October 2011 Archives

October 31, 2011/Albuquerque, New Mexico/Operation Rescue --

As Down Syndrome Awareness month concludes, Operation Rescue has released a video containing excerpts from an undercover call to a late-term abortion clinic that assured the caller that Medicaid would pay the total costs of an abortion at 30 weeks gestation on a pre-born baby diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Estimated cost of the abortion was between $10,000 and $16,000.

"We know that 92 percent of all women who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome end up aborting their babies. Now we know that it is done at great expense to the taxpayer, who foots the bill for outrageously expensive abortions," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

"These precious babies do not deserve to die and certainly the taxpayers should not be paying to kill them. The fact that our tax money goes to exterminate innocent children with disabilities is abhorrent to most Americans. Cutting off the tax funding will go a long way toward ending this barbaric and intolerant practice."

The call was placed on October 12, 2011, to Southwestern Women's Options, a late-term abortion clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that made headlines when a similar undercover call revealed that late-term abortions are being done at tax-payer expense on healthy women with healthy pregnancies. Operation Rescue and Project Defending Life documented 15 states where Medicaid funds pay for abortions.

Southwestern Women's Options also recently attracted attention for the excessive number of abortion complications there requiring emergency hospitalization. Operation Rescue published the 911 calls showing women suffering from various life-threatening abortion-related injuries and complications. The clinic's abortionists, Curtis Boyd, Shelley Sella, and Susan Robinson, are currently under investigation by the New Mexico Medical Board based on complaints filed by Operation Rescue and Project Defending Life.

Please call your Senator and demand an and to ALL tax-funded abortions.

See video of the call below:

While interpreting a woman's right to abortion in 1973, the Supreme Court made a landmark decision to allow a woman to abort an unborn child for any reason. Going far beyond giving rights to women over their own bodies that decision (Roe v Wade) gave a woman the right over another's body even before either science or the court could sufficiently answered the question of when life actually begins.

In classic fashion Biblical moralist were dismissed out of hand with the help of the emerging interpretation of the first amendment; an interpretation that is fully ingrained in the national psyche and is commonly referred to as 'the separation of church and state.' The climate was created and entire organizations such as the ACLU began regularly trying to remove tablets and monuments with the Ten Commandments from public places, scuttling all allusion to God in classrooms and attacking Christmas displays of the nativity.

Those were the early days of the get God out movement, but today we have advanced the effort to include calling for the removal of statues from veterans gravesites, attacking the sanctity of marriage and of now we have stooped to laws that actually indoctrinate and use the power of suggestion and assent to endanger our children to accept deviant sexual practices.

This month New York City will begin its mandated sex education for sixth graders and up, which includes not only explicit materials but education in alternative lifestyles such as homosexual and bi-sexual. Under the guise of protecting youth from not seeking protection during sex we will now propose to feed the emerging libidos of the prepubescent with options and titillating choices that heretofore were commonly picked up in the street: or the gutters depending on your view.

It is a clear violation of parental rights to add to the list of new laws that are steadily attacking the right of parents to guide their own offspring....

Read full article here.

DALLAS, Oct. 27, 2011/Christian Newswire --

Black Pro-Life leaders are carefully evaluating all presidential candidates and their positions concerning abortion and the right to life.

Therefore, this letter is not an endorsement of Herman Cain's candidacy for President; it is rather a recognition of his clear Pro-Life position and years of participation to end the staggering abortion rate in the Black community and in the general population of America.

We the undersigned stand in full support of Mr. Cain's stated Pro-Life position of affirming life from conception until natural death; his strong support for a Human Life Amendment; and his history of involvement in the Pro-Life community's fight for life. Cain's pro-life stance, coupled with his history of support both financially and otherwise, clearly represent that Mr. Cain is a bona fide Pro-Life candidate.

Here are a few examples of Mr. Cain's active involvement in issues related to the Pro-Life concerns: during his 2004 campaign for Senate in Georgia, Mr. Cain made life one of his main issues, he signed Georgia Right to Life's affirmation which is one of the more strict affirmations in the nation. And it is widely reported that he has made contributions exceeding a million dollars to promote the Pro-Life message in the Black Community.

The life issue in the Black community is a matter of urgency especially for those of us who are deeply concerned about the specific targeting of our community by Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers in the abortion industry. We have determined that Herman Cain's position on abortion is consistent with those within the Pro-Life community.

Pastor Stephen E. Broden
Fair Park Bible Fellowship
Dallas, Texas

Catherine Davis
Founder Restoration Project
Atlanta, Georgia

Dr. Day Gardner
President
National Black Pro-Life Union
Washington, D.C.

Walter B. Hoye ll
Issues 4 Life Foundation
Union City, California

Dr. Alveda King
Civil Rights Activist
King for America
Atlanta, Georgia

Pastor Dean Nelson
Vice President
Frederick Douglass Foundation
Washington, D.C.

GREENSBORO, N.C./October 25/NRLC --

Today, U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles issued a ruling enjoining the "Right to View" provision of North Carolina's "Woman's Right to Know" law from taking effect. The remaining provisions of the law will take effect tomorrow. The law was enacted in July over Governor Beverly Perdue's veto and requires that mothers seeking abortion be given information about the abortion and that a real-time ultrasound image of her unborn child be displayed so that she may view the image before the abortion can be performed.

"While we are happy that most of the provisions of the Woman's Right to Know law will go into effect tomorrow, it is extremely regrettable that mothers will be unable to see real-time images of their unborn children kicking and moving inside the womb and hear their children's heartbeat," said Barbara Holt, president of North Carolina Right to Life.

