Tag Archives: Topic: Abortion

C-FAM: A last ditch effort by ambassadors and top UN officials failed last night to reach agreement on policies to end violence against women because powerful western developed countries want to scrap previous agreements that do not recognize abortion as a right.

AP: One bill would ban most abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected. That can happen as early as six weeks into pregnancy. A second bill would prevent women from having abortions based on gender selection or a genetic defect, such as Down syndrome.

Citizen Link: The nation’s largest abortion seller has threatened to take legal action against a pro-life ministry affiliate for offering to help abortion workers leave the business.

Bismark Tribune: The House Human Services Committee heard nearly four hours of testimony Wednesday on four abortion-related bills.

The New American: Since the implementation of sonogram laws in the state of Texas two years ago, Texas clinics have performed 10 percent to 15 percent fewer abortions.

Boston Globe: New Hampshire’s House rejected a bill Wednesday that would have required women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion.

ABC News: Abortions are becoming illegal in America at a rapid clip.

Pioneer Press: Insurance companies would have the option of whether to cover abortions as part of policies sold through Minnesota’s health exchange under compromise legislation negotiated Wednesday, March 13.

LifeNews: A 63-year old Catholic grandmother of 12 was violently attacked yesterday outside the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Wilmington, Delaware, as she filmed the fourth abortion injury there in less than five weeks.

The Economist: “The new paradigm of the pro-life movement”, explained Dan Becker, president of Georgia Right-to-Life, “is all about introducing tension into the law…We have different courts ruling in different ways, which is a surefire way to challenge Roe.”

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a former Planned Parenthood facility director in Iowa filed notice in district court Wednesday that they are appealing her fraud case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

LifeNews: Today, the Thomas More Law Center, a pro-life legal group, informed LifeNews that Federal District Court Judge Lawrence P. Zatkoff of the Eastern District of Michigan granted a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction against enforcement of the HHS Mandate it filed for Monaghan and his property management company, Domino’s Farm Corporation.

One News Now: The Alliance Defending Freedom also spoke at the same U.N. forum, saying the problem with treaty bodies goes beyond resources and money. “The real problem lies in the treaty bodies assuming powers which do not belong to them,” said ADF.

Christian Concern: An amendment that would have made it illegal for abortions to take place outside the NHS in Northern Ireland has been blocked by Sinn Fein, despite being strongly supported by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Charisma News: Alliance Defending Freedom filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing such use. “A baby is precious, not a precious commodity,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Daniel Lipsic. “This horrific and inhuman use of a child’s cells and tissues has no place in a civilized society. No one should be allowed to line their wallets with profit gained from creating this kind of black market—one that generates a hideous demand for babies’ bodies for use in unapproved, elective cosmetic procedures.”

LifeNews: A leading pro-life organization is pushing an amendment sponsored by pro-life Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, that would force a vote in the Senate to de-fund Obamacare, the health care law that contains abortion funding and rationing concerns.

LifeNews: Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Daniel Lipsic will be participating in a hearing in Hungarian General Court in a criminal case involving the harvesting of embryonic stem cells and tissue from aborted babies and using them for profit in cosmetic procedures. The pro-life group filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing such use. “A baby is precious, not a precious commodity,” said Lipsic. “This horrific and inhuman use of a child’s cells and tissues has no place in a civilized society. No one should be allowed to line their wallets with profit gained from creating this kind of black market–one that generates a hideous demand for babies’ bodies for use in unapproved, elective cosmetic procedures.” [more]

LifeNews: The Oklahoma state legislature today approved a measure that would allow parents to be notified when their minor daughter is considering an abortion. Such a law would help parents steer their young daughters in a better direction.

LifeNews: Today, Thomas Beckwith, a devout Southern Baptist, and his family-owned Beckwith Electric Company, Inc, filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new form of tyranny and religious persecution—the HHS Mandate.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Daniel Lipsic will be available for media interviews immediately following a hearing in a criminal case involving the harvesting of embryonic stem cells and tissue from aborted babies and using them for profit in cosmetic procedures.

LifeNews: They’ve scored some major victories already, but pro-life Wisconsin Republicans aren’t finished yet. The Associated Press reports that state senators Glenn Grothman and André Jacque have introduced legislation that would recognize unborn babies as human beings for the purposes of letting parents file wrongful death claims on their behalf, regardless of developmental stage.

