Pro-Life News

President Bush Supports Birth Control, Title X Family Planning Programs: Letter from Administration

Maloney asks president to help ensure
access to abortifacient birth control

WASHINGTON, DC -- Yes, the President apparently does support birth control. Nearly a year to the day after a White House spokesman was first asked whether or not President Bush supports birth control, and more than 300 days since the first Congressional letter asking the president the same question, the Bush administration finally gave an answer (letter from administration).

The Honorable Carolyn B. Maloney
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 205 15

Dear Ms. Maloney:

Thank you for your letter to President Bush to request his views on access to birth control. The President has asked that I respond on his behalf.

This Administration supports the availability of safe and effective products and services to assist responsible adults in making decisions about preventing or delaying conception. The Department of Health and Human Services faithfully executes laws establishing Federal programs to provide contraception and family planning services. The Title X Family Planning Program and Medicaid are each significant providers of family planning services.

Additionally, this Administration strongly supports teaching abstinence to young people as the only 100 percent effective means of preventing pregnancy, HIV, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

I will provide this response to the other signatories of your letter.

Sincerely yours,

John 0. Agwunobi
Assistant Secretary for Health

Now that the president has apparently affirmed that he is pro-birth control, Maloney is asking for him to reverse anti-birth control actions by his administration and to help in the effort to preserve access to birth control. Maloney sent a letter to the president today outlining three specific instances in which the administration has helped block access to birth control and asking the president to reverse those actions. Full story...

Right to Life Convention Wants Momentum To Continue

The National Right to Life Committee kicked off its convention in Nashville Thursday, hoping to continue what organizers called a “very exciting” time for the pro-life movement as they say more Americans are being converted to their cause. Helping move the cause forward are technology, education and both having a pro-life president and a majority of pro-lifers in Congress, said Dr. Wanda Franz, the president of National Right to Life. Full story...

Related "Momentum"

Bush's Abortion Funding

Bush's Abortion Funding, cont'd:

Bush Signs Title X Funding Increase for 2005

Bush's Medicaid Abortions Funding

Bush's Planned Parenthood Funding

Bush agrees to UN Family Planning

Bush Gives $59 Million to UNFPA Abortion-Fund

Federally Funded National Stem Cell Bank

Bush's Moral Bankruptcy

Bush is not pro-life

George Bush on Sodomy

Bush’s Position on Sodomy

The Sodomite GOP

Posted by Editor at 07:07 AM

Mother Gunned Down After Refusing An Abortion

A mother has paid with her life in defence of her unborn child. A 35-year-old man is to face murder charges on Friday in connection with the triple killing of his girlfriend, their two-year-old toddler and her sister early on Wednesday. He is suspected of gunning down 30-year-old Patronella Mkona, her sister, Charmaine Mkona, 35, and their daughter, Latoya, when she apparently refused to abort their second child. Police said that when the suspect and Mkona argued at 2am at her NY89 home in Gugulethu, Cape Town, over the abortion, he produced a firearm and opened fire. Police spokesperson Billy Jones said the man fled on foot, but was apprehended by police a short while later at a mall. Full story...

Abortion Protestors Close To Settlement With School

COLORADO -- Keith Mason and Jonathan O’Toole, members of Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, are close to reaching a settlement agreement with the Colorado School of Mines, O’Toole said. In July of 2004 O’Toole and Mason filed a lawsuit claiming their First Amendment rights were violated after they were arrested for protesting on the sidewalk of a public street on the engineering university’s campus without a permit in March of that same year. They sued the school claiming their First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights had been violated. They also claimed false arrest and that the school’s permit policy was unconstitutional, O’Toole said. In March a federal district court dismissed all claims except those concerning the school’s permit policy, O’Toole said. Full story...

Protesters Call For Investigation Into All State Abortion Clinics

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Protesters called for an investigation into every abortion clinic in the state of Alabama. The group called “Sanctity of Life Ministries” gathered outside the Summit Medical Clinic Wednesday to hold a remembrance ceremony for the fetus they called “Baby Alabama.” The clinic surrendered its license last week after being accused of allowing an unqualified staffer to give an ultrasound. Investigators said the results were inaccurate, and the staffer illegally prescribed the abortion pill RU 486. The state is still investigating the complaint. Full story...

Flashback
Pro-Lifers Say Baby Was Murdered At Birmingham Clinic
While pro-choice groups admit there was a serious breach in procedure, pro-life advocates are calling for even deeper and broader investigations. By surrendering their license, and thus avoiding a court hearing, officials are allowing the owners of Summit Medical Center to sidestep a criminal investigation that could produce evidence for a grand jury indictment for criminal negligence and possible homicide charges.