Enacted by a bi-partisan override of Governor Perdue's July veto, the informed consent law provides that a booklet containing scientifically accurate information about risks, alternatives and information on the development of the unborn child, compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services, be offered to the mother at least 24 hours prior to an abortion so that she might have the opportunity to read and understand the information. The provision enjoined by Judge Eagles requires that an ultrasound image of the unborn child be displayed at least four hours prior to an abortion so that the mother might view it and that she be given the opportunity to hear the unborn child's heartbeat.

"There are numerous precedents which impact other aspects of people's lives where laws require information be provided, and in many cases displayed and orally described," noted Mary Spaulding Balch, J.D., director of state legislation for the National Right to Life Committee. "Displaying the ultrasound image, and orally describing what the screen depicts, gives mothers another piece they need to make a more informed decision and reduce the chance that she will make a decision based on an incomplete understanding of the full dimensions of her decision, which might later produce terrible remorse."

"We are confident that the Court, upon further review, will ultimately allow the ultrasound provision to take effect giving North Carolina mothers the opportunity to witness their living unborn children in the womb," Mrs. Holt added.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Oct. 24, 2011/Christian Newswire --

CBS News and Health.com have damaged their credibility by publishing identical statements that falsely claim the abortion-breast cancer (ABC) link is a myth. Therefore, the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer challenges both organizations to debate the ABC link.

"We expect CBS News and Health.com to duck the challenge, just as other organizations have whose leaders would rather see women die of breast cancer than expose the truth that abortion is not safe," said Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer. "After behaving like snipers, they cut and run. They should be ashamed of themselves.

"Think," demanded Malec of CBS News and Health.com. "If medical texts and medical authorities say childbearing reduces breast cancer risk, then who has the greater risk - the woman who aborts or the woman who has a baby?"

The websites for both CBS News and Health.com falsely asserted that:

"Myth: Having an abortion raises your risk of getting breast cancer. Reality: Because abortion is believed to disrupt hormone cycles during pregnancy and breast cancer is linked to hormone levels, numerous studies have investigated a causal link--but found no conclusive evidence for one." [1,2]

The Breast Cancer Prevention Institute reported last week that 53 of 66 epidemiological studies reported an independent link between abortion and breast cancer, meaning that abortion leaves the breasts with more places for cancers to start (in addition to the loss of the protective effect of childbearing). That doesn't count the biological and experimental evidence that supports the link.

National Cancer Institute branch chief Louise Brinton co-authored a 2009 study on use of the birth control pill and triple-negative breast cancer. [3] She and her colleagues included abortion among "known and suspected risk factors" for the disease and found a statistically significant 40% increased breast cancer risk among women who had abortions. They concluded abortion is a risk factor for breast cancer.

"Try to debunk that, CBS News and Health.com," demanded Malec.

The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer is an international women's organization founded to protect the health and save the lives of women by educating and providing information on abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer.

References available online

October 24, 2011/Olathe, KS/Operation Rescue --

In light of the destruction of evidence that was critical to the prosecution of a Kansas Planned Parenthood on 107 criminal charges, Judge Stephen Tatum has delayed a preliminary hearing today and set a status conference for November 9 at 11 AM.

Last week news broke that that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) under the Administration of former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius destroyed original 2003 abortion reporting forms sometime in 2005 after they had been subpoenaed by then-Attorney General Phill Kline in 2004 in his investigations of the non-reporting of child sex abuse and illegal late-term abortions. Those forms were the basis for 23 felony charges against Planned Parenthood related to manufacturing evidence.

Today, attorneys for Planned Parenthood made a motion for dismissal of those felony counts since the original records had been destroyed. Judge Tatum declined and gave District Attorney Steve Howe until the status conference on November 9 to provide the court with a chain of custody in order to allow copies of the abortion reports obtained through subpoena to be used as evidence if the case proceeds to trail.

"It is unconscionable that Sebelius' KDHE destroyed those documents knowing they had been subpoenaed for a criminal investigation," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "That willful destruction of evidence was a blatant act to protect Planned Parenthood from being held accountable to the law. Those who ordered that evidence be destroyed should be held accountable for obstruction of justice in a court of law."

Judge Richard Anderson had informed Kline's successor, Paul Morrison, that he believed the KDHE reporting forms in Planned Parenthood's records were manufactured. After that, Morrison issued a letter "clearing" Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing.

Morrison then joined Planned Parenthood's lawsuit against Kline and Anderson that attempted to disgorge them of the evidence against Kansas' largest abortion supplier, knowing the evidence incriminated Planned Parenthood. Anderson later expressed regret for having informed Morrison, who in turn may have tipped off Planned Parenthood that their attempt to cover their crimes had been found out.

Morrison was hand-picked by Sebelius to run against Kline in 2006. It is estimated that over a million dollars of abortion money flowed in off the books to benefit Morrison's vicious campaign against Kline. Morrison had promised to end the abortion clinic investigations. Less than a year after Morrison was sworn in as Attorney General, news broke that Morrison was embroiled in a sex and abortion corruption scandal where it was discovered that he had attempted to use his illicit lover in the District Attorney's office to spy on Kline's abortion investigations that proceeded during his term as Johnson County District Attorney so Morrison could thwart them. Morrison was forced to resign.

Sebelius then appointed Steve Six as Attorney General. Soon after taking office in early 2008, Six discovered that Anderson and KDHE had been subpoenaed to testify about the manufactured records. He immediately rushed to the Kansas Supreme Court and obtained a gag order on Anderson and the evidence, delaying the case until now.

This case puts in danger $350 million in Federal Title X funding that the organization now receives nationwide. In order to qualify for Title X funds, an organization must obey all State and Federal laws. A conviction in Kansas would disqualify Planned Parenthood affiliates from receiving funding. Sebelius, who now serves as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, has made it clear that tax funding of abortion and support for Planned Parenthood, her dedicated political supporter and contributor, is a high priority.

