Tag Archives: Category: Sanctity of Life

Robin Marty at RH Reality Check: Groups like the Susan B. Anthony List, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), and Americans for Tax Reform are eager to support any possible lawsuit against Planned Parenthood, nationally or at the state level. “Engaging our opponents at every level of the courts, our attorneys are seeking out ever-more effective means to block, inhibit, and bring to an end the efforts of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to make their fortune off the killing of children in the womb,” said ADF’s Alan Sears in a statement. “By God’s gracious mercies, and with the continuing gifts and prayerful support of friends like you, Alliance Defending Freedom is winning more and more battles for life—battles that are shaping the future of our laws and culture for your children and grandchildren.”

Alan Sears at the Christian Post: The fight to preserve the sanctity of life in America requires tireless prayer, vigilance, and determination – and, more and more, that your Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys take on the formidable legal and political juggernaut that is Planned Parenthood.

LifeNews: “American tax dollars should be used responsibly and for the common good, and taxpayers deserve to know if their hard-earned tax money is being funneled to groups that are abusing it,” said Litigation Counsel Catherine Glenn Foster. “When it comes to accountability and transparency, Planned Parenthood’s publicly-funded, billion-dollar abortion empire has to play by the same rules as everyone else.”

Religion Clause Blog: Yesterday the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships presented its recommendations on combating human trafficking in a 35-page report titled Building Partnerships to Eradicate Modern-Day Slavery.

Justin Dyer at Public Discourse: The “traditional Western ethic” holds that life is valuable and inviolate simply because human life is good and it is not ours to take. That ethic is increasingly challenged in our culture, and communicating the pro-life message creatively and winsomely remains a vital task for the generation after Tiller.

Life Legal Defense Foundation is urging the Alabama Department of Public Health to permanently shut down the unlicensed New Woman, All Women abortion clinic in Birmingham and revoke the medical license of Bruce Norman, who is still performing abortions there in spite of a health department closure of the site.

Dan Gainor at Fox News: It’s a news story that reads more like a Hollywood torture plot – “Saw” or “Hostel” or some other movie so foul that it makes you want to take a shower just having viewed it. Only this case is real and the media are keeping it real quiet because it betrays the barbarity of the abortion industry in open court, where they can’t hide.

Alliance Defending Freedom made public its latest report to Congress Wednesday identifying waste, abuse, and potential fraud by Planned Parenthood, state family planning programs, and other organizations.

CBS Local: A Texas House panel is set to debate hot-button legislation to ban abortions in Texas after 20 weeks. That’s the point at which anti-abortion activists contend a fetus can feel pain.

CBS: A state senate committee in Harrisburg has given its approval to a bill that would have Pennsylvania opt out of abortion coverage as part of the new federal health care law taking effect.

CNN: But Planned Parenthood immediately warned of “an almost certain legal challenge,” saying the new law’s requirements “would be difficult for nearly all providers to meet” and would shut down clinics.

Michael Brown at Townhall: The last time I bought some daytime cold medicine at the grocery store, I was flagged by the machine in the self-checkout aisle, requiring me to show my ID to the cashier. Since I’m 58 years-old with gray hair and a white mustache, the cashier quickly waved me on, but the lesson was clear: In order to buy something as harmless as Dayquil, I needed to be at least 18 years-old. Yet according to a recent court ruling, a minor can buy an over-the-counter abortion pill without showing any ID. What kind of madness is this? It is the madness of a society spinning into moral chaos, a society in which . . .

Baltimore Sun: The controversial anti-abortion group, Voice for Life, at the Johns Hopkins University won its battle to become a fully recognized club that will conduct “sidewalk counseling” sessions outside clinics and be eligible for funding, the university announced Wednesday.

Reuters: Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, has not said whether he would sign the bill. But the Arkansas legislature last month overrode his veto of two previous bills placing new restrictions on abortions, including one to ban most abortions from being performed after the 12th week of pregnancy.

LifeNews: “AB 154 is not safe for women’s health. This law would put women’s health at risk by allowing non-physicians to perform abortions,” it said.

LifeNews: The belief that once a baby is marked for abortion, he should be killed regardless of whether he is in the womb or out of it is shocking to many people. But how common is the phenomenon of babies born alive after abortions? The truth is, we don’t know. It is likely that most of the cases never come to light. But enough of them have been documented to show that it does happen. In the upcoming series of articles, I will highlight some cases where babies were born during abortion procedures and were denied the right to life.

LifeNews: The pro-life group Priests for Life was one of the earliest organizations to file a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its HHS mandate. The mandate compels religious groups to pay for birth control drugs and drugs like ella that can cause very early abortions.

