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Current Headlines
• Senate Committee to Drop "Death Panel" Provision From Health Bill
• White House Official Won't Retract Obama Misstatement on Euthanasia
• Sarah Palin Defends "Death Panels" Statement on Health Care
• Pro-Abortion President Obama Hits New Low, Just 47 Percent Approval
• New York Times Taken to Task, Covers Up Abortion Funding in Health Care
• CDC Figures Show Teen Abortions Lower in States w/ Abstinence Funds
• Planned Parenthood Prez Attends Special White House Health Care Mtg
• Pro-Life Groups: Can't Fix Abortion, Rationing in Health Care Bills
• UN Data: Pro-Abortion Laws Lead to More Maternal Deaths for Women
• Pro-Abortion Legal Group Wants UN to Say Abortion=Human Rights
• Pennsylvania Pro-Life Advocate Toomey Leads Specter in New Poll
• Wayne State U Settles With Pro-Life Student Group Over Discrimination
• Kansas Court Scraps Charges Against Women on Free Speech Rights
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Senate Committee to Drop Controversial "Death Panel" Provision From Health Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A Senate committee will drop a controversial provision that detractors have said will set up "death panels" for elderly Americans. Though the committee may remove the controversial language, the House health care bill has wording in its legislation that presents more concerns. The provisions in question concern end-of-life counseling and they have been derided because they provide financial incentives for physicians to promote various options. However, those options, in three states, could include assisted suicide, or they could include promoting withdrawal of lifesaving medical treatment or food and water. The Senate has two of the five health care bills and the language on the Senate side is reportedly not as controversial in that it would allow patients to receive the end-of-life counseling but does not provide financial motivation to physicians who participate in Medicare to urge them to do so. The language also apparently does not have the mandates that appear on the House side that compel those with a terminal condition to get the counseling. Still, Sen. Chuck Grassley, a pro-life Iowa Republican, says the Senate Finance Committee will drop the end-of-life counseling from its version of the Senate health care restructuring bill. "On the Finance Committee, we are working very hard to avoid unintended consequences by methodically working through the complexities of all of these issues and policy options," he said Thursday. "We dropped end-of-life provisions from consideration entirely because of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly." Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact members of the House and Senate and urge strong support for any amendment to exclude abortion and rationing from their health care bills. Ask them to oppose any health care bill that allows abortion funding or rationing. Call 202-224-3121 or go to http://www.house.gov/ and http://www.senate.gov/ for specific contact information.
White House Official Won't Retract Obama Misstatement on Senator, Euthanasia
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama's top spokesman is defending his misstatement that saw him erroneously use a Republican senator to justify a provision in the house health care bill that has been criticized for giving financial incentive to doctors who could promote euthanasia or rationing. During Obama's health care forum in New Hampshire on Tuesday, he used Georgia senator Johnny Isakson to support the House bill and its provision. In an attempt to allay the concerns, Obama said the Republican lawmaker supports the specific provision. As LifeNews.com reported on Wednesday, it turns out that Isakson strongly opposes both the bill and its provision and condemned Obama for suggesting otherwise. Later on Wednesday, during his daily press briefing, Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs defended Obama's comments and claimed he and Isakson are in agreement. "I don't think that's what the President was implying," Gibbs said of Obama's attempts to say Isakson agreed with the provision, known as Section 1233 in the bill. Full story at LifeNews.com
Sarah Palin Defends "Death Panels" Statement on Health Care, Challenges Obama
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Former Alaska governor and possible 2012 presidential candidate Sarah Palin is not backing down from her charge that the House health care bill includes "death panels." Palin faced significant criticism after saying provisions in the measure could lead to euthanasia or rationing of medical care. Last week, Palin posted a well-received note on Facebook saying she worries the health care bill will be paid for on the backs of the elderly and disabled, who could be pushed into euthanasia and assisted suicide via rationing of medical treatment. In a response issued today, Palin offered no apologies for her frank assessment of the problems with the bill. "President Obama can try to gloss over the effects of government authorized end-of-life consultations, but the views of one of his top health care advisers are clear enough," she said. "It's all just more evidence that the Democratic legislative proposals will lead to health care rationing, and more evidence that the top-down plans of government bureaucrats will never result in real health care reform," Palin added. The comments hearken back to her first remarks and pertain to Ezekiel Emanuel, an Obama advisor who works at the Office of Management and Budget and is the chief architect of the health care bills. He has come under criticism from pro-life advocates for views that are considered well outside the mainstream. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Abortion President Barack Obama Hits New Low, Just 47 Percent Approval
