Abortion Topics 5

Discarded and abandoned babies: Incidents like these are the inevitable result of the persistent claim that a fetus is merely a lump of tissue that is just "part of a woman's body" and can be disposed of in any manner of her choosing. Indian mum 'tries to flush newborn down plane toilet'.  An Indian woman gave birth to a baby in the lavatory of an international passenger plane and tried to dispose of it down the toilet, media reports in New Delhi said on Thursday [7/8/2010]. Man throws baby into traffic.  A 21-year-old man was arrested Saturday after he threw his daughter into oncoming traffic and then attacked witnesses and police who were trying to subdue him, authorities said.  The 18-month-old girl was not badly injured. Mom linked to babies' remains gets out of jail on bond.  Rachel Lynnette New, the woman identified through DNA as the mother of three babies whose decomposed remains were found at her home near Rendon, was released from jail Friday [11/13/2009] on bonds totaling $70,000, a sheriff's office spokesman said. Woman linked to infant remains bonds out of jail.  There are new developments in the case of a woman jailed in connection with the remains of three infants whose remains were found hidden in rural North Texas.  Investigators believe Rachel New hid the remains of her three infant children — or knows who did — and that she's now hiding the truth of how it happened and why. N. Texas sheriff says DNA links woman to babies' remains.  A 36-year-old woman identified through DNA as the mother of three babies whose decomposed remains were found in rural northern Texas under a mobile home porch and nearby has been arrested, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said. Newborn boy's body found amid tons of trash.  Authorities combing through 60 tons of trash at a dump site Monday [1/5/2009] found the body of a baby boy who was allegedly killed and put in a garbage can in Port Angeles.  A 16-year-old girl was arrested Friday for investigation of first-degree murder. Fetus Found In Reading Sewage Plant.  There was a disturbing discovery in a Berks County sewage processing plant — a fetus was founding a Reading [Pennsylvania] sewage pumping station. Woman freezes baby after birth.  A Bloomfield, Pa., woman has been charged with abuse of a corpse for stashing her newborn child in a beer box in her freezer.  Police said the infant had been in the freezer for about a month when they got a call tipping them off about the location of the frozen child, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Friday [5/18/2007]. Newborn's remains found in pickle jar.  A road construction crew found the remains of a newborn girl inside a two-gallon pickle jar, authorities said Friday [3/2/2007].  The jar was dug up along a state highway on Monday, according to a statement from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Oakdale newborn's grisly death:  Stabbed 135 times.  A 17-year-old Oakdale girl told police she gave birth on the laundry room floor early Monday, then panicked and stabbed the baby girl after seeing her move a finger.  The baby, found by investigators in a bloody garbage bag outside the teen's home, had 135 stab wounds, many in her tiny chest. Body of infant found in Milford trash compactor.  A neighborhood of well-kept homes was shocked yesterday after two trash collectors made a gruesome discovery as they were about to compact a load — the body of an infant that appeared to have tumbled out of a split bag. Newborn girl's body found in concrete pile.  The body of a newborn girl was spotted Tuesday [11/21/2006] in a pile of concrete and rocks headed to the shredder at a recycling center.  Within hours of her birth, she was in a construction trash bin somewhere between Pompano Beach and southern Martin County. Baby boy born, then abandoned as mother walks away.  San Francisco police arrested a woman after she gave birth to a baby boy on a street corner Sunday night and then walked away, abandoning the baby.  A security guard who saw the woman delivering the baby on Fifth and Stevenson Streets at 9:30 p.m. was calling 911 when he saw the mother get up and walk away, according to police Capt. Al Casciato.  "The kid was lying on the street and she was walking away," Casciato said. Mom abandoned three newborns in three years.  The first newborn was discovered swaddled in a blanket on a park bench, an umbilical cord still hanging from his tiny body.  Then, at neat 11-month intervals, two more abandoned babies were found in parked pickup trucks in the same neighborhood. ... The third baby was found dead of exposure on the cold night of Dec. 3. Experts say murder of infants is not uncommon.  The horrifying circumstances of Christy Freeman's alleged murder of an infant are more common than many people think, according to those who have studied the phenomenon known as neonaticide.  In the United States, a baby is killed within 24 hours of birth ate last once every three days, experts say. Japanese Hospital Gets Approval for 'Baby Drop-Off Hatch'.  A Japanese hospital said Thursday [4/5/2007] it would push ahead with plans to set up a hatch where unwanted infants can be anonymously dropped off, following a series of cases of parents reportedly abandoning newborns in parks and shopping centers. [Let's hope they make the hatch big enough for a two-year-old.  After all, if it's okay to abandon a newborn with no questions asked, how old does the baby have to be before the mother is obligated to keep it?] All charges against O.C. woman dropped.  Charges have been dropped against an Ocean City woman accused of killing her newborn child several years ago, the Worcester County public defender's office said today [9/19/2007].  Christy Lynn Freeman, 37, É was charged with first-degree murder after authorities found the remains of four fetuses in or near her home in July.  Police said she told a detective during questioning that she had given birth to twins three or four years ago and had allowed one to drown in the toilet. Charges filed against mother who flushed her newborn.  A metro mother accused of trying to flush her newborn down a McDonald's toilet turned herself in to police Thursday night [10/4/2007] just before 10 p.m.  The Jackson County prosecutor has charged Ashley Wood, 20, with first degree assault. One dog night: Abandoned Baby Kept Alive, Safe by Mother Dog and Her Brood.  A newborn baby that was abandoned outdoors by her 14-year-old mother during the Argentina winter was found safe Thursday [8/21/2008] after being kept alive and warm by a mother dog and her brood of puppies, Reuters reported. Austin police: Mom beat girl, 4, threw her in path of SUV.  A woman has been charged with child endangerment, a state jail felony, for beating her 4-year-old daughter before throwing her into the path of an oncoming vehicle, police said.  The driver of the brown Suburban braked and did not strike the child.  Aurelia Gallardo, 24, could face up to 20 years if convicted.  Bail was set at $25,000. Fla. doctor investigated in badly botched abortion.  Eighteen and pregnant, Sycloria Williams went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique to terminate her 23-week pregnancy.  Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair, medicated to dilate her cervix and otherwise get her ready for the procedure.  Only Renelique didn't arrive in time.  According to Williams and the Florida Department of Health, she went into labor and delivered a live baby girl.  What Williams and the Health Department say happened next has shocked people on both sides of the abortion debate:  One of the clinic's owners, who has no medical license, cut the infant's umbilical cord.  Williams says the woman placed the baby in a plastic biohazard bag and threw it out. Florida doctor loses license after bothced abortion.  The Board of Medicine revoked the license of a Florida doctor on Friday accused of medical malpractice in a botched abortion in which a live baby was delivered, but ended up dead in a cardboard box.  The board found Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique in violation of Florida statutes by committing medical malpractice, delegating responsibility to unlicensed personnel, and failing to keep an accurate medical record. A follow-up on the same story... The Imperfect Murder:  [Scroll down]  The state Board of Medicine decides to hear Renelique's case to determine whether to strip him of his medical license.  Meanwhile, something more serious is happening:  The Florida attorney's homicide division is investigating the possibility of bringing murder charges.  According to Florida records, Dr. Renelique received his medical training in Haiti.  He did his residency in New York and, according to the records of that state, has made five medical malpractice payments in the past decade. When Is a Person Not a Person?  Recently, a young mother in Virginia delivered her baby in her own home, and then smothered it with a pillow. ... The judge who refused to penalise the mother for murder, spoke of a loophole in the law.  The 'loophole' is that a mother can do whatever she likes with her baby, so long as the umbilical cord is still attached. ... In 1978, this case led a judge to make an unjustified decision — that one cannot call a baby a 'person' unless it can live independently of its mother. ... What of a toddler?  Can he live independently of his mother? Baby boy survives for nearly two days after abortion.  The 22-week infant died one day later in intensive care at a hospital in the mother's home town of Rossano in southern Italy.  The mother, pregnant for the first time, had opted for an abortion after prenatal scans suggested that her baby was disabled.  However, the infant survived the procedure, carried out on Saturday [4/24/2010] in the Rossano Calabro hospital, and was left by doctors to die. Disposing of less-than-perfect children: Abortion's dead poets society.  In 2002, a baby was aborted at 28 weeks because of a cleft palate.  Last year, a 6-month-old fetus was aborted when ultrasound revealed that part of a foot was missing, according to [Britain's Sunday] Times.  One doesn't have to believe in the supernatural to wonder what might have been.  Not only with the babies who were known to be slightly imperfect, but also with the millions of others worldwide who have been eliminated for reasons less vivid. Disposing of the Disabled.  