate funding - a scheme of "robbing Peter to pay Paul" under which half of the funding comes from cuts in Medicare spending -- would result in rationing life-saving treatment for senior citizens.
Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics Director Burke J. Balch, J.D., and Legislative Counsel Jennifer Popik, J.D. are available to provide further comment and analysis on the rationing provisions contained in the Reid bill. To arrange an interview, contact the NRLC Communications Department at (202) 626-8825.

NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE ANALYSIS: SENIORS BEWARE

Reid Bill Provisions Threaten Older Americans and People with Disabilities

INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Senate is poised to begin debate on the 2,074-page health care bill, crafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.), when senators return to Washington next week.

In a release last week, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of right-to-life organizations in all 50 states, noted that Senator Reid's bill would authorize the federal government to pay for any and all abortions through a huge federal health insurance program, and also to subsidize purchase of private plans that cover abortion on demand.
Further analysis finds that the Reid bill, like the House bill approved earlier this month, puts the lives of older Americans and persons with disabilities at great risk.

LIMITS ON SENIOR CITIZENS' CHOICE TO SPEND THEIR OWN MONEY TO ENSURE ACCESS TO LIFESAVING CARE

Under current law, Medicare recipients have the legal option, if they choose, of adding their own money on top of the government contribution in order to obtain "private fee-for-service" Medicare Advantage plans that can use the additional premiums to avoid "managed care" limitations on treatments and tests and to ensure access by paying providers market rates. Presently, the Medicare statute prevents the government from second-guessing or imposing limits on the premiums for private fee-for-service plans, allowing beneficiaries to balance cost, benefit, and affordability in making their own decisions whether to purchase such plans. However, Section 3209, on page 920, amends that provision so as to empower the federal government to exclude from competing in Medicare Advantage those plans whose bids it does not like. The consequence is to give the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) the discretion to deny older Americans the choice of plans whose premiums CMS disallows. This amounts to the imposition of price controls, thus limiting what older Americans are permitted to spend for health insurance. Again, being prohibited from paying what may be needed to obtain unrationed health insurance amounts to government-imposed health care rationing.

The provision duplicates the little-noticed section 1175 of the bill passed by the House of Representatives. Neither provision was in bills reported by the committees of either chamber; at the last minute, both were slipped into the versions sent to the floor for action.

The fundamental question is whether seniors will be prevented from using their own money, if they wish, to gain access to insurance that will not ration medical treatment. The significant cuts that the Senate and House health care bills make in Medicare increase the importance of protecting the right of older Americans, if they choose, to use their own money to save their own lives. It is critical that seniors retain this right which would be eliminated by the Reid bill as introduced.

LIMITING THE ABILITY OF CITIZENS TO SPEND THEIR OWN MONEY TO OBTAIN UNRATIONED CARE IN THE HEALTH CARE EXCHANGES

Also, for those eligible to participate in the insurance exchange Sen. Reid's bill limits their right to spend their own money to save their own lives. Beginning on page 37, Section 1003 empowers the State Exchange Commissioner to exclude from the exchange plans offered by health insurance issuers whom the State Commissioner considers have a pattern of "excessive or unjustified premium increases." It is noteworthy that this provision will even have a chilling effect on health plans offered outside the exchange, since insurers will be fearful that if they fully meet the demand for health insurance by employers and others, it may be held against them so as to keep them out of the exchange. While the exchanges are to begin by serving individuals and small businesses, ultimately they are intended to cover even the largest employers, so the possibility of exclusion from so large a market is likely to be a significant deterrent.

This parallels a similar provision inserted in the House bill when it went to the floor, Section 104.

This essentially grants government bureaucrats the discretion to limit what people are allowed to pay for health insurance. Being prohibited from paying what may be needed to obtain unrationed health insurance amounts to government-imposed health care rationing.

PUSHING REJECTION OF TREATMENT TO SAVE MONEY -- RENAMING "ADVANCE CARE PLANNING" AS "SHARED DECISIONMAKING"

The Reid Bill contains a section titled "Shared Decisionmaking." The Reid bill does not include provisions paralleling those in the House bill designed to create incentives for "advance care planning." But Section 936, beginning on page 1106, provides funding to develop and disseminate "patient decision aids" which are to include "relative cost of treatment or, where appropriate, palliative care options" and to "educate providers on the use of such materials, including through academic curricula" (p. 1110). Money is to be awarded to establish "Shared Decisionmaking Resource Centers . . . to provide technical assistance to providers and to develop and disseminate best practices . . ." (p. 1112).The concern with this section is the same as that with the promotion of advance care planning. Given the strong views many in the medical community have about poor quality of life and the considerable emphasis on saving costs (along with the Reid bills defective process for selecting the materials the patients receive), the danger is great these measures will in fact subtly or otherwise "nudge" patients in the direction of rejecting life-saving treatment to save costs.

INDEPENDENT MEDICARE ADVISORY BOARD MUST DRIVE MEDICARE REIMBURSEMENT BELOW THE RATE OF MEDICAL INFLATION

In Section 3403, beginning on page 1000, the Reid bill provides for an "Independent Medicare Advisory Board," given the task of ensuring senior's Medicare meets budget goals that will tighten each year. For fiscal years 2015 through 2019, the bill sets a target rate of growth for Medicare midway between medical inflation and average inflation; for subsequent years the target is the growth in Gross Domestic Product per capita plus 1%.To the extent the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects that Medicare growth rates would exceed these targets, the Board would have to act to reduce the gap by specified percentages varying by year. This gap-reducing would likely come through reductions in payments to health care providers, leading those providers to skimp on care or leave the Medicare program altogether.