Catherine Glenn Foster at American Thinker: On April 5, Federal District Court Judge Edward R. Korman ordered the Food and Drug Administration to allow over-the-counter distribution of Plan B abortifacient pills to girls of any age, thus striking down even the Obama administration’s practice of requiring a prescription for girls 16 years old and younger.

LifeNews: As LifeNews has reported, the Delaware Planned Parenthood clinic has experienced five botched abortion emergencies in less than five weeks. Since then, one abortionist and two employees have left Planned Parenthood in Wilmington, Delaware, as a result of the scandal.

Harvard School of Public Health video is here. Alliance Alert readers may be particularly interested in the exchange that begins at 49 minutes.

SCOTUS Blog: At 10 a.m. next Monday, the Supreme Court will hold a sixty-five-minute oral argument on the control, through patent ownership, of research studies on human genes taken out of the body.

The Hill: In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the 12 secular organizations argue the rules would allow too many employers to duck the requirement that their insurance coverage include contraception.

LifeNews: The Rutgers basketball story continues to transfix the media, and why shouldn’t it? Mike Rice, the disgraced former Rutgers basketball coach allegedly killed a woman and at least seven viable, born-alive babies “by plunging scissors into their spinal cords” in his filthy, macabre “house of horrors” abortion clinic. Oh wait, my mistake.

Washington Times: “As of Aug. 1, 2013, every employee who doesn’t work directly for a church or a diocese will be included in the benefit package,” Mrs. Sebelius said at a forum moderated by Reuters that was held at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Baptist Press: The Obama administration’s continued refusal to provide conscience protections in its abortion/contraception mandate is “a form of religious persecution,” according to the Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics entity. The critique by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) came in a comment submitted Monday (April 8) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ProLifeBlogs: The Knights of Columbus filed formal comments with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today, calling on the Administration to rescind the unpopular healthcare mandate that will force Americans of faith to cover medical services that violate their consciences without regard for their First Amendment’s rights.

LifeNews: The heart of libertarianism is liberty of the individual, especially an individual’s right to not be harmed by the actions of another. One’s right to life is central to this—without it, there can be no liberty at all. The fact that the state is actually sanctioning abortion, the destruction of an innocent individual, should make it even more egregious to libertarians.

LifeSiteNews: With the comment period now closed, the Obama administration will begin formally composing the regulatory language of the controversial HHS mandate. The process will likely reinvigorate attempts to have the provision legally overturned, an effort that ultimately seems destined to end at the Supreme Court.

LifeNews: Planned Parenthood’s recent opposition to Florida legislation seeking to protect abortion survivors sent shock waves around the country. But this wasn’t the first time Planned Parenthood had opposed such legislation.

Trib Live: Westmoreland County Controller Jeff Balzer on Monday blasted an effort by the American Civil Liberties Union to ensure jail inmates can get free abortions.

AL.com: Gov. Robert Bentley on Tuesday will sign into law a bill to place new regulations on abortion clinics passed by the Alabama Legislature last week.

Cardinal Newman Society: The joint comment, prepared by the expert attorneys at the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), is posted online here. The comment asks the Obama administration to exempt all organizations with “a religious or moral objection from being forced to provide, offer, pay for or in any way participate in a health insurance plan that covers or specifically triggers coverage of‘contraceptives’ (including abortifacients… ), sterilization, and related education and counseling. Religious freedom requires no less.”

LifeSiteNews: A federal court dismissed the case, on Good Friday, of Ave Maria University’s on the grounds that the federal regulations in question are not in final form. “One thing is clear, Ave Maria is not going to comply with the federal contraception mandate,” university President Jim Towey said in a statement.

The Hill: Groups supporting the contraception mandate in President Obama’s healthcare law collected and formally filed almost 350,000 comments on the policy.

George F. Will at Washington Post: Hopkins’s institutional intolerance would be boring were it simply redundant evidence of academia’s commitment to diversity in everything but thought. It is, however, indicative of the increasingly extreme ambitions and tactics of those operating under the anodyne rubric of “choice.” . . . Planned Parenthood, which receives more than $500 million in government subsidies, is branching out, expanding its mission beyond the provision of abortions to the defense of consumers’ rights: If you pay for an abortion, you are owed a dead baby.

Gazette Extra: With Arkansas and North Dakota legislators enacting laws they hope will end abortions in those state—and laws those lawmakers hope invite the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its Roe v. Wade decision—it’s a fair question: Will Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Legislature debate new abortion restrictions this session?