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama has hit a new low in his approval ratings as a new Rasmussen Reports poll released today shows just 47 percent of the public now approves of the job he is doing. Obama first fell to 50 percent support a couple of weeks ago and now the public disapproves 52-47 percent. Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance, which is the lowest level Rasmussen has recorded since Obama took over the White House in January. The new survey shows 77 percent of Republicans disapprove along with 65% of independent voters not affiliated with either party. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats still approve of Obama's performance in office. A slim majority of women, 51 percent, give Obama their approval while a bigger majority of men, 56 percent, disapprove. Full story at LifeNews.com
New York Times Taken to Task, Covers Up Abortion Funding in Health Care Bills
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The New York Times is the latest mainstream media outlet be taken to task for covering up the abortion funding found in the Congressional health care bills. The Times joins the Associated Press, which flip-flopped after pressure from LifeNews.com, and CBS News in presenting a false picture. A Wednesday piece titled "Frequently Asked Questions" is printed as an editorial from the newspaper. "Abortion opponents say the legislation would use taxes to subsidize insurance that could cover the procedure," the newspaper says. "Under the House bill, health plans could choose to cover abortion, but they generally could not use federal money to pay for the procedure and instead would have to use money from the premiums paid by beneficiaries," the newspaper explains. The final sentence of the three sentence response to the question of having health care dollars pay for abortions let's a pro-abortion lawmaker from Colorado defend the bills. But Douglas Johnson, the respected legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, tells LifeNews.com that the Times story is, "unfortunately, all too typical of the sort of superficial, lazy treatment of the issue we are seeing in the mainstream media." Full story at LifeNews.com
CDC Figures Show Teen Abortions Lower in States Accepting Abstinence Funds
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new report relying on data from the Centers for Disease Control finds the states that accepted abstinence education funding saw greater reductions in teen abortions compared to states that didn't. The information provides another argument in favor of funding abstinence education programs. The Texas-based pro-life group San Antonio Coalition for Life has put out the new report and it compared CDC abortion figures to the list of states accepting or rejecting the funds. From 2001 through 2005, abortion advocates were successful in getting 17 states to reject the federal grants for abstinence funding. The results show they were worse off for their decisions. For teen girls under the age of 15, the CDC figures showed a 7.5% decrease in abortions in states rejecting the abstinence funding but a larger 23.1 percent decrease in abortions among states accepting the grants. Examined another way, the group says, "The states which have accepted funding for abstinence only education showed a 208% greater reduction in abortions among girls 14 years old and younger, when compared to the states which have rejected funding for abstinence only education." Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood President Attends Special White House Health Care Meeting
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The president of the nation's largest abortion business attended what she called a "special meeting" at the White House yesterday on health care reform. This is the second time the Obama administration gave special privileges to Planned Parenthood. As the mainstream media denies abortion funding is in the health care bills Congress is considering, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards appears to have special access to the White House to make sure it is included. In a note she posted on Facebook, Richards reveals more about the meeting and the Obama administration's strategy for getting the pro-abortion bill approved. "Yesterday I attended a special meeting at the White House to discuss women and health insurance reform," Richards writes. "The basic message was that we've got to remind folks why we became so dedicated to reforming the health care system — or more particularly, the health insurance system — in the first place." . Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Groups: Can't Fix Abortion, Rationing in Health Care Bills, Must Oppose
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Although some pro-life advocates are hoping that the abortion and rationing components of the Congressional health care bills can be fixed so the legislation can be salvaged, other groups say the legislation can't be saved. Increasingly, pro-life advocates are saying that the bills must be defeated outright because it is the only way of guaranteeing that the federal government doesn't promote abortion and rationing on massive levels. Catholic writer Deal Hudson writes in a new column today responding to the call from the nation's Catholic bishops for amendments that would limit the abortion and rationing components. "The protest against federally-funded abortion was loud and clear, but there was no examination of the tacit assumption that government-run healthcare is good idea from a Catholic perspective," he laments. "In fact, none of the public statements by the bishops regarding the healthcare bills even raise the question whether or not government healthcare comports with Catholic social teaching." Hudson argues that pro-life advocates should oppose the bills outright because "the truly personal life of individuals and families should not be controlled by the state." Full story at LifeNews.com