PRNewswire: AUL’s brief is filed in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Annex Medical, Inc. v. Sebelius, a case filed by a private, for-profit business based in Minnetonka, Minnesota and operated according to the owners’ Christian beliefs.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: Last night, the US and EU called for deleting a reafirmation that every human being has the inherent right to life, liberty and security of persons. This year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) has become the equivalent of D-Day for abortion hard-liners

Nathan Cherry at Engage Family Minute: Lawmakers in the Ohio Legislature are set to introduce “The Health Care Freedom Act.” This bill is designed to protect citizens from the government imposed penalties associated with ObamaCare.

Robert Knight at Townhall: Here’s more from the brief: “In 2012, Liberty University employed 6,900 people, with net claims for its self-insured health insurance of $14,214,000. Yet Liberty University would be fined $20,700,000 ($3,000 times 6,900) if only one employee meets the 9.5 percent “unaffordable” criterion. “That penalty would be on top of the additional penalty of $2,000 per employee ($13,800,000) that Liberty University would have to pay for providing coverage excluding abortifacients, for a total combined penalty of $34,500,000. That would be in addition to the $14,214,000 that Liberty University paid in claims for its health insurance coverage in 2012.” Result? This would “tax or penalize Liberty University out of existence.”

Reality Check: It looks like we’ll have to update that list to 19, because Colorado mortgage banking company Cherry Creek Mortgage has just filed suit challenging the mandate as well. Cherry Creek Mortgage is owned by former U.S. Senator Bill Armstrong and does business in 27 states. The company has 730 employees and is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom in its lawsuit.

S. Adam Seagrave at Public Discourse: When intellectual arguments against abortion fail to persuade, recourse must be had to images and strategies that awake what David Hume considered our “moral sense.” . . . The pro-life movement currently finds itself in the same place as the abolition movement at the time of Frederick Douglass’s great speech. If we are to experience similar success, we would do well to follow Douglass’s advice and focus our energies on awakening the moral sense of our fellow citizens. It would help to have another Douglass for our cause, but at least we still have his words: “The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.”

CNSNews: When the U.S. Senate this week takes up the continuing resolution to fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2013, Sen. Ted Cruz (R.-Texas) will offer an amendment that will prohibit funding for the implementation of Obamacare during that period.

LifeNews: Texas has one of the strictest sonograms laws in the nation – and it’s working. The Houston Chronicle reports on a recent study from researchers at Ibis Reproductive Health, the University of Texas, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham . . .

LifeNews: On Friday, Westminster Theological Seminary joined the throng of challengers to the unconstitutional HHS mandate that forces employers to violate their consciences or pay large fines. Westminster, which is represented by prominent Houston litigator Ken Wynne, moved to intervene in the Becket Fund’s lawsuit on behalf of East Texas Baptist University and Houston Baptist University in Houston federal district court.

Reuters: South Dakota Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard on Friday signed into law a measure that excludes weekends and holidays from the state’s 72-hour waiting period for abortions, potentially making the wait the longest in the nation.

WDAY.com: Abortion-rights attorneys will be watching closely actions taken by the North Dakota Legislature this week on a package of measures aimed at strengthening the state’s already strict abortion laws.

LifeNews: Oklahomans for Life is supporting the Parental Notification for Abortion Act, HB 1588, which requires that a parent of a minor must be notified before an abortion can be performed on her.

NewOK.com: Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is asking a federal appeals court to expedite its case against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in hopes of avoiding millions of dollars in fines the company could face this summer for failing to cover the cost of emergency contraceptives for its employees.

Catholic Culture: A US district court judge in western Pennsylvania has ruled a lawsuit filed by the Seneca Hardwood Lumber Company against the HHS mandate may proceed. The for-profit company is owned by a Catholic family. (links to ADF Media press release and the complaint)

Religion Clause Blog: Finally, in what may be a first in the many decisions handed down so far in challenges to the mandate, the court held that “plaintiffs set forth sufficient factual allegations to support a plausible claim that the notice and comment requirements of the APA were violated.” ADF issued a press release on the decision.

