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Kathryn
Jean Lopez reports on a group of pro-life champions in Congress who want to
permanently prevent our tax dollars from supporting abortion.
Rep.
Chris Smith (R-NJ) is set to propose the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”
which would provide permanent statutory prohibitions on the taxpayer funding of
abortions. LifeNews reports.
LifeSiteNews
reports. AdvanceUSA joined in a
letter to members of Congress opposing abortions on military bases.
AUL
reports. Hopefully, more states will
follow Louisiana and Governor Bobby Jindal’s lead.
LifeNews reports on a “sordid
tale” of forced abortion without parental consent. A girl in foster care became pregnant and was
taken to New Jersey by Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services to get an
abortion against her foster mother’s wishes.
A city employee was fired for not going along with the plan. Philly.com
also reports.
The Florida Family
Policy Council is urging Floridians to ask Governor Crist to sign a
pro-life bill that would prevent the taxpayer funding of abortion and require
women seeking an abortion to view an ultrasound image of their unborn
child. Crist recently abandoned the GOP
primary race for US Senate after upstart conservative Florida Speaker of the
House Marco Rubio opened a double-digit lead over Crist. With Crist’s party switch and recent veto of
a conservative education reform bill, Florida conservatives are concerned Crist
could torpedo what some activists are calling the most important pro-life bill
in Florida history.
On
Sunday evening the House of Representatives passed the much-discussed health
care bill that will require your tax dollars to fund abortions. See how your representative
voted here. Hold your elected
officials accountable for how they voted on this radical legislation.
Charmaine
Yoest explains in the Wall Street Journal.
Excerpt:
It's now becoming clear that Barack Obama
is willing to put everything on the table in order to be the president who
passes health-care reform. Everything, that is, except a ban on federal funding
for abortion.
Daniel
Foster explains the irony of a high-ranking Canadian official fleeing to
America for medical treatment. If government-run
health care is so great, how come you don’t read about Americans going to
Canada for medical procedures? Jeffrey
H. Anderson also comments on this news.
Scott
Brown pulled off an amazing
upset victory last night becoming Massachusetts’ first Republican Senator
in decades. His victory is widely seen
as an insurmountable hurdle to the current health care bill that will force
Congress to “return to the drawing board.”
The
editors at NRO weigh in on the significance of this race. As does the
New York Times.
Our
sources in Congress have assured us that the health care ‘reform’ battle is far
from over. Members of both houses will
meet together to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the health care
bill. The House of Representatives will
come back from the holiday recess on January 12 and the Senate will reconvene sometime
in late January.
NOW
IS THE TIME to contact your representative
and both
your senators to voice your opposition to this bill. Tell them that you don’t want your tax dollars
to support abortion, that you won’t accept a phony pro-life compromise, and
that you don’t want the federal government to micromanage the huge segment of
our economy that is the health care system.
The AP reports
the Senate passed the massive and controversial health care bill this morning. Meanwhile, the AP also reports
that abortion funding could still pose a problem for final passage by both
houses of Congress. Bloomberg
reports that the Congressional Budget Office is contradicting
Democrat claims that the health bill would save the Medicare system.
The
final vote is unavailable but will eventually be posted
here. The bill passed on a straight
party-line vote (60-39).
NRO’s
Ramesh
Ponnuru and Jeffrey
Anderson explain that there still is hope that the abortion-funding health
care ‘reform’ bandwagon can be stopped.
Sen.
Brownback (R-KS) explains
in Politico what is at stake for the pro-life movement in the health care
bill. Excerpt:
For over 30 years, the Hyde amendment has
prevented the expenditure of federal funds on abortion, which so many regard as
the taking of an innocent human life. Named after the late Henry Hyde, longtime
member of Congress from Illinois and pro-life hero, the Hyde amendment
established the principle that taxpayers should not be required to pay for
abortions, even if the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade had effectively
overturned 50 state laws to legalize the procedure across the nation.
Today, with the health care reform bill
emerging from the U.S. Senate, that principle is being thrown to the winds and,
with it, the hard-fought efforts of Henry Hyde and the pro-life movement to
maintain this basic protection for the unborn.
