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DAILY NEWS FOR MONDAY (see below for full articles)
Further Drama Anticipated As Tiller Hearing Resumes
Mr. Obama, Is Change Really Gonna Come? Asks Day Gardner, National Black Pro-Life Union
Abortion Group Ipas Defends Abortion Targeting Unborn Girls
New Survey Finds Only 9% of Americans Support Unrestricted Abortion
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NEWS SHORTS FOR MONDAY (more below)
Miracle Baby Given Only 10 Per Cent Chance Of Survival Goes Home For First Time
Savages in India Open Call Center To `Control' Population
Morning-After Pills Served At School
Democrats Eye Overturning Bush Medical Rule
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HELP SUPPORT THE IFRL
In just a few days Barack Obama will become President. It's very frightening, because he is the most pro-abortion President we have ever seen. In the Senate, he voted against every piece of pro-life legislation and refused to set any limits on abortion. He would force you to pay for abortions with your tax dollars; he fought our ban on partial birth abortion and he even killed a bill in our own Illinois Senate that would have protected babies who survive abortions! Now, he's vowed that as President he would make the Freedom of Choice Act one of his top priorities. This man is a real danger to the millions of babies we need to protect.
Would you be willing help us and join us this year with a critical gift?
Click or to help support the IFRL.
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DAILY NEWS (in full)
Further Drama Anticipated As Tiller Hearing Resumes
"Cast of Characters" resource published to help simplify this complex legal case
Wichita, KS - Testimony in a pre-trial motion to suppress evidence against late-tem abortionist George R. Tiller is set to resume on Tuesday, January 6, after a six-week hiatus. In a case that has been anything but routine, Tiller faces 19 counts of having committed illegal late-term abortions, including one on a 10-year old girl.
Scheduled to provide the anticipated courtroom drama are two fierce political rivals, Phill Kline and Paul Morrison. Morrison defeated Kline as Attorney General but was forced to resign in disgrace after news broke of his adulterous affair with a former employee. That woman, Linda Carter, said in a sworn statement that Morrison pressured her to help him impede on-going abortion investigations by Kline, who took Morrison's place as Johnson County District Attorney.
Carter has been unwillingly subpoenaed by Tiller's defense and is scheduled to testify.
Tiller is asking Judge Clark Owens to suppress the evidence against him in abortion records obtained by Kline as Attorney General, and on which Morrison based the charges Tiller now faces.
"Never before have two former attorneys general, and their subordinates - not to mention an illicit lover -been forced to testify by a defendant in a pre-trial motion of a misdemeanor criminal case to give an account for their decisions to prosecute. The proceedings, and the drama they promise to produce, are unprecedented in Kansas history," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.
"But make no mistake; this hearing is more about Tiller's efforts to influence public opinion by deflecting attention away from his own criminal behavior, than it is about guilt, innocence, or the rule of law," said Newman. "Tiller's attorneys have based their case on twisted facts, wild conclusions, and the attribution of sinister motives to routine law-enforcement tasks. That kind of dishonesty is truly despicable."
This criminal case has a long and often complicated history. In order to help simplify this case, Operation Rescue has published a list of those involved in the proceedings along with thumbnail sketches that show how they are involved. Also available is a timeline of efforts to bring Tiller to justice.
Source: Operation Rescue
Source URL: http://www.operationrescue.org
Publish Date: January 5, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090105_2.htm
Mr. Obama, Is Change Really Gonna Come? Asks Day Gardner, National Black Pro-Life Union
Day Gardner, President of the National Black Pro-Life Union, submits the following and is available for comment:
Okay so here we are. Despite still lingering questions about his eligibility, Barack Obama is about to become the first non-white president of the United States of America.
Many black Americans have come to view an Obama presidency as the final frontier in the vast universe of racism while white America hopes that having a black man in the White House will finally redeem their racist past once and for all.
I believe with regard to race the best white America can honestly hope for is that an Obama presidency will serve as a type of bridge over the racial gap--keeping in mind--the gap is still there. I believe the best that blacks can realistically do at this point is exhale--in hopes for eventual and absolute equality.
I think most Americans, me included, are looking to see what "change" will come from the man who made the word his entire campaign strategy.
To answer the question of what needs to be changed in the black community especially, we must look seriously at what was--how were things before Mr. Obama?
Before Barack Obama was elected president Planned Parenthood and other abortion organizations managed to kill 17 million black children by abortion since 1973, making abortion the number one killer of black people.
Before Obama, 36% of all abortions were performed on black girls -- abortion facilities are still purposefully placed in minority areas.
