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LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Monday, October 19, 2009
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Current Headlines:
• Senate Pro-Lifers Will Re-Introduce Amendments to Remove Abortion in Health Care
• President Barack Obama Criticized as Going Too Slow on Judicial Nominees
• Americans Have Low Favorable Opinion of Pro-Abortion Vice-President Joe Biden
• Scientists Closer to Making Safe Patient-Specific Stem Cells Without Killing Unborn
• 40 Days for Life Campaign Continues to See Abortion Centers Close, Lives Saved
• Prosecution in Case of Baby Abandonment Highlights Contradiction in Nation's Laws
• Young Adult Pro-Life Advocate, President of Stand True, to Release Abortion Book
• Massachusetts Group Moving Forward With New Choose Life License Plates
• Attorney for Pro-Life Protesters at Notre Dame Fighting for Judge Recusal
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Senate Pro-Life Advocates Will Re-Introduce Amdts to Remove Abortion in Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The pro-life lawmakers who led the fight to stop the massive abortion funding in the Senate health care bills during committee consideration plan to reintroduce their amendments on the Senate floor. Members of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee rejected the pro-life amendments during the consideration of the Baucus and Kennedy health care bills. The amendments were defeated on largely partisan votes with most Democrats voting against them and most Republicans voting for them. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who is a member of both committees and saw his amendments go down in defeat, says he is bringing both of them back on the Senate floor. The first amendment would make sure that no taxpayer funds from the health care premiums Americans send to the federal government could be used to pay for abortions and the second would prohibit federal or state governments or health plans that receive federal subsidies "from discriminating against physicians or health facilities that do not offer abortion services." The first measure ensures the health care bill does not include taxpayer-financed abortion while the second provides conscience protections for medical professionals who do not want to be pressured to do abortions or make referrals for them. Sen. Jon Kyl, a pro-life Arizona Republican,is also expected to reintroduce his amendments to ensure that the final legislation does not include rationing.
President Barack Obama Criticized as Going Too Slow on Judicial Nominees
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama has already named abortion advocates to the Supreme Court and other federal courts, but pro-abortion activists say he is going too slow and could have named more appointees. The pro-abortion activists are beginning to blame his administration for moving too tentatively on what they consider a key priority. During his first nine months in office, Obama has won confirmation in the Democratic-controlled Senate for just three of his 23 nominations for federal judgeships, largely because Republicans have done what little they could by way of holds and filibuster threats to stop them. The activists say Obama has ben to willing to accommodate the Republicans and he needs to do more to railroad his nominees through the Senate. "It is incumbent on the Democrats and the White House to push as hard as they can to confirm judicial nominees, given that next year Republicans will make an all-out effort to block candidates as a means to gin up their base before the election," said Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, a liberal advocacy organization. The White House predicts that nominations and confirmations will pick up soon. "The administration has been working closely with members of Congress to identify a set of uniquely qualified judicial nominees with diverse professional experiences," said Ben LaBolt, an Obama spokesman. "This process has been bipartisan and we have made every effort to make confirmation wars a thing of the past." The White House blames the delays on the need to focus on the Sonia Sotomayor nomination to the Supreme Court and health care. Currently, about 90 judicial seats -- about 10 percent of the total -- remain vacant in appeals and district courts and when Obama's nominees are confirmed, it will bring about a wide pro-abortion change in the mindset of some courts.
Americans Have Low Favorable Opinion of Pro-Abortion Vice-President Joe Biden
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Not only have the favorable ratings for pro-abortion President Barack Obama dropped steadily since he took over the White House, but his vice president, Joe Biden, has low ratings as well. A new Rasmussen poll released last week shows just 46 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of Vice President Joseph Biden. That's down four points from last month and ties August for the lowest such finding about the vice president since he took office in January. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 47% view Biden unfavorably. While 18% have a very favorable perception of the vice president, 24% regard him very unfavorably. Positive views of Biden have ranged from a low of 46% to a high of 56% in early March. His unfavorables hit a low of 39% in early March but climbed as high as 50% in August. Biden is viewed favorably by 77% of Democrats, but just 23% of Republicans and only 36% of voters not affiliated with either major party share that opinion. Women voters like the vice president more than men. Voters 18 to 29 have a more positive opinion than their elders and African-Americans are more likely than white voters to offer a very favorable view of the longtime Delaware senator. Biden made a number of speaking gaffes in his early months in office, and voters in a July survey were evenly divided over whether he would be Obama's running mate again in 2012. Biden resigned from the U.S. Senate when he was elected vice president last November, and his son Beau, Delaware's current attorney general, is likely to run for the Senate seat in 2010 as is sitting Delaware Republican congressman Michael Castle.