At
1:00am Monday morning the Senate voted to proceed with consideration of the
health care ‘reform’ bill that busts budgets, micromanages the private health
care system, and requires taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. LifeNews
explained why the bill still funds abortions, while FRC
and National
Right to Life spoke out against the bill.
The Minority Leader’s office released a statement alleging that the bill
requires a “monthly
abortion fee.”
If
the Senate is able to pass the bill before Christmas, the House will
next consider the topic. The bill
will either be reconciled with the House-passed version and then reconsidered
by both houses or sent straight to the House to consider without
amendment. Pro-Life Democrat Part Stupak
(D-MI) said the Senate-passed
bill is unacceptable, but it has yet to be seen if Pro-Life Democrats in
the House will stay true to their principles.
Senator
Nelson (D-NE) was responsible for the compromise that allowed the bill to pass
its first hurdle in the wee hours of this morning, and has been receiving vocal
criticism from pro-lifers and other conservatives in his home state of
Nebraska.
See
how BOTH
YOUR SENATORS VOTED on the health care bill.
USA
Today and the
AP report that Sen. Nelson (D-NE) has rejected a supposed pro-life
compromise amendment authored by
Sen. Casey (D-PA). Meanwhile, House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed
relief that the Senate health care bill still requires the taxpayer funding
of abortion.
LifeNews reports.
Word
had leaked that high level Congressional Democrats are predicting that the
health care bill will not pass this year.
While this sounds like encouraging
news, concerned citizens still need to maintain pressure on their elected
officials to make sure that the health care industry is not socialized, that
health care is not rationed, and that tax dollars aren’t spent on abortion.
The
AP reports. Excerpt:
After months of struggle, House Democrats
rolled out sweeping legislation Thursday to extend health care coverage to
millions who lack it and create a new option of government-run insurance. A
vote is likely next week on the plan largely tailored to President Barack
Obama's liking.
House
Minority Leader Boehner called
the bill “1,990 Pages Of Bureaucracy.”
Read the entire text of this massive
bill here.
This
bill would allow your tax dollars to be spent on abortions.
The
Politico reports on the Senate Majority Leader’s renewed push for the “public
option” while the
AP reports that the Speaker of the House just wants to rename the public
option something more palatable.
Charmaine
Yoest explains. Excerpt:
A Rasmussen poll released last month showed
that only 13% of Americans want the health-care reform bill to use tax dollars
to fund abortions. A Pew Research Center poll two weeks ago showed that support
for legalized abortion has dropped to its lowest level in years to 47%, down
from 54% last year.
If Democrats really want to maintain the
abortion status quo, they would drop the Capps Amendment and add a Hyde
Amendment to explicitly exclude funding abortion. The Capps Amendment takes us
toward a new era of unprecedented federal abortion funding.
Her
subtitle reads “Every Democratic health bill so far on offer would change 30
years of federal practice.”
The
AP reports that the fears of pro-lifers that the proposed health care “reform”
would permit taxpayer support of abortion are well founded. Excerpt:
…taxpayer funds [would] mingle with some
insurance plans that, one way or another, pay for abortions.
LifeNews reports.
It also reports on recent
comments by the President’s press secretary that highlight how the proposed health
care “reform” would allow taxpayer funding of abortion.
LifeNews reports. As does the
AP and the Wall
Street Journal.
National
Right to Life also
weighed in:
Events this week in Congress provide fresh
proof that top Democratic leaders in Congress are pushing forward with plans to
establish massive new programs that would pay for elective abortions and
subsidize insurance coverage of abortions -- which, if achieved, would break
from decades of federal policy.
LifeNews reports. Excerpt:
In an effort to gain more support from
members of the Senate Finance Committee who do not support his bill, Sen. Max
Baucus unveiled a modification of the legislation on Tuesday. The modified bill
reduces -- but doesn't come anywhere close to eliminating -- the abortion
concerns pro-life groups have.
LifeNews also reports on
concerns that pro-lifers in the House will not be allowed to offer amendments
on mandated taxpayer funding of abortion.
The
Weekly Standard reports. It is
becoming increasingly clear that someone is lying about abortion funding in the
health care overhaul plan, and it doesn’t appear to be pro-lifers.
The
Hill reports how President Obama and his accomplices in the Senate could
use underhanded tactics to force socialized medicine and taxpayer funded abortion
on the American people.