Before Obama, Planned Parenthood which is an overtly racist, billion dollar baby killing machine--drenched in the blood of black folk, received over 300 million of our tax dollars to continue the vicious dismembering and killing of innocent children.
Though I did not vote for Barack Obama, it is my hope that he will prove be the greatest president of all time.
It is my hope and prayer that he will have the strength needed to refuse to be bought off by the big abortion guns and advocates.
I hope and pray that he will hear the small voices of black children and all children in the womb crying out to be born.
I hope and pray that he will see that every child born and unborn is equal in God's eyes and therefore deserving of birth. Children are not expendable.
I pray that he will act speedily to stop the stream of tax payer funding to the billion dollar Planned Parenthood.
Mr. President-Elect , will you please change what Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, GH Bush, Clinton and GW Bush wouldn't or couldn't? Abortion has killed more 50 million children in just over 30 years. On behalf of the children I implore you--the campaigner for change--to change that!
Source: National Black Pro-Life Union
Source URL: http://www.nationalblackprolifeunion.com
Publish Date: January 5, 2008
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090105_3.htm
Abortion Group Ipas Defends Abortion Targeting Unborn Girls
According to a new article circulated by the abortion advocacy organization Ipas, widespread access to “safe abortion” trumps concerns over the gender imbalance stemming from “sex selective” abortion.
As sex-selective abortion overwhelmingly targets unborn girls, the article by Ipas senior research and policy advisor Bela Ganatra acknowledges that the issue divides the “reproductive rights community.” Abortion advocates are “often torn between their desire to allow women to choose when and if to have children, and their own personal disagreement with the basis for that choice.” Ipas, however, comes down on the side of widespread access to abortion, even if this means a female “birth dearth.”
Sex-selected abortion, or “gendercide,” as some feminist critics call it, is a practice whereby parents choose to terminate a pregnancy because the unborn child is not of the desired sex. It is generally carried out against baby girls. The practice has led to unnatural gender imbalances in some countries, mostly in Asia, where in some areas of China, for instance, as many as 150 boys are born for every 100 girls, creating a dramatic demographic crisis.
In response, some governments have banned sex-detection tests and outlawed sex-selected abortion. Ipas claims that as a result of these policies, “tremendous pressure emerges to control and restrict all second-trimester abortions,” the time when most sex-selected abortions occur. Ipas argues that “providers, afraid of being accused of providing sex-selective abortions, may limit their services to the first trimester, even when second-trimester services are legal.”
In “Maintaining Access to Safe Abortion and Reducing Sex Ratio Imbalances in Asia,” published in the latest issue of Reproductive Health Matters, Ganatra prioritizes access to abortion and argues that it is necessary to address “son preference” as the root cause, rather than on policies which place restrictions on abortion. Ganatra fears that outlawing sex-selected abortion is “starting to have adverse effects on the already limited access to safe and legal second trimester abortion for reasons other than sex selection” and that the issue is being used “as a front to promote anti-choice messages.”
Ganatra criticizes media campaigns like those in India that discourage sex-selected abortions for using “loaded words” that “personify the fetus,” claiming that these foster an “anti-abortion climate” which threatens “the gains made in making abortion safe.” Ganatra also criticizes the United Nations (UN) and some of its agencies for supporting efforts which use terminology that condemn sex-selective abortion as murder. She blasts the UN for using terms like ‘feticide’ and opposing sex selection in favor of the right of unborn girls to be born,” arguing that human rights only “begin at birth.”
Ipas and Ganatra conclude that the use of prenatal technology and selective abortions is a “pathway through which son preference results in an imbalanced sex ratio” but dismiss efforts to combat the problem with policies that hinder access to abortion.
Demographers project that there are as many as 100 million missing baby girls because of sex-selected abortion. A 2007 initiative to tackle sex-selected abortion head-on at the UN was derailed by abortion-rights NGOs and the European Union because some European states opposed condemning abortion for any reason.
Contact: Samantha Singson
Source: C-FAM LifeSiteNews.com
Source URL: http://www.c-fam.org http://www.lifesitenews.com
Publish Date: January 5, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090105_4.htm
New Survey Finds Only 9% of Americans Support Unrestricted Abortion
A nationwide survey commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has found that four out of five U.S. adults (82 percent) think abortion should either be illegal under all circumstances (11 percent) or would limit its legality. Thirty-eight (38) percent would limit abortion to the narrow circumstances of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother; and an additional 33 percent would limit abortion to either the first three or first six months. Only 9 percent said abortion should be legal for any reason at any time during pregnancy.