The recommendations of the Board would automatically go into effect unless Congress, through an expedited procedure, adopted another means resulting in the same reductions; to waive this would require a 3/5 vote.

Source: NRLC
Publish Date: November 24, 2009
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Reason Not to Dehydrate: Man Speaking After 23 Years in Locked-In State

Reason Not to Dehydrate: Man Speaking After 23 Years in Locked-In State



We hear constantly that people diagnosed as being persistently unconscious should be dehydrated to death because they are not "persons," or are actually "dead"–and so should be available for organ harvesting.  We hear that even if the family resists, futile care theory should permit bioethics committees to impose unilateral withdrawal.  And we hear this even as repeated studies demonstrate that 40 or more percent of patients diagnosed as PVS really aren't.

But the dehydrating lobby merely reply, "That's even more reason to do it! Imagine the suffering!" Well, imagine you are in the locked in state (awake and aware but unable to communicate) and hear doctors telling your family to kill you.  Now that is terror.

But there are abundant reasons to treat people with profound cognitive disabilities as fully human beings.  First and foremost, because they are us. Second, because we don't know enough about how the brain works to know that there won't be some regeneration to permit eventual restoration of some function.  But also, because there is always hope.

Case in point: We hear from time-to-time, for example, that a person in PVS awakened.  And now in Belgium [NOTE, this corrects original post that incorrectly stated this happened in the UK], a  man misdiagnosed as unconscious for 23 years is now telling how he was fully aware all along.  From the story:

A car crash victim has spoken of the horror he endured for 23 years after he was misdiagnosed as being in a coma when he was conscious the whole time. Rom Houben, trapped in his paralysed body after a car crash, described his real-life nightmare as he screamed to doctors that he could hear them – but could make no sound. 'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,' said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state. 'I dreamed myself away,' he added, tapping his tale out with the aid of a computer.

Doctors used a range of coma tests before reluctantly concluding that his consciousness was 'extinct'. But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally. Mr Houben described the moment as 'my second birth'. Therapy has since allowed him to tap out messages on a computer screen.

Houben is here today only because he wasn't dehydrated to death.  There is no doubt he went through a horrendous experience, but thanks to treating him as a fully equal human being by caring for him all those years and giving him tests late into his disability–explicitly refused to Terri Schiavo–he is here today to tell tale and live the rest of his life.

And for goodness sake, whatever you believe about these issues, don't talk in the presence of PVS or other apparently unconscious patients as if they aren't there. Rather, always treat such people as if they can hear you, because sometimes they can.

Contact: Wesley J. Smith
Source: Secondhand Smoke
Publish Date: November 25, 2009
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Alleged Forced Abortion Victim Says Abortionist "Ripped the Life" Out of Her

Alleged Forced Abortion Victim Says Abortionist "Ripped the Life" Out of Her



FLINT, Michigan - In an interview with a local Michigan ABC news station aired Monday, Caitlin Bruce, the woman who is suing abortionist Abraham Alberto Hodari for allegedly performing an abortion on her against her will, said that Hodari and his assistant "ripped the life out of me that day."

Bruce told interviewer Gabe Gutierrez that, during her appointment at Hodari's Feminine Health Care Clinic in April 2008, she changed her mind and withdrew her consent to the procedure after viewing an ultrasound image of her baby at six months' gestation. Bruce claims that Hodari did not allow Bruce to leave, and muffled her screams for help as he aborted her child.

"[Hodari] told his assistant, you know, 'Hold her down,'" said Bruce.  "They had my arm pinned, his weight was all on my chest, and then he took his hand and he had it so tight on my mouth that it was muffled. I was screaming and I was crying.

"They ripped the life out of me that day."

Earlier this month Tom Pabst, Bruce's attorney, told LifeSiteNews.com that under the law, "If you change your mind, that's it, you walk out."

"But he went ahead and did it anyhow, according to Caitlin Bruce."

Hodari denies any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, pro-life witnesses report that the abortionist has put his three abortion facilities up for sale, along with his expensive classic car collection, and filed for a divorce from his wife of 29 years.  Some local pro-life leaders speculate the liquidation of assets may be a precursor to his fleeing the country.

Hodari is not unused to legal challenges brought against him in relation to his abortion business: he has been implicated in at least four abortion-related maternal deaths, and convicted of illegally dumping private medical records.

"Hodari is a menace to the public and the sooner he is held accountable for his atrocities in a court of law, the better," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "It is shocking and wrong that this quack is still in business.

"We ask that the Michigan Attorney General's office launch a criminal investigation into Hodari's shop of horrors, and will be filing a formal request to that effect this week."

Contact: Kathleen Gilbert
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Publish Date: November 24, 2009
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Filing Lawsuit Stops Hospital From Imposing Futile Care Treatment Cutoff Against Infant

Filing Lawsuit Stops Hospital From Imposing Futile Care Treatment Cutoff Against Infant



An attorney affiliated with the Alliance Defense Fund has used litigation to stop a Tennessee hospital from unilaterally withdrawing life support from an infant.  From the story:

East Tennessee Children's Hospital said it would continue caring for 9-month-old Gabriel Palmer from Sweetwater. The attorney for Catherine Palmer, the baby's mother, said Gabriel was born prematurely. He was diagnosed with a rare disease that family members said is affecting the growth of his wind pipe.