FactCheck.org
reports. Excerpt:
Despite what Obama said, the House bill
would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally
subsidized private plans.
HT:
National Right to Life
FRC
provides helpful information about health care town halls being held across the
country. Click here to find a town hall
near you. Click here to read FRC’s
document “20 Questions to Ask Your Legislator About Health Care Overhaul.”
John
McCormack explains at the Weekly Standard.
This article also exposes recent gimmicks by some members of Congress to
pretend that they oppose abortion funding in the health care bill when they
actually support forcing us to subsidize abortions with our tax dollars.
In
the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, an amendment mandating
abortion funding in the health care overhaul was passed and an amendment prohibiting
taxpayer funding of abortion was defeated.
LifeNews and RedState
report. Also, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) decried
the votes in a press release.
Excerpt:
Last night's vote demonstrates just how far
Democrats are willing to go to force taxpayers to fund abortion. A week ago, the Democrat-controlled Congress
voted down my proposal to block federal funding for the nation's largest
abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.
Now Chairman Waxman has employed a procedural gimmick to defeat an
amendment that would have prevented federal funding of abortion under the
Democrats' health care plan. This same
amendment had been approved earlier in the evening by the Chairman's very own
committee.
An overwhelming majority of Americans,
including advocates of abortion, oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund
abortion. Across the country American
families are rejecting the Democrats' plan for a government takeover of health care. The recent action taken by Democrats on the
Energy and Commerce Committee will give Americans no comfort as this debate
moves forward.
Watch
the Family Research Council’s hard-hitting
ad on the dangers of socialized medicine and the abortion funding contained
the proposed health care ‘reform’ bill.
As
LifeNews reports, the House
of Representatives voted down an amendment by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) which
would have prevented Planned Parenthood from receiving taxpayer dollars. Excerpt:
“It is morally wrong to destroy innocent
human life through abortion, but it is also morally wrong to take the tax
dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use them to promote or perform
abortions at home or abroad. The largest abortion provider in America should
not also be the largest recipient of federal funds under Title X," Pence
said during the debate.
See
how your representative
voted on the Pence amendment to defund this notorious abortion provider (sexual
abuse concealing).
FRC
released a
statement. As did
Congressman Pence who said, “You can't reduce abortions by funding abortion
providers with taxpayer dollars.”
The
AP reports. Excerpt:
. . . lawmakers opposed to federal funding
for abortions said Tuesday the House leadership's health care bill contains a
"hidden mandate" that would allow taxpayer dollars to be used to end
pregnancies.
Call
your representative and both your senators today and urge them to oppose the
massive health care “reform” bill! Tell
them you don’t want your tax dollars supporting abortion!
Also,
on Thursday night (July 23) at 9:00pm Eastern Time a coalition of pro-life
groups will host an urgent
nationwide webcast. Find out more
about the pro-abortion funding provisions in the health care bill and find out what you can do.
Fox
News reports. Excerpt:
A government-funded, public health
insurance plan may allow taxpayer money to go to pay for abortions, the White
House budget chief said Sunday.
Office of Budget and Management Chief Peter
Orszag told "FOX News Sunday" he is not ready to say whether abortion
services would be part of a final package Congress is considering to provide
taxpayer-funded health care to about a third of the nation's 50 million
uninsured. Lawmakers are considering a package that could cost as much as $1.5
trillion over 10 years for health care.
"I think that that will wind up being
part of the debate. I am not prepared to say explicitly that right now. It's
obviously a controversial issue, and it's one of the questions that is playing
out in this debate," Orszag told "FOX News Sunday." "I'm
not prepared to rule it out."
Already, the Obama administration has
demonstrated its support for federal funding of abortion. The president
rescinded the Mexico City Policy on Jan. 23, the day after the 36th anniversary
of the Roe v. Wade decision. The policy had been in place to prevent U.S.
funding being used for abortion services in clinics abroad.
The
New York Times and LifeNews
also report. National Right to Life
also examines this
problem.
Pro-life
Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) wrote a letter to his colleagues
warning them of the abortion funding provisions in this bill.
National
Right to Life explains. Excerpt:
Congressional Democratic leaders are aiming
to bring massive "health care reform" bills to the floor of the U.S.
Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives during the last week in July --
bills that National Right to Life says "would result in the greatest
expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade."