UN Data Shows Pro-Abortion Laws Lead to More Maternal Deaths for Women
New York, NY (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- The world's largest abortion provider, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), has recently acknowledged an alarming "surge" in maternal deaths in South Africa, challenging the pro-abortion mantra that liberal abortion laws decrease maternal mortality. Maternal deaths increased by twenty percent in the period 2005-2007 in South Africa, a country that since 1996 has had one of the most permissive abortion laws on the African continent. While deaths attributable to HIV/AIDS account for the biggest portion of maternal deaths in South Africa, IPPF acknowledges that a portion of deaths are "due to complications of abortion" in a country where the procedure is legal and widely available. Developing countries have been badgered in recent years by various United Nations agencies and pro-abortion civil society organizations, including IPPF, to decriminalize abortion as a measure to reduce maternal mortality rates. However, the latest IPPF revelation is the latest fact in a growing body of evidence showing the opposite relationship in which legal abortion and high maternal deaths coincide. To illustrate, the nation with the lowest African maternal mortality rate is Mauritius, according to a 2009 World Health Organization (WHO) report. Mauritius' laws are among the continent's most protective of the unborn. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Abortion Legal Group Wants UN to Say Abortion Advocates Back Human Rights
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- In a recently released report from the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), the advocacy group is appealing to the United Nations (UN) to formally recognize abortion-providers as "human rights defenders." In "Defending Human Rights," CRR presupposes that abortion is part of the accepted human rights framework and targets legal restrictions on abortion, funding restrictions on abortion and "failure to reduce abortion-related stigma" as "human rights violations." CRR asserts that abortion providers should be recognized as "human rights defenders" because the targeting of abortion providers directly infringes on women's fundamental human rights by restricting "women's ability to realize their right to reproductive healthcare, including safe abortion." According to the web site of the UN Office of the High Commission on Human Rights, "human rights defender" is a term used to describe people who "individually or with others, act to promote or protect human rights." Full story at LifeNews.com
Harrisburg, PA (LifeNews.com) -- A new Rasmussen poll finds former congressman Pat Toomey, the likely pro-life Republican senate candidate, ahead of his potential rival, current pro-abortion Sen. Arlen Specter. The Republican-turned-Democrat now trails Toomey by double digits in his bid for reelection next year and is viewed unfavorably by a majority of the state's voters. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Pennsylvania voters shows 48% would vote for Toomey if the election were held today. Just 36% would vote for Specter while four percent would prefer another candidate and another 12 percent are unsure. These figures reflect a dramatic reversal since June and show that the significant opposition to Specter on the health care bill is responsible. Full story at LifeNews.comWayne State University Settles With Pro-Life Student Group Over Discrimination
Detroit, MI (LifeNews.com) -- Officials at Wayne State University in Michigan have settled a lawsuit filed by the campus pro-life student group which said the university discriminated against it. Last year, WSU Students for Life said university officials refused to allow the organization the same access to student fees and facilities as other student groups. The pro-life students contacted the Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life group that filed a lawsuit against the school and its student fee policy. The lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of the school's policy, which precludes student groups with religious viewpoints from benefits that are extended to student groups with nonreligious views. Joseph Martins, an ADL staff attorney, informed LifeNews.com today that it reached a favorable settlement on behalf of WSU Students for Life. Wayne State has agreed to change its unconstitutional student fee and facilities use policies and pay back previously denied student fee funds. Full story at LifeNews.com
Kansas Court Scraps Charges Against Women on Free Speech Rights on Abortion
Overland Park, KS (LifeNews.com) -- A Kansas court has thrown out charges against a woman who wants to assert her free speech rights to help women outside the Planned Parenthood abortion business in Overland Park. In March, Overland Park filed criminal charges against Kansas City Catholic Diocese employee Carrie Kafka. City officials sued her saying she violated a city ordinance by allegedly obstructing traffic entering and leaving the abortion center's parking lot even though video evidence proves she never obstructed traffic. The pro-life legal group Alliance Defense Fund handled Kafka's case and attorney Daniel Blomberg appeared in court to defend her. Full story at LifeNews.com
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