In court papers filed Monday, the family's attorney said Children's considered Gabriel's care futile.  He said an agreement has been made with the hospital and believes his client's complaint will eventually be dropped. "I filed a complaint today seeking a temporary restraining order to make sure no care is withdrawn from the child," said Knoxville attorney John Threadgill, who represents the Palmer family. In the complaint, Threadgill claims a Children's official told Gabriel's mother "ETCH was going to cease Gabriel's respirator, medications, pulse oximeter and milk feeding because they considered his care futile." The complaint goes on to read that the mother said the staff member told her that a committee of doctors "would meet soon to make the formal decision of withdrawal of treatment, but that the decision was a foregone conclusion."

The complaint states "Gabriel Palmer's condition is stable.  He is not dying, and he could live for many years." Threadgill pulled the restraining order request from Monday's court docket after attending a meeting a ETCH. "There was an ethics committee meeting of the hospital where they were to decide the future care of the child," Threadgill said.  "The decision was made that the child will remain a patient at least for now at the Children's Hospital."

That's how it is done!

This is why laws that give ethics committees the power to refuse wanted life-sustaining treatment–like the one in Texas–must be fought tooth and tong. If extending life, when that is what the patient or parent wants, ceases to be a fundamental purpose of medicine, if the values of doctors or an ethics committee can trump those of patients and families, none of us is safe.

Contact: Wesley J. Smith
Source: Secondhand Smoke
Publish Date: November 25, 2009
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Schools let students seek secret abortions

Schools let students seek secret abortions

Parents not notified when 12-year-olds obtain 'confidential' medical procedures



SACRAMENTO – A 12-year-old girl is prohibited from bringing aspirin to California public schools without a note from her mother or father – but in many California districts she may sign herself out of classes, leave her junior-high campus without parental permission, secretly have an abortion and return to school before the end of the day – and her own family may be none the wiser.

Parents and educators across the state have been in heated debate over school policies allowing children to be excused during class time without parental notification for "confidential medical services" such as abortions, birth control, and drug and mental health services.

They can't educate our kids, but they'll help them get abortions! Education elites have given us the 'dumbest generation' - It's all in "War on Children: How Pop Culture and Public Schools Put Our Kids at Risk"

California's San Juan Unified School District sought to change its own policy from one that prohibits students from being absent without parental knowledge except during medical emergencies to guidelines that would allow a student to leave for a "confidential medical appointment."

Click image to enlarge

San Juan Unified School District proposed policy change

Brad Dacus, founder and president of Pacific Justice Institute, a legal nonprofit, addressed the board at a school-district meeting in Carmichael on Nov. 17 to discuss the policy, along with hundreds of concerned parents who flooded into the meeting and filled the district building lobby.

After much debate and input from the public, the San Juan Unified School District voted 3 to 2 against the policy change. Parents clapped and cheered when they heard the decision.

"We are pleased that the San Juan school board listened to the community and abandoned this disastrous proposal," Dacus said in a statement. "This is a victory for everyone who believes in parental responsibility and local control of school decisions."

They were debating changing the current policy to reflect school administrators' interpretation of California Education Code 4601.1, which states:

Commencing in the fall of the 1986-87 academic year, the governing board of each school district shall, each academic year, notify pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, and the parents or guardians of all pupils enrolled in the districts, that school authorities may excuse any pupil from the school for the purpose of obtaining confidential medical services without the consent of the pupil's parent or guardian.

Pacific Justice Institute staff attorney Matt McReynolds told WND the statute is ambiguous and only says the districts may dismiss students, not that they are required to do so.

"If you use general principles of statutory construction, as we lawyers do in interpreting these things, 'may' is very different than 'must,'" he said. "It doesn't say they must dismiss them, which is how the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the National Youth Law Center interpret it. It is a district-by-district decision on whether they will tell parents."

McReynolds said a district is not required to become an "accomplice" when children opt for these services without their parents' knowledge.

"It doesn't mean students have to be dismissed during the school day to go do it," he said. "They've got afternoons and weekends if they're bent on doing that. You don't have to make the school a party to it."

McReynolds questioned how children as young as 12, 13 or 14 would be transported to clinics for "confidential medical services" if they are unable to drive and choose not to inform their parents.

"They can't drive themselves anywhere, so some adult or somebody with a driver's license would have to get them to those so-called 'confidential' medical appointments that aren't so 'confidential' after all when you really think about it," he said. "You're talking about an older boyfriend, a boyfriend's parents, maybe even a school official? Somebody has to get them there when they're that young."

McReynolds argues that hiding medical issues from parents may endanger the health and wellbeing of a child.

"A parent who is 100 percent legally and morally responsible for taking care of their minor child may have no real ability to do so if they don't know that their child just had a major medical procedure," he said. "Or in the case of counseling, they may have no idea their child is dealing with substance abuse or suicidal thoughts or any number of other things."

Asked whether a parent might successfully sue if any school district that releases a child for a "confidential medical appointment" and a child's life is endangered, McReynolds replied, "I think they would. We have raised that possibility."

But Rebecca Gudeman, senior attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, told the Sacramento Bee, "The great majority of children will involve their parents in such issues – reproductive health and mental health. It's the 25 percent we care about, in abusive households or in families that don't believe in mental health care."

