From: Steven Ertelt Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009
LifeNews.com Pro-Life News UpdateSaturday, August 1, 2009
Current Headlines
• Obama Claims He Doesn't Want Abortion Funding in Health Care Bill
• 40 Democrats Oppose Health Care Bill Without Abortion Ban
• Planned Parenthood Denies Health Care Bills Would Include Abortion
• More Dems Tell Pelosi They Don't Want Abortion in Health Care Bill
• More Republican Senators Announce Opposition, Support for Sotomayor
• AP Falsely Claims 90 Percent of Insurance Plans Cover Abortion
• White House: Obama Would Defer to "Experts" on Abortion in Health Care
• Pro-Abortion Group NARAL Endorses Sotomayor for Supreme Court Spot
• Planned Parenthood Blasts Pro-Lifers for Opposing Abortion in Health Care
• Senate Judiciary Postpones Vote on Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court Bid
• Obama Advisor Denies He Backs Forced Abortion, Population Control
• YouTube Bans Another Video of Planned Parenthood Hiding Sexual Abuse
• Why Didn't Sonia Sotomayor Know Roe Allows Abortion on Demand?
• Congressional Democrats' Common Ground Abortion Legislation is a Fraud
• State and International Pro-Life News Headlines
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President Obama Claims He Doesn't Want Abortion Funding in Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a Tuesday night interview, President Barack Obama claimed he does not want abortion funding in the final health care bill Congress may send him. The issues of taxpayer-funding of abortions and mandates on abortion coverage are unifying pro-life groups in a massive effort to amend or halt the legislation. In recent days, top Obama administration officials have taking divergent positions on abortion mandates and funding. Obama's top budget chief said he would not rule out abortion funding, but his press secretary said abortion funding would be left up to a panel of unnamed "medical experts" to decide. Attempting to put the issue to bed, Obama told CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric that he would "rather not wade into" the issue of abortion funding in health care and that he is "not trying to micro-manage what benefits are covered." "I'm pro-choice, but I think we also have the tradition in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government-funded health care," he said. "My main focus is making sure that people have options of high quality care at the lowest possible price." Obama's claims to the contrary are not likely to halt pro-life efforts to make sure any government-run health care bill has specific abortion exclusions that prevent taxpayer funding and insurance coverage mandates. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact members of the House and Senate and urge strong support for any amendment to exclude abortion from their health care bills. Call 202-224-3121 or go to http://www.House.gov and http://www.Senate.gov for specific contact information.
Lawmaker: 40 Democrats Oppose Health Care Bill Without Abortion Ban
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The leading pro-life Democrat in the House of Representatives says a total of 40 Democratic lawmakers would vote to oppose a health care bill on the House floor unless it explicitly included language banning taxpayer-funded abortion and insurance mandates on abortion. Rep. Bart Stupak, a Michigan congressman, has been one of the leaders in making the government-run health bill the House is considering abortion free. This afternoon, Stupak said he is "optimistic" that the House Energy and Commerce Committee will adopt pro-life amendments to the health care bill that would make it abortion free. The panel could vote as soon as Thursday on the amendments. Should the committee reject the amendments, Stupak tells CBS News that he thinks three dozen Democrats will walk and repeatedly vote against the bill or rules for debate on it. "I think if they do not have [the pro-life amendments] in there and President Obama says we are going to have a bill with nothing in there on abortion, I think it is going to backfire," he said. "I think we bring down the rule and it will be explicitly discussed in the health care plan one way or another." Stupak said he is confident he will have "a minimum of thirty nine" Democrats who will join him in opposing the bill. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Denies Health Care Bills Would Include Abortion Mandate (see post below: The Truth Hurts Planned Parenthood and NARAL)
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Officials with the nations largest abortion business are taking a duplicitous stance on abortion and health care in what is shaping up as a monumental debate in Congress. In private emails to activists, Planned Parenthood is demanding that abortion be included in any health care restructuring bill. Yet, in a new interview, a top Planned Parenthood staffer denied that abortion would be included. Laurie Rubiner, vice president for public policy and advocacy at Planned Parenthood talked with the political news web site Politco about the bills Congress is considering. "Abortion is not mandated any more than any other service or procedure in health reform. It would be left to the insurance companies to decide whether or not they want to offer it, which is the same as under current law," she claims. That is a completely different message than Planned Parenthood is telling its members and supporters in emergency emails saying they must respond to "outrageous attacks on health care reform by anti-choice groups." Richards contradicts Rubiner by saying that abortion must be a mandate in the health care restructuring bill. She urged her supporters to tell members of Congress that abortion "must be covered in any health care reform legislation." Full story at LifeNews.com