The HIll: Freedom Works, for example, was livid that GOP leaders refused to allow a floor vote on an amendment to defund the implementation of President Obama’s healthcare law . . . “Rep. (John) Fleming (R-La.) believes, as he stated in a letter to leadership last week, that the CR [continuing resolution] was a prime opportunity to move conscience legislation that would restore protections stripped away by Obamacare,” Fleming spokesman Doug Sachtleben explained in a statement to The Hill.

The HIll: Investigators looking into the death of Jennifer Morbelli in Maryland from a legal abortion have discovered that another woman also died from a second-trimester abortion in the state, but it was never made public until now.

Christianity Today: The court acknowledged Geneva College’s standing to challenge the mandate but ultimately dismissed the claim because the school actually may be exempt. The Alliance Defense Fund intends to appeal the decision.

World Net Daily: Americans should be free to honor God and live according to their consciences in their homes, churches, and businesses,” said Senior Counsel Michael Norton of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Armstrong. “Senator Armstrong believed in that constitutional principle when he served in the U.S. Senate, and he believes in that principle today. He, his fellow co-owners, and family members that work with him believe firmly that no one should be forced to choose between their faith and their job.”

WTAQ: Parents could sue for the wrongful deaths of their unborn children, under a bill proposed by two Republican lawmakers.

TriCities.com: The debate over abortion in Virginia played out at a Henrico County office building Thursday, where the representatives of the Department of Health heard public comment on proposed regulations that would require the commonwealth’s 20 clinics to comply with building standards for new hospitals.

LifeNews: On International Women’s Day, the United Nations is coming under criticism for a report claiming that nations that fail to allow legalized abortion are allowing the “torture and ill treatment” of women.

LifeNews: A new sex education curriculum in North Carolina has NARAL Pro-Choice America up in arms.

Luis Viera at Miami Herald: For many, this was part of Gov. Cuomo’s move to appeal to more Democratic primary voters for a 2016 presidential run. The question must arise: If this is what a Democrat in 2013 must do to appeal to the base, what does this say about the state of the Democratic Party on abortion? Indeed, in the last few years, there has been a troubling Democratic leftward shift on abortion. As early as 2004, Democrats realized that a far-left position on abortion alienated voters. In 2000, the platform acknowledged the diversity of Democratic opinion on abortion. After his disappointing 2004 presidential loss, Sen. John Kerry, a Roman Catholic, acknowledged that his perceived liberal position on abortion undermined his standing with voters.

Reuters: South Dakota Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard on Friday signed into law a measure that excludes weekends and holidays from the state’s 72-hour waiting period for abortions, potentially making the wait the longest in the nation.

Guardian: The outcome document of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) must not undermine previous agreements that put women’s sexual and reproductive rights central to their empowerment, the head of the UN development programme said on Wednesday.

Politico: Abortion rights groups are gearing up for a legal fight against Arkansas’s new law banning abortions after 12 weeks, the most restrictive early abortion ban in the nation.

Catholic Culture links to several media reports and the Alliance Alert Sioux Manufacturing case name tag.

Charisma News: Obamacare’s employer mandate has become the “bludgeon” with which the government feels empowered to cripple the consciences of religious employers. That’s the argument of a friend-of-the-court brief that Alliance Defending Freedom, Americans United for Life, and several state family policy councils filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Thursday.

David Crary at Bay News 9 (AP): “Anti-abortion groups divided over legal tactics”
Steve Aden, who helps oversee abortion issues for the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, suggested that the 20-week bans had a better chance of reaching the high court than measures such as the heartbeat bill or the new Arkansas ban. However, he said the entire swath of bills conveyed a common message. “What they demonstrate,” he said, “is that there’s a tidal wave of sentiment at the grass-roots level that abortion is unconscionable and that states should do their utmost in restricting it.”

One News Now: The lawsuit was filed by Alliance Defending Freedom. ADF senior counsel Michael J. Norton tells American Family News that Christians should be free to practice their faith at church, at home, and in their places of business. “Senator Armstrong believed in that constitutional principle when he served in the United States Senate, and he believes in that principle even more strongly today,” says Norton. “He, his fellow co-owners, and family members who work with him believe firmly that no one should be forced to choose between their faith and their job.

Denver Post (updated): “All the owners are evangelical Christians who specifically object to being forced to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and devices,” said the company’s attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom in a statement released late Wednesday.