Sadly, in today's post-Roe environment the news that a child is likely to be born with a significant handicap is often a death sentence.  According to The New York Times, about ninety percent of unborn children who are diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted.  Moreover, when a prenatal cystic fibrosis test was developed, the number of children born with cystic fibrosis in Massachusetts dropped by fifty percent.  No studies have been done to asses the cause of the drop, but the odds of this being simple coincidence are quite low. Why Worry about Deaf Babies?  England is currently deciding whether or not to legalize the use of embryo selection to produce deaf babies to accommodate deaf couples who want their children to share their soundless world.  When Thomas Lifson reported this in AT, he expressed shock that such things could be permitted.  I was shocked too — until I realized that this, and much worse, is the logical consequence of our legalization of abortion. Eugenics by abortion:  Is perfection an entitlement?  In Britain, after the 24th week of pregnancy — "viability," when the child presumably can live outside the womb — an abortion is permitted only when "there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped."  But in 2001 an unborn 28-week-old child was aborted because new techniques for detecting fetal abnormalities indicated that the child had a cleft lip and palate. Why the Media Feminists Hate Palin:  Columnist Marc H. Rudov calls them the "fascist feminists."  These are the feminists in the media and elsewhere who detest Sarah Palin because of her role as a successful wife and mother and defender of the unborn.  Palin's decision to have a Down syndrome child, when 90 percent of these children are being aborted in the womb, has proven in dramatic terms not only that there are articulate pro-life women in America but that there are women who will take a leadership role on "culture of life" issues of concern to millions. When Is a Human a 'Human Being'?  Ask the White House Science Adviser.  [Scroll down slowly]  "From this point of view, a fetus is only a potential human being," the authors continue.  "Historically, the law has dated most rights and privileges from the moment of birth, and legal scholars generally agree that a fetus is not a 'person' within the meaning of the United States Constitution until it is born and living independent of its mother's body."  The authors then make a case for aborting unwanted children. ObamaCare's brave new world.  Sarah Palin ignited a political firestorm when she worried that "death panels" would deny end-of-life treatment to her son with Down syndrome.  In fact, ObamaCare would more likely see to it that people like Trig never even make it out of the womb.  The outlook for children found to have disabilities in utero is bleak now — because the medical-ethics establishment has spent decades pushing for their abortion. Premature baby 'left to die' by doctors.  A young mother's premature baby died in her arms after doctors refused to help because it was born just before 22-week cut-off point for treatment.  Sarah Capewell, 23, gave birth to her son Jayden when she was 21 weeks and five days into her pregnancy.  Although doctors refused to place the baby in intensive care, Jayden lived for two hours before he passed away at James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, last October. Two years worth every tear.  [Scroll down slowly]  Most children with trisomy 18 diagnosed in the womb are aborted.  Most who survive birth are given hospice care until they die.  In these cases, doctors advise parents that these disabled children will die young or be a burden to them and society.  But couldn't the same be said of many healthy children?  All children are a gift that comes with no guarantees.  While Bella's life may not be long, and though she requires our constant care, she is worth every tear. Disposing of unwanted female children: Where are the great feminist leaders?  Why aren't the feminists outraged by this?  Why are they all totally silent about gender-selection abortion, and for that matter, about Muslim honor killings? Climate Change Used as Excuse For Population Control.  [Scroll down]  The one-child policy [in China] is the ultimate in draconian government control.  A fine of approximately $27,000 is levied if the second child is not aborted.  A family can choose to pay the fine, but the child is not recognized by the State that withholds a permanent residency document which denies access to public services such as education and healthcare.  The policy effects are devastating the population structure of China.  Stories abound of infanticide or sex-selective ultrasound to abort females, as families want a male first born. Fanning the Flames of Feminism.  There are now roughly 120 boys born in China for every 100 girls — a "gendercide," as some call it.  "In eight to 10 years, we will have something like 40 to 60 million missing women," U.N. resident coordinator Khalid Malik warned in 2004.  "Missing" means gone forever — killed simply because of their gender.  This fact alone ought to have feminists up in arms. 100 million 'missing' girls.  In India each year, it is estimated that as many as a million baby girls are aborted by parents determined not to raise a daughter.  Those unborn girls are the victims of a fierce cultural preference for boys — and of modern imaging technology that makes it easy to learn the sex of a baby in the womb. Sweden rules 'gender-based' abortion legal.  Swedish health authorities have ruled that gender-based abortion is not illegal according to current law and can not therefore be stopped, according to a report by Sveriges Television. Norwegian women abort girls in Sweden.  Pregnant Norwegian woman have been allowed to undergo abortions in Sweden after finding out the sex of their child, according to new revelations from a medical ethics consultant in Oslo.  These trips are a fact, according to a Swedish professor colleague.  "We know that it happens as people have told us," said director Sissel Rogne at the Biotechnology Advisory Board (Bioteknologinämnden) to Svenska Dagbladet (SvD). British Asians aborting unwanted girls.  Cultural pressure to give birth to sons is causing some pregnant Indian-born women living in Britain to return to India to abort their unwanted daughters, an investigation has found.  It reveals how "selective sex abortion", a practice outlawed in India in the 1980s, is still widespread and being used by some women living in England and Wales. Sex Selective Abortions:  [In India] Because of frequent female infanticide and selective abortion of girls, the birth ratio was 927 girls born for every 1,000 boys in 2001, down from 962:1,000 in 1991.  The severe shortage of brides in the Haryana region has resulted in a black market in women from other regions who are brought in and sold into marriage, according to a Meri News report.  As many as 200 million girls may have been killed worldwide in this way, mostly in Muslim and Asian countries.  The rate is increasing because of ultrasound technology that permits sex identification around 18 weeks. The results of gender-selection abortion... Beijing's bachelor bulge:  the unprecedented surplus of boys.  All across China, the dangerous combination of modern technology and traditional beliefs is creating a huge army of single men. By 2020, more than 30 million men of marriageable age will be unable to find wives.  Ultrasound machines and selective abortions, combined with China's restrictive one-child policy, are helping parents to skew the gender ratio, with potentially disastrous consequences.  In China, the trend has become so extreme that it is believed to be unprecedented in human history.  A recent Chinese government report warned that 118 boys were born for every 100 girls in 2005. 10 million Indian girls killed in 20 years.  The widespread use of illegal tests to determine the sex of an unborn child is fuelling a rise in female feticide cases in India, social activists and officials say.  Sex determination tests through techniques such as ultrasonography and amniocentesis are banned in India, but female fetuses are still commonly killed in some regions where a preference for sons runs deep. Killing of baby girls triggers social upheaval in India.  Over 27 percent of India's 593 districts have an adult population ratio of under 900 females for every 1,000 males, indicating a long-standing practice of female infanticide and feticide.  That means thousands of men can't find brides in their areas, a shortage that is felt particularly in states where the practice of female infanticide, and now feticide, is practised and accepted.  The British medical journal The Lancet recently estimated that 500,000 female fetuses are aborted each year in India solely because of their gender. India killing off girl babies.  India's female population is in steady decline, with parents continuing to kill off their baby girls before or just after birth, a report has found.  Described as "the shame of modern India" — particularly at a time of booming economic growth and increasing literacy — the decline is attributed to misuse of prenatal diagnostic techniques and a consequent increase in cases of female feticide. U.N. Addresses Discrimination and Violence Against Girls.  Abortion in the United States has become one of the most common surgical procedures for women.  The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute reports that more than one-third of American women will have an abortion by the time they are 45.  While the statistics will vary from country to country, the U.S. data indicates the extent of the worldwide problem.  Sadly, Guttmacher also reports that 3 out of 4 women seeking an abortion do so for financial reasons. Feminist Eugenics:  Joseph D'Agostino has dubbed the rise in sex-selective abortions as "Feminism's Triumph:  Exterminating Girls." Experts disagree on the overall toll, but an article published in the medical journal Lancet pegs the number at 100 million aborted girls, mostly in China and India.  In China alone, UNICEF estimates there are only 832 girls per 1,000 boys.  Feminists have a compulsion to impose radical social change and when things go sour, blaming the subsequent fiasco on the patriarchy.  