Man Accused Of Plotting Clinic Attack Pleads Not Guilty

The Forestville man accused of plotting an attack on a Berwyn Heights abortion clinic pleaded not guilty June 22 in federal court. Robert Weiler Jr. was indicted Monday by a federal grand jury on charges of possessing and making an unregistered destructive device, illegally possessing a firearm and possessing a stolen firearm. Weiler is being detained in federal custody pending his trial, which is set for Aug. 22 at 9:30 a.m. He faces up to 10 years for each of the four counts, as well as more than $500,000 in fines. Full story...

'Mommy, What Is That?'

Four large trucks bearing graphic images of aborted fetuses drove around downtown Washington for two hours Tuesday in hopes of drumming up support for pro-life political candidates. Each truck had a different 22-foot-long image of a fetus aborted in the first trimester. The demonstration, a program of the Ohio-based Center for Bioethical Reform Midwest, will be making its way across Pennsylvania in the upcoming days and weeks. "If you want to know what abortion is, you need to see it," said executive director Mark Harrington. "If the pictures are over the edge, then abortions are over the edge. We hope people will see this." Full story...

Cincinnati Clinic Told To Release Abortion Files

Cincinnati -- The Cincinnati Planned Parenthood Clinic must give a family that is suing the clinic all records on abortion patients younger than 18, a judge ruled. The documents are being sought in a lawsuit by the family of a teenage girl. The suit alleges that Planned Parenthood never got parental consent to perform an abortion on the girl, as required by Ohio law. Clinic President Becki Brenner said the clinic will appeal Wednesday's ruling by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker. Full story...

Police Believe a Hotel Guest Left Dead Infant

There's new information about the body of an infant girl found in the trash at the Mirage. Police said they believe a hotel guest was responsible, not a worker at the hotel. A worker at the Mirage made the gruesome discovery Tuesday evening. Police say there were no signs of abuse on the infant, but new leads are pointing to a tourist. A hotel worker found the baby on a conveyer belt on the first floor of the hotel. There are trash chutes on every floor of the hotel. Access to those chutes is restricted to employees only. Lt. Roberts says he doesn't believe an employee purposely put the baby in the chute. Lt. Roberts said, "A worker could have unknowingly, through the course of doing their job, dropped the trash down the trash chute." Full story...

Baby's Body Found Wrapped In Plastic

RIVERDALE, Ga. -- Police say the body of a newborn baby was found wrapped in plastic this morning on the doorstep of a Clayton County apartment. According to police, Petronila Duran of Riverdale found the baby as she left her home at the Central Park Apartments off Georgia Highway 85. At first, she thought something had been left for her by relatives, by her husband checked the package and found the body. Full story...

Pregnant Woman Loses Baby After Puzzling Attack

A pregnant woman was shot in the neck just before 5 a.m. in a home in the 2100 block of Bluebird Street in San Diego. Paramedics gave the woman CPR and took her to a local hospital for treatment. Her baby died because of her injuries. The woman was in serious condition, police said. Full story...

Canada’s Plan B Sales Double, Linked to Purchase by U.S. Women

POMONA, New York -- Emergency contraception sales in Canada have almost doubled since Health Canada last year made prescriptions unnecessary for the abortifacient drug Plan B. Researchers are speculating that at least part of the increase is due to American women purchasing the medication over the border or on the Internet, the Boston Globe reported yesterday. Full story...

First Bill Restricting Abortion Tabled in Canada Under Conservative Government

OTTAWA -- Liberal MP Paul Steckle stood today in the House of Commons to introduce the first piece of pro-life legislation in the current parliament under the Conservative Government. In introducing Bill C-338, 'An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (procuring a miscarriage after 20 weeks of gestation),' Steckle called on the House to debate the issue noting that Canada was one of the only countries in the world with absolutely no protection for the unborn in law whatsoever. The bill would restrict abortion after twenty weeks gestation; currently in Canada abortions are performed at tax-payer expense up to birth. Full story...

Three Million Babies Born After Fertility Treatment

PRAGUE -- More than 3 million babies have been born following fertility treatment since the birth of the first IVF child nearly three decades ago, according to a report released on Wednesday. Louise Brown made medical history when she was born in Britain after her mother had in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Since then the number of children conceived each year through assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has risen from 30,000 in 1989 when data was first collected to 200,000 in 2002. Full story...

China Forces Woman to Abort Baby at Seven Months

COMMUNISTS FAMILY PLANNING -- A 25-year-old unmarried woman was seven months pregnant when staff members from the local government family planning office forcibly took her to a clinic to give her an abortion. Wang Liping lives in a suburb of Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. She became pregnant in November 2004. Because her boyfriend could not afford a wedding, they did not get married right away. She is the oldest sibling in her family, and her parents were excited about having grandchildren. Without a marriage certificate, however, she could not receive a government permit to give birth. Full story...

Judge: Turn Over Abortion Files, Ruling goes against Planned Parenthood

A judge ordered a Planned Parenthood Clinic to turn over all records for abortion patients under 18 to the lawyers for the family of a teen who had an abortion at the clinic. Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker's decision is believed to be only the second time a Planned Parenthood clinic has been ordered to make records available, and the first time during a civil case. Attorney Brian Hurley, who represents the family, said the information is needed to determine whether the abortion given to his client without parental consent is an isolated issue or a pattern of activity. He said the patients' names will be blacked out on their records. Full story...