Philly.com: “It’s wasn’t fully developed,” West told the Common Pleas Court jury, referring to the 18- to 24-inch long newborn in the pan. It didn’t have eyes or a mouth but it was like screeching, making this noise. It was weird, it sounded like a little alien.”

Miami Herald: Florida lawmakers are poised to pass an abortion-related bill this year that would require doctors who provide abortions to offer emergency medical care in the unlikely event a baby is born alive.

James Taranto at WSJ: But as the Associated Press reports, abortion proponents are especially exercised about a provision “declaring that life begins ‘at fertilization’ ”

Huffington Post: The number of lawsuits challenging the Obama administration’s contraception coverage mandate climbed to 60 last week, and legal experts on both sides of the issue are predicting that the Supreme Court will take up the issue within the year.

LifeNews: “We do have some sense in that with perinatal infant mortality data it is recorded,” Rep. Pigman told legislators on the panel. “In 2010, there were 24,586 perinatal deaths in the United States. Perinatal defines as being from the 22nd week of gestation to seven days post delivery.”

Wesley J. Smith at National Review: Leave it to my state of California to head off in radical and expensive directions. Legislation has been filed that would require group insurance to cover gay and lesbian infertility treatments just as they do heterosexual. But, as I note elsewhere, AB 460 . . .

Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Monday in support of an Oklahoma law that requires doctors prescribing the abortion drug RU-486 to use only the FDA required protocol for the drug. T

Religion Clause Blog: In MK Chambers Co. v. Department of Health and Human Services, (ED MI, April 3, 2013), a Michigan federal district court refused to issue an ex parte temporary restraining order to prevent enforcement of the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate against a closely-held machinery components company and its two Catholic owners.

One News Now: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has filed a lawsuit against a Michigan university for denying funds to a pro-life student group because of its “very controversial” views.

Examiner.com: Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, a pro-life legal group, are representing Byer in behalf of Colorado against Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and one of its doctors.

The B.C. Catholic: The organization is also able to provide pro-bono legal assistance through its partnership with legal firm Alliance Defending Freedom for individuals who are prosecuted by the abortion clinics. Since the ministry’s start last June, 47 abortion clinic workers have left the abortion industry with Johnson’s help.

Townhall: Americans deserve to know, especially in economic times like these, if their hard-earned tax money is being funneled to groups that are misusing it,” said Michael Norton, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which publicized the suit. “Compliance with the law should not be sacrificed for the sake of Planned Parenthood’s bottom line. They have cheated the American taxpayer for too long. It’s time the abortion giant is held accountable.” ADF filed the suit on behalf of Jonathan Bloedow, a Washington resident who uncovered the alleged fraud through open records requests with the state. By law, such suits must be sealed until the federal government decides to join the case, according to ADF.

“Parents and trained physicians are the ones responsible for the care of underage patients. The court’s decision wrongly allows pharmacies to distribute a life-ending drug over the counter to young girls without their parents’ or doctor’s knowledge or consent.

CNSNews: In a scathing rebuke of the Obama administration, a federal judge ruled Friday that age restrictions on over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill are “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable” and must end within 30 days.

The Ruth Institute provides more information.

KUHF FM: There are five key bills that many are watching. Here is what they would do:
Ban all abortions after 20 weeks (the “Preborn Pain Act”).
Force abortion clinics to be licensed as “ambulatory surgery centers.”
Require a doctor (not a nurse) to dispense the medical abortion pill RU-486.
Require that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
Ban any health insurance plan, including those offered in the upcoming “exchanges” under the federal health law, from offering abortion coverage, unless purchased as separate coverage and paid for with a separate premium.

Philadelphia Inquirer: The leaders of two black anti-abortion groups today denounced West Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell as a “racist of the worst kind” and a “butcher who preyed on the women and girls of his own race.”

Andrew C. McCarthy at NRO: Imagine if we had told the anti-war Left that photos of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison could not be publicly displayed.

LifeNews: To response, 20 prominent leaders of the conservative movement have joined Media Research Center President Brent Bozell in demanding the broadcast networks stop censoring coverage. They are also upset at the lack of coverage of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates lobbyist who testified in favor of allowing the killing of children who survive botched abortions.

Today, the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) filed a “Friend of the Court” brief in the United States Supreme Court, urging the Court to review and reverse a Colorado Appellate Court decision which banned the public display of “gruesome” abortion images because they might offend children . . .