More Democrats Tell Nancy Pelosi They Don't Want Abortion in Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A second group of Democrats have sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying they don't want any abortion funding or mandates in the health care bill the House is considering. Pelosi received a first letter signed by 20 pro-life Democrats several weeks ago. The new letter comes from Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, a formerly pro-life lawmaker who is now working with abortion advocates on a fake pro-life bill that gives money to Planned Parenthood. Three other Democratic lawmakers who sometimes vote pro-life also signed their names to the letter, including Dale Kildee of Michigan, Jim Langevin of Rhode Island and Artur Davis of Alabama. "As health care reform legislation moves quickly through the three House committees and is considered by the full chamber over the next several weeks, we are increasingly concerned about potential roadblocks around the issue of abortion," the lawmakers tell Pelosi. They say they "want to make sure that disagreements over this often-contentious issue don't threaten the success of the final health care reform package." Full story at LifeNews.com
More Republican Senators Announce Opposition to, Support for Sonia Sotomayor
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- More Republican senators have announced their opposition to or support for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. She is the appeals court judge whom pro-life advocates are concerned will promote abortion in the same manner as pro-abortion Justice Davis Souter, whom she would replace. Souter is retiring and Sotomayor is President Barack Obama's first nominee for the high court, which currently has at least a 5-4 pro-abortion majority. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a pro-life Republican from South Carolina is the latest to say he will vote for her confirmation. He said he would back Sotomayor because "elections matter," and he believes a president is entitled to have their judicial nominees confirmed. With Graham on board, five Republicans will join all, or almost all, Democrats in backing Sotomayor. That makes it so her confirmation is almost a virtual certainty. As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to vote next Tuesday on her bid, pro-life Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the number two Republican on the panel, became the first GOP lawmaker on the committee to say he would oppose her. "I remain unconvinced that Judge Sotomayor believes judges should set aside biases, including those based on race and gender, and render the law impartially and neutrally," Kyl said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Associated Press Falsely Claims 90 Percent of Insurance Plans Cover Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Associated Press is getting dogged from pro-life advocates who say the news service recently misreported that 90 percent of private insurance plans pay for abortions. However, the figure is likely the other way around and AP may have relied on a faulty pro-abortion study for its figures. In a Tuesday news story titled, "Abortion is latest controversy in health overhaul," AP asserted that "nearly 90 percent of employer-based private insurance plans routinely cover abortion." Writing at the Weekly Standard, John McCormack says the statistic is simply "not true." He points to April testimony from Obama HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who told members of the Senate that "Most private plans do not cover abortion services except in limited instances." He also notes that AP could have looked to coverage from Congressional Quarterly, which reported as recently as July 15 that, "Most people with employer-sponsored insurance also must pay for abortions out of their own pocket." CQ cited Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the insurance industry's trade association, who said, "Most insurers offer plans that include this coverage, but most employers choose not to offer it as part of their benefits package." Full story at LifeNews.com
White House: Obama Would Defer to "Experts" on Abortion in Govt Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A top White House official says President Barack Obama would defer to unnamed "medical experts" to determine whether the government-run health care plan Congress is crafting would cover abortions. Stopping taxpayer-funded abortions and abortion coverage in health care has emerged as a top pro-life priority. Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs answered a question from CNS News about the controversy. "I think when it comes to designing a benefit package, I think the president and this administration agree that that's--a benefit package is better left to experts in the medical field to determine how best and what procedures to cover," Gibbs said. Gibbs didn't name what experts would determine the coverage, but current bills in Congress set up an administrative entity that the Obama administration would run that would make those abortion decisions. On Fox News Sunday, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag was slightly more forthright, if only by appearing to admit that the Obama administration would be making the decision, not some outside experts. The Obama budget chief would not rule out funding abortions but said he doesn't have an answer right now about whether abortion funding will or won't be included. Full story at LifeNews.com
ACTION: Contact members of the House and Senate and urge strong support for any amendment to exclude abortion from their health care bills. Call 202-224-3121 or go to http://www.House.gov and http://www.Senate.gov for specific contact information.