LifeNews also reports.
CitizenLink reports
on the death of an important and historical provision which had prevented
taxpayer dollars from supporting overseas organizations that provide or promote
abortion.
Douglas
Johnson of National Right to Life explains how ObamaCare could require your
tax dollars to support abortion.
FRC’s
Tony Perkins also explains the abortion-funding problems with the proposed “health
care reform” bill in a special
video report. The video shows Sen.
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) exposing the bill’s abortion-funding agenda in Senate
hearings.
As
the AP reports, a Senate panel voted to overturn a policy which has
prevented taxpayer dollars from supporting overseas organizations that provide
or promote abortion as a method of “family planning.” Excerpt:
The policy in effect under President George
W. Bush had banned U.S. taxpayer money, usually in the form of Agency for
International Development funds, from going to international family planning
groups that either offer abortions or provide information, counseling or
referrals about abortion as a family planning method.
The ban was first put in place by President
Ronald Reagan and has been known as the "Mexico City policy" for the
city a U.S. delegation first announced it at a U.N. International Conference on
Population.
Tony
Perkins lays out the dangers of tax payer funding of abortion in the
so-called health care “reform” legislation now being considered in Congress.
LifeNews reports. Excerpt:
While the Bush Administration withheld
funding from UNFPA over the agency's support of China's population program,
which includes forced abortions and sterilizations, the agency can look forward
to a cash injection from the Obama administration in 2009. Earlier this year,
the United States announced it would reinstate UNFPA funding and pledged $50
million dollars for 2009 – a figure that would put the US in the agency's top
five donor countries alongside the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
CitizenLink reports. Also, National Right to Life has encouraged
members of Congress to oppose H.R. 2410 and is calling
on pro-lifers to call their Congressional representatives to urge them to
oppose this bill.
LifeNews also reports. Excerpt:
The House of Representatives is slated
to consider a bill today to fund the State Department, but House Democrats
wielded their control over the chamber by preventing a pro-life amendment. Rep.
Chris Smith had hoped to offer an amendment to limit President Barack Obama's
international abortion agenda.
Several pro-life groups are urging opposition to the
State Department funding bill (HR 2410) unless an amendment is adopted making
sure the new Office for Global
Women’s Issues, which the bill authorizes, will not promote abortion.
The pro-life organizations are worried
that Obama, who appointed a longtime abortion advocate to head up the office,
will use the ambassador post to promote an international right to abortion.
Jill Stanek
catalogues President Obama’s bad positions on pro-life issues, but also finds
encouragement from the fact that the President might be making pro-abortion
policies less popular with the American people.
Our
friends at FRC have released
a video grading President Obama on his first one hundred days in
office. The president doesn’t make high
grades on pro-life and family issues. LifeNews also reviews Obama’s
100 days on pro-life issues.
Neal
McCluskey grades the president on education reform. Excerpt:
If you look just at dollar signs or
rhetoric to measure the education success of Barack Obama’s first one-hundred
days, then the President should get an A. Base it on meaningful reform,
however, and he’d be lucky to get a passing grade.
CitizenLink reports. Unfortunately, it appears that President
Obama’s State Department will push its abortion agenda overseas, while
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heaped praise on Planned Parenthood founder
Margaret Sanger. Excerpt:
After being honored by Planned Parenthood
with the Margaret Sanger award, Clinton said: “I have to tell you that it was a
great privilege when I was told that I would receive this award. I admire
Margaret Sanger enormously, her courage, her tenacity, her vision.”
Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood,
was openly sympathetic to Nazi Germany’s eugenic practices and was strongly
committed to preventing black people and the poor from reproducing.
Sanger once said: "Many of this group
are diseased, feeble-minded, and are of the pauper element dependent upon the
normal and fit members of society for their support. There is no doubt in the
minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be
stopped."
LifeNews reports. Excerpt:
The American economy is in turmoil but the
Obama administration sent a $50 million check yesterday to the United Nations
Population Fund. That's the pro-abortion group that has been accused of
supporting and working in concert with Chinese family planning officials.
There, the Chinese population control
program has relied on forced abortions, involuntary sterilizations and other
human rights abuses to enforce its rule that most couples may have no more than
one child.