An ethics panel recently recommended indefinite suspension for Kline's law license based on his handling of the abortion investigations even though the Supreme Court, District Court Judge Clark Owens, and even the Disciplinary Administrator's own investigators cleared Kline of any wrongdoing. His prosecution was politically motivated to discredit the case he filed against Planned Parenthood. It contrast, an ethics complaint against Morrison, who behaved shamefully with his illicit lover in public buildings during business hours then became abusive of his paramour when she would not cooperate with is efforts to subvert Kline's abortion investigations, was not pursued.

"This case hangs on a razor's edge. Pro-abortion politicians have already wrongly ruined the career of one prosecutor who tried to enforce the law in order to protect Planned Parenthood's interests. Now it remains to be seen if justice or corruption will prevail," said Newman.

Background

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 21, 2011 /Christian Newswire --

On Saturday, November 5, at a benefit dinner for the Life Legal Defense Foundation, former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline will talk about how his investigation of illegal practices by abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, led to unfounded accusations against him.

Pro-abortion advocates have wrongly accused him of not doing his job according to the law when, in fact, he was following the law diligently while administrating his professional duties. Unfortunately, by following the rules, Kline ended up facing the abuse of power by his political opposition in Kansas.

Last week, a professional ethics panel recommended that Kline have his Kansas state law license suspended indefinitely, and the Kansas Supreme Court will most likely give a final decision on that recommendation by the spring of next year. Kline was Kansas attorney general from 2003 to 2007 and Johnson County district attorney for two years. He is currently teaching law at Liberty University.

The Life Legal Defense Foundation has been supporting Kline's defense from the start, and will be available to assist him in any appeal.

"What is happening to our rights in our nation when people are punished for seeking out the truth and believing in life?" said Dana Cody, Executive Director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation. "We hope the Kansas Supreme Court will see the actions against Phill Kline as illegal and unethical."

The benefit dinner will be on Saturday, November 5 starting at 6:00 PM, at the Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison Street, in Oakland. For more information, go here.

FRONT ROYAL, Va., Oct. 19, 2011/Christian Newswire --

Steven W. Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute (PRI), will address the media at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on Monday, October 31st 2011, at 1:00pm, on the topic of the birth of the world's seven billionth person.

The United Nations Population Division has projected October 31st 2011 as the day on which the world will be home to seven billion people. "This is a happy occasion," says Mosher, a leading population expert and best-selling author. "The world's population has more than doubled since 1960, and humanity has never been so prosperous."

The family planners, supported by assorted radical feminists, environmental extremists, and no-growth types, are abusing this milestone to promote the myth of overpopulation and to raise more money for their anti-people projects. "The attitude of the anti-people types is arrogant and elitist," says Mosher. "They say, in effect, to Africans, Asians and Latin Americans: 'There are just enough of us, but there are way too many of you.'"

According to Mosher, "Contrary to what you might hear, the most pressing problem in country after country today is not overpopulation, but underpopulation. In a time of fiscal austerity, the last thing that we need to be doing is spending more tax dollars to drive down the birth rate, reducing the amount of human capital available, and making us all poorer in the long run."

"We are grateful that Baby Seven Billion will come into this world," Mosher says. "Baby Seven Billion, boy or girl, red or yellow, black or white, is not a liability, but an asset; not a curse, but a blessing for us all. Humanity's long-term problem is not going to be too many children, but too few children."

Mosher's analysis of world population trends is a welcome corrective to the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) misleading report on The State of World Population 2010. Further US funding of the UNFPA is presently in jeopardy because of UN population control agency's continued involvement in China's coercive one-child policy. PRI investigations have repeatedly shown that the UNFPA is complicit in a policy that is carried out by means of forced abortions and forced sterilizations, and which has eliminated some 400 million Chinese.

If you've been monitoring the blogosphere regarding Bishop Zurek, Priests for Life, and Father Pavone, it seems that the deck is largely stacked against Fr. Frank.

For example, Mark Shea, Ed Peters, and Phil Lawler have provided extensive coverage on this issue - coverage that tends to paint Fr. Frank in a rather negative light.

However, I came across a blogger that seems to be giving a fair shake to Fr. Pavone and takes on Shea and Peters at the same time.

I guess in times like this, you know who your friends are..

Some excerpts:

Friday, October 14, 2011Bishop Zurek finally breaks media silence ... to cast aspersions

Take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
- Matthew 18:16

We finally got a direct quote from Bishop Zurek in the Amarillo press. It comes after Father Frank Pavone did not appear for a scheduled "private" meeting with his Ordinary on October 13. Here are some quotes from an article titled "Despite bishop's meeting request, Pavone a no-show":

"I would welcome a meeting with Father Pavone, face to face, a meeting as his bishop," Zurek said. "I am still waiting for a favorable response to that."

"This is a delicate internal Church matter that needs to be resolved between a bishop and his priest," he added. "This is parallel to a human resources matter in the secular workplace. And it is even more sensitive when you factor in the relationship between a bishop and his priest as one similar to a father to a son or a brother to a brother."

"In this case, right now, a real concern for me is Father Pavone."

The bishop is obviously no stranger to the spin room. Following this deprecatory statement, there was a flurry of denigrating articles from the usual suspects. I'm thinking in particular of the Catholic Culture article (no author -- I guess the article wrote itself) where Phil Lawler has been leading the charge on libeling Father Pavone's good name. And of course the ever pesky gadfly Mark Shea felt it necessary to chime in without all the facts. How's this for showing "respect" for a Catholic priest in good standing:

"This kind of petulance makes the bishop look smarter every day. This is your bishop we are talking about, Fr. Pavone. Show some respect." - Mark Shea

And true to form, Edward Peters -- self-proclaimed canon lawyer extraordinaire -- could not wait for the facts to become clear before excoriating Father Pavone for missing the meeting. (Please see my previous article titled "Ed Peters' dogged defense of Bishop Zurek".) Without anymore information about the situation than you or I have access to, Ed Peters has declared himself to be the ultimate authority on all things related to Frank Pavone and Bishop Zurek. Once again, Peters can find absolutely no fault with Bishop Zurek -- even after he learns some more about the nuances of the situation from Fr. Deibel's account. Will Ed Peters have the manly courage to apologize for his libelous treatment of Father Frank after the fact? So far there are no signs of this ever happening. If Peters is as naïve as he sounds about human nature and Church politics from his posts on Father Pavone, then he has no business being a canon lawyer. I sure wouldn't want to be his client if I were a priest that had been accused of wrongdoing by my bishop.