Scientists Closer to Making Safe Patient-Specific Stem Cells Without Killing Unborn
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Scientists are a big step closer to their long-term of goal of creating patient-specific stem cells that are safe to use and don't require the destruction of embryos. Induced pluripotent stem cells – also known as iPS cells – are all the rage in the nascent field of regenerative medicine. Like embryonic stem cells, they have the potential to become any type of cell in the body and could be used to grow replacement parts, such as insulin-producing beta cells for diabetes patients or nerve cells for repairing spinal cord injuries. Even better, they can be made by reprogramming skin or other cells from the patients who need them. That not only eliminates the need to use embryos, it ensures that the replacement tissues made from iPS cells are genetically matched to patients and won't be rejected by the body's immune system. But there's still a big catch: In order to rewind adult cells to a pluripotent state, researchers have to turn on a set of dormant genes that have the potential to cause tumors. So do the viruses they use to activate those genes. So researchers have been looking for ways around this problem. One approach is to snip out the genes and viruses once the reprogramming is complete. Another is to use DNA sequences called transposons in place of viruses, then delete the transposons after they're no longer needed. One group of researchers has even used genetic engineering to modify the key genes so that they can enter the skin cells without requiring viruses or transposons. But many scientists think the safest approach is to replace the genes altogether with so-called small molecules. In a study published online today in the journal Cell Stem Cell, researchers from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute report that a single compound they dubbed RepSox can replace two of the four key reprogramming genes. "We're halfway home, and remarkably we got halfway home with just one chemical," senior author Kevin Eggan, a professor in Harvard's department of stem cell and regenerative biology, said in a statement.
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40 Days for Life Campaign Continues to See Abortion Centers Close, Lives Saved
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The national 40 Days for Life campaign continues to see abortion centers close as a result of pro-life advocates praying and offering abortion alternatives outside. While the closures are not permanent, director David Bereit tells LifeNews.com that they are resulting in a greater ability to help pregnant women choose life for their unborn children. "More clinic doors are remaining closed on days when babies are usually scheduled to die -- and that's good news," he said. "Planned Parenthood's major abortion center just blocks from the White House in Washington, DC was reported closed last Saturday -- highly unusual for its typically busiest day, to say the least. But not everyone knew the clinic was shut." Bereit related how a local pro-life advocate told him the story of how a young woman decided against an abortion as a result. "I counseled her as to why she should not have an abortion and about the help available," he said, and he gave her his card. "She called me and said she had changed her mind about having an abortion." Meanwhile, the large Planned Parenthood abortion center that is the site of a 40 Days for Life vigil in Indianapolis, Indiana did no abortions for two weeks. For two weeks in a row, there apparently were fewer than six women seeking abortions. So the abortionist stayed home, and no unborn children died.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- When workers cleared acres of brush near the nation's capital in 2008, the last thing they expected to find was a tiny baby girl. She'd been born just hours earlier to a depressed Honduran woman who was afraid to let anyone know that she'd been raped. By the time the field crew took the newborn to Children's National Medical Center, she was already dead. Wendy Villatoro sat for sentencing last week where her attorney painted a tragic picture of a sexually abused woman trying to provide for her two sons back home. After hearing the evidence, Circuit Judge Cathy Serrette said, "Leaving the baby to die certainly merits punishment. At the same time, [it looks like] you've pretty much been punished your whole life." Serrette sentenced Villatoro to 13 years in prison. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins had this to say in response: "Hers is a tragic story--not only because this mother was violently raped and chose to abandon her baby, but also because it shows the incredible contradiction of our country's laws. Had this baby been aborted in the womb, our laws would have protected Wendy's 'right to kill' her unborn child. But by virtue of entering the world for just a few hours, our courts suddenly recognized that this little girl's life has meaning and significance." During oral arguments, Assistant State's Attorney Renee Battle-Brooks said, "Just because the baby was the product of rape... That doesn't make [her] life any less valuable." Perkins added: "Nor, would I add, is a baby any less valuable if you carry her in your stomach rather than in your arms. If only this hurting mother had known about the options available to her through the country's pregnancy resource centers. Instead of leaving the baby to die, she could have been supported by loving volunteers who would have helped to find the child an adoptive home."