Our
friend Tom McClusky at FRC has a helpful
blog post explaining what “pro-life riders” are and how we need to be
watchful over every piece of legislation (especially the massive omnibus
spending bill Congress is now considering) to ensure that each of these
important pro-life provisions are preserved.
 Unfortunately the massive Omnibus spending bill also contains language which undermines the Kemp-Kasten provision. Kemp-Kasten prevents taxpayer dollars from supporting organization which support brutal one-child-only forced abortion policies overseas. One such organization is the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which will receive funding if the Omnibus bill is passed in its current form.
LifeNews reports on UNFPA funding and also debunks the myth of overpopulation which is the rationale behind such radical abortion policies.
Daniel
Herbster reporting
 Few
organizations are as supportive of the radical pro-abortion agenda as Planned
Parenthood. Millions of dollars pass
through this institution every year (much of it from taxpayers) which means it
has a huge financial incentive to promote abortion and promiscuity. There have been many reports of Planned
Parenthood violating reporting laws in order to circumvent state parental
consent laws and statutory rape laws.
Lila Rose, president of Live Action Films,
decided to help expose the corruption of Planned Parenthood through a series of
undercover videos. Lila posed as an
under-age girl (who had been impregnated by a much older man) seeking an abortion
at two PP clinics in Indiana. The
videos show three PP staffers attempting to cover-up what would have
constituted statutory rape and encouraging Lila to get an abortion in Illinois
so she could avoid Indiana’s parental consent laws and keep the abortion and
rape hidden from her parents. Lila was
kind enough to allow us to interview her about her recent project.
DH: I know it’s not quite as prestigious at being
interviewed on Fox News, but we’re very grateful that you were willing to be
interviewed for AdvanceUSA Blog. First
of all, what made you decide to do undercover videos of Planned
Parenthood? Where did you get the idea?
LR: Well
first of all, our team at Live Action rely on blogs like yours to get the truth
out, so thank you for the interview!
The public deserves to know if Planned Parenthood, a
recipient of huge government grants, complies with all state and federal
regulations.
Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider,
and an aggressive political force for abortion on demand. In their active
killing of defenseless children, they routinely break state laws and manipulate
and misinform women. Abortion works in secret; once people learn how it is
done, who it is killing, and all the abuses that accompany it, I believe the
majority of Americans can no longer stand by and allow the great injustice and
violence to continue in our great nation.
DH: Did you ever feel nervous or fearful about
going “undercover?”
LR: Nervous,
yes. But that feeling was largely part of my character, as I tried to
accurately portray a very young girl, confused, frightened, pregnant by a
sexual predator, and in great need of help.
DH: What kind of preparation and planning went
into these videos?
LR: Our
Mona Lisa Team, both on the road and with the support team back home, spent a
lot of time preparing for the multi-state investigation. We have a very talented
and dedicated team of young people: we did extensive research and preparation,
used the best equipment, and took our role as investigative journalists
seriously.
Once the national tour was over, the work had just
begun! It was now our task at Live Action to plan, produce and release the
videos.
DH: What do you feel you accomplished with this
project? Are you experiencing any
negative push-back?
LR: The
first two videos (Bloomington and Indianapolis) alone well exceeded our
expectations by garnering national, mainstream media coverage, and for weeks on
end. Local groups in Indiana, already hard at work, were able to use the
evidence to make the case against Planned Parenthood. We at Live Action sent
the District Attorneys and the Attorney General full copies of the footage, to
work with them so they could conduct a thorough investigation of Planned
Parenthood Indiana. And the shock waves of the videos, which proved the blatant
disregard of Planned Parenthood for Indiana state statute, parent's
right-to-involvement, and the safety of young girls, is still ongoing.
DH: What actions or policies would you like to
see come about as a result of your efforts?
Gallop
has released a poll showing that only 35% of Americans approve of President
Obama’s decision to allow groups that promote abortion as a means of “family
planning” to receive taxpayer dollars. LifeNews also reports.
We
encourage the president to take note that sometimes doing the right thing is also
politically expedient and do the right thing when it comes to making sure
taxpayer dollars (many of whom oppose abortion) don’t support abortion or
unethical research.
LifeNews reports. Unfortunately, it appears that President
Obama and many in Congress would like to give your hard-earned tax dollars to
organizations like this.