Read more at http://publicvigil.blogspot.com/2011/10/bishop-zurek-finally-breaks-media.html

LIJING COUNTY, SHANDONG PROVINCE, China, Oct. 17, 2011/Christian Newswire --

Women's Rights Without Frontiers and China Aid have obtained information that on October 12, 2011, a woman died during a forced abortion. She was six months pregnant.

According to a report posted on fanfucn.com, Jihong Ma was seized by Family Planning Officials for a forced abortion, having violated the One Child Policy. Stressed, she was placed on oxygen. In the words of a family member:

"More than ten persons from the Family Planning Bureau came, took off the oxygen mask from her and forced her to induce labor. From the time she was put into operating room at 4:00 p.m., there was no news about her . . . At night around 10:00 p.m., someone came, opened the door of the delivery room and slipped away. We ran into the delivery room and saw that the doctors and nurses all disappeared while poor Jihong Ma's body had already been totally freezing cold, with purple lips and bleeding nose, lying on the operating table without any movement.... Jihong Ma's daughter does not know yet that her Mom has passed away. She cries looking for Mom every day."

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, stated, "Our hearts go out to the family of Jihong Ma, who was their wife, mother or daughter. China's cruel and barbaric forced abortion policy causes more violence towards women and girls than any other official policy on earth. It is China's war against women and girls. Women are forcibly aborted up to the ninth month of pregnancy. Forced abortion is not a choice. It is official government rape."

Bob Fu, President of China Aid, stated, "Tragedies like this demonstrate the urgent need for China to establish the rule of law. Family Planning Police commit hideous crimes with impunity, as do those who persecute the house churches and Chinese human rights lawyers. Chen Guangcheng has stood up for victims of forced abortion. He has been jailed, tortured, denied medical treatment, and we don't know whether he is dead or alive."

Littlejohn issued a call to action: "We urge people to join the fight against forced abortion in China. Watch the 4-minute video, sign the petition, and forward them to your friends."

Video and petition to free Chen Guangcheng

Original report in English

Original report in Chinese

Patriotism is also a favorite theme in pro-life campaigns, often portrayed by a national flag in the background, apparently in an attempt to attach a belief in the value of life with deeply-rooted patriotic feelings to further foster a greater sense of team spirit and loyalty to the cause. Just as with religious or political undertones, while this may galvanize a group with patriotic attachments, ultimately this dilutes and distracts from the pure and simple truth that life is sacred.

One who beliefs strongly in the sacredness of human life may not necessarily hold any great sense of country, regardless of their national origin.

Furthermore, it is the continued disconnected thinking of people--reinforced by the lines on a map--that helps us maintain the myopic view that this is a problem "in the United States" or a problem "in China" instead of recognizing the devaluation of life as a global human short-sightedness.

STATEN ISLAND, NY Oct. 17, 2011/Christian Newswire --

Tens of Thousands of young people across the country will sacrifice their voices tomorrow for the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity, and they will do it in honor and memory of a young abortion abolitionist and her unborn daughter who were killed in a car accident Oct. 8 in Georgia.

"Tomorrow, students will be sending a loud and clear message that abortion must end and all innocent human life must be protected from conception to natural death," said event organizer Bryan Kemper, founder Stand True Ministries and Youth Outreach Director for Priests for Life.

"The day is about sacrifice and that is why it is fitting that this year's event is dedicated to Kortney Blythe Gordon and her baby Sophy. Kortney was a beacon of light and sacrificed more than anyone can ever imagine in her fight as an abortion abolitionist."

Mrs. Gordon, 28, was a field director for Students for Life of America.

For the eighth annual Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity, students at 1,200 colleges, high schools, middle schools and home schools have pledged to remain silent in solidarity with thousands of unborn children permanently silenced by abortion every single day.
"Last year, we heard back from 64 girls who canceled their abortions because of the Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity and dozens of kids who changed their hearts and are now pro-life," Kemper said. "These are just the ones we have heard back from; we have no idea how many lives were actually saved. But we do know that just one life makes this whole day worth the effort."

The Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity is a project of Stand True and Priests for Life and is co-sponsored by LifeNews.com, Students for Life of America and Survivors.

Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life asked, "Are you willing to give up your voice for a day for those who will never have a voice?"

For more information, visit www.silentday.org. To interview Kemper, call him at 540-538-2581.

Friday, October 14, 2011/Pro-Life Wisconsin --

Planned Parenthood has begun using the extremely dangerous RU 486 web-cam abortion technique in Minnesota. According to Planned Parenthood Minnesota spokesperson Connie Lewis, the organization began providing web-cam abortions at their Rochester, Mn. clinic. This marks the first time that Planned Parenthood Minnesota has expanded its abortion practice beyond its St. Paul, Mn. abortion center.

"We have known for some time about Planned Parenthood's deadly plan to bring RU 486 web-cam abortions to cities and towns throughout the nation," said Susan Armacost, Legislative Director of Wisconsin Right to Life. "First it was Iowa, then Minnesota. Now it appears Planned Parenthood is set to begin expanding its abortion business here in Wisconsin."

"Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) is already the state's largest abortion provider but it is not content to limit the performance of abortions to its three abortions clinics in the state," continued Armacost. "Now it appears it wants to offer dangerous RU 486 chemical abortions to women in towns and cities like Portage, Beaver Dam, Delavan and other Wisconsin locations where PPWI has not previously operated abortion clinics."

"Since only a handful of doctors want to perform abortions, it would be difficult for PPWI to expand its surgical abortion operations. But by providing RU 486 web-cam abortions, PPWI can expand its lucrative abortion business without even having a doctor physically present!"

Web-cam abortions were initiated by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and piloted in Iowa where 2,000 of these abortions took place, with the intention of exporting this technique to other states. A woman enters a Planned Parenthood facility and discusses her abortion by web-cam with an abortionist in another city or perhaps even another state. After the information exchange, the abortionist presses a button which opens a drawer at the woman's location. Her abortion drugs (RU 486 and prostaglandin, a labor-inducing drug) are in the drawer and the abortionist watches her take the medication via web-cam. The woman is never examined by the physician!

RU 486 and its companion drug are administered between the fifth and ninth weeks of pregnancy, after pregnancy has been confirmed. An RU 486/prostaglandin-induced abortion usually involves three trips to a doctor. About half of the women abort while at the doctor's office. An additional 26% abort within the next 20 hours - in the shopping mall, grocery store or in their homes, for example. The remainder abort sometime in the next few weeks or not at all. A woman who doesn't abort is advised to have a surgical abortion because the RU 486/prostaglandin chemicals may have injured the unborn child. RU 486 is not the morning-after pill.

Through April 0f 2011, the FDA reports 2207 adverse events related to the use of RU 486. These events include 14 deaths, 612 hospitalizations, 58 ectopic pregnancies, 339 blood transfusions, and 256 cases of infections. A European drug manufacturer has publicly stated that 28 women have died worldwide after using RU 486.

"Given the grave dangers associated with RU 486, Planned Parenthood's potential plan to bring web-cam RU 486 abortions to towns and cities in Wisconsin should be of grave concern to anyone concerned with the health and welfare of women," continued Armacost.

"Fortunately, legislation is pending in the state legislature to stop Planned Parenthood's irresponsible plan to bring web-cam RU 486 abortions to cities and towns throughout Wisconsin."

Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) and Assembly Representative Michelle Litjens (R-Oshkosh) are drafting the Woman's Protection Act. Among other things, the Lazich/Litjens legislation requires that the administration of RU 486 or other similar chemicals used to induce an abortion be done in the same room and in the physical presence of the physician who prescribed or provided the drug to the patient. Reasonable efforts to ensure the patient returns for a follow-up visit are also required.

"Planned Parenthood's utter disregard for the health and safety of women is apalling. It would be a tragedy if web-cam RU 486 abortion came to Wisconsin. Their deadly plan must be stopped in its tracks," said Armacost.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Oct. 12, 2011/Christian Newswire --

As debate over tax-funding of abortions in Obamacare is scheduled in Washington, D.C. for Thursday, an investigation conducted by Operation Rescue and Project Defending Life shows millions of tax dollars are already paying for abortions each year. Operation Rescue has released a short video containing excerpts from an undercover recording showing that Medicaid pays not only for abortions, but completely covers third-trimester abortions for no medical reason whatsoever.

The caller identified herself as having a healthy pregnancy in the 26th week of gestation to a Southwestern Women's Options employee named Sue. She told Sue that the reason she wanted an abortion was because her husband had just lost his job.

"It's shocking that our tax dollars would pay $9,000 for a third-trimester abortion simply because of a lost job. The vast majority of the American people strongly object to their tax money being used in this way," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

Operation Rescue has identified 15 states where Medicaid funds pay for abortions. Those states are Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia.

The undercover caller phoned abortion clinics in 12 of those states and in every case was told that Medicaid would pay for abortions.

Medicaid is a joint government program that is funded completely by tax dollars. Up to fifty percent of the money comes from state taxes and the rest comes from the Federal tax coffers, depending on the state's poverty level.

Federal Medicaid funds are not supposed to cover abortions, but do so in the cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother, exceptions that have been exploited in the past to include more abortions. But it is State money that generally funds abortions to the tune of millions of dollars annually.

For example, California's Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, paid out over $23.6 million to cover abortions in 2007 alone.

Abortion clinics are well aware of Medicaid funding and jump at the chance to use it. One abortion fund website coaches women how to obtain free abortions through Medicaid and the number one way is to go through the abortion clinic for assistance.

"If we are serious about stopping tax-funded abortions, then we need end it in every government program at the State and Federal levels," said Newman. "We encourage everyone to contact their U.S. Congressman this week and demand a complete end to publicly funded abortions."

Contact your Congressman.

Watch the video and listen to the calls.

October 13, 2011/Operation Rescue --

"On a plane bound for the Midwest from an East Coast city, a lanky 55-year-old woman sits in the 12th row window seat, knitting a sweater. Her waist-length, wavy white-blonde hair is held up in a bun behind her head by a pair of silver knitting needles, while another set clacks away at a gray top. Knitting is her way of keeping busy on this and the many other flights she must take for her unusual, and these days much in-demand job as a traveling abortion doctor, or as she puts it, a 'fly-in abortionista.'"

So begins a story published on October 5 in the Santa Fe Reporter describing a "circuit-riding" abortionist who travels to the Midwest to ply her grisly trade. She wears a creepy Stooge mask to hide her identity and dives under blankets in the back seat of vehicles to keep pro-life activists from photographing her.

The article calls her "Clara Taylor" but we know her by her true name, Nicola Louise Moore.

Moore works as an independent contractor for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, doing surgical and medical abortions at their recently opened abortion clinic in Omaha, Nebraska, and at the main office on Army Post Road in Des Moines, Iowa, as well as PPH's three other Iowa abortion clinics in Iowa City, Bettendorf, and Sioux City.