LifeNews: “Americans, including those who create and provide jobs, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into surrendering their consciences,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Casey Mattox. “ObamaCare demands that Americans choose between two poison pills: either desert your faith to comply with the government, or resist and be punished. The Obama administration’s attacks on faith and employers prove that it doesn’t respect either one.”

CBN: Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the two organizations, was pleased with the court’s Seneca ruling. “All Americans, including job creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences,” ADF Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman said.

AP: The ruling cited two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases – Roe vs. Wade and Planned Parenthood vs. Casey – to show a woman has an absolute right to an abortion before the point of viability, Hearn said.

Christian Science Monitor: However, International Women’s Day originally commemorated the working rights protests led by female garment workers. Many seem to forget the holiday’s ties to the working rights movement in the United States and the Socialist Party.

Catholic Culture: The Swiss bishops’ spokesman said that the use of the pill would be allowed only in cases when it would not have an abortifacient effect. The spokesman acknowledged the difficulty of determining whether a rape victim could already had ovulated

YouTube: Victims of the Obama Administration’s assault on religious freedom speak out at Rep. Black’s press conference in support of the Health Care Conscience Rights Act. Speakers included:

NRLC on Pro-Life Blogs: A federal district court decision against the Idaho Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act issued March 7, 2013, opens the way to an ultimate consideration by the United States Supreme Court whether mounting medical evidence that unborn children are capable of feeling pain supports a compelling state interest allowing protection of such children from abortion.

C-FAM: As UN delegates in closed rooms debate language regarding access to abortion for women who have been violated, two women at an event blocks away presented a powerful argument for breaking the cycle of violence by rejecting abortion even when the child’s conception is the result of rape.

C-FAM: The meeting has barely begun and UN member states are already deadlocked in negotiations at the Commission on the Status of Women this week at UN headquarters. The new line of attack appears to be a push to establish abortion for cases of rape as a right of reparation under humanitarian law.

ObamaCare’s employer mandate has become the “bludgeon” with which the government feels empowered to cripple the consciences of religious employers.

Denver Post: All the owners are evangelical Christians who specifically object to being forced to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and devices,” said the company’s attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom in a statement released late Wednesday.

Kansas City Star: A Kansas House committee is preparing to debate sweeping anti-abortion legislation aimed at ensuring the state doesn’t subsidize abortions even indirectly through tax exemptions or credits.

AP: A federal judge has struck down Idaho’s law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on beliefs held by physicians and others that the fetus is able to feel pain at that point . . . “The state may not rely on its interest in the potential life of the fetus to place a substantial obstacle to abortion before viability in women’s paths,” he said.

LifeNews: Almost half of the entire budget was allocated to HIV/AIDS – $93 million. Out of the remaining $95 million, $25 million is designated for Family Planning to “improve and expand the use of family planning methods in developing countries” and to “introduce and develop new family planning methods.”

LifeNews: Seventy-two members of the U.S. Congress have signed a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting updated detailed information about government grants to Planned Parenthood.

CNSNews: The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted 267-151 on Wednesday to approve a $982-billion continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through the rest of fiscal 2013 that fully funds the implementation of Obamacare during that period.

All Americans, including jobs creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences.

Kim Daniels at Times Union: But rather than help such women in need, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Reproductive Health Act would make a bad situation worse.

Rienzi, Mark, God and the Profits: Is There Religious Liberty for Money-Makers? (March 7, 2013). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=

CNA: Medical experts before the United Nations argued that abortion is not medically necessary to promote women’s health and can actually harm women instead. “Real medical care decreases maternal mortality; abortion does not decrease maternal mortality,” Dr. Donna J. Harrison told CNA on March 6.

Catherine Glenn Foster at Townhall: In 2012, nearly half of America’s states enacted laws designed to protect women and children from coerced, unsafe, and rushed abortions. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, however, has dug in his heels in blind obedience to an outdated doctrine and is pushing to expand abortion in his state.

Ahwatukee Foothills News: Steven Aden, an attorney with the privately funded Alliance Defending Freedom that is helping the state defend the law, said blocking the law “would frustrate the public’s interest, expressed through its elected representatives, in ensuring that taxpayer dollars do not directly or indirectly support abortions.” Aden also is arguing the state has sovereign rights in determining who can participate in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid program. He said it is irrelevant that most of the funds for the program come from the federal government.