Unfortunately the Senate defeated a motion today to reinstate the Mexico City Policy prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds to support overseas organization which provide or promote abortions. Members of the House are likely to try as well, with little chance of success. Click here to see how both your Senators voted on this important pro-life policy. Be sure to hold your elected officials accountable!
Senate Vote on the Martinez Amendment (S.A. 65) to restore the prohibition on funding of nongovernmental organizations that promote abortion as a method of birth control (the "Mexico City Policy")
January 28, 2009
Full Results | News Story
|
|
|
Yeas |
|
Nays |
|
PRES |
|
NV |
|
Republican |
|
36 |
|
4 |
|
— |
|
1 |
|
Democratic |
|
1 |
|
55 |
|
— |
|
1 |
|
Independent |
|
— |
|
1 |
|
— |
|
— |
|
TOTALS |
|
37 |
|
60 |
|
— |
|
2 |
Simply
put, this policy (Mexico City Policy) is important because it prevented your
tax dollars from supporting organizations that promote abortion as a method of “family
planning” in overseas countries. Our
friend Tom McClusky at FRC gives
a thorough explanation at FRC’s blog.
President
Obama released a statement on the issue explaining his rationale for
overturning this common-sense, pro-life provision. LifeNews
reports. Excerpt:
Obama also cast his decision to fund
international abortions and abortion efforts as a way to find common ground in
the abortion debate.
"For too long, international family
planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a
back and forth debate that has served only to divide us," Obama said.
"I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate."
"It is time that we end the politicization
of this issue. In the coming weeks, my Administration will initiate a fresh
conversation on family planning, working to find areas of common ground to best
meet the needs of women and families at home and around the world," he
said.
But for the majority of Americans who take
a pro-life position on abortion and oppose funding abortion efforts with public
money, the debate will continue.
Pray
that President Obama would reconsider this move, and that he would seek to
protect the inalienable right to life of the unborn in his administration.
Yesterday President Obama signed
an executive order overturning the Mexico City Policy which had prevented
American tax dollars from supporting organizations that provide or promote
abortion overseas (especially organizations which participate in brutal
one-child-only forced abortion programs).
This action is a slap in the face to pro-lifers everywhere.
National Right
to Life responded immediately.
We
urge President Obama to reconsider this decision and to remember that he is
being watched by a holy God before whom he will one day give an account of how
he used the enormous power given to him.
President Obama should also remember the words of our third president
Thomas Jefferson.
Indeed, I tremble
for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep
forever.
Thomas
Jefferson
Daniel
Herbster reporting
 Wesley
J. Smith is an influential writer and commentator who has dedicated his career
to preserving human dignity and educating his fellow man on the principles of
bioethics and justice. He is a senior
fellow at the Discovery Institute and a
special consultant to the Center for Bioethics
and Culture. He has also written a
number of books, and he blogs at Secondhand
Smoke. Smith was kind enough to
share with AdvanceUSA’s readers about important bioethics issues facing our society
today and about his work.
DH: Why are bioethics issues so important?
WJS: Bioethics is a contraction for “biomedical
ethics.” It is a field that has profound influence over core areas of human
endeavor that help establish and define the morality of society, and indeed,
the meaning of human life itself. Should elderly people have their health care
rationed? Is assisted suicide a proper
medical service? Is it right to create
cloned human embryos for use in research or to bring to birth? Is it wrong to abort fetuses because they
test positive for Down syndrome? Should parents be able to genetically enhance
their children? Are there morally relevant differences between humans and
animals? What should happen if a nurse
refuses to participate in an abortion or a physician wants to cut off wanted
life-sustaining medical treatment because the patient has a poor “quality of
life?” These and other equally important
bioethical issues are much larger than the sum of their parts because they
establish philosophical norms that exert tremendous influence upon society
beyond the policies themselves. Indeed,
I can think of few fields more important than bioethics in determining the kind
of society we shall become in the 21st century.
DH: What is “human exceptionalism” and how does
it relate to issues of life and justice?