Gay 'Pro-Life' Group to Have Presence at Sodomite Pride Parade

The 'Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians' hopes to educate Pride celebration crowds this weekend that the fight for the rights of the unborn and the rights of sexual minorities have a lot in common, but pro-choice activists call that absurd. Though both camps claim to desire a common ground – namely preventing unwanted pregnancy and supporting healthy mothers and youth – they have markedly contrasting interpretations of abortion's place in women's lives. PLAGAL, founded in 1990 in Washington, D.C. and now based in Massachusetts, supports laws that hold abortion clinics to the same safety standards as hospitals, requiring a registered nurse, malpractice insurance, and state licensing. Full story...

States Probe Limits Of Abortion Policy

The U.S. Supreme Court looms large in the history of abortion in the United States, but state capitols from the 1800s to now have been the crucibles of America’s evolving laws on a woman’s right to end a pregnancy. The initial trendsetter was Massachusetts, which in the mid-1800s became the first state to outlaw abortion, a practice legal in colonial times. This year, South Dakota is attempting to change history with a strict new ban on abortion geared to challenge the high court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which established constitutional protections for women seeking an abortion. Full story...

Police Investigate Fetus Discovery

City workers again make a gruesome discovery in Reading's sewer system. For the second time in less than four months, a human fetus has been found, but this time there will be an investigation. WFMZ's Joel D. Smith is live in our Berks studio with more. Joel? Wendy, Rob, the first time this happened, the fetus was determined to be less than 16 weeks old, thus not a human according to the law. This time the fetus, a female, is estimated to be at least 20 weeks old. It's why baby "Jane Doe" has been given a death certificate, and why the Coroner's office is worried this could be the start of a trend. Full story...

Grocery Store Owner Refuses to Stock Abortifacient Pills, Pro-Aborts Plan Boycott

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Activists are planning a monthlong boycott of two grocery stores here after the owners said they won't stock morning-after contraceptive pills. The controversy may affect business at the two popular Thriftway stores owned by Stormans Inc., but that won't change the policy, co-owner Kevin Stormans said. "We've made our decision, and it's what we have determined. We're not going to change our position based on what happens. It's not a negotiable issue," he told The Olympian newspaper in Wednesday's editions. Full story...

Womb Transplants 'In Five Years'?

Womb transplants in humans should be possible within five years, say scientists in Sweden who have successfully transplanted uteruses in sheep. The procedure would allow women who have functioning ovaries but no womb to carry their own children, and the researchers say they have already been contacted by hundreds of women who are interested in having such a transplant. Full story...

State High Court To Hear Lesbian Fertility Case

The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of a lesbian who was denied artificial insemination at a Southern California fertility clinic. The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund is representing Guadalupe "Lupita" Benitez in her case against the doctors at North Coast Women's Care Medical Group. The court is expected to hear the case next year, perhaps at about the same time it reviews the state ban on same-sex marriage. The Alliance Defense Fund, representing the clinic and the two physicians who refused treatment to Benitez, said the case was about a person's right "to exercise your faith as a Christian without being forced and compelled to do something that would violate your religious beliefs.'' Full story...

Stem Cell Institute Auditor Refuses State Controller's Request for Audit Documents

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The California State Controller's Quality Control Review of the stem cell institute's first audit raises troubling questions about access to documents, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) said. The audit by Gilbert Associates Inc., covering Nov. 2, 2004 to June 30, 2005, found that financial statements for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) "present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position of CIRM." However, the state controller's office in its review said that the auditing firm refused to provide copies of working papers that the firm considered proprietary unless the controller's office signed a letter that agreed to treat the materials confidentially. Full story...

Why Is It So Hard To Store Your Baby's 'Life-Saving' Stem Cells?

Blood cells from your baby's umbilical cord can be stored to fight deadly diseases such as leukaemia and sickle cell. So why is it so hard to find a hospital that will do it? Judy Hobson investigates. Full story...

Students Make Case For Virginity

According to Nichole Murray-Swank, an assistant professor at Loyola College in Maryland, general surveys as well as her own research indicate that 70 percent of 19-year-olds have had sexual intercourse. Just last month, a study in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) even called into question an earlier statistical link between virginity pledges, first popularized by Christian groups, and a delay in teen sex. But for many, the case for virginity is far from closed. Full story...

Canada's Sexual-Consent Law Has Foes Lining Up

A proposed law to raise the age of sexual consent, to be introduced tomorrow, is emerging as a divisive issue among groups representing children and youth. The legislation would raise the legal age for sex to 16 from the current 14 and contain a "close-in-age" exemption so that teens within five years of each other in age could still have sexual relations. Full story...