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Raquel Simental said she did not agree with the district's decision.

"It's the law that they have access to these services," she told KCRA-TV.

The Pacific Justice Institute has also had success battling similar policies that allowed students to sign out without parental knowledge in other districts, including Modesto, Fairfield-Suisun and San Diego. According to KCRA-TV, Sacramento, Natomas, Twin Rivers and Elk Grove school districts still have policies allowing children to leave campus for "confidential medical services" without parental consent. McReynolds said several California school districts still have similar policies.

He said no lawsuit had been filed with the San Juan Unified School District. The move toward a policy change was recently initiated by school administrators.

"Planned Parenthood and the ACLU tend to always threaten these school districts with lawsuits if they vote differently than those groups want them to vote," he said. "They claim it would be illegal, but they've never actually filed a lawsuit when the school district adopts a parent-friendly policy."

Should a school face a lawsuit for maintaining a policy that requires parental notification, McReynolds said Pacific Justice Institute has offered to "defend any school district that gets embroiled in an actual lawsuit."

WND reported in 2004 when California Attorney General Bill Lockyer issued an opinion that said schools are required to enact confidentiality policies. But amid a grass-roots campaign organized by a traditional-family lobby group, Lockyer backed off his opinion.

McReynolds said many parents aren't aware of guidelines at their childrens' schools. But he said all parents should ask their own school administrators whether their children may be excused without consent, even families who live outside California.

"It's really important for every parent, whether their kids are in public or private school, to find out what the school policies are," he said. "You never know. See what kind of answers you get."

Contact: Chelsea Schilling
Source: WorldNetDaily
Publish Date: November 18, 2009
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Attack on Women Helping Centers Passes Baltimore City Council

Attack on Women Helping Centers Passes Baltimore City Council

Maybe it's just me, but just because something that is transparently wrong is approved, the fact that everyone already knew that would be the result doesn't make it any the less difficult to swallow. For example, everybody knew the Baltimore City Council was going to pass Bill 09-0406 to harass women helping centers on Monday, but that doesn't make the 12-3 vote any the less outrageous.


Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon

Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake carried the Abortion Establishment's water on this one (Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland are reported to be the inspiration), dubbing the bill a "truth in advertising" measure.
Pro-abortion Mayor Sheila Dixon has not indicated her intentions. She can either sign or veto the measure or allow it to become law without her signature. If the bill becomes law, the four pro-life pregnancy centers in the city will be required to post signs in English and Spanish indicating that they do not provide abortion or birth control. Failure to do so with ten days would result in a fine of $150.

Bullies that they are, Rawlings-Blake and her 11 colleagues took on organizations that run on shoe-string budgets and are manned almost entirely by volunteers.

"The passage of this piece of legislation may serve as serious encouragement to those who would like to see our organizations saddled with more laws and restrictions," Carol A. Clews, executive director of the Center for Pregnancy Concerns, a nonprofit anti-abortion organization that receives donations from religious groups and has operated in Baltimore for 30 years," according to the Baltimore Sun's Julie Scharper. "The crisis centers are 'very upfront about the services that we provide and the services we don't provide,' Clews said. Most of their clients have already decided to continue their pregnancies but need help with utility bills, job referrals, maternity clothes or prenatal vitamins, she said."

The Baltimore bill is thought to be the first of its kind in the nation. Predictably, the plague threatens to spread.
Montgomery County Council member Duchy Trachtenberg has introduced similar legislation. This kind of requirement--aptly described as "condescending" by Nancy Paltell, associate director for the respect life department of the Maryland Catholic Conference--is so egregiously misguided even the reliably pro-abortion editorial page of the Washington Post balked.

Under the headline, "Pregnant, and in need of help: Montgomery's legislation on disclosure to women is flawed," the Post observed, "The proposed disclosure is too cryptic to be an effective alarm bell for many women and yet is suspect because it singles out pregnancy centers while absolving abortion clinics of any disclosure requirements regarding adoption or parenting options."

The Baltimore City Council had the opportunity to require every facility, including abortion clinics, to list its services--and predictably chose otherwise.

"It should not just apply to these four centers," said Councilman James B. Kraft, who tried unsuccessfully last week to broaden the scope of the bill," the Sun reported. "But if you hold out yourself as a facility that gives advice to a young woman who finds herself pregnant--whether she wants abortion, comprehensive birth control, prenatal care, postnatal care--there should be a sign saying we do not provide advice on this one option."
The amendment lost 10-5.

The irony--or blatant dishonesty--of the situation is that it appears as if the rationale for these bills is not so much that signs aren't posted--as noted above Carol Clews says the centers are 'very upfront about the services that we provide and the services we don't provide"--as it is alleged false information is dispensed at the women helping centers. By this they mean, for instance, the link between induced abortion and an increased risk of breast cancer which (in the Post's words) was "debunked" by the National Cancer Institute.

But, as the Post puts it charitably, "Ms. Trachtenberg's legislation does not directly address this problem." One wonders how long it will be before Big Sister passes a bill to censure what women helping centers can tell women in crisis situations.

Come to think of it, maybe they'll ban dispensing maternal clothes or prenatal vitamins or forbid helping women with their utility bills. After all there is no length that proponents of "choice" won't go to ensure that women make the "right" choice: death.