In addition to Iowa and Nebraska, Moore is licensed in Massachusetts, New York, and California, where her license is delinquent.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Tonight I received an e-mail from a friend asking me what are the norms when it comes to a priests' obedience to his bishop.

This is a very interesting question, considering that some see the controversy surrounding Bishop Zurek's decision to call Father Pavone back to Amarillo as simply a matter of obedience.

I think there is a misunderstanding when it comes to this issue, and it shows in the number of articles and posts that seem to frame the debate as being centered on of Father Pavone's obedience to his Bishop.

As I understand it, a Bishop's order is not absolute - consider if a Bishop:

1. Orders a priest to break the seal of confession and reveal the sins of a public figure (without obtaining the penitent's permission).

2. Orders a priest to encourage a woman to have an abortion

3. Commands the priest to run into a burning building

4. Gives a priest an order that is malicious in nature, and is harmful to the priest

Now, this brings into context the reasoning the Bishop gave for calling Father Pavone back to Amarillo - that Fr. Pavone had disobeyed his order to provide a transparent audit of Priests for Life.

Yet, as my friend points out, it appears that Father Pavone had already done so, and that the Bishop's charge is based on a falsehood. If this is true, wouldn't this be an order that is based upon malice and deceit, and in fact in and of itself harmful to the priest?

Even if it were not, what all these folks are missing is that Father Frank has obeyed the Bishop's orders even though he is under no obligation to do so, as I understand it, since he has taken his case to Rome. Under these circumstances, he would be equally as obedient if he never showed up in Amarillo.

This is the point that people who seem to be stuck in ivory towers are missing - Father Frank need not even be in Amarillo, yet he is.

How much more obedience are people asking for?

Are they really saying Fr. Frank should just remain silent and do whatever the Bishop says? The Bishop has not ordered Father Pavone to remain silent on this situation, and in fact the Bishop himself pushed this into public arena. So are these Catholics giving more commands to Father Frank than Bishop Zurek himself has?

If people believe Father Pavone should not defend himself and Priests for Life against a seemingly unjust order, or that Father Frank feels his priesthood is a "jail sentence and a nuisance", or that he is not being respectful to his bishop on "all matters" then they have a mistaken idea of obedience - like the Pharisees, they only recognize the letter of the law, and miss the spirit of it.

When I recently began participating in this year's 40 Days of Prayer for Life to end abortion, in Schenectady, N.Y., I had an epiphany of sorts.

I have always been opposed to abortion. I prayed personally and in church for its end, voted for pro-life candidates, sometimes aided pro-life groups, and occasionally attended prayer rallies. But for the most part, like many Christians, I've been busy with my own life: with work, family, friends and various diversions. Now I'm seeing the abortion issue with greater clarity and urgency.

The 20th century was an era of mass murder. Tens of millions of innocent people were killed in the name of some version of state socialism. The worst perpetrators in terms of numbers killed - Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong - are long dead.

The only major state-sanctioned genocide that began in the 20th century and continues to thrive in the 21st is abortion. The National Right Life Committee states that more than 53 million abortions have occurred in the United States since legalization in 1973 through 2009-10, based on information from the Guttmacher Institute, once a research arm of Planned Parenthood.

What I find scarier than the sheer magnitude of the killing is the lack of any significant outcry against it. We've grown comfortable with genocide as long as it doesn't affect us, our families or friends directly. One quote of debatable origin may help explain this: "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic."

Often we don't get upset unless we can feel the pain or loss suffered by not only the unborn but women and families. Helping us overlook the pain are many media outlets, religious groups, politicians, and educational institutions, which focus on the plight of women with unplanned pregnancies rather than the well-documented emotional and physical toll on post-abortive women. Commonsense alone would say a woman excising a developing human being from her uterus wouldn't be able easily to walk away from this event as if she'd just emptied the garbage.

Somehow abortion forces have made the developing baby the culprit here, a kind of parasite, as if no consenting adults were involved with its conception. The idea of solving problems by getting rid of people is quintessentially Stalinesque. The Soviet dictator was once quoted as saying, "Death solves all problems - no man, no problem."

The dehumanization of the unborn baby as "a blob of tissue" or "the product of conception" helps salve our consciences. The indictment of slavery by the 18th-century French philosopher Charles de Montesquieu applies equally to abortion: "It is impossible for us to suppose these creatures [blacks] to be men, because, allowing them to be men, a suspicion would follow that we ourselves are not Christians."

My wife has astutely pointed out on several occasions that the moral and spiritual decline of the nation is primarily a Christian problem. Hilmar von Campe, a Protestant Christian who was a member of the Hitler Youth and served in the World War II German army, raises the issue of Christian culpability in his book Defeating the Totalitarian Lie. How could it be that a primarily Christian nation could allow the Nazis the commit such "horrendous crimes?" he asks.

His answer: "I went to church, but I was not a Christian. I didn't love God, and neither did they [many other Germans], no matter what they said, because the only way to express your love for God and for Jesus is by obeying our creator's Commandments, and by making them the basis for your national life."

St. John Chrysostom, in a homily on the Acts of the Apostles, may not have gone as far as labeling weak Christians as non-Christians, but he does have something strong to say: "There is nothing colder than a Christian who does not seek to save others."

Can a nation that condones genocide judge rightly on other matters and can it continue to be blessed by God? More than 620,000 men died in the Civil War, with the abolition of slavery being one of the two major issues. Will Mother Teresa's statement about abortion become a prophecy: "Nuclear war is the fruit of abortion."

----------------------------
Eric Retzlaff is a registered nurse; a former newswriter, editor and publicist; and a member of Our Lady Queen of Peace parish in Rotterdam, N.Y.