The problem of sex-selective abortions is no exception to this rule. Why Liberal Feminists Support School Shootings.  This coming Tuesday, Ms. Magazine will release its new issue with the cover story, "We Had Abortions (and we're glad we did)." … The story is intended to gloss over the millions of women who have had negative reactions to the abortion experience in their own life and choose to instead highlight a petition in which 1000+ very misguided women signed a statement affirming their belief that their lives were infinitely improved because they snuffed the life out of the most vulnerable person they personally had ever known — their unborn daughter (or son, or both). Liberal in Chief:  Liberals always expect their principles to harmonize with each other, and then are surprised when it doesn't work out that way.  In their zeal for sexual equality, they oppose sex discrimination and favor abortion on demand, only to find that some people abort babies upon discovering that they are female. Mothers sue over gender test that promised 99.9% accuracy.  In a class action lawsuit filed in the US district court in Boston on behalf of 16 women the makers of the Baby Gender Mentor are accused of breaking their promise.  Barry Gainey, the women's lawyer, said he knew of about 100 women whom the kit had failed…. The Editor says... These gender tests are not just to tell the mother what color of curtains to buy for the baby's room.  Many people use these tests to facilitate gender-selection abortions.  And naturally there are plenty of lawyers around so you can find somebody to sue in the event you accidentally have a girl when you wanted a boy. Disposing of unwanted male children: The two villages where mothers killed every baby born a boy for ten years.  The Papua New Guinea jungle has given up one of its darkest secrets — the systematic slaughter of every male baby born in two villages to prevent future tribal clashes.  By virtually wiping out the 'male stock', tribal women hope they can avoid deadly bow-and-arrow wars between the villages in the future.  'Babies grow into men and men turn into warriors,' said Rona Luke, a village wife who is attending a special 'peace and reconciliation' meeting in the mountain village of Goroka. Papua New Guinea women kill males babies to end tribal war.  Women in Papua New Guinea's Highland region are killing their male babies to end a tribal war that has gone on for more than 20 years.  Two women from the Eastern Highlands spoke of the slaughter to PNG's National newspaper during a three-day peace and reconciliation course in the region's capital of Goroka. Doctors have a financial incentive to perform abortions. Doctor denies illegally billing state for abortions.  A Lexington doctor accused of Medicaid fraud is denying the charges.  Doctor Hamid Hussain Sheikh is charged with falsely billing the state for abortions.  He was arrested this week.  Authorities say he billed the abortions as fetal ultrasounds. The pro-choice movement:  Safe, legal and as often as possible.  Dr. William F. Harrison of Arkansas calls himself an "abortionist."  "I am destroying life," he proclaims.  But Harrison, who estimates that he has aborted over 20,000 unborn children, also sees abortion as a life-giving procedure, describing his patients as "born again." The Abortion Capital of America:  In 1970, New York passed the most permissive abortion law in America, one that defined the state as the country's abortion refuge.  Overnight, a new industry materialized in New York City, promoting itself to women across the country.  The pitches were often blunt.  A newspaper ad from the time inquired, "Want to be un-pregnant?" Babies born alive during attempted abortions: Obama's Abortion Extremism:  Obama's record on abortion is extreme.  He opposed the ban on partial-birth abortion — a practice a fellow Democrat, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, once called "too close to infanticide."  Obama strongly criticized the Supreme Court decision upholding the partial-birth ban.  In the Illinois state Senate, he opposed a bill similar to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which prevents the killing of infants mistakenly left alive by abortion. Closer look at Obama reveals he's wrong choice.  Obama can joke that when life begins is above his pay grade, but this is not rocket science.  If you destroy the egg of a bald eagle, you can be fined.  Why?  Because everyone knows that egg is a potential bald eagle.  There is something fundamentally wrong with a society that protects bald eagles and yet allows unborn babies to be burned and sucked from their mother's wombs.  When Obama was an Illinois state legislator, he wouldn't even vote to protect a baby that lived after abortion.  That's cold. Obama's Abortion Positon:  To the Left of NARAL.  Frank Pastore from KKLA in Los Angeles interviews Jill Stanek, the former registered nurse who served at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois.  She testified before Congress about the death of infants who survived the abortion procedure only to die without care, giving rise to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. "Freedom of Choice" vs. "Born Alive".  In a presidential campaign issues arise and then fade from view.  The emergence of new media preoccupations may make it seem as though yesterday's controversy has been resolved.  This is rarely true.  Such is the case with the issue of Barack Obama's position on legal protections for infants while an Illinois state senator. Deniers for Obama.  When Congress was considering the Born Alive Infants Protection Act (BAIPA), a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony from Jill Stanek and Allison Baker, two nurses at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill.  They described several instances in which babies who were moving and breathing after induced abortions were left to die.  The committee report quoted Jill Stanek:  "Mrs. Stanek testified about another aborted baby who was thought to have had spina bifida, but was delivered with an intact spine.  On another occasion, an aborted baby was left to die on the counter of the Utility Room wrapped in a disposable towel." Video:  Kill and Destroy.  An interview with Jill Stanek. Obama is no moderate:  His radical position on 'abortion' after birth.  [Scroll down]  So, what are we to make of Obama's votes against protecting the right to life for living babies who have survived attempted abortions?  Such babies are sometimes born alive as a result of late-term induced labor abortions, often sought when babies are believed (sometimes in error) to have genetic defects such as Down syndrome.  Earlier this decade, such living, breathing, babies who survived labor were "shelved" — left to die and disposed of with other medical waste, or were "aborted" — killed outside the womb.  The practice was ultimately banned by unanimous Congressional votes, as even the most pro-abortion Senate Democrats — including every defender of partial-birth abortion — recognized that killing these breathing babies is no longer abortion in any real sense.  It crosses the line; it is infanticide.  Yet, incredibly, Obama repeatedly worked to deny these living babies any right to life. The Audacity of Death:  According to Barack Obama, Gianna Jessen shouldn't exist.  Miss Jessen is an exquisite example of what antiabortion advocates call a "survivor."  Well into her third trimester of pregnancy, Gianna's biological mother was injected with a saline solution intended to induce a chemical abortion at a Los Angeles County abortion center.  Eighteen hours later, and precious minutes before the abortionist's arrival, Gianna emerged.  Premature and with severe injuries that resulted in cerebral palsy.  But alive.  Had the abortionist been present at her birth, Gianna would have been killed, perhaps by suffocation. … As an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama twice opposed legislation to define as "persons" babies who survive late-term abortions. Obama's Stealth Pro-Abortion Stance:  In response to a Pennsylvania voter's question about elementary school sex education, Obama said:  "Look, I got two daughters — nine years old and six years old.  I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."  This makes two things clear.  First, Senator Obama supports abortion on demand — even "convenience" abortions — for minors, including his own daughters; and second, Obama considers babies a "punishment" he'd rather spare his daughters, even if those daughters have to abort Obama's own unborn grandchildren to avoid that particular "punishment."  That unguardedly candid public statement is political dynamite — or it would be, if the media had reported on it. Obama is the Most Pro-Abortion Candidate Ever.  He is so pro-abortion he refused as an Illinois state senator to support legislation to protect babies who survived late-term abortions because he did not want to concede — as he explained in a cold-blooded speech on the Illinois Senate floor — that these babies, fully outside their mothers' wombs, with their hearts beating and lungs heaving, were in fact "persons."  "Persons," of course, are guaranteed equal protection of the law under the 14th Amendment. More on Obama and Babies Born Alive:  When Obama was in the Illinois Senate, the Born Alive Infants bill came up three successive years.  In 2001, three bills were proposed to help babies who survived induced labor abortions.  One, like the federal Born Alive Infants bill, simply said a living "homo sapiens" wholly emerged from his mother should be treated as a "'person,' 'human being,' 'child' and 'individual.'"  On all three bills, Obama voted "present," effectively the same as a "no."  Defining "a pre-viable fetus" that survived an abortion as a "person" or "child," he argued, "would essentially bar abortions, because the Equal Protection Clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this is a child, then this would be an anti-abortion statute." Scores of babies left to die after NHS abortions that go wrong.  Botched abortions mean that scores of babies are being born alive and left to die, an official report has revealed.  A total of 66 infants survived NHS termination attempts in one year alone, it emerged.  Rather than dying at birth as was intended, they were able to breathe unaided.  About half were alive for an hour, while one survived ten hours.  