"These findings are remarkable," said Deirdre McQuade, Assistant Director for Policy & Communications at the USCCB's Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities. "Fewer than one in ten Americans support legal abortion for any reason at any time during pregnancy. But that is precisely the current state of abortion law under Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decisions that made abortion legal throughout the nine months of pregnancy for virtually any reason."
The survey of 2,341 adults, conducted online December 10-12, also found that laws limiting or regulating abortion enjoyed support as high as 95 percent among those expressing support or opposition to the six kinds of laws examined in the survey:
- 95 percent favor laws ensuring that abortions be performed only by licensed physicians
- 88 percent favor informed consent laws (i.e., that require abortion providers to inform women of potential risks to their physical and psychological health and about alternatives to abortion)
- 76 percent favor laws that protect doctors and nurses from being forced to perform or refer for abortions against their will
- 73 percent favor laws that require giving parents the chance to be involved in their minor daughter's abortion decision
- 68 percent favor laws against partial-birth abortion (i.e., aborting a child already partially delivered from the mother), and
- 63 percent favor laws preventing the use of taxpayer funds for abortions.
"Support for these measures cuts across 'pro-life' and 'pro-choice' positions. Over a third (35 percent) of the small minority who said abortion should be legal for any reason throughout pregnancy nevertheless supported three or more of the six laws presented," McQuade said.
"This research indicates how out of touch pro-abortion groups are with mainstream America," McQuade said.
"These same widely-supported, constitutionally valid measures, some of which have been proven effective in reducing abortion rates, are now seriously threatened by abortion advocates and their allies in Congress," McQuade said. "On behalf of children and their mothers, we will have to fight to keep such laws in place."
"Pro-abortion groups have already sent a comprehensive 55-page blueprint for their agenda to the incoming Administration," McQuade said. "But their agenda—including publicly-funded abortions, passage of the so-called 'Freedom of Choice Act' (FOCA), and attacking the Hyde amendment and other longstanding pro-life provisions in appropriations bills—won't sell in the general public."
"Most people agree we should work to reduce abortions, but you can't reduce abortions by promoting abortion and eliminating all the policies that have proven effective in reducing abortions," McQuade said. "The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will oppose all such threats to human life in whatever manner they are proposed."
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Source URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com
Publish Date: January 5, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090105_5.htm
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NEWS SHORTS FOR MONDAY
Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.
Miracle Baby Given Only 10 Per Cent Chance Of Survival Goes Home For First Time
Steven and Michelle Wilson were told to expect to lose both their girls after the death of Ellie at 30 days. But Chloe has defied the odds and has gone from strength to strength in hospital. Mr Wilson, 24, of South Hetton, County Durham, said: "We have waited 16 weeks for this and it feels fantastic. "It feels just right having her here in her home rather than hospital. I think we must be the only parents who are looking forward to being woken in the night."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/4108870/Baby-girl-given-only-10-per-cent-chance-of-survival-goes-home-for-first-time.html
Savages in India Open Call Center To `Control' Population
Every year, 24 million babies are added to India's 1 billion-plus population, and estimates suggest that the country will overtake China as the world's most populous by 2030. Moreover, India has 17 percent of the world's population living on slightly more than 2.4 percent of its land. The National Population Stabilization Fund seeks to pare down the growth to sustainable levels by means of contraception and reproductive and child health care. Officials say it may take some Indian states 18 to 45 years to achieve the stabilizing fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman; the government originally set 2010 as the date for achieving the goal. Nearly half of Indian women marry by age 18, and many become mothers soon afterward. And 188 million couples in India are in the reproductive age group, but only 53 percent of them use contraceptives.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/04/AR2009010401502.html
Morning-After Pills Served At School
A NEWS of the World investigation has revealed that staggering numbers of morning-after sex pills are being dished out to young girls in secret—by their SCHOOLS. In just one county— Oxfordshire—more than 1,000 have been given to pupils as young as 11 in lunchtime clinics aimed to cut teen pregnancies. And parents are NOT TOLD a word. Michaela Aston, spokeswoman for pro-life charity LIFE, said: “This is a huge number of morning-after pills and completely the wrong approach. “It’s done behind the backs of parents, encouraging kids not to confide in them. And there are serious safety issues.
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/115990/Morning-after-pills-served-at-school.html
Democrats Eye Overturning Bush Medical Rule
Regulation Giving Medical Workers Leeway in Providing Services on the Block
Democratic policymakers vowing to overturn a controversial new Bush administration rule that could limit women’s reproductive health options have several tools at their disposal to do so– but party leaders aren’t revealing which they favor.