Taxpayer-Funded Crisis Pregnancy Centers 'Deceptive,' Say Pro-Aborts

A professional group of abortion providers is calling for the halt of taxpayer funding for pregnancy centers that are "misleading" and "deceptive" in their hidden religious agenda. The National Abortion Federation (NAF) complained in its recently released report (PDF format) -- entitled"Crisis Pregnancy Centers: An Affront to Choice" -- "That there is no accountability for the distribution of funds." Also in its report, the NAF quotes the Pearson Institute, which was started in the 1970s to teach other anti-abortion centers how to open, as saying: "A killer, who in this case is the girl who wants to kill her baby, has no right to information that will help her kill her baby." But the report fails to mention that the Pearson Institute is no longer in operation because its approach was rejected by the 'taxpayer-funded side' of the pregnancy center community. As of 2002, $6 million went to centers that described themselves as CPCs. Full story...

Related
National Abortion Federation Report Unmasks
Deceptive Tactics of Crisis Pregnancy Centers
WASHINGTON -- The National Abortion Federation (NAF) released a comprehensive report detailing the many ways Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) have deceived and intimidated women.

Pro-Life Activists Take To The Skies Overhead

MINNEAPOLIS -- It's controversial, extremely graphic and the pictures are disturbing. For the past few days, a plane has flown around the Twin Cities pulling a banner with a picture allegedly of an aborted fetus. Last weekend, it flew over the Minneapolis Stone Arch Festival and buzzed over the lakes. On Monday, it circled around downtown Minneapolis. The flying billboard campaign is sponsored by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform. The message is creating a lot of buzz. Full story...

Group Surveys Judges On Abortion, Gay Marriage

A new conservative group headed by a Republican state senator has asked Tennessee Supreme Court justices and appeals judges seeking re-election to provide their views in writing about same-sex marriage and abortion. "Family Action Council seeks your views on a number of political and legal issues and requests you to respond," the new group's executive director, Sen. David Fowler, R-Signal Mountain, wrote in the June 5 survey. Full story...

Police Seize Murdered Unborn Baby To Find Out Paternity

CLEVELAND, OH -- The DNA of an aborted fetus will be tested in Ohio in an effort to find out who got a 14-year-old girl pregnant. The girl's mother tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper that she hopes the tests will "lead to a conviction" of a teenage boy who the girl says raped her. Cleveland police said they try three or four times a year to obtain an aborted fetus in rape or incest cases. Police officers used a search warrant to seize the fetus from an abortion clinic last week. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation is performing the DNA tests. Full story...

Teen Accused of Intentionally Killing Unborn Child May Face Tougher Charges

JACKSONVILLE, IL -- The Morgan County state's attorney's office is seeking permission to file a charge of intentional homicide of an unborn child against a 16-year-old Jacksonville girl. The girl allegedly was the driver of a sport utility vehicle that struck another local teen June 7. The victim was pregnant, and lost her 6-month-old fetus because of the injuries she suffered, authorities said. State's Attorney Chris Reif Monday filed a petition to add three more charges stemming from the incident, which occurred on the east side of Central Park Plaza. The accused girl, who is being held in Peoria County's juvenile detention facility, already faces two aggravated battery charges - one because of the June 7 incident and another for an earlier confrontation with the same girl. Full story...

Yates Trial Highlights Power Of An Expert Witness

During the murder trial of Andrea Yates in 2002, only one of a dozen mental health experts who testified concluded that the Houston mom was legally sane when she drowned her five children in the family bathtub. That witness, called by prosecutors, was Park Dietz, a renowned forensic psychiatrist. As the prosecutors' only mental health expert, Dietz and his testimony helped convict Yates. The conviction later was overturned. When Yates is retried beginning Thursday, much of the attention again will be on Dietz, who is back on the prosecution's witness list. And now, there are questions about Dietz's conclusions in the Yates case because of his testimony in another trial involving a Texas mother who killed two of her children. Full story...

Fetus Found At Sewage Pumping Station

READING, PA -- A fetus was found by Reading Public Works employees Monday at the sewage pumping station at Sixth and Canal streets. The Berks County coroner's office is investigating. The fetus was found about 11:15 a.m. and was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:02 p.m. by Deputy Coroner Terri L. Straka. An autopsy is scheduled for this morning in Lehigh Valley Hospital near Allentown. It was the second fetus found in the city this year. Full story...

Family Seeks Law On Fetuses

A petition will ask the Legislature to act
in response to the death of a pregnant teen.
In the wake of their daughter’s death, members of Chelsea Brooks’ family hope to change Kansas law. Annie Brooks, Chelsea’s 17-year-old sister, said the family planned to start a petition supporting a law that would mandate that anyone who kills a pregnant woman be charged in the death of a fetus. Kansas is one of 16 states where killing a pregnant woman is no different from murdering someone who is not expecting a child, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. For the last four years, Kansas lawmakers have debated a bill allowing those who take a pregnant woman’s life to be charged with two murders. Full story...