The figures are the first to give a national picture of the number of babies who survive abortion but are left to die.  Experts previously believed the phenomenon was limited to a handful of cases a year. Baby Miraculously Survives Abortion, Expected to Live 'Normal' Life.  A mother who decided to abort her son because he may have inherited a life-threatening kidney condition is overjoyed that he survived the procedure.  Jodie Percival of Nottinghamshire, England, said she and her fiancee made the decision to abort baby Finley when she was eight weeks pregnant. Dad returns baby's body to abortion clinic.  Counselors question why police didn't investigate the death. ... Now, with the probable destruction of the body, an investigation never will reveal whether the abortion was a late-term procedure in violation of state law, or whether the infant was born alive and medical help was withheld, in violation of federal law. Bush Signs "Born-Alive Infants Protection Act" Into Law:  President Bush Monday signed legislation protecting infants "accidentally" born during abortion procedures from being killed or left to die.  Bush signed the "Born-Alive Infants Protection Act" (H.R. 2175) during a trip to Pennsylvania, to mirror laws already on the books in more than 30 states. The real scandal:  Even for those of us who tilt toward the pro-choice side, there are worse things than the repeal of Roe, included among which would be a society that endorsed allowing newborn babies to die.  For anyone with an even rudimentary moral conscience, this is only a short step or two from the brave new world of Auschwitz. Baby boy survives for nearly two days after abortion.  The 22-week infant died one day later in intensive care at a hospital in the mother's home town of Rossano in southern Italy.  The mother, pregnant for the first time, had opted for an abortion after prenatal scans suggested that her baby was disabled.  However, the infant survived the procedure, carried out on Saturday [4/24/2010] in the Rossano Calabro hospital, and was left by doctors to die. Survivors of abortions: Baby Miraculously Survives Abortion, Expected to Live 'Normal' Life.  A mother who decided to abort her son because he may have inherited a life-threatening kidney condition is overjoyed that he survived the procedure.  Jodie Percival of Nottinghamshire, England, said she and her fiancee made the decision to abort baby Finley when she was eight weeks pregnant. Couple give birth to healthy quintuplets after being told to abort.  A Russian woman has given birth to quintuplets in Britain after defying medical advice in her homeland.  The 29-year-old music teacher, who has strong religious beliefs, travelled to England to give all five of her daughters a chance of life. Aborted Fetus Sings.  When her biological mother was 17 years old and 7½ months pregnant she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic to have an abortion.  As God would have it, the abortion failed and a beautiful two-pound baby girl was brought into the world.  Unfortunately, she was born with cerebral palsy and the doctors thought that she would never survive.  The doctors were wrong. Will the Miracle Baby Change the Abortion Debate?  Is "Hurricane Amillia" about to blow the abortion village down?  Not if the media can help it. ... ABC World News Tonight was the only broadcast news outlet to make the connection between Amillia's gestational age and laws governing abortion.  The vast majority of the 21 broadcast stories that ran about Amillia last week merely dealt with the baby's homecoming. The unborn need a Wilberforce.  In Miami, Amillia Sonja Taylor captured the hearts of millions and the attention of doctors with her courage, strength and zest for life.  Born at 21 weeks and six days, she weighed only 10 ounces and was 9.5 inches long — about the size of a ballpoint pen.  Last week, she was brought home by her doting family weighing four and a half pounds.  The world's youngest baby ever to survive, little Amillia has moved the threshold of viability in the ongoing fight to protect the unborn. What PFAW means by "far right":  The lawyers cited a New Jersey Supreme Court case involving babies who survive prenatal injuries that said "(m)edical authorities have long recognized that a child is in existence from the moment of conception, and not merely a part of the mother's body."  In essence, they argued, all human beings are persons and entitled to the same rights under the 14th Amendment. The Audacity of Death:  According to Barack Obama, Gianna Jessen shouldn't exist.  Miss Jessen is an exquisite example of what antiabortion advocates call a "survivor."  Well into her third trimester of pregnancy, Gianna's biological mother was injected with a saline solution intended to induce a chemical abortion at a Los Angeles County abortion center.  Eighteen hours later, and precious minutes before the abortionist's arrival, Gianna emerged.  Premature and with severe injuries that resulted in cerebral palsy.  But alive.  Had the abortionist been present at her birth, Gianna would have been killed, perhaps by suffocation. … As an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama twice opposed legislation to define as "persons" babies who survive late-term abortions. Some survivors aren't very grateful. Disabled Children Want To Sue Doctors For Being Born:  An Australian court is hearing a test case that seeks to establish whether children born disabled as a result of medical negligence can sue doctors for "wrongful life."  A lawyer representing doctors in the case has warned that if the court rules in favor of the children's right to sue for damages, then children born with disabilities could eventually end up suing their mothers for not aborting them. Serial abortions / Abortion as birth control / A matter of convenience: Thoughts from an ex-fetus.  We consider the ancient Spartan model barbaric, for instance, although in some ways it was much like ours.  Spartans, too, regarded letting children live or die a private choice, although they did involve father in the decision, not only mother, and extended it to born children, not just fetuses.  Another difference was that Spartans, instead of relying on vacuum suction, threw unwanted children off a mountain called Taigetos.  For Spartans, "unwanted" meant "substandard."  For us, it means "inconvenient."  We don't want standard or even super-standard children if they cramp our style. Thousands of women have four abortions.  Thousands of British women have had four or more abortions, including dozens who have undergone six by the age of 30.  Figures uncovered by the Telegraph show that almost 4,000 women have had at least four abortions.  In a "grotesquely bleak" picture of British society, scores of women have had at least eight terminations. Campaign to end 'abortion capital' Britain.  MPs will today [5/6/2008] launch a campaign to cut the number of abortions carried out and reduce the upper time limit for termination from 24 to 20 weeks.  Campaigners warn a "less casual" approach to abortion is now needed and hope to reduce the number of terminations made for social reasons.  By lowering the time limit for these abortions, they estimate 2,300 lives a year could be saved. Abortion accuracy:  While unmarried women are four times more likely to have an abortion than married women, both married and unmarried abortions declined by more than 25 percent during the 1990s.  In fact, abortion increasingly is becoming a matter of birth control for women over age 25.  They are the ones having the largest share of abortions.  Also, the data indicates that the number of women having repeat abortions is increasing (some four or more) and more abortions are being performed on women who have previously had a live birth. Life is on the march.  Modern Americans seem absurdly determined to wipe away all evidence of what previous generations understood and accepted about life — its pains, challenges, surprises; its miraculous beginnings and eventual endings.  The fear of hardship has created a cult of death.  An obliging Supreme Court has crafted a jurisprudence to justify murders of convenience. That very 'so-called' right to privacy.  Whatever else modern America stands for has nothing like the centrality in our affairs of the right to abort a pregnancy.  The Constitution, it almost seems, exists to make sure no woman has to have a baby she doesn't want.  No sucker game of this magnitude was ever before played on the citizens of a great democracy.  It all comes down to abortion. The lamentable "bomb shelter":  The gruesome procedure known as partial-birth abortion once again has been declared legal by the federal court system.  A person must suspend all logic, as well as empathy, to accept the brutal killing of a child just seconds away from taking his or her first breath.  Those who argue that all forms of abortion must be allowed in order to preserve the life of the mother ignore the facts.  The overwhelming majority (90-plus percent) of abortions are performed for reasons related to economics or convenience. The secular barbarians:  If an unborn child is going to impede the mother in any way, it's cool to root that baby out because the little rascal could ruin her "life".  Maybe its birth could interfere with Mom getting her BA degree, or expose the affair she's having with her college professor, or mess up her bikini body, or keep her from partying and sleeping with everything that moves. Women say economy factors in abortions.  Many women who got abortions last year say the worsening economy was one of the reasons for their decision.  There were 13,843 abortions performed in Minnesota in 2007.  Of the women who listed a reason for their abortions, 40 percent cited economic concerns — that's the largest share since the state started collecting detailed abortion information a decade ago, according to the state's annual abortion report. Spitting in the face of pro-lifers:  Forgive my ignorance, but I fail to see what contribution Dr. Henry Morgentaler has made to Canadian society that he deserves to be called an officer of the Order of Canada.  I stand with the multitude of pro-life Canadians who believe legalized abortion has not made Canada a fundamentally more just or humane society, as abortion rights proponents said it would.  