Edward Mechmann at the Archdiocese of New York: But even more fundamental to our opposition to the bill is the understanding that current federal law on abortion is evil. It is a terrible injustice, it is a deplorable violation of basic human rights, and it is an ugly stain on our society’s character. We cannot accept or even obey such laws

SC Times: The Catholic deacon who owns American Manufacturing Company in St. Joseph has received a preliminary injunction protecting him from provisions in the Affordable Care Act. The injunction was issued Tuesday in the 8th Circuit of the federal district courts by U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim. | Hall v. Sebelius, Preliminary Injunction

The Christian Civic League has posted this information page.

Red State: Michael J. Norton, a senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, told Media Trackers that abortion clinics, “should not be able to play by a different set of rules than everyone else.” Norton went on to say that, “All women deserve to be protected, but the abortion industry has long fought to make sure that it doesn’t have to maintain the same safety and sanitary standards as other medical centers.” The case of Ayanna Byer’s botched abortion, and subsequent trip to the emergency room, came as no surprise to Norton, who noted that PPRM treated her “life and health with utter disregard.” Ayanna Byer is currently suing Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains for malpractice. Byer is being represented by Doug Romero, another attorney affiliated with Alliance Defending Freedom.

NY Times: The Alabama Legislature late Tuesday adopted stringent new regulations for abortion clinics that supporters called a step to protect women but that others called medically unnecessary and a disguised effort to force the closing of the state’s five abortion clinics.

NewsOK: A panel of nine federal appeals court judges will hear oral arguments in Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.’s fight against part of the Affordable Care Act on May 23 in Denver.

Religion Clause: The Attorneys General of 13 states last week submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services a joint letter (full text) commenting on the Department’s proposed rules that attempt to accommodate objections raised by non-profit religious organizations to the scope of the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate.

CNSNews: “I write to express my shock and concern regarding a Planned Parenthood lobbyist who recently advocated in support of post-birth abortion before a state legislature,” Blackburn said in an April 3 letter to Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. “It is my sincere hope that your national organization will fully repudiate the radical position and hold your lobbyist fully accountable.”

Washington Post: Cancer clinics across the country have begun turning away thousands of Medicare patients, blaming the sequester budget cuts. Oncologists say the reduced funding, which took effect for Medicare on April 1, makes it impossible to administer expensive chemotherapy drugs while staying afloat financially.

The Weekly Standard: The details of a stimulus grant awarded to Indiana University to study condom use have now been released on a government website. The study, titled “Barriers to Correct Condom Use,” is now completed, according to the website, and the university received $423,500 of stimulus funds to perform the study.

Aaron Blake at Washington Post: Priebus: Media is covering up Planned Parenthood’s support for infanticide

LifeNews: Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, a pro-life legal group, filed suit on behalf of a Colorado against Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and one of its doctors. The mother says the abortion facility forced her to undergo an abortion without anesthesia and then left part of her baby’s body inside of her.

LifeNews: After a terse debate in the Virginia House, members of the Assembly voted today to stop taxpayer funding of abortions in the Obamacare exchange.

Kathryn Jean Lopez at NRO: Americans concerned with the narrowing of conscience rights in the United States have through Monday, April 8, to file comments with the Department of Health and Human Services in opposition to the latest iteration of the Obama administration’s abortion-drug, contraception, sterilization employer-insurance mandate under the president’s health-care law. Maureen Ferguson of the Catholic Association talked to National Review Online about the religious-liberty problem that remains for individuals and religious service institutions with moral objections to any and all of these requirements.

Miami Herald: The abortion debate reignited Wednesday in a divided Florida House committee that approved a bill seeking to ban sex- and race-selective abortions.

LifeSiteNews: Through an undercover investigation conducted by Operation Rescue, it has been learned that Chicago area abortionist Cheryl Chastine has made plans to fly to Wichita to provide abortions at South Wind Women’s Center, a proposed new abortion clinic located in George Tiller’s former abortion building on East Kellogg.

LifeNews: Health and Human Services’ Office of Adolescence Health is giving Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando $2,388,950 in grant funding for its “Teens Rise!” project.

Newsbusters: The Big Three networks’ morning and evening newscasts still haven’t covered the murder trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell as of Monday morning. ABC, CBS, and NBC have maintained their coverage blackout despite the graphic witness testimony and the in-your-face courtroom antics of Dr. Gosnell’s defense attorney during the first two weeks of the proceedings. The Philadelphia physician is charged with murdering seven newborn children at his decrepit abortion facility. This glaring omission by the broadcast networks would have continued, if Peggy Noonan hadn’t provided the first mention of the murder trial on Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC.

LifeNews: A Democratic state legislator in Nevada is making waves for comments saying she does not regret killing her baby in an abortion. Assemblywoman Lucy Flores, a Democrat from Las Vegas . . .