The new regulation — unveiled by the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this month — expands the rights of some healthcare workers to withhold treatments and counseling services, possibly including contraception, based on their moral or religious sentiments. The White House argues that the change — known as the “right of conscience” rule — is necessary to clarify similar worker protections surrounding abortion and sterilization procedures that already exist as law. But many Democrats have joined women’s health advocates, healthcare providers and some state officials in blasting the rule as a sweeping expansion of existing statute that threatens women’s access to reproductive health services.
“Congress,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) said in a terse Dec. 18 statement, “will work with President-elect [Barack] Obama to reverse this rule.”
http://washingtonindependent.com/23480/congress-plans-overturning-bush-medical-rule
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PRO-LIFE EVENTS
Caring to the End
A Seminar on Dying and Death
Isn't it important for you to learn about life's unexpected difficulties? Everyone knows there are two absolutes, death and taxes. We spend a life time worrying about taxes, it's time to focus on the other absolute. Join our renowned speaker, Brother Jim O'Brien, R.N., an expert in oncology and end of life care, as he leads us through the issues when we are faced with dying and death.
This seminar is appropriate for anyone who is faced with life threatening concerns, and needs answers. Whether your loved one is faced with a life threatening illness, or you are providing care for someone who is sick or dying, this seminar is for you.
Clergy and health care professionals will find special value in this seminar because of their unique role in supporting and caring for families and individuals who are faced with life threatening illness, dying and death.
The seminar will be held at St. Paul the Apostle Church on the corner of Hunt Club and Gages Lake Rd. in Gurnee, Saturday January 10th from 8:00AM to 12:00PM. Light refreshments will be served. Click here for more information
“FIGHT FOCA Postcard Campaign”
January 24-25, 2009
With the approval of the U.S. Bishops at their November 2008 general meeting, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment are co-sponsoring the ―”Fight FOCA Postcard Campaign.” The target day for this event is the weekend of January 24-25, 2009, though your diocese or parish may set a different weekend.
The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is a radical piece of legislation that creates a ―fundamental right to abortion throughout the nine months of pregnancy. No governmental body at any level—federal, state, or local—would be able to ―deny or interfere with this right, or to ―discriminate against its exercise ―in the regulation or provision of benefits, services, or information. For the first time, abortion would become an entitlement the government must fund and promote.
The postcard signing event gives parishioners, as individuals and as a body, an opportunity to give public witness to their belief in the sanctity of human life. People remember signing the cards, and public officials understand that the postcards represent concerned constituents.
For more information on FOCA, please visit:
http://www.nchla.org/datasource/idocuments/Flier.Eng.pdf
For more information on the campaign, please visit:
http://www.nchla.org/datasource/idocuments/Instructions.pdf
To order postcards, please visit:
http://www.nchla.org/datasource/idocuments/OrderFormlatest.08.pdf
For a digital version of the postcards, please visit:
http://www.nchla.org/datasource/idocuments/Postcards.Eng&Sp.pdf
Speak Out Illinois
Rekindle the Fire
The 2009 SpeakOut Illinois Conference, "Rekindle the Fire," will be held Saturday, January 31 at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center
The program will feature talks by Fr. Thomas Euteneuer and Dr. Alveda King, plus the presentation of the Henry Hyde Leadership Award to Phyllis Schlafly. The Master of Ceremonies will be Christian radio personality Sandy Rios.
This year's conference program will again feature a concurrent program for highschool teens, TeenSpeak, presented by Generations for Life.
The Illinois Federation for Right to Life is a one of the sponsoring organizations of Speak Out Illinois.
Click here to download the Flyer and Registration form
Click here for more information
If you know of, or are part of a pro-life organization having an event or attending an event including county fairs, please let us know about it and we will post in this newsletter and our website reaching over 250,000 people a month. E-mail us at: mail@ifrl.org or postal mail us at IFRL Pro-Life Events, 1104 Milton Road, Alton, IL 62002
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The IFRL is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in Illinois. A non-profit organization, that serves as the state coordinating body for local pro-life chapters representing thousands of Illinois citizens working to restore respect for all human life in our society. The IFRL is composed of people of different political persuasions, various faiths and diverse economic, social and ethnic backgrounds. Since 1973 the Illinois Federation for Right to Life has been working to end abortion and restore legal protection to those members of the human family who are threatened by abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. Diverse though we are, we hold one common belief - that every human being has an inalienable right to life that is precious and must be protected. IFRL is dedicated to restoring the right to life to the unborn, and protection for the disabled and the elderly. Click here to learn more about the IFRL.
