Tuesday, February 28, 2012

LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 2/28/12

LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, February 28, 2012

For pro-life news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com.

Current Headlines

Top Stories
• Pro-Life Groups Continue Pushing Blunt Amdt to Stop Mandate
• Obama Pulls Texas Medicaid Funds Over Planned Parenthood De-Funding

• Virginia Senate Approves Pro-Life Ultrasound-Abortion Bill

• Senate Votes Thursday on Obama Pro-Abortion Judicial Pick

More Pro-Life News
• Congress Told HHS Mandate Fines Could Total $620,000
• Pro-Life Group: End the Independent Payment Advisory Board
• Reporter Downplays Obama s Opposition to Anti-Infanticide Bill
• Ethicists in Australia Call for After-Birth Abortions
• New Prenatal Test Has Same Concerns About Prompting Abortion
• 40 Days for Life Saves 75 Babies From Abortion, So Far
• Ohio Bill to De-Fund Planned Parenthood Gets Hearing
• California Bill Would Let Nurses and Midwives Do Abortions
• Planned Parenthood s Abortion Mantra Leads to Infanticide
• Confessions of a Pro-Life Atheist, Why I Fight Abortion
• Ron Paul Gets Endorsement From North Dakota Pro-Life Leader

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Pro-Life Groups Continue Pushing Blunt Amdt to Stop Mandate
Leading pro-life organizations are continuing to push the Blunt amendment in the Senate to respond to the mandate the Obama administration issued that forces religious groups to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions for employees.

The Senate is currently considering S.1813, the Highway bill, and it is expected to be on the Senate floor for the remainder of the week. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who supports abortion, and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who is pro-life, continue to work on a list of potential amendments to the bill and the Blunt Amendment is expected to be included.

Roy Blunt, a pro-life Republican senator from Missouri, is behind the amendment and he told the University of Missouri student newspaper why he thinks it is important. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/pro-life-groups-continue-pushing-blunt-amdt-to-stop-mandate/

Obama Pulls Texas Medicaid Funds Over Planned Parenthood De-Funding
Planned Parenthood is spewing misguided rage towards Texas governor Rick Perry, claiming he is to blame for the recent Medicaid revocation in the state that will impact 130,000 Texas women.

Texas would rather throw health care for hundreds of thousands of women overboard than allow Planned Parenthood to provide health care through the public health programs, said Cecile Richards, CEO of Planned Parenthood.

It is shameful that Governor Perry and Commissioner Suehs continue to politicize lifesaving breast cancer screenings and birth control access for low-income women, stated Peter Durkin, president of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.

Planned Parenthood makes no indication whatsoever that this decision was entirely of the Obama administration. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/obama-pulls-texas-medicaid-funds-over-planned-parenthood-de-funding/

Virginia Senate Approves Pro-Life Ultrasound-Abortion Bill
The Virginia state Senate approved a bill today that allows women a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child that is routinely performed before an abortion but the results of which is not always provided to them.

Abortion advocates in Virginia have come under heavy criticism for equating the ultrasound legislation there would allow women to see before an abortion to rape. Yet, while abortion backers say having an ultrasound is like getting raped, a 2003 study shows 99% of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities do them beforehand.

After Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell called for modifications to the bill to ensure that women are not required to get a transvaginal ultrasound, the state House approved its bill on a 65-32 vote. Then the Senate Education and Health Committee vote 8-7 on party lines for House Bill 462, with Sen. Harry B. Blevins, R-Chesapeake casting the deciding vote by proxy. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/virginia-senate-approves-pro-life-ultrasound-abortion-bill/

Senate Votes Thursday on Obama Pro-Abortion Judicial Pick
A U.S. Senate committee will vote on Thursday on the latest pro-abortion nominee President Barack Obama has appointed to the nation s highest courts.

Obama added to his pro-abortion record by placing yet another abortion activist in nomination to a top federal appeals court this time a lawyer credited with helping craft the Roe v. Wade decision. He appointed Andrew Hurwitz to the 9th Circuit Court, the most liberal appeals court in the country based in San Francisco and covering laws approved in western states.

Hurwitz was instrumental to providing some of the legal framework for Roe, which resulted in 54 million abortions. In a law review paper published in 2002, Hurwitz takes partial credit for drafting opinions as a law clerk that the Supreme Court would later use to frame its landmark decision in Roe v. Wade. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/senate-votes-thursday-on-obama-pro-abortion-judicial-pick/

Congress Told HHS Mandate Fines Could Total $620,000
Members of Congress heard from pro-life advocates today who told them in a hearing of the laundry list of problems associated with the new mandate the Obama administration put in place.