Conn. Challenges 'Choose Life' Group

A Yonkers pro-adoption group that is suing New York and New Jersey to get its "Choose Life" license plates on the road now faces a new challenge in Connecticut. The Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles recently rescinded an organizational fundraising plate that it granted in 2003 after charges that the group does not have a base of operations there. Full story...

NPLAC Stem Cell Symposium on Capitol Hill

The National Pro-Life Action Center on Capitol Hill (NPLAC) -- in conjunction with representatives from several other organizations -- will host, "The Cutting Edge: Modern Science and Ethics in Stem Cell Research," a symposium that will address the reasons why the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research is ethically, morally and financially corrupt. Full story...

Drunkenness, Fornacation, and Abortion in Coast Guard Cadet's Alleged Rape Case

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- A woman who claims she was raped by a fellow Coast Guard cadet testified at a court-martial Tuesday that she remembers almost nothing of that night because she drank about two bottles of wine and blacked out. The woman, now an officer, said that it was not until the next morning that she learned that she and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Webster Smith, had had sex. She said Smith told her the condom had broken and recommended she seek emergency contraception, but she did not know whether to believe him. Weeks later, she got a positive result on a home pregnancy test. Testimony during pretrial hearings suggested that the woman had an abortion, but the judge refused to allow any medical records into evidence Tuesday, saying it would prejudice the jury. Jurors were told only that the woman did not carry the child to term. Defense attorneys pointed out that her relationship with Smith continued after the alleged rape. Full story...

Wearing 'Purity Rings' Is Banned At Girls' School

A school has banned Christian pupils from wearing rings that symbolise the teenagers' belief in chastity until marriage. Youngsters have been ordered to remove the 'purity rings' because they contravene the school's uniform policy. Millais School, an all-girls' comprehensive in West Sussex, has a strict 'no jewellery' rule, allowing only small stud earrings. But parents point out that the school allows Muslim and Sikh pupils to wear headscarves or kara bracelets as a means of religious expression. Full story...

Pregnant Teen Fights With State To Be Placed In Maternity Home

Protesting that state officials are trying to brush her aside and send her away, the pregnant teen known as L.G. pleaded with a juvenile court judge on Tuesday to place her in a maternity home rather than the high-risk residential facility that a prosecutor and Department of Children & Families attorney recommended. Circuit Judge Peter Blanc committed L.G., 15, to a Level 8 Department of Juvenile Justice program suggested by the state, but gave her attorney a week to find a Level 6 facility that would address her flight risk and allow L.G. to keep her baby with her. Blanc said he will change the sentence if he is convinced a lower-risk facility would work for the chronic runaway. Full story...

Anti-Abortion Group Pressures Dumont Hospital Board

Acadian Catholics are being asked to lobby board members at a Moncton hospital to prevent abortions from being performed there. The call comes as the directors of the George Dumont hospital consider whether the facility should start offering the procedure. The hospital board will meet privately on Wednesday to discuss the matter, then hold a public meeting on Wednesday evening. Full story...

Government's Big Lie: Babies With Undiagnosed Mental Illness

To the federal government, many newborns, toddlers and preschoolers are undiagnosed mental cases with dire need of "treatment" (read: drugs). Following the appalling trend of labeling school children with an ever-expanding list of mental disorders and medicating them with the cocaine-class of drugs like Adderall and Ritalin, government is promoting universal mental health screening and treatment " beginning with babies. Full story...

Charities To Benefit From South Africa's Abortion Case

TWO child-abuse organisations are to benefit by R600 000 ($83,400) from the illegal actions of a Durban doctor and midwife who pleaded guilty on Tuesday to performing more than 1 400 illegal abortions in what is considered to be South Africa's biggest case of its kind. Full story...

S.D. Abortion Law Goes to Voters

PIERRE, S.D. -- Voters will have the final say on South Dakota's tough new ban that outlaws almost all abortions. Secretary of State Chris Nelson said that the law's opponents had collected enough signatures to put a question on the Nov. 7 ballot asking voters if the law should go into effect as planned or be dumped. The state's abortion law, among the strictest in the nation, bans the procedure in all cases except when necessary to save a woman's life, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Both sides pledged Monday to conduct all-out campaigns on the issue. Full story...

Related
On HB 1215: An Open Letter to the Citizens of South Dakota
By Gary C. Velder - Newell, SD
All those who are promoting abortion or complaining that HB 1215 "violates their rights" or imposes a "religious philosophy "or "think this bill is too extreme;" are they also ready to scrap our "extremist" Declaration of Independence and Constitution, too? Has the moral decay of our nation so crippled our thinking, that we have forgotten the lessons of history?