Young Adult Pro-Life Advocate, President of Stand True, to Release Abortion Book
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Byran Kemper, the president of Stand True, the pro-life group for young adults and students that sponsors the national Silent Day with the ubiquitous red tape on participants mouths, is releasing a new pro-life book on abortion. "Social Justice Begins in The Womb" will be released though Clay Bridges Publishing this coming January. Kemper told LifeNews.com, "I have been writing pro-life and Christian commentaries and articles for many years and have now compiled years of writings into my first book. I also answer many tough questions people have about pro-life issues in a logical and simple way to help anyone articulate the pro-life message." The book also features the photography of Emma Williams. "My passion for the last 18 years has been the youth pro-life movement, and I have had the honor to work with some of the brightest and most passionate young people in world. Emma Williams is one of those young people who has given countless hours of her life to service for Christ and the pro-life movement. Her photography, and the way she captures moments in time, is, at times, mind-blowing," Kemper told LifeNews.com. Stand True will pre-orders available soon and the official release of the book will take place at the March for Life in Washington.
Massachusetts Group Moving Forward With New Choose Life License Plates
Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) -- On the heels of the Supreme Court refusing to hear the appeal of a lawsuit related to the Choose Life license plates in Illinois, sponsors of the affinity plate are moving ahead in Massachusetts. Anne Fox, the president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life tells LifeNews.com that pro-life advocate Merry Nordeen helped move the specialty plate forward. "In Massachusetts, the legislature does not have to approve the plates, but the organizer must have 3,000 people reserve their plates before the plates can be produced," Fox explained. "If someone puts up a bond of $100,000, the plates will be produced with only 1,500 people reserving. Merry was fortunate to find a sponsor so the plates will happen with the 1,500 of us who have already reserved." Fox says it is important to get the second 1,500 people to preserve the bond. "The generous benefactor must receive the bond back," she said. "All of us who will benefit from having the plates must continue to work as hard as we can to get 1,500 more people. Right now the number needed is 1,435 more reservations - let's get to it." To reserve your Choose Life license plate to obtain more information about it, contact MCFL at http://www.masscitizensforlife.org
Attorney for Pro-Life Protesters at Notre Dame Continues Fighting for Judge Recusal
South Bend, IN (LifeNews.com) -- The attorney for the pro-life protesters at Notre Dame is continuing to fight for the recusal of the judge in the case because she is an abortion advocate and her pro-abortion husband is a Notre Dame professor. The attorney for the 88 protesters arrested on Notre Dame's campus last spring is appealing a Superior Court Judge Jenny Pitts Manier's decision not to recuse herself from the cases. Manier already has denied two motions filed by attorney Thomas Dixon arguing that the judge is biased against the pro-life advocates and should remove herself from court proceedings. All 88 of Dixon's clients have opted to take their trespassing cases related to their protests of pro-abortion President Barack Obama's speech to trial. Dixon has argued that Manier is not impartial in the cases for several reasons, including that she previously ruled against a pro-life plaintiff in another case, her husband's standing as a professor, and that "the perception of bias" exists. Manier has disagreed, arguing that her ruling on the previous abortion-related case had nothing to do with which side was justified, but only if the case should continue forward in court. The judge also wrote that her husband has no personal or professional interest in the outcome of the Notre Dame cases at hand. Dixon, who is appealing the judge's order, has asked for the St. Joseph County prosecutor's support in pushing the recusal. Prosecutor Michael Dvorak told local media he can't comment on the case.
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