Contact: Dave Andrusko
Source: NRLC
Publish Date: November 24, 2009
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NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY

NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY
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Birth control needed to stop climate change, argues UN Population Fund



The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has released its annual report, hinting that the causes of "sustainable development" and managing climate change require greater emphasis on family-planning programs. The report argues that "universal access to reproductive health" would help to conserve economic resources and reduce carbon emissions, drawing the world back from a "possible climate disaster zone."
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Germany Faces Economic Downturn with Plummeting Birth Rate and Aging Population

 

ROME - Germany, the juggernaut of the European economic scene, could be facing a critical downturn over the next five decades because of its dramatically shrinking birth rate and dropping population, a new government report has said. The falling and aging population will result in the eventual disintegration of Germany's generous social welfare programmes, including old-age pensions, the report warns.

The Federal Statistics Office projected a drop in population from 82 million in 2008, the largest in the European Union, to between 65 million and 70 million. By 2060, 34 percent of the population will be older than 65 and 14 percent will be 80 or more, up from 20 percent and 5 percent respectively last year.
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Knife Pulled on Pro-Lifer



As sidewalk counselors "demonstrated" outside of a Duluth abortion mill they were given a frightening reminder of the violent nature of abortion:

Duluth police say a 25-year-old Superior woman is in custody after she allegedly pulled a knife on one of the demonstrators and held it to the woman's throat. While protesters have demonstrated outside the building many times before, the facility says Tuesday's incident is rare and isolated.

Just before 8:00, demonstrators say they confronted a woman as she was going into the Building For Women on 1st. Street.

"We asked the women 'please don't take the life of your unborn baby we care about what happens to them,'" said Leah Winandy, a demonstrator outside the building.

The demonstrators say that's when the woman brandished a knife at Winandy.

"She said 'don't do this,don't talk to me, don't come near me' and I just said 'fear god,' and she had the knife to my throat and I was a little nervous," Leah said.
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Fr. Frank Pavone announces stunning new video of unborn children

It's light years beyond ultrasound and will make you practically fall off your chair when you see it.



We at Priests for Life are now promoting and distributing to every sector of the Church and the pro-life movement the most vivid, powerful, and striking videography of the unborn child that exists. Obtained through a rarely used technique called embryoscopy, in which a video camera the size of a pen-point is inserted abdominally or cervically, this video footage has been incorporated into a 42-minute video called "The Biology of Prenatal Development," now available from Priests for Life.

You can see segments of this imagery at Priests for Life's special website www.Unborn.info.
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Planned Parenthood Fulfilling Founder's Vision



When Margaret Sanger, famous birth control activist, founded Planned Parenthood in 1916, her vision for society was not unlike another notable historical figure of the past who believed in the self-direction of human evolution. Adolph Hitler. A controversial eugenicist, Margaret Sanger believed, "The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it." The following quote appeared in the introduction to Margaret Sanger's 1922 book, "The Pivot of Civilization": "We want fewer and better children who can be reared up to their full possibilities in unencumbered homes, and we cannot make the social life and the world-peace we are determined to make, with the ill-bred, ill-trained swarms of inferior citizens that you inflict upon us."
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Abortions Soar 25% among UK Children aged 14



The number of 14-year-old British girls having abortions has soared by almost a quarter in only two years. Department of Health figures show that 166 girls of that age aborted their babies last year, compared with 135 in 2006. For 15-year-olds, the number was up 16 per cent over seven years. Britain's teen pregnancy figures are the worst in Western Europe, despite (or perhaps because of) a raft of failed Government initiatives. Earlier this year, the public learned that young girls on a £5.9m state-sponsored programme to cut pregnancies among poorer teens had instead "significantly" increased the likelihood of their becoming pregnant.
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Pro-aborts resurrecting phony pro-life amendments to healthcare

Pro-aborts resurrecting phony pro-life amendments to healthcare

Third Way attempts to resurrect Ellsworth Amendment



In an essay posted today on RHrealitycheck.org (a nexus for pro-abortion activist groups), Rachel Laser - a career pro-abortion activist who now works for the influential "messaging" group Third Way - attempts to resurrect the Ellsworth Amendment.

Even though there is hardly paragraph in Laser's piece that does not contain some substantial distortion, Laser's initiative is not to be taken lightly, partly because she and her group have close connections with White House staff....

Here is NRLC's take on the Ellsworth Amendment (click here). And here (click here) is a detailed critique by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), who impersonates a pro-life congressman, has also resurfaced predicting "compromise". Most likely, he has a fresh script from Planned Parenthood in his pocket
Source: jillstanek.com

Health care abortion debate centers on whether Stupak Amendment is ‘status quo’

Health care abortion debate centers on whether Stupak Amendment is 'status quo'


Kristen Day / David Axelrod

Washington D.C. - White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod has suggested that President Obama will intervene to alter the Stupak Amendment in health care legislation, claiming that it changes the "status quo" on abortion. A leader of a pro-life Democratic group told CNA in response that the Stupak Amendment is itself the status quo.

In an interview Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," Axelrod said that President Obama does not think the health care bill should "change the status quo as it relates to the issue of abortion."

"This shouldn't be a debate about abortion. And he's going to work with Senate and the House to try and ensure that at the end of the day, the status quo is not changed," he continued.

Axelrod said that the issue "can and will" be worked out before the bill reaches his desk.

Last Monday President Obama told ABC News that his "simple principle" is that the legislation is "a health care bill, not an abortion bill."