Like every place where abortion is introduced, it has cheapened human life and transformed abortion into an acceptable form of birth control. A society with no standards:  Currently sitting at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 list is a rap rendition called "Confessions, Part II" by rap star Usher.  Mixed into the recording are lyrics by another rapper, Joe Budden, in which he talks about his frustration with a woman's refusal to abort his baby. Feminism and the Family:  Since the central aspect of women's liberation is so-called "free love" — sexual activity that is unconstrained and without consequences — they declared that abortion on demand is a basic human right and they made abortion an essential and sacred element of their life's creed.  The abortion activists became both effective street fighters and skillful backroom strategists; they defend the 45 million murders of unborn lives by abortionists — at every turn and in every arena.  Read this   The Truth About Abortion:  The most recent statistics document an average of 1.4 million legal abortions performed annually from 1973 to 1998.  Two to five percent of these pregnancies are terminated due to incest, rape, fetal abnormalities, or the mother's health, while the other 95 to 98% are simply a means of birth control. Making abortion less messy:  RU-486 and other drugs. Shots assist in aborting fetuses.  In response to the Supreme Court decision upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, many abortion providers in Boston and around the country have adopted a defensive tactic.  To avoid any chance of partially delivering a live fetus, they are injecting fetuses with lethal drugs before procedures. RU-486: Human pesticide.  The FDA's approval of RU-486 should help remind the pro-life community of the principles at stake in the dispute over abortion.  For several years, the most intense public discussion of abortion has been the debate over late-term, or "partial-birth" abortion.  But opposition to this physically most repugnant form of abortion has had the unfortunate side-effect of distracting some from the key issue of principle, which is equality for all. Abortions down 25% from peak.  The number of abortions has plunged to 1.2 million a year, down 25% since peaking in 1990, according to a report released today -- days before the 35th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion. ... [However] Women looking to end early pregnancies are gravitating to medication abortions, in which they take two pills under a doctor's supervision to induce miscarriage.  This approach lets them avoid surgery -- and the protesters who often picket clinics -- and expel the embryo in the privacy of their homes. The Editor says... "Expel the embryo" is a euphemistic way of saying, "flush the baby".  An intentionally induced miscarriage has the same result as an abortion, and the death of the baby is easily preventable; therefore it is the same thing as an abortion, and this new "down 25%" statistic is meaningless. Pharmacists sue Walgreen over contraceptives.  Four from Illinois were fired after refusing to dispense morning-after pill. 'Morning After' Ruling in Wash. State.  A federal judge has suspended Washington state's requirement that pharmacists sell "morning-after" birth control pills, a victory for druggists who say their moral objections to the drug are being bulldozed by the government.  In an injunction signed Thursday [11/8/2007], U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton said pharmacists can refuse to sell the morning-after pill if they refer the customer to another nearby source. Workers' Religious Freedom vs. Patients' Rights.  The Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing a draft regulation that would deny federal funding to any hospital, clinic, health plan or other entity that does not accommodate employees who want to opt out of participating in care that runs counter to their personal convictions, including providing birth-control pills, IUDs and the Plan B emergency contraceptive. Wal-Mart pharmacies to carry morning-after pill.  Caving in to pressure from abortion activist groups, Wal-Mart will begin carrying the controversial morning after pill in all of its more than 3,700 U.S. pharmacies beginning March 20. … However, Wal-Mart will maintain its conscientious objection policy, which allows pharmacists who have moral qualms about dispensing the pill to refer customers to another pharmacy. Unleashing the Killer Pill:  RU-486, the abortion pill, is a dangerous drug that not only kills the unborn infant but endangers the mother's life and health as well. Why Is It So Hard to Understand?  The Abortion Pill Is Simply Wrong:  Many years ago I sat at a table in the White House, looking at a dumbfounded President Ronald Reagan.  I had just told him that under his administration, research was being funded in the United States on an abortion pill called RU-486.  He took the documents from me, handed them to Ed Meese, and said, "This is wrong.  Look into this." Abortion Pill May Be Tied to Deaths.  Abortion in a pill wasn't supposed to include body bags and caskets, but tell that to the two women whose recent deaths may be linked to their "right to choose" RU486. Here is the Kafkaesque headline of the week: Abortion pill, death not linked, FDA says.  Health officials said yesterday that they have ruled out the abortion pill RU-486 in one of two deaths in women who took the drug.  The second remains under investigation. As Abortion Rate Drops, Use of RU-486 Is on Rise.  Thirty-five years after the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision, a pill that has largely faded from the rancorous public debate over abortion has slowly and quietly begun to transform the experience of ending a pregnancy in the United States.  The French abortion pill RU-486, on the market since 2000, has become an increasingly common alternative, making abortion less clinical and more private. The Editor says... Privacy doesn't change the fact that it's homicide.  Most homicides are committed in places where the perpetrators believe nobody's watching. Pro-Life Pharmacy Opens Doors, Faces Boycott from Abortion Group.  A unique pro-life pharmacy opened its doors Monday [10/20/2008] in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Chantilly, Va.  The owners say Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy will sell medications and products found in most other drug stores — but it will not fill prescriptions for contraceptives, or sell condoms. Italy OKs pill for abortion.  Italy has approved the use of the abortion drug RU-486, capping years of debate and defying opposition from the Vatican, which warned of immediate excommunication for doctors prescribing the pill and for women who use it.  The pill is already available in a number of other European countries. The Shameless Abortion Carnival.  If anyone was looking for a self-righteous extreme feminist, they found one in Angie Jackson.  This is a woman who was so proud she was aborting her baby that she announced she would "tweet" her chemical-cocktail abortion live, as it happened, on Twitter.  The liberal media found this made-for-TV slaughter fascinating, and not at all a controversy worthy of discussing with two sides. Other items yet to be categorized: Is Late-Term Abortion Ever Necessary?  Intentional abortion for maternal health, particularly after viability, is one of the great deceptions used to justify all abortion.  The very fact that the baby of an ill mother is viable raises the question of why, indeed, it is necessary to perform an abortion to end the pregnancy.  With any serious maternal health problem, termination of pregnancy can be accomplished by inducing labor or performing a cesarean section, saving both mother and baby.  If a mother needs radiation or chemotherapy for cancer, the mother's treatment can be postponed until viability, or regimens can be selected that will be better tolerated by the unborn baby. The Top Ten Myths About Abortion.  In order to discuss abortion intelligently, it is a prerequisite that the facts about it be known.  Yet, the one thing that can be said with certainty is this:  the American people do not understand the facts surrounding abortion.  Instead, their views are clouded by various "myths." A Conservative Manifesto:  [Scroll down]  Science today has reached the point where any honest biologist would have to admit that an unborn child in the womb of a human mother is an identifiably separate human life.  It may be entirely dependent upon the mother for continued existence and growth, but that in now way invalidates that growing life's individuality.  This is simple proven science and yet it is another unbending hot button for the liberal. Conventional wisdom strikes out:  Last week's news contained a couple of nuggets that stand conventional wisdom on its head. Abort this award.  The Order of Canada was supposed to be a public recognition of service and devotion to Canada.  In recent years it has become a way for the liberal elites to reward their friends and those activists whose politics they support.  So in a grotesque paradox perhaps [Henry] Morgentaler really does deserve the thing.  Future recipients are advised to wipe the blood off first. Radical Feminist With a Track Record Takes YWCA Helm:  The announcement that Patricia Ireland is the new president of the YWCA has been met with concern from some in the Christian community.  [Additionally,] The YWCA receives over $272 million in tax dollars per year. Conservatives Renew Fight to Stop US Financing of UN Population Fund.  Conservatives say the U.N. Population Fund condones forced abortion and sterilization in China and elsewhere. Web site:  Life Dynamics:  "'We're not here just to put up a good fight.  We're here to win, because winning is how the killing stops.'  This is the mindset that is behind everything that Life Dynamics does.  We are fighting to return full legal protection for every unborn child, from the moment of conception.  Because of this our motto is, 'Pro-Life: without compromise, without exception, without apology.'" ACLU Marks Day of Appreciation for Abortionists:  The American Civil Liberties Union is celebrating Sunday, March 10th, [2002] a "National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers." Pro-Lifers, NOW President Clash Over Abortion Views:  The new president of the National Organization for Women wasted little time in causing a stir with the pro-life community. Kim Gandy said her first priority would be to block efforts by President George W. Bush to nominate Supreme Court justices opposed to abortion. Alan Keyes and the Abortion Issue.  [Abortion] not only divides liberals and conservatives, parents and offspring, and men and women, but also divides those within each group.  Even my wife and I have been known to argue about it; she feels that men shouldn't even have a say in the matter, while I contend that cutting us out of the discussion is like saying that people who aren't serving in the military shouldn't have an opinion about Iraq, or that honest, law-abiding citizens aren't entitled to comment on the legal system or voice an opinion about capital punishment. Taking Away the Perceived Need for Abortion.  Abortion providers are not in the business of providing abortions because they are magnanimous and want to help women.  They charge high fees for their "services."  This is why they desire taxpayer funds to perform abortions.  With subsidies, more clients could afford abortions.  Planned Parenthood is not interested in helping women with the life issues that bring them to the clinic.  Pregnancy Resource Centers, in contrast, exist to help women with these life issues. 'Choose Life' tags expected by fall after failed challenge.  "Choose Life" license plates for Tennessee drivers could hit the road by autumn. … The nation's highest court said Monday [6/26/2006] that it would not consider appeals from abortion rights groups wanting to stop states from issuing car license plates bearing a "Choose Life" message. … "Were obviously disappointed with the decision," said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the Tennessee ACLU. Court orders approval of Arizona 'Choose Life' license plates.  A federal court Wednesday [11/19/2008] ordered the Arizona License Plate Commission to approve a specialty license plate featuring the words "Choose Life."  Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and the Center for Arizona Policy represent the applicants for the plates, the Arizona Life Coalition.  "Pro-life groups shouldn't be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs," said ADF Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb.  "Many other groups have been allowed to participate in the Arizona specialty plate program.  The commission had no legitimate reason to selectively exclude this group.  We're pleased that the plates will soon be available to the public." Judge to S.C.:  Stop making religous car tags.  A federal judge says South Carolina must stop marketing and making license plates that feature the image of a cross and the words "I Believe."  The judge issued a temporary injunction during a court hearing Thursday [12/11/2008] after opponents said the specialty plates violate the separation of church and state. Conscience, Cash and the Culture of Death.  [Scroll down]  It would be an unambiguous violation of longstanding law for a pro-life health-care organization that receives funding from HHS under the Public Health Service Act to refuse to hire an abortionist simply because he is an abortionist.  Sounds crazy, right?  It has been the law of the United States since 1973.  The same law, in almost the same breath, also prohibits a pro-abortion health-care organization from refusing to hire a pro-life doctor because a pro-life doctor won't kill unborn babies. Broader medical refusal rule may go far beyond abortion.  The outgoing Bush administration is planning to announce a broad new "right of conscience" rule permitting medical facilities, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare workers to refuse to participate in any procedure they find morally objectionable, including abortion and possibly even artificial insemination and birth control.  For more than 30 years, federal law has dictated that doctors and nurses may refuse to perform abortions.  The new rule would go further by making clear that healthcare workers also may refuse to provide information or advice to patients who might want an abortion. Bias alert: The article goes on to make it sound like the refusal rule is a bad thing. Mother has healthy baby boy despite abortion warning by doctor.  Gaynor Purdy was warned her first child could have a fatal chromosome defect and a life threatening heart condition.  But she rejected two suggestions to terminate the pregnancy and she and her husband Lee are celebrating life with their "perfect" ten-month-old son. Abortion Heresy.  Let me set the scene:  A husband and a wife have had 15 failed pregnancies and in vitro fertilization non-starters.  Author Alex Kuczynski, a fine writer, comes perilously close to falling off the cliff when she describes a "fetus" that didn't make it past 10 weeks as "a small dead baby" and quotes a nurse as telling her, "In case you were interested, it was a girl."  But she quickly regains her footing and writes, "I was not, in fact, interested in attaching a gender to the coagulation of cells, briefly and potentially human... ." What Exactly is the Mexico City Policy?  I'm amazed with the number of people, on both sides of the abortion issue, in the media and definitely in Congress who have no understanding of what the Mexico City Policy is and does. The "Blessing" of Abortion.  "Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.  Let me hear you say it:  abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.  Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.  Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done."  That was the Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale in 2007, repetitiously inciting her disciples to be not just pro-choice but fanatically pro-abortion.  This is significant because, according to standard journalistic stylebooks, Ragsdale does not exist.  We're told that pro-choice folks don't like abortion; they're just trying to help a woman facing tragedy. The Upturned Moral Universe of Progressives.  The topic of torture is in the headlines again, resuscitated by the Democrats [... because] the Obama experiment is desperately in need of a compelling distraction from the dreadful economic results it has thus far yielded.  There are also the latent vestiges of unresolved animus toward the previous administration from a boisterous fringe that refuses to be pacified.  But one reason for having a renewed interest in this issue which liberal democrats can never be accused of is that they suddenly find themselves aggrieved with the unbearable burden of a heavy conscience.  In fact there is not one lone liberal Democrat in Congress who cares one iota that prisoners of war have been or are being tortured.  This may sound like a rather bold statement, but it is firmly grounded on historical fact. Supermodel Kathy Ireland Lashes Out Against Pro Choice.  [Scroll down]  "I called Planned Parenthood and begged them to give me their best argument and all they could come up with that it is really just a clump of cells and if you get it early enough it doesn't even look like a baby.  Well, we're all clumps of cells and the unborn does not look like a baby the same way the baby does not look like a teenager, a teenager does not look like a senior citizen.  That unborn baby looks exactly the way human beings are supposed to look at that stage of development.  It doesn't suddenly become a human being at a certain point in time," Ireland argued. More Americans "Pro-Life" Than "Pro-Choice" for First Time.  A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42% "pro-choice."  This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995. Pro-life shift not surprising.  It's rather ironic that as the most pro-choice government in U.S. history settles into its seats, a national poll finds that most Americans are pro-life.  Some observers have tried to pooh-pooh this result, but it doesn't surprise me for two reasons... Notre Dame Holds First Alan Keyes Fundraiser.  Liberals were awestruck by Obama's statesmanlike speech at Notre Dame, but whatever he says about abortion is frothy nonsense because we're not allowed to vote on abortion policy in America.  If it's a "constitutional right," we can no more vote on abortion than we could vote on free speech.  With Roe v. Wade, abortion supporters ripped the issue out of the democratic process — limb from limb, you might say — and declared their desired outcome a "constitutional right."  They have hysterically defended that lawless decision for the last quarter-century. Poll: Americans Don't Want Pro-Abortion Justices.  As speculation builds around President Barack Obama's nomination to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a new survey revealed Thursday a majority of Americans would oppose nominees who hold staunch pro-abortion viewpoints, including support for partial-birth abortions and taxpayer-funded abortions. The Religious Right Didn't Kill George Tiller.  The organized antiabortion movement has always opposed violence against abortion providers.  That has never stopped opportunistic prochoice activists, however, from conflating their passionate rhetoric with the behavior of individual criminals.  True to form, on Sunday [5/31/2009], Mike Hendricks of the Kansas City Star accused anyone who had criticized Tiller as a murderer (Tiller aborted healthy, nine-month old fetuses) of being an "accomplice" to his death. Cuomo:  Fetal Memory 'Shocking to So Many People'.  A new study found that unborn babies may start to develop memories as early as thirty weeks into a pregnancy, but ABC's "Good Morning America" ignored the study's potential impact on the abortion debate, especially concerning late term abortion.  Reporter Sharyn Alfonsi's July 15 segment covered the pivotal study without even mentioning abortion. ... The memory study, Alfonsi said, "... is proof that we need to be more careful about what experiences we expose babies to in the womb."  Like the experience of, say, murder? Fetuses found to have memories.  They weigh less than 3 pounds, usually, and are perhaps 15 inches long.  But they can remember.  The unborn have memories, according to medical researchers who used sound and vibration stimulation, combined with sonography, to reveal that the human fetus displays short-term memory from at least 30 weeks gestation — or about two months before they are born.  "In addition, results indicated that 34-week-old fetuses are able to store information and retrieve it four weeks later," said the research, which was released Wednesday [7/15/2009]. Hidden Within ObamaCare, an Abortion Mandate.  Government-owned health care will place bureaucrats in Washington in charge of your health care options.  This is wrong.  Health care decisions must be made by you and your doctor.  However, there is another very serious concern with health care reform plans in Congress, especially the plan being offered in the House.  It will lead to mandated coverage of abortion, forcing employers and insurance providers to cover abortion as a health care procedure and subsidizing abortions with the tax dollars of pro-life Americans who have grave moral objections. Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  Have any doubt about where Barack Obama stands on abortion rights?  You shouldn't.  During last year's presidential campaign, Obama said he would make "preserving a woman's right to choose under Roe v. Wade a priority as president."  Just three days after taking his oath of office, he lifted a ban on U.S. funding for international groups that promote or perform abortions.  And this week, Obama named a surgeon general, Dr. Regina Benjamin, who, according to a White House spokesman, "supports the president's position on reproductive health issues." Nurse 'Forced' to Help Abort.  A Brooklyn nurse claims she was forced to choose between her religious convictions and her job when Mount Sinai Hospital ordered her to assist in a late-term abortion against her will. "Freedom of Choice Act" Means Goodbye to Catholic Hospitals.  If passed, FOCA would have pretty much invalidated every restriction on abortion nationwide, including parental-notification laws, informed-consent laws, and bans on the late-term procedure commonly known as partial-birth abortion.  Republicans and sensible Democrats did not have any real interest in it, and, fortunately, that bill was sent back to Committee and was never voted on.  That should have been the end of it.  A new version of FOCA, however, is back.  As reported by Fox News contributor Father Jonathan Morris, FOCA, like a mutating virus, has been newly re-packaged and is just as insidious. The Facts About the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA).  The Orwellian-named Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was first introduced in the House of Representatives in 1989.  The current far-left leadership in Congress backed by strong support from the White House for the first time makes passage of FOCA a real threat.  FOCA would go well beyond any Supreme Court decision and legitimize abortion on demand at any time, for any reason.  FOCA seeks to establish abortion permanently as a "fundamental right," elevating it to the same status as the right to free speech or the right to keep and bear arms. Dirty Secret No. 2 in Obamacare:  I find it striking that Obama's ethics similarly have allowed him already to pass more laws increasing the terminations of life in the womb than any administration since Roe v. Wade.  To add insult to injury, Congress repeatedly has rejected amendments to this universal health care bill that would prevent federal funds from being used for abortions. Media's Pro-Choice Darling Called Humans 'Ecotumors'.  To liberal media outlets, Warren Hern, one of the few late-term abortion providers in the country, has been worthy of praise as a doctor who boldly stands up for his beliefs in the face of intimidation — a lonely humanitarian braving violent death for the sake of his patients.  That's the picture painted by TV and other media.  What's missing from the portrait is Hern's belief that humans are "malignant ecotumors," his refusal to be called an abortionist, and his strident denunciations of the pro-life movement. Kennedy's Funeral Further Damages the Church's Credibility.  On Wednesday [8/26/2009] the Church further diminished her credibility when it was announced that a Mass of Christian Burial would be celebrated for Senator Edward M. Kennedy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica.  It was also announced that President Barack Obama would be the eulogist.  Senator Kennedy, along with President Obama have been the most pro-abortion and pro-embryonic stem cell research politicians in the nation.  As a matter of fact, Senator Kennedy refused to vote for Supreme Court nominees Robert Bork and Samuel Alito for fear their appointment might lead to overturning Roe v. Wade.  These positions are inimical to Catholic Church teaching and throughout the years, the American hierarchy has railed against Catholic politicians such as Kennedy who hold such views. Anti-abortion activist shot in front of Owosso High School.  State police at the Corunna post have confirmed a well-known anti-abortion activist was shot multiple times and killed this morning in front of Owosso High School.  The victim's identity has not yet been released but the shooting occurred around 7:30 a.m., after most students were off the buses and safely inside the building, said Owosso schools transportation supervisor Jayne Campbell. Pro-Life Advocate Murdered Outside Michigan School While Protesting Abortion.  Local officials and state police are confirming that a pro-life advocate was shot and killed outside a high school in this Michigan town.  The person, who is described as well-known but whose identity has not been released, was shot multiple times while protesting abortion outside Owosso High School.  LifeNews.com has learned that the pro-life advocate is James Pouillon and the local Argus Press newspaper in Owosso has confirmed that to be the case.  He was reportedly shot multiple times. Slain Pro-Life Advocate Jim Pouillon Known as the Peaceful Abortion Sign Guy.  Jim Pouillon was known as the sign guy by resident of this otherwise sleepy local community 45 minutes northeast of Lansing, Michigan.  But Pouillon was shot Friday morning as he did what he did best — hold his pro-life sign outside of a local high school letting students and teaching know some of their peers are missing. Where Are the Condemnations of Abortion Protester James Pouillon's Murder?  James Pouillon, aka "the sign guy," was the abortion rights opponent gunned down in suburban Owosso, Michigan, early Friday morning [9/11/2009].  Shortly after his murder, a Facebook Friend of mine with a conservative political outlook posted the question:  "Where is the outrage?" This is one unborn child whose life is really treasured. Couple prepares to say goodbye to unborn son.  For now, Jonathan Tomaschko is a tiny foot in his mom's ribs.  A ricochet of mini hiccups jiggling her belly several times a day.  Each time he moves, his mom stops and concentrates on what he is doing.  She doesn't want to miss a minute of her son's too-short life.  Jonathan is a baby who might live his entire life inside of his mom. Life's Showing.  Anytime a poll is released indicating greater support for the pro-life position the mainstream media, like clockwork, tries to either downplay or dismiss the results.  The media's reaction to Thursday's [10/1/2009] release of a Pew Research Center poll showing a 14 percentage point gain in pro-life public support was certainly no exception. Self-Described 'Abortion Addict' Has 15 Abortions in 17 Years.  A 40-year-old woman who calls herself an "abortion addict," claims she terminated 15 pregnancies in 17 years, The Los Angeles Times reported.  Irene Vilar, who is a series editor of the Americas at Texas Tech University Press, is now the happy mother of two young daughters — but that wasn't always the case. Sanctity of Human Life and the Right to Life.  We hope to promote the sanctity of human life and the right to life for a child in its mother's womb.  This argument is steeped in Biblical scripture, given to us by God as a testament to His vision for our lives.  Later, we will discuss the latest ethical issues in greater detail, providing definitions, examples, and facts about their methodologies.  It is our hope that God might reveal His deep love and respect for all forms of human life. Baby who may be world's smallest surviving newborn could go home soon.  Cozy in her incubator, set to 81.5 degrees, heart going at 174 beats a minute as she snoozed in her red, footy pajamas, Oliviyanna Harbin-Page may be a global record-holder.  Born Aug. 5 to 16-year-old Jamesha Harbin of Eight Mile after 21 to 24 weeks of gestation, Oliviyanna weighed only 259 grams, or 9.1 ounces — possibly making her, according to the University of South Alabama Children's & Women's Hospital, the world's smallest surviving baby. The Editor says... Hmmm... After 21 to 24 weeks of gestation, the baby is born, and she really is a person.  What about that. Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda.  A BBC investigation into human sacrifice in Uganda has heard first-hand accounts which suggest ritual killings of children may be more common than authorities have acknowledged. Couple Kills Baby in Black Magic Ritual.  Pakistani police have arrested a couple on charges of stabbing their 3-month-old baby to death in a black magic ritual they believed would get them rich. How The Media Have Mangled The Pro-Life Story.  This past year, I found myself chief chronicler of the two of the year's most important stories involving the pro-life movement.  One was the inspiring saga of the 2009 March For Life, the largest in its 36-year history.  The second was the dispiriting saga of the recently murdered late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller.  What the two stories have in common is that each was consciously and completely mistold by the major media. Ruth P. Smith, Abortion-Rights Pioneer, Dies at 102.  Ruth Proskauer Smith, a longtime reproductive rights advocate who helped found what is now Naral Pro-Choice America, died Friday at her home in Manhattan.  She was 102. What's Wrong with Celebrating Life?  You've got to admit that these pro-abortion groups become more contemptible every year.  Apparently, it's not enough for them to advocate the killing of fetuses in the womb, even by means of that most despicable of procedures, the late-term abortion.  It's not enough that millions of unborn babies have ended up in waste disposal systems across the country since the Supreme Court in 1973 gave women the right to decide if a child should live or die.  