Justices Agree to Expand Review Time of 2003 'Partial Birth' Abortion Ban

By Linda Greenhouse / The New York Times
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court, acting on Monday over the Bush administration's objection, expanded its review of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act to include additional challenges to the constitutionality of the 2003 federal law. The justices had already agreed in February to take up the issue in their next term. That argument is now likely to be postponed until November or December, making the issue less visible than it would otherwise have been during the weeks leading up to the 2006 Congressional elections. Full story...

Related:
Court to Address Abortion Restrictions
By Amy Goldstein / The Washington Post
The Supreme Court said yesterday that it will broaden its review of whether a federal law banning a controversial abortion method is constitutional, taking the second case in four months that will reveal whether the court has shifted significantly on abortion rights with two new conservative members.

Supreme Court to Hear Second 'Partial Birth' Abortion Ban Case
By Joe Shaulis / JURIST
The US Supreme Court on Monday announced it would hear a second case challenging the constitutionality of the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The court granted certiorari in Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood, a Bush administration appeal from the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco, which struck down the law because it did not make an exception to preserve the health of the woman seeking the abortion.

Partial-Birth Ban of No Effect
By Jim Rudd / The Covenant News
"The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act only applies to a "living fetus" -- and there is nothing in the Act to prevent abortionists from killing viable late term babies in the womb first! If the "fetus" is killed before being pulled out of the womb then the "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act" is moot!"

Man Indicted In Alleged Plot To Attack Abortion Clinic

A Prince George's County man who authorities allege was planning an attack on a College Park abortion clinic was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury in Greenbelt on weapon and bomb-manufacturing charges, the Maryland U.S. attorney's office announced. The defendant, Robert F. Weiler, 25, of Forestville surrendered to police June 8 in Western Maryland. He was indicted on charges of possessing and making an unregistered destructive device, illegally possessing a firearm, and possessing a stolen firearm, federal prosecutors said. The maximum penalty for each of the counts is 10 years in prison. The counts relating to the destructive device carry a fine of $10,000, and the gun counts carry a fine of $250,000. Full story...

South Korean Stem Cell Scientist Goes On Trial

SEOUL -- South Korea began the trial of disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk on Tuesday with prosecutors charging the man once hailed as a national hero with fraud and embezzlement. Hwang was indicted last month after prosecutors said he was the mastermind of an elaborate scheme to manipulate research results to make it look like his team had actually produced stem cell lines through cloning human embryos. Full story...

Beijing 'Miracle' Cures with Cells from Abortion are Bogus say US Researchers

LOS ANGELES -- An independent study has disproved the claims of “miracle” cures made by a Beijing doctor, Hongyun Huang, who uses cells derived from aborted foetal tissue. Huang’s clinic has been the destination for hundreds of clients from around the world willing to pay thousands of dollars to be cured of illnesses where conventional medicine has failed. The study, published in the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, shows that it is likely Huang is falsifying his results. Huang’s surgery involves drilling holes in the skull or spinal column of patients and injecting the cells directly. Full story...

Lawyers For Stem-Cell Research Institute Ask Appeals Court For Speedy Review

Lawyers for California's $3 billion stem-cell research institute Wednesday asked an appeals court for an expedited review of two lawsuits challenging the institute's constitutionality. The suits -- backed by the California Family Bioethics Council, People's Advocate and National Tax Limitation Foundation -- were dismissed on April 21 by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw. But the groups have filed appeals with the First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco, and their attorneys have vowed to take the cases to the California Supreme Court if necessary. Full story...

Constitution Party Nixes Abortion

TAMPA II: Constitution Party Refused To Uphold
Its Own Constitution/Platform On Abortion
By John Lofton / The American View
I have covered national politics for more than 40 years, since Barry Goldwater in 1964. I have — by God’s grace alone — been a Christian since 1980. In virtually every controversy I have covered during these four-decades-plus both sides contested some facts in these cases; there was some truth on both sides of these conflicts. But, in Tampa, Florida, this was not true. Full story...

Ortho-McNeil Sued On Birth-Control

NEW YORK -- Ortho-McNeil is facing a lawsuit brought by a plaintiff claiming injury from the firm's Ortho Evra contraceptive patch. The New York-based law firm Parker & Waichman said it is suing Ortho-McNeil -- a division of Johnson & Johnson -- on behalf of a 37-year-old woman and her husband. The plaintiff's complaint -- filed in a New Jersey District Court -- alleges she suffered a bilateral pulmonary embolism after using Ortho Evra for just over one year. The plaintiff claims she suffered the injury June 17 of last year and had to be hospitalized. "There is a strong likelihood that prolonged, or even permanent, treatment with blood thinners will be necessary," Parker & Waichman said in a statement. In November 2005 Ortho McNeil and the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about an increased risk of blood clots associated with Ortho Evra, the firm noted. Full story...