"And we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions. And I want to make sure that the provision that emerges meets that test -- that we are not in some way sneaking in funding for abortions, but on the other hand that we're not restricting women's insurance choices," he continued.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News Sunday that Americans do not want any taxpayer money going toward abortion.

"I think it would be very difficult to pass a bill that, in effect, either directly or indirectly provided tax money to pay for abortions," he said, predicting there would be many amendments to the bill overall.

In a Monday interview, CNA spoke with Democrats for Life President Kristen Day about the future of the Stupak Amendment's restrictions on abortion funding.

"Judging from the president's comments over the weekend, it looks like he has some interest in trying to move this forward," she told CNA. "Some intervention from the president will be helpful as we try to negotiate with Congress on the Senate side."

She reported that pro-life Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska has already said he does not want any funding of abortion.

"Senator Casey has said the same thing," Day added.

She told CNA that Sen. Carper, a Delaware Democrat, had voted for language similar to the Stupak Amendment in committee.

"The general sense of the American public is that they don't want public funding for abortions. The Stupak Amendment says that. So hopefully the Senate will find some way to put similar language in there."

Neutralizing the issue of abortion, Day said, would be "a positive way to move forward with health care reform."

Asked how the Stupak Amendment would fare in talks to reconcile Senate and House versions of health care legislation, she commented:

"In an ideal world the Stupak Amendment would be adopted in the Senate. If it's not, I think it will be very difficult to remove this language from the bill unless there is an agreement worked out ahead of time. Because there are strong coalitions on each side that either do or don't want public funding for abortions."

The House spoke "very clearly" by passing the Stupak Amendment, she continued, predicting that its removal "wouldn't sit comfortably" with the 64 Democrats who voted for it.

It will be a "very difficult road" to find a way to keep Stupak's language in the legislation, Day said, "but I think that's what we're going to have to do."

Asked to respond to David Axelrod's claims that the Stupak Amendment changes the status quo on abortion, Day told CNA the problem all along has been "a disagreement about what the status quo is."

Had abortion restrictions passed in the Senate Finance Committee, Day noted, "We could have resolved this months ago."

"We think the status quo is the Stupak Amendment, with no public funding of abortion. I think the amendment was written in a way that was very consistent with the Hyde Amendment language. And I think that the language should stay."

Source: CNA
Publish Date: November 17, 2009
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New Abortion Pill Hits Market Soon

New Abortion Pill Hits Market Soon



Different than the morning after pill or Plan B, Planned Parenthood now has available at most locations the Abortion Pill, also known as mifepristone.

According to Planned Parenthood's website, this new pill is considered a medical abortion.  It can end an early pregnancy and can be used up to 9 weeks, or 63 days after the first day of a woman's last period.

It has a 97 out of 100 success rate but the organization suggests following up with your health care provider to make sure it worked.  Despite the high success rate, they warn that if the pregnancy does continue that the medication could case serious birth defects.

They recommend having an aspiration abortion to end the pregnancy if the pill does not work. An aspiration abortion is non-surgical procedure where a thin tube is used to suction or vacuum the contents out of the uterus through the cervix.

The Abortion Pill requires three steps with two medicinal doses.  The pill causes the pregnancy to terminate and then it releases the contents.  This release of the fetus is caused by a second medicine called misoprostol.  Misoprostol causes heavy bleeding and cramps and is likened to how an early miscarriage would feel.  The third step is a follow-up within two weeks to determine if the abortion is completed.

Of course, the Abortion Pill comes with risks and in some cases can be fatal.  However, Planned Parenthood states that a medical abortion reduces that risk compared to a surgical abortion.

Their website lists several reasons why women chose the Abortion Pill including the claim that, "many women feel it's more 'natural'—they feel it is more like miscarriage."  They also say women feel more control and that it is less invasive as well as more private because it allows them to do it at home.

The Abortion Pill differs from emergency contraception because emergency contraception (known also as the morning after pill, Plan B, or backup birth control) is only to be used up to five days after unprotected sex.

The Abortion Pill costs between $350-$650. Vice President of External Affairs for Planned Parenthood Beth Kanter said that while this is high, it is simply what the medication costs.  "Pharmaceuticals are expensive and it is comparable to the cost of a surgical abortion."

Planned Parenthood of Springfield will be receiving the Abortion Pill sometime between January and March of next year.
As with most contraceptive devices, the Abortion Pill has its detractors who would rather not see it come to Springfield.
The Springfield Right to Life group has several pamphlets outlining the dangers of mifepristone or RU-486.  One is the amount of bleeding that occurs due to the pill.  One pamphlet states that 13,000 to 26,000 women a year could suffer complications due to the drug and could result in losing a substantial amount of blood.

The pamphlets also detail the experience of the medical abortion with one saying that: "When the woman finally does abort, she will expel a tiny dead human being."  This could be traumatic for a woman hoping to have the quiet, private, and comfortable abortion in her own home.

They also address the cost of the medicine and point out that if the medical abortion doesn't work, a surgical one is necessary and will also cost between $350-$900 and will be much more invasive.

A worker at the Springfield office who asked not to be named said that her concern is what the long-term effects of this pill will be because it will take 10-15 years for long-term results to be apparent.  She fears that young girls using this pill now may find that they won't be able to conceive when they decide the time is right down the road.

As stated earlier, Planned Parenthood does address several of these issues on their website, outlining what the possible risks are including: allergic reaction to the pill, infection, very heavy bleeding, and an incomplete abortion.