The mandate has drawn strong opposition from religious groups concerned that they would have to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions for their members or employees. Republicans in the House sought to bring light to that in a hearing entitled, Executive Overreach: The HHS Mandate Versus Religious Liberty.

Asma Uddin, an attorney with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, that At the heart of this position, however, lies a profound misunderstanding about the nature of religion and the scope of constitutional protections for religious liberty.

Many religious individuals and organizations that have conscientious objections to abortion object to the use of Plan B and ella because they believe, and scientific evidence supports their belief, that these drugs constitute abortifacients. That is, Plan B and ella can prevent a human embryo, which these religious groups understand to include a fertilized egg before it implants in the uterus, from implanting in the wall of the uterus thereby causing the death of the embryo, she explained. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/congress-told-hhs-mandate-fines-could-total-620000/

Pro-Life Group: End the Independent Payment Advisory Board
The National Right to Life Committee is calling for quick approval of a bill that would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board established by the controversial Obamacare legislation that funds abortions and prompts rationing concerns.

The measure is also the vehicle for the new mandate the Obama administration put in place that has drawn strong opposition from religious groups concerned that they would have to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions for their members or employees.

The Medicare Decisions Accountability Act (HR 452), which is sponsored by Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) and 226 co-sponsors, is scheduled for consideration at tomorrow s meeting of the Subcommittee on Health of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is critical to prevent the rationing of life-saving medical treatment, said Burke Balch, J.D., director of National Right to Life s Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics. The IPAB would recommend drastic limits for the Department of Health and Human Services to impose on what Americans are allowed to spend out of their own funds to save their own lives and the lives of their families. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/pro-life-group-end-the-independent-payment-advisory-board/

Reporter Downplays Obama s Opposition to Anti-Infanticide Bill
A strange thing happened during last week s debate. One of the candidates actually brought up what could be President Obama s least covered but most controversial on the record stance ever. The candidate was Newt Gingrich and Obama s stance was against the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act:

After that moment though something a bit more predictable happened. Ben Smith, formerly of Politico and now the head of Buzzfeed s political reporting operation, immediately tweeted out a defense of President Obama by lumping him in with a larger group of critics:

http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/reporter-downplays-obamas-opposition-to-anti-infanticide-bill/

Ethicists in Australia Call for After-Birth Abortions
Two ethicists who are college professors in Australia are furthering the pro-infanticide arguments of American professor Peter Singer by calling for so-called after-birth abortions.. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/ethicists-in-australia-call-for-after-birth-abortions/


New Prenatal Test Has Same Concerns About Prompting Abortion
The new non-invasive prenatal test is back in the news. Unlike amniocentesis, or chorionic villus sampling (CVS) each with a risk of miscarriage, this new method finds fragments of the fetal DNA in the mother s blood. And it can be performed as early as 10 weeks. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/new-prenatal-test-has-same-concerns-about-prompting-abortion/

40 Days for Life Saves 75 Babies From Abortion, So Far
One abortion is one too many,of course. So it s always encouraging during a 40 Days for Life campaign when we see local abortion numbers DECREASE dramatically. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/40-days-for-life-saves-75-babies-from-abortion-so-far/

Ohio Bill to De-Fund Planned Parenthood Gets Hearing
Ohio is looking to become the next state to yank taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood after Texas, Indiana and others successfully pulled family planning funding for the nation s biggest abortion business. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/ohio-bill-to-de-fund-planned-parenthood-gets-hearing/

California Bill Would Let Nurses and Midwives Do Abortions
On Friday, Sen. Christine Kehoe proposed a bill in the California Senate that would greatly expand who can be an abortion provider in California. Apparently, there is current confusion in California over exactly who can perform abortions. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/california-bill-would-let-nurses-and-midwives-do-abortions/

Planned Parenthood s Abortion Mantra Leads to Infanticide
Although popular opinion has been turning steadily against Planned Parenthood and their allies over the course of the last 20 years, the culture of death continues to seek and proselytize new adherents in pervasive and destructive ways. With their success, human life has been cheapened to such a degree that news stories about sex and death which our grandparents would have found heinous, don t even make us blink today. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/planned-parenthoods-abortion-mantra-leads-to-infanticide/

Confessions of a Pro-Life Atheist, Why I Fight Abortion
I recently ask my friend Patrick, a pro-life activist who is also an atheist to write a commentary about why he is pro-life. I think sometimes Christians might not understand that many non-religious people hold the pro-life position and hold it passionately. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/confessions-of-a-pro-life-atheist-why-i-fight-abortion/

Ron Paul Gets Endorsement From North Dakota Pro-Life Leader
Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul received his first significant pro-life endorsement today from Paul Maloney, one of North Dakota s most prominent pro-life leaders. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/ron-paul-gets-endorsement-from-north-dakota-pro-life-leader/

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