Episcopalians Pick Pro-Gay President

UPI
COLUMBUS -- Episcopalian Church leaders picked a pro-gay female bishop as their leader in a sign of the U.S. church's disposition to leave the Anglican Communion. Though any formal separation between the Episcopal Church and the 77-million member worldwide Anglican Communion could take years, the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori, the 51-year-old bishop of the Diocese of Nevada, indicates that the Episcopal Church's leaders are indisposed to apologize for consecrating an openly homosexual man as bishop three years ago. Such an apology is essentially what the rest of the Anglican world has told the U.S. church what it must do to remain part of the nearly 500-year-old denomination. Full story...

Family Seeks To Criminalize Killing Fetuses

Pregnant teen's death may change the laws in Kansas
In the wake of their daughter's death, members of Chelsea Brooks' family hope to change Kansas law. Kansas is one of 16 states where killing a pregnant woman is no different than murdering someone who is not expecting a child, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. For the past four years, Kansas lawmakers have debated a bill allowing those who take an expectant mother's life to be charged with two murders. Full story...

Girl’s Death Spurs Call For New Fetal Law

TOPEKA -- The slaying of a pregnant girl in Wichita prompted calls Monday for a law that would allow prosecution for the death of an unborn fetus. In renewing its effort, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, Kansans for Life, also blamed Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and state Senate leaders for failure to pass such a law during the last legislative session. Full story...

'Serious Misconduct' by NIH Expert Found

A world-renowned Alzheimer's disease researcher at the National Institutes of Health took advantage of the agency's lax oversight by improperly forwarding valuable tissue specimens to a pharmaceutical company and then accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees from it, according to congressional investigators. Trey Sunderland, chief of the geriatric psychiatry branch at the National Institute of Mental Health, failed to tell agency officials about his arrangement with the drug giant Pfizer Inc., as required by federal rules, the investigators concluded in a 27-page preliminary report released yesterday. Full story...

NIH Official Takes Fifth on Tissue Sharing

A senior National Institutes of Health researcher yesterday invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to answer a congressional subcommittee's questions about his alleged use of federally owned tissue samples for personal gain. At issue is an arrangement through which Sunderland shared thousands of vials of spinal fluid and plasma with drug giant Pfizer Inc., around the time he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in undisclosed fees from the company. Full story...

Eugenic Abortion Explosion Feared as New Test Will Screen Embryos for 6,000 Diseases

UNITED KINGDOM -- British fertility researchers have increased the number of potential genetic malformations they are able to detect in human embryos from 200 to almost 6,000, the Guardian reported. Using new procedures for scanning genetic information, the testing allows researchers to identify a vast array of previously undetectable genetic diseases. Full story...

3D and 4D Ultrasound Fetal Images Thrill Expectant Parents

AUSTIN, TX -- For many expectant parents, nine months is just too long to wait. Anxious for the birth of their child, many parents-to be are using progressive 3D and 4D ultrasound technology to bring images of their unborn baby to life. From a yawn to a stretch, a blink or a wave, three-dimensional and four dimensional ultrasounds allow expectant parents to take a peek at their baby’s first real-time movements inside the womb. Equally exciting is the ability to see what the baby is going to look like before he or she is born. Full story...

Supreme Court to Hear Second 'Partial Birth' Abortion Ban Case

The US Supreme Court on Monday announced it would hear a second case challenging the constitutionality of the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The court granted certiorari in Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood, a Bush administration appeal from the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco, which struck down the law because it did not make an exception to preserve the health of the woman seeking the abortion. Full story...

Read: Partial-Birth Ban of No Effect
"The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act only applies to a "living fetus" -- and there is nothing in the Act to prevent abortionists from killing viable late term babies in the womb first! If the "fetus" is killed before being pulled out of the womb then the "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act" is moot!"

Louisiana Governor Signs Abortion Trigger Law

Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana signed a bill Saturday that could ban most abortions in the state. The bill, which would apply to all abortions except when the life of the mother is threatened, will take effect only if the US Supreme Court overturns the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision or if the US Constitution is amended to allow states to prohibit abortions. The Louisiana Senate unanimously approved the bill earlier this month. Blanco said in a statement that while she had hoped the bill would include additional exceptions for victims of rape and incest which did not pass, "the central provision of the bill supports and reflects my personal beliefs." The law is similar to South Dakota legislation approved in March. Full story...

Seven States Have Such Abortion Trigger Laws, and Louisiana already had a trigger law, although abortion legislation has been blocked by courts. The new law would mean the ban would happen quicker in the case of a new Supreme Court decision.

Legal Battles Swirl Over Pro-Life Leaflets

Granite City's ordinance banning the placement of leaflets on cars may have to be changed again because of a federal judge's temporary ruling last month. And another ordinance that restricts the size of posters in major parades remains in dispute in another courtroom. Both legal battles stem from abortion protesters, who have made the city - home to one of the only abortion clinics in the region - their stamping ground for years. An earlier incarnation of the leafleting ordinance was used in 2003 to ticket Don Horina, a retired teacher and Christian evangelist who police said shoved an anti-abortion handbill through an open car window. U.S. District Judge Michael J. Reagan issued a temporary injunction against that version of the ordinance in September. Full story...