The group also outlines the warning signs of serious complications, including vomiting for more than four to six hours, a high fever that lasts longer than 4 hours, clots larger than a lemon and excessive heavy bleeding.  They suggest calling your health care provider immediately if any of these symptoms occur.  A more complete list is on their website.
For more information on the abortion pill or services that Planned Parenthood provides, please go to www.plannedparenthood.com   And for more information about or from the Springfield Right to Life society please visit their website at http://www.ifrl.org/srtl/.

Contact: Laurel Bollinger
Source: The Journal (the Student Newspaper of the University of Illinois at Springfield)
Publish Date: November 17, 2009
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Sex ed. vs. abstinence

Sex ed. vs. abstinence

A federal official blames abstinence education for the increase in sexually transmitted diseases.


 
The study shows an escalation in chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, which are treatable diseases. John Douglas of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control suggests that comprehensive sex education rather than abstinence is the cure for the problem. Valerie Huber, head of the National Abstinence Education Association, disagrees and feels that the education young people are receiving about STDs is inaccurate.
 
"If you look at the sex education that is being promoted and funded by taxpayer dollars, the bulk of it is going towards so-called 'comprehensive sex education,' which mistakenly tells young people that as long as they use a condom, they can engage in any kind of sexual activity they want," she reports.
 
Huber ultimately says Douglas is wrong because students are hearing an erroneous message, and for that reason STD infections have increased. She says the only cure is abstinence. The House has deleted funds for abstinence education, but Huber says the Senate version of healthcare carries hope.
 
"While many of your listeners [or readers] may oppose the healthcare overhaul, there is an amendment that is a part of the Senate piece that encourages abstinence education to continue," the advocate notes.
 
Huber hopes people will take advantage of the opportunity to press senators to provide abstinence funds, whether it is in the form of the current amendment or a separate bill.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: November 18, 2009
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RU safe and simple?

RU safe and simple?

A new study provides fresh information on potential harm of the abortion drug, RU-486.


 
The study comes from Finland and was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Dr. Randall O'Bannon of National Right to Life tells OneNewsNow that what the public typically sees from the abortion industry is a claim that RU-486, also known as Mifeprex, is a safe and simple process for abortions.
 
"But this latest study from Finland shows that at least 20 percent of the women that use RU-486, the abortion pill, they suffer from at least one significant complication, and in many cases, from two complications," O'Bannon reports.
 
The three most significant problems are hemorrhaging, infection and incomplete abortions, which are the same troubles patients face in surgical abortions. Resulting from the chemical method, 15.6 percent of those undergoing this form of abortion hemorrhaged while 1.7 percent encountered infection and 6.7 percent experienced incomplete abortions.
 
O'Bannon feels that one of the reasons America does not report the figures is because, "we have people that control the data. The abortion industry keeps all of this very close to the vest, and so the only time you can get data is if they are willing to share it," he says. "They report some of these things to the FDA, but whether they report all of them, we don't know."
 
The lesson from the new study is that people need to make themselves aware of the hype about RU-486's safety and the pitch that it is somehow more safe or simple than other abortion methods. The public needs to consider the possibility that RU-486 is not being honest about its issues.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: November 18, 2009
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Parents Matter in Teens' Decisions about Sex

Parents Matter in Teens' Decisions about Sex
 


Multiple measures of parental involvement and engagement are associated with teenagers' decision to delay sex. That's according to a recent brief published by Child Trends, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center.

Child Trends analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to explore how parenting practices are associated with the probability of early sexual experiences. The researchers found that positive parent-adolescent relationships, high parental awareness and monitoring, and family dinner routines all played a role in delaying sex.

The researchers cited two recent nationally representative polls of 12- to 19-year-olds, in which nearly half reported their parents had the most influence on their decisions about sex.

"Parents tend to underestimate their influence," said Chad Hills, analyst for sexual health research and policy at Focus on the Family Action. "But in spite of the eye-rolling, know-it-all attitudes and wanton independence, teens largely base their decisions about sex on parental values and involvement. Communication is essential, and research again verifies that parents matter most."

Source: CitizenLink
Publish Date: November 17, 2009
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Police Raid Offices of Assisted Suicide Organization

Police Raid Offices of Assisted Suicide Organization



MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - Police raided the Melbourne offices of the assisted-suicide advocacy organization Exit International last Thursday, seizing documents related to the alleged assisted suicide of Exit International member Frank Ward.  In response to this and to the raid of another Exit International member's home, Exit International has told its 4,000 members to be wary not to attract police activity.

"We haven't had any incidents like this for a long time," said Dr. Philip Nitschke, head of Exit International.

The raid highlights the dubious legal status of Exit International's activities. Because assisting or even encouraging suicide is illegal in Australia, Exit International bills its workshops, books, suicide equipment, and all its activities as merely providing people with knowledge and equipment to allow them to do what they want, not as actually assisting them in the act of suicide. According to Nitschke, such was the extent of Exit International's contact with Ward.

"[Police] were suggesting we were involved in his death but we were not," Nitschke told Television New Zealand. "We would never be actively involved in something like that, helping him end his life, which would be committing a crime."

According to Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, such protestations of innocence are dubious.

"I think that this raid is long-overdue," he told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN). "Nitschke has been skirting the law for many years."

Frank Ward killed himself last June by inhaling helium, which causes asphyxia.  This method of suicide is among those promoted by Dr. Nitschke. Schadenberg described to LSN how at a Right-to-Die Conference he saw Nitschke demonstrate "how a device that he claimed to have invented would regulate the flow of gas to ensure that ... the act would result in their death."