Now, in 2010, women who made the decision to give birth to their children are being criticized for celebrating their views regarding the sanctity of life. Tebow Ad Outrage Exposes Some Feminists' Lunacy.  Last week, viewers finally got to see the Heisman Trophy winner and his mother — Tim and Pam Tebow — in the Super Bowl ad that caused apoplexy to many abortion-rights advocates.  They whined their opposition to what they claim was a pro-life ad and said that political statements have no place at an athletic event. The Pill and Breast Cancer:  Bad news for women who have been using birth control pills, although you won't learn about it from the mainstream media.  An International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs Working Group has concluded that combined estrogen-progestogen oral contraceptives and combined estrogen-progestogen menopausal therapy are carcinogenic to humans, after a thorough review of the published scientific evidence. Baby girl survives after being shot in the chest.  A seven-month-old baby girl survived three days alone with a bullet in her chest beside the bodies of her parents and toddler brother.  Argentines Francisco Lotero, 56, and Miriam Coletti, 23, shot their children before killing themselves after making an apparent suicide pact over fears about global warming. Frenchwoman accused of killing 6 of her infants.  A 38-year-old woman acknowledged Monday killing six of her newborns, whose corpses were found in plastic bags in her basement, at the opening of a chilling trial in northwest France. Abortion isn't painless.  The abortion lobby has spent nearly 40 years arguing that the radical surgery at issue is — for purposes of the courts — merely a medical question, not a moral one.  On Tuesday [4/13/2010], Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed a law that returns moral judgment to a spot front and center in the abortion debate.  The new law does so by emphasizing the hideously painful nature of the abortion act itself.  The new emphasis on an unborn baby's pain is right and necessary.  Forty-four of 49 members of the Nebraska Legislature voted for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.  The act makes it illegal for a doctor to perform an abortion beyond 20 weeks of a pregnancy.  The basis for this legislation was substantial new research showing the strong likelihood that a child aborted after 20 weeks can feel and suffer intense pain from the procedure. Governor vetoes bill on abortion diagnosis.  A bill requiring doctors to give the specific diagnosis justifying a late-term abortion was vetoed by the governor [of Kansas] Thursday [4/15/2010]. Nebraska Abortion Law a Challenge to Roe v. Wade.  Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman last week signed into law two pieces of legislation that will ultimately test the constitutional validity of the infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.  The first and most controversial of the measures is LB 1103, called "The Abortion Pain Prevention Act."  This legislation bans abortions after the 20th week of gestation based on the strong evidence that a pre-born baby's brain develops the sensory capacity for pain at around 21 weeks. Oklahoma House overrides abortion vetoes.  The Oklahoma House voted Monday to override vetoes of two restrictive abortion measures Gov. Brad Henry has called unconstitutional intrusions into citizens' private lives and decisions. Rabid feminism is self-extingishing. Roe, Roe, Roe Your Boat.  If the next generation of abortion proponents is mysteriously missing, it may be because their mothers availed themselves of the right to have an abortion and thus did not become mothers. NARAL's President Admits:  Pro-Aborts Aging, Pro-Lifers Young and Zealous.  The pro-life movement in America is growing in leaps and bounds, attracting young, zealous women to defend the unborn in droves — a fact that even the president of NARAL has now admitted. Within an inch of their lives.  [Scroll down]  A fetus at 24 weeks is able to sleep, urinate, defecate, has the nervous development to feel pain, and will turn away at the presence of a bright light.  And apparently, a fetus can withstand three attempts at abortion and survive for days on its own after being left for dead.  Is there truly any question about whether or not it is a living thing, worthy of life?  The rational answer is that nearly all scientific evidence indicates that the fetus is a living entity.  But pro-choice advocates do not want to the public to focus on such facts. Did DHS pressure teen to get abortion?  A Department of Human Services caseworker pressured a pregnant Mayfair teenager to undergo a late-term abortion by threatening to take away either her toddler or her unborn baby if she had the child, according to the teen's foster mother.  The alleged strong-arm tactic happened one day after DHS learned of the pregnancy, when the girl was about 22 weeks pregnant, according to her foster mother and the girl's social worker, Marisol Rivera. Americans Under 30 Most Likely to Take Uncompromising Stand for Right to Life.  The pro-abortion left appears to be losing the battle for the heart and soul of the rising generation of Americans, according to new data released by the Gallup poll.  Americans in the 18 to 29 age bracket are now more likely than their elders to believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances, according to the data released last week, and generally oppose abortion in greater numbers than Baby Boomers. More abortion doctors have been murdered on 'Law & Order' than in real life.  Law & Order promoted its storylines as "ripped from the headlines," but the show's hate-on towards social conservatives was actually sourced from liberal op-ed pages, where paranoid (and inaccurate) predictions about "Tea Party violence" and ever-looming "Christian theocracies" have enjoyed an equally long run. Anti-abortion fetus dolls handed out to Norfolk students.  Plastic human fetus dolls — soft, in pink and brown, and about 4 inches long — have been handed out at Oakwood Elementary School by an employee who was put on administrative leave Thursday over the situation.  The dolls, which were distributed over weeks or months, are not authorized by the division as instructional materials, spokeswoman Elizabeth Thiel Mather said Thursday [5/20/2010]. Kagan helped defend late-term abortion ban veto.  As a domestic policy adviser to former President Bill Clinton, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan helped defend the veto of a measure that would have banned late-term abortions with few exceptions. Michigan Woman Sues, Claims Doctor Forced Abortion After She Said Stop.  A young Michigan woman who changed her mind about having an abortion while on the doctor's table has accused her doctor of terminating her pregnancy even after she pleaded with him to stop.  A lawsuit filed by 20-year-old Caitlin Bruce against Dr. Abraham Hodari is now winding its way through the Genesee County court system, but the case has raised questions about when an abortion can be stopped. The Trouble with the Social Welfare Modifier to the Pro-life Position.  I think we should do things to make abortion less attractive to women.  But I do not think that we should propose to people that they may not legitimately oppose abortion until they are willing to enact a host of social welfare reforms. Congress, Obama, and Taxpayer Funding of Abortion.  For years, Washington has been thumbing its nose at the American people, arrogantly defying their will by spending taxpayers' hard-earned money in ways they oppose.  Now, courtesy of a report by the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) requested by Rep. Pete Olson (R., Texas), the American people have new information about the extent to which this Washington nose-thumbing has included hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for the abortion industry. Kagan on Life:  As Radical as They Come.  The discredited practice of partial-birth abortion has been rejected by the overwhelming majority of Americans, including a large percentage of people who consider themselves "pro-choice."  A 2003 Gallup poll found that over 70 percent opposed the procedure where the life of a baby is ended by suctioning the child's brain matter while almost its whole body is delivered and only the head remains inside.  But President Obama's Supreme Court candidate, Elena Kagan, does not reject this inhumane, gruesome procedure. Save the Turtles; Kill the unborn.  Human fetuses can be legally killed, turtles cannot.  If you destroy a turtle you pay a hefty fine.  If slaying an unborn baby, the government both funds and supports your right to do so. The Radical Religion of Abortion.  Radicalism diminishes everything to which it is applied, no matter how good its initial intentions, because it ignores the boundaries of reason and common humanity in its own conceit of self-regard.  When it is mixed with religion, it is particularly toxic.  I wonder at what point radical environmentalism and radical feminism will be identified as the narrow-minded, fundamentalist-activist-transcendentalism (let's call them religions, already) that they clearly are. You're a Liberal/Progressive if You Believe...  a fetus and a human being are two completely different things, and that anyone old enough to get pregnant is old enough to have an abortion without any parental involvement whatsoever.  You also have no problem with millions of innocents being "terminated" even as you hold candle-light vigils for death-row inmates and convicted cop-killers. Who's Watching Big Brother?  [Scroll down]  Substitute Chesterton's cat with the divisive topic of abortion, and it becomes evident how even a supposedly "Christian" society has resolved the dilemma by simply denying the sin.  The act has been renamed over time, evolving from murder to abortion, then to pro-choice, and on to the more positive-sounding idea of women's reproductive rights.  When a baby is wanted, available scientific technology helps ensure its survival; when not, it's merely seen as a clump of cells and the same technology is used to destroy it. Numerous commentaries on abortion and bio-ethics. Back to News from the Culture War Back to Feminism and Abortion -- index page Back to the Home page

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