WASHINGTON/Oct. 6/NRLC --

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of right-to-life groups across the country, today sent a letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives urging them to vote for the Protect Life Act (H.R. 358), sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), when it comes to the floor for a vote next week. National Right to Life intends to include the vote in its scorecard of key pro-life roll calls of the 112th Congress.

As the letter notes, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, Public Law 111-148) "...contained multiple provisions that provide authorizations for subsidies for abortion, both implicit and explicit, and also multiple provisions that opened doors to abortion-expanding administrative actions." National Right to Life's letter observes that the Protect Life Act "...would apply the pro-life principles of the Hyde Amendment to every component of the PPACA, and contains important conscience protections for pro-life health care providers as well."

Public opinion polling conducted during the congressional debate over the bill generally found Americans opposed to the use of federal funds to pay for or subsidize abortion coverage. A post-election poll conducted by The Polling Company in November 2010 found 58% were opposed to "using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion at any time and for any reason."

"The Protect Life Act is similar to the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which passed the House in 2009, but was not included in the final law because of opposition by pro-abortion Senate Democrats and President Obama," said National Right to Life Legislative Director Douglas Johnson. "The Administration's 2010 pretense that ObamaCare did not expand abortion grows more tattered with each passing month. While running for mayor of Chicago, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel boasted of his role in devising a strategy for 'the Stupak Amendment not to exist by law.' Only yesterday, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius gave a call-to-arms speech at a NARAL Pro-Choice America fundraiser in Chicago, in which she said 'we are in a war' with critics of the law."

A full analysis of the need for the Protect Life Act can be found in testimony by Mr. Johnson before the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce on February 9, 2011:

www.nrlc.org/AHC/ProtectLifeActDouglasJohnsonTestimony.pdf.

CINCINNATI, Oct. 6, 2011 /Christian Newswire -- The Ohio health department refuses to face the truth when it comes to controlling abortion facilities. The health department has renewed an arrangement that allows late-term abortion practitioner Martin Haskell to continue doing abortions without complying with all state laws. But this Saturday, the Pro-Life Action League will speak for those who are given no voice at Haskell's clinic and others, as the Face the Truth Tour brings the ugly truth to Ohio's third largest city.

On October 8, pro-life witnesses will line the roads at selected locations in Cincinnati, holding pictures of beautiful preborn babies juxtaposed with huge graphic photographs of aborted babies. The dramatic display will visually expose the tragedy of their tiny broken bodies -- an ugly truth that Americans must not ignore.

This controversial tactic always generates some level of offended opposition, but it is without doubt an honest one. "It's not pretty," agrees one supporter of the Pro-Life Action League, the organization coordinating the tour. The Face the Truth tour allows people to confront the horrible injustice of abortion -- and when they do, they are more likely to do something to try and prevent that injustice.

Eric Scheidler, director of the Pro-Life Action League, which has coordinated Truth Tours for eleven years, has seen these Tours generate immediate positive results. "Again and again, women have stopped to thank us," he explained. "Women who were considering abortion or even scheduled to have abortions had a change of heart when they saw our pictures." And that's why the Pro-Life Action League will continue to organize this important public education campaign.

Participants in Cincinnati's Face the Truth Tour will begin sharing their life-saving message at 9 a.m. along Boudinot and Glenway Avenues. At 11:30 a.m., Face the Truth will line the streets at Galbraith and Kenwood Roads in Kenwood, bringing drivers a dose of graphic reality. At 3 p.m., the Pro-Life Action League and friends will take the lifesaving message to the final location of the day, Colerain Avenue and Springdale Road in Northgate. Time and location details for the Cincinnati Face the Truth Tour are available at prolifeaction.org/hotline/2011/cincinnatitour.

To learn more about the Face the Truth Tour and the life-affirming work of the Pro-Life Action League, view the two-minute video here.

October 6, 2011/Cincinnati, OH/Operation Rescue -

Documents obtained by Operation Rescue reveal that an obstetrician, William T. Bowers II, who has been accepted by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) to offer emergency hospital care for botched abortion patients of late-term abortionist Martin Haskell and his associates, has been disciplined in Kentucky and banned from the practice of obstetrics for five years. He also faces further discipline in Ohio.

Bowers was named in the ODH variance because Haskell and other abortionists in his employment lack hospital privileges as required by law. The variance allowed Haskell's late-term abortion mill in Sharonville to stay in business as long as two other physicians agreed to provide hospital care whenever Haskell or his associates inflict injuries on abortion patients.

In January, 2011, Bowers was placed on five years of probation and ordered to cease the practice of obstetrics after the gross mismanagement of a wanted pregnancy resulted in a dead child. Bowers settled a claim with the parents for $250,000. Bowers has also been ordered not to perform any obstetric procedure and take additional training classes.

A review of five other medical charts from his Kentucky practice indicated that Bowers failed to meet the standard of care for each of those five patients.

The Medical Board in Kentucky found that Bowers conduct "boarders on gross ignorance and is malpractice." His treatment of patients was "below minimum standards and constitutes gross negligence."

On May 11, 2011, the State Medical Board of Ohio issued a letter to Bowers stating that it intended to determine whether it should also discipline Bowers based on his negligent behavior in Kentucky. It is common for state medical boards to impose discipline for conduct in another state. Bowers was given 30 days to request a hearing, but the records do not indicate if he ever did.

"This new information about Bowers incompetence reinforces our belief that the ODH acted improperly and with poor judgment in expanding Haskell's variance to include Bowers," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

"Now, after a woman has been seriously injured by Haskell's abortionists, who cannot meet the legal standards of Ohio's laws, she is rushed off to a hospital where Bowers awaits to inflict his substandard brand of medicine upon her. This presents completely unacceptable risks to women. In order to restore public confidence in the Department and protect the public, the ODH must rescind Haskell's variance immediately."