"Nitschke was not concerned that he was aiding suicide by knowingly selling a device to ensure the success of a suicide."

A widespread dissemination of information on how to kill oneself, however, is precisely what Nitschke desires.  In an interview
with National Review he said that someone needs to provide the knowledge of how to kill oneself "to anyone who wants it, including the depressed, the elderly bereaved, [and] the troubled teen."

"If we are to remain consistent and we believe that the individual has the right to dispose of their life, we should not erect artificial barriers in the way of sub-groups who don't meet our criteria," he said.

The second raid on Thursday was directly related to this desire of Nitschke.  Police came to the home of an elderly Exit International member in Sydney to search for the euthanasia drug Nembutal and information concerning its acquisition. They left with a small quantity of the drug and the "Peaceful Pill Handbook," a book by Nitschke and a co-author on how to kill oneself that was banned by the Australian government.

Nembutal is used by veterinarians to euthanize animals, and is tightly controlled in most places around the world.  Nitschke's organization, however, has striven to make it available to as many people as possible.

"Last year Nitschke was encouraging people to order Nembutal by mail order from a source that he had discovered," Schadenberg said. "Once again, he wasn't concerned that people with chronic depression would access this information to kill themselves."  Members of Exit International also travel to Mexico to buy the drug, where it is easily obtained.

Nitschke explained that because of the raids Exit Internatonal had sent an alert to its 4,000 members "warning them about the fact that ... people should be very careful if they've gone to great lengths to get these drugs so that they don't find themselves subject of any form of police activity"

Schadenberg, however, thinks it high time that such activity began in earnest.

"It is simply about time that his offices were investigated, especially now that he has set up an office in Bellingham, Washington state, where he intends to launch his group into the United States," he said.

"He intends to grow his group Exit International and he is doing this through his recent series of speaking engagements throughout the United States, Britain and Canada."

Contact: James Tillman
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Publish Date: November 16, 2009
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NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY

NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY
(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.)

Elderly and Disabled Could be 'Forced to Commit Suicide' Under Changes to Rules



A group of leading lawyers, peers and former judges including Baroness Butler-Sloss, the former head of the family division of the High Court, are warning that the plans pose "serious dangers for public safety".

In a significant intervention, they are warning the proposed changes go against the will of Parliament and risk reducing the Director of Public Prosecutions from an enforcer of the law, to an arbitrator.
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NJ Teen Barred from Abortion Protest Sues School



Camden, N.J. - A New Jersey high school student claims in a federal lawsuit that administrators violated her religious and free-speech rights by prohibiting her participation in a silent abortion protest.
 
The girl, identified in court papers as C.H., says she asked Bridgeton High School's principal last month for permission to join in the Pro Life Day of Silent Solidarity on Oct. 20.

School Superintendent H. Victor Gilson says the armband would have violated the school's dress code, and the district doesn't allow students to pass out literature on campus.
 
Her lawsuit was filed Friday by a lawyer hired by the Alliance Defense Fund in Scottsdale, Ariz.
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Nevada Life Groups in League with Planned Parenthood; Try to Stop Pro-Life Efforts



LAS VEGAS - As reported in the Associated Press yesterday, November 17, Nevada Eagle Forum and Nevada Life joined Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union in opposing an initiative effort that seeks to prohibit abortion in Nevada by amending the Nevada constitution.

The announcement comes less than a week after Planned Parenthood and the ACLU teamed up to file a lawsuit to restrict the ballot initiative effort.

Nevada Eagle Forum and Nevada Life stated that instead of outlawing abortion, they believe in "curbing instances of abortion" through outreach and education. Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and President Obama's administration have voiced a similar desire to keep abortions safe, legal, and rare.
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Euthanasia of any kind unacceptable



At the conclusion of their Plenary Assembly at the Shrine of Fatima, the bishops of Portugal stated that any form of euthanasia, or any "action or omission that, by its nature or intentions, provokes death," is unacceptable.

In response to efforts to promote euthanasia in Portugal, the bishops issued a pastoral letter entitled, "Caring For Life Until Death." "Nobody is the absolute owner of his or her own life and much less of the lives of others.  Therefore," they said, "assisted suicide of any kind is ethically equivalent to euthanasia."
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Adult Stem Cells to Heal a Failing Heart



A treatment that uses adult stem cells to rebuild failing hearts reduced chest pain and improved activity levels for severely ill patients one year after injection, a Northwestern University researcher working with a Chicago-area device-maker reported.

Though still in early development stages, the work of Dr. Douglas Losordo, using technology developed by Baxter International Inc., is being watched closely by the stem cell research community. The trial data, presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association scientific conference in Orlando, Fla., is also important in the study of heart disease.
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Taxpayers forced to subsidize Carhart's abortion business



The police department in Bellevue, Nebraska have announced that the city now pays nearly $1,000 to maintain security cameras at LeRoy Carhart's abortion clinic - money that is taken directly from the taxpayer coffers to spy on peaceful pro-life supporters.

"It is outrageous, at a time when Congress is in an uproar fighting abortion lobby efforts to use tax money to bail out failing abortion clinics, that the City of Bellevue would arbitrarily decide to force taxpayers to subsidize Carhart's abortion business," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "If Carhart wants extra security, he should have to pay for it himself, just like everybody else."
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