Family Vows To Seek Justice For Death Of Daughter, Unborn Baby

WICHITA, Kan. -- Three suspects were being held Saturday in the killing of a pregnant teenager whose body was found in a shallow grave. Police identified Friday a body found in a Butler County field as that of 14-year-old Chelsea Ann Brooks of Wichita, who had been missing for nearly a week. Her unborn child - which the family had named Alexa Lynn Brooks_ was due July 4. Three suspects were being held, authorities said, including a male who friends and family of the victim said had a relationship with the girl. No charges had been filed, but the victim's mother vowed to seek justice for her daughter's killer. "Two lives were taken from us last week and we will do whatever it takes to make sure that the law, in the future, recognizes all life, even if it is too late for our girls," Terri Brooks said at a news conference in front of Allison Middle School, where her daughter had been a student. Full story...

Birth Control Presciption From School Angers Mother

What mother is ready to hear her daughter is having sex, especially if that daughter is only thirteen years old. Chavonna Thomas learned the harsh truth Tuesday when she received a call from her pharmacist. She walked out of the pharmacy with something she never thought her daughter would need, emergency contraception, better known as the morning after pill. Thomas asked her daughter, "Who prescribed it for you? She said the nurse at East High. I said for what. It's my birth control. I said you're thirteen years old, what are you doing with birth control." Thomas took the prescriptions and stormed into East High School. Turns out, the University of Rochester runs a health clinic inside East High School. The medical staff can provide students with a variety of prescriptions including birth control and even condoms. Thomas' daughter also received two boxes of condoms and a prescription for several refills. Full story...

On States’ Rights To Protect Life and Health From the Federal Government

by James Plummer / LewRockwell.com
Louisiana has now joined South Dakota in moving to outlaw nearly all abortions after Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed Saturday a measure that would only allow the procedure when the life of the mother is in danger or severely threatened. The law would let Dakotans do the heavy legal lifting by not going into effect until and if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Conservatives have long asserted that Roe improperly seized power from the states to regulate abortion. Pro-choice cynics have asserted that this federalist position is one of convenience and not of principle. But those Congressional states-rights champions will have a chance this month to prove their commitment to both states' rights and pro-life issues. But will they rise to the challenge? Full story...

Man Charged With Assault On Fetus

UPPER DARBY, Pennsylvania -- A 24-year-old man has become the first in Upper Darby to violate a three-year-old statute against assaulting a fetus, police said. Police say Richard Leroy Bond Jr. beat his pregnant girlfriend. Detective Leo Hanshaw wrote in the arrest affidavit, "Bond kicked her in the stomach and stated he ‘hopes the baby dies.’" The victim, 24, was transported to Delaware County Memorial Hospital. Bond was also arraigned on charges of simple assault, terroristic threats, harassment, reckless endangerment and drug possession. Bail was set at $10,000 cash pending a preliminary hearing June 29 before Judge Kelly. Full story...

Unborn Babies Make 4-D Debut At Studios Appropriate Ultrasounds

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- Like any baby, Sienna Rose Carr smiles a lot. She can make everyone laugh by flashing the peace sign. Her parents swoon when she rubs her little eyes. They say she has her daddy's lips and her mommy's nose. Sienna is a natural in front of the camera, and she's not even born yet. With four-dimensional ultrasound imaging, parents-to-be can find out a lot more than just their baby's sex. The startlingly clear picture of the baby reveals every movement and facial feature. Some babies open and close their eyes. Others wave, smile or frown. Yeah, it's healthy to peek at a baby in the womb. Full story...

Blair Troubled By Abortion Law

THE prime minister has said he would support a debate on the law on abortion because he is “troubled” by the current legislation. Tony Blair believes that medical advances allowing babies to be kept alive outside the womb at a younger age mean that a majority of MPs may be prepared to vote to reduce the 24-week cut-off. Blair shared his concerns with Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the leader of Scotland’s Roman Catholics, during a private meeting last week. Full story...

Ethical Row Erupts Over Designer Babies Breakthrough

UK experts revealed an improved method which could allow hundreds of couples to avoid the risk of having children with a killer disease. It will be quicker and more accurate than existing screening. More disturbingly, a London hospital applied to use IVF sex selection techniques to help couples with a family history of autism - by destroying all their male embryos. There is no reliable genetic test for autism, but boys are more likely than girls to have the condition. Implanting only females would dramatically reduce the risk, but mean many perfectly healthy male embryos would be discarded. Full story...

New Embryo Test To Screen For 6,000 Diseases

British fertility specialists have developed a new way to test embryos for inherited diseases. The procedure has been hailed as a big advance, boosting the number of diseases clinics can test for from about 200 to nearly 6,000. Using the technique, doctors can examine every embryo created for a couple through IVF, and determine whether each is healthy and unaffected, a carrier of the disease, or destined to develop the full-blown medical condition. Full story...