Pro-Abortion Group NARAL Endorses Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court Spot
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- One of the nation's largest pro-abortion groups announced today that it is supporting the nomination of appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. NARAL said that the hearings the Senate Judiciary Committee held last week show Sotomayor will support unlimited abortions. The pro-abortion group said Sotomayor showed during the hearings that she more strongly embraced the Roe v. Wade decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions compared with Chief Justice John Roberts or Justice Samuel Alito, the previous two nominees. The group also noted that Sotomayor said several times during the hearings that she believed privacy rights were well-established and that they included a right to abortion. Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, said, also praised pro-abortion President Barack Obama for selecting her and admitted that the decision to endorse Sotomayor was based in part on his pro-abortion credentials. "In addition, we took into consideration ... President Obama's consistent record of support for Roe v. Wade and his established record of nominating to key posts individuals who share his principles," she said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Planned Parenthood Blasts Pro-Life Groups for Opposing Abortion in Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Not content with efforts from pro-life groups to make sure that the health care restructuring bills in Congress don't force taxpayer-funding or mandate insurance coverage of abortions, Planned Parenthood is fighting back. In two emails over the last three days, the abortion business is trying to rally its supporters. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards sounded the alarm on Saturday. "During the past week, anti-choice groups have turned out in droves to stop progress on health care reform in the name of ideology," Richards said. "The Family Research Council and the National Right to Life Committee published lies about a women's preventive health amendment introduced by Senator Mikulski, claiming that it would mandate abortion coverage," Richards said. The emailed never discussed the content of the amendment, which would guarantee that Planned Parenthood and abortion would be a part of the health care reform process. Richards also never cited any actual statements from the two pro-life groups or how they were supposedly misleading. "But there is no longer any doubt that anti-choice forces have zeroed in on the effort to build health care reform majorities in the House and Senate as their chance to strike a devastating blow to women's access to reproductive health care, including ... abortion," Richards complained. Full story at LifeNews.com
Senate Judiciary Panel Postpones Vote on Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court Bid
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee had been scheduled to vote on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court today, but the panel will postpone the vote until next week. Republican senators on the committee used the rules of the panel to exercise their right to delay the vote. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee had asked the nominee to elaborate on her testimony by answering written questions and they wanted extra time to evaluate those responses. Chairman Pat Leahy, a pro-abortion Vermont Democrat, accepted the request for the delay and scheduled a vote on Sotomayor for Tuesday, July 28. Yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell talked more about why he will oppose Sotomayor, but also said that he doesn't expect any lawmakers to filibuster her nomination. "I don't know of any Republicans who think that will be necessary," he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Obama Science Advisor Denies He Backs Forced Abortion, Population Control
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The office of John Holdren, whom Obama appointed to become Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, is denying charges that Holdren backs forced abortions. Holdren has been accused of backing population control given comments that appear in a book he co-wrote. With little fanfare, Holdren was confirmed by the Senate in March as the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. In a book Holdren co-authored in 1977, Obama's science czar wrote that women could be forced to have abortions whether they wanted them or not.
Holdren also said the population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs put into the nation's food or water, advocated the taking of babies from single mothers and giving them to couples, and said that people who "contribute to social deterioration," such as minorities or other so-called undesirables, should be forced to have abortions. In a statement released to Fox News today, Holdren's office says that's not so. "Dr. Holdren has stated flatly that he does not now support and has never supported compulsory abortions, compulsory sterilization, or other coercive approaches to limiting population growth," the statement said. "Straining to conclude otherwise from passages treating controversies of the day in a three-author, 30-year-old textbook is a mistake." Full story at LifeNews.com
YouTube Bans Another Video of Planned Parenthood Hiding Sexual Abuse, Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The popular video sharing web site YouTube has again censored a video exposing Planned Parenthood hiding a potential case of sexual abuse of a teenager. The video also shows the Planned Parenthood employee telling a woman posing as a teenager how she can evade the state's parental consent abortion law. The undercover video, taken by Lila Rose of Live Action, shows a staffer at a Birmingham, Alabama Planned Parenthood abortion center telling a woman who appears to be a victim of statutory rape that "we bend the rules." The video has triggered an investigation by the state Attorney General's Office into the nation's largest abortion business. Rose tells LifeNews.com that YouTube is engaging in censorship that "appears politically motivated." She indicated YouTube offered no prior warning or specific explanation for removing the video, which she says contains no apparent violations of YouTube's "community guidelines." Full story at LifeNews.com
Why Didn't Sonia Sotomayor Know Roe and Doe Allow for Abortion on Demand?
by Matthew J. Franck
Millions of Americans believe that states can prohibit abortion in the third trimester, yet current Supreme Court jurisprudence has manufactured a right to unfettered abortion right up to the time of the child's birth. How did Americans become so confused on this issue and how did the Supreme Court end up where it has? Does Judge Sonia Sotomayor know the law as well as a future Supreme Court justice ought to know it? If a discussion during her confirmation hearings with Senator Tom Coburn (who is not a lawyer, but rather an experienced obstetrician) is any indication, it would seem not. When I pointed out, in a blog post at the American Principles Project, how wrong Judge Sotomayor was in her answer to Sen. Coburn's hypothetical, a commenter on the site challenged me to back up my statement that the legal regime in America is one of abortion-on-demand throughout the nine months of pregnancy. This tutorial is my reply to such doubters. Full story at LifeNews.com
Congressional Democrats' Common Ground Abortion Legislation is a Pro-Life Fraud
by Deal Hudson
The next sad chapter of the Obama "common ground/abortion reduction" charade is ready to be written. This one will feature a fraudulent pro-life bill co-sponsored by a formerly pro-life Democratic congressman, Tim Ryan (D-OH), who, like a reed shaken by the wind, has been turned into an abortion supporter -- like most of the other Catholic Democrats in the Congress. Ryan voted for a budget including federally funded abortion in the District of Columbia and voted against an amendment offered by a fellow Democrat stripping the bill of its abortion funding. Now Ryan is helping to relaunch a bill co-sponsored with the leading pro-abortion "Catholic" member of Congress, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the "Reducing the Need for Abortions and Supporting Parents Act." Full story at LifeNews.comState and International Pro-Life News Headlines
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