Contact the ODH and ask them to repeal Haskell's variance:

Dr. Theodore Wymyslo, Ohio Department of Health
E-mail: Director@odh.ohio.gov
Phone: 614-466-2253

Read Bower's Disciplinary Documents
Background

Sharonville, OH/October 4, 2011/Operation Rescue --

The Mayor of Sharonville has released a statement taking to task the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) for expanding a "variance" for late-term abortionist Martin Haskell that gives him special permission to violate health and safety standards even in light of botched late-term abortions and the cancellation of Haskell's hospital privileges.

Mayor Virgil Lovitt, who also serves as the President of the Sharonville Board of Health, expressed concerns about Haskell's abortion business when it relocated to Sharonville from Cincinnati last year.

"It is the belief of the Sharonville Board of Health that this waiver/variance was improperly granted and compromises the health, safety and welfare of the general public," Lovitt wrote to the ODH at that time. Lovitt was concerned that Haskell's Women's Med Center did not comply with the law requiring that abortionists maintain valid Ambulatory Transfer agreements or have admitting privileges at local qualified hospitals.

In July, Mercy Hospital informed Haskell that his courtesy privileges would not be renewed.

Fears for the safety of women were soon realized. In today's statement, Lovitt reveals that Haskell's Sharonville abortion clinic has already caused at least two serious abortion complications.

"Haskell's two-day process for late term abortions has already produced one stillborn baby in a hotel toilet and another in a car on the way to an ER. These complications are difficult to track, and there are probably more than we know," stated Lovitt.

Lovitt went on to describe a meeting that took place in August , 2011, where he and several pro-life leaders discussed the Haskell variance issue with the new director of the Ohio Department of Health, Dr. Ted Wymyslo.

"In that meeting I begged the new director not to liberalize the variance if Martin Haskell's privileges at an area hospital changed," he said.

ODH records dated September 13, 2011, show that the ODH has done just that. Haskell's partner, Roslyn Kade, along with two Ob/Gyns with privileges at The Christ Hospital, will now be allowed to substitute for Women's Med Center abortionists who cannot meet the legal requirements.

"We should all be appalled that the health and safety of women takes a back seat to the profit-margin of this late-term abortion business in Ohio," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "The fact that Haskell, who is 71, and several of his abortionists cannot get local hospital privileges should send up a red flag. The laws were enacted for a reason, and to grant abortionists special permission to violate those laws is as dangerous as it is wrong."

Contact:

Dr. Theodore Wymyslo, Ohio Department of Health
E-mail: Director@odh.ohio.gov
Phone: 614-466-2253

Read the Documents: (Courtesy of Paula Westwood, Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati)

Request for and ODH letter granting expanded variance (Sept. 13, 2011)
Letter from Mayor Lovitt (Oct. 4, 2011)

Background article from OR

Operation Rescue's 3-part Exposé on Late-term Abortionist Martin Haskell: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3

by Karla Dial/CitizenLink

The New Hampshire Executive Council last week sent a letter to the federal government, formally protesting the Obama administration's decision to override the council's vote this summer to defund Planned Parenthood.

The Executive Council -- a five-member elected body that makes decisions about how to spend taxpayer funds in the Granite State -- voted 3-2 in June to revoke a $1.8 million contract with Planned Parenthood. But in mid-September, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inked its own $1.1 million contract with the abortion seller's New Hampshire affiliates -- meaning it will give funds directly to them, without first subjecting them to the Executive Council's decision-making authority.

"They didn't even contact the Executive Council," said Michael Norton, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), who was contacted by three members of the council last week. "The sovereign state of New Hampshire made a decision it believes is in the best interests of the citizens, and that decision has simply been run roughshod over by the Obama administration."

The three councilmen who voted to defund Planned Parenthood -- David Wheeler, Dan St. Hilaire and Ray Wieczorek--asked ADF for advice on how to handle the issue. The result was a letter sent to HHS and the Government Accountability Office asking them to reverse the decision and void the new contract. They are waiting for a response.

In the meantime, Norton said, ADF will likely file a Freedom of Information Act request with the government, seeking records on the communications between HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Jeanne Shaheen, one of New Hampshire's two U.S. senators, who urged the executive branch to force the state to fund Planned Parenthood....

Read entire article here.

In 2005 a nineteen-year old Canadian woman strangled her newborn baby and threw his tiny body over a fence. Twice a jury found her guilty of second-degree murder. Upon appeal the conviction was overturned and the baby's killer was given a three-year suspended sentence and will spend no time in jail. She may, however, spend 16 days behind bars for throwing the baby over the fence.

Does that not make your blood boil?

Evidently the Justice's blood remained tepid while she went about the business of suspending Katrina Effert's sentence. According to CBC News, Effert, "silently wept as Justice Joanne Veit outlined the reasons for the suspended sentence. Efferts will have to abide by conditions for the next three years but she won't spend time behind bars for strangling her own son."

After all was said and done, Judge Veit declared, "Naturally, Canadians are grieved by an infant's death, especially at the hands of the infant's mother, but Canadians also grieve for the mother."

I'm not a Canadian but my good sense tells me that not many of them are grieving for the woman who strangled her newborn baby and got off with a slap on the wrist! Where is the justice for the baby boy whose life was cut short? Has the father of the baby received justice for the loss of his son? The baby also had grandparents. CBC News reported that the judge had no pity for them:

In her judgment, the judge rejected arguments from the Crown that the single father and the grandparent also face "the same stresses of the mind" as a mother who kills her own baby.

The fact that Canada has no abortion laws reflects that "while many Canadians undoubtedly view abortion as a less than ideal solution to unprotected sex and unwanted pregnancy, they generally understand, accept and sympathize with the onerous demands pregnancy and childbirth exact from mothers, especially mothers without support," she writes.

So, was what Efferts did the justifiable act of a desperate woman or was it the killing of a legal person?...

Read in full here.