WJS: Human exceptionalism refers to the sheer
moral importance and unique value of being human. I believe strongly that adhering to human
exceptionalism is the predicate to defending universal human rights. Indeed,
whether we accept or reject human exceptionalism may be the most important
issue we face as a culture. For if we say that simply being human is not what gives value to life, we have to
ask a second question: What does? That
second question leads directly to a system wherein those with power decide
which of us has greater--and which lesser—value, and who decides those who
don’t make muster. Thus, many in bioethics support “personhood theory,” which
denies the objective moral value of being human and claims that what matters morally
is being a “person,” a status earned
by possessing minimal cognitive capacities. In this view, there is such a thing
as a human “non person,” such as fetuses, newborns, and people who have lost
these capacities, such as Terri Schiavo.
Worse, because the human non person is defined as having lesser value,
they lose the right to life and, can be used instrumentally such as in medical
experimentation or as sources of organs.
Indeed, there is much agitation in bioethics and within the organ
transplant community to redefine death to include a diagnosis of persistent
vegetative state—meaning that if this view prevails, severely compromised
people could essentially be killed for their organs. This isn’t happening—yet—but the only way to
make sure that such policies are never instituted is to adhere to human
exceptionalism.
The Star Tribune
reports. Only time will tell what
will happen to Bush’s important pro-life regulations after the Obama
administration “reviews” them.
 New White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
LifeNews reports. Excerpts:
While we must press on against FOCA, we
must not forget another serious, and maybe even more pertinent, threat: the
termination of the Hyde Amendment.
…
The Hyde Amendment, originally enacted in
1976, is a pro-life limitation amendment in the annual appropriations bill that
restricts the direct federal funding of abortion through Medicaid.
Without the Hyde Amendment, women eligible
for Medicaid would have their abortions paid for by the Federal Government – in
other words, OUR tax dollars. If abortions are free to the individual, you can
bet on abortion rates increasing.
The Wall Street
Journal reports. During the last
election season some people claimed that abortion and other pro-life issues “really
didn’t matter” because the president has very little control over pro-life
issues while Roe vs. Wade is on the
books. Nothing could be further from the
truth.
Tony
Perkins at the Family Research Council helpfully lists the many
pro-life executive policies that could be threatened in a new
administration.
- Rescind
the Mexico City policy, which would direct taxpayer dollars to groups that
provide and promote abortion overseas;
- Restore
funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which condones forced
abortion and sterilization policies in countries like China;
- Direct
the Department of Health and Human Services to change the conscience exemptions
for health care workers who morally object to abortion and other practices;
- Change
the Department of Justice Sexual Assault Protocol, Defense Department
pharmaceutical formulary, and USAID's Commodities Program to encourage the use
of "Plan B," which can act as an abortifacient;
- Create
incentives to provide subsidized birth control at college health centers and
other providers;
-
Make
"emergency contraception" available over-the-counter for girls of all
ages;
- Rollback
the abstinence-only education requirement for certain federal aid; and,
- Permit
the use of taxpayer funds for the destruction of human embryos through
unethical stem cell research.
HT:
FRC
LifeNews reports. An important question for Americans to ask
themselves is “Do I want my tax dollars to support this kind of activity?”
Americans
United for Life has created a helpful
online resource for finding out more information about the terrible and deceptively
named “Freedom of Choice Act” which would overturn every abortion restriction
in the nation and enshrine the faulty Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision into
Federal law. The website is FightFOCA.com and allows you to sign an
online petition against this terrible pro-abortion legislation.
Thanks
to the pro-life rider in federal law know as the Kemp-Kasten provision, the
United States foreign aid cannot be used to support organizations that promote
forced abortion or forced sterilization policies. Because of these provisions, taxpayer funding of Marie
Stopes International (MSI) has been restricted.
This
incident is an important reminder of the ways Congress and the president can
have a powerful pro-life impact, even while the flawed Roe vs. Wade decision is still in effect.
Electing
pro-life leaders is still important, so don’t let anyone tell you that pro-life
issues don’t matter as long as Roe vs. Wade is the law of the land.
A
Senate committee and House subcommittee are threatening the Mexico City Policy (which
prevents tax dollars from supporting organizations that promote or provide
abortions) and the Kemp-Kasten rider (which allows the president to prohibit
funds from organizations that support coerced abortions). Hopefully, the House and Senate will
eliminate the language which threatens these important pro-life riders. Otherwise, the president has promised to “veto
any legislation that weakens current Federal policies and laws on abortion, or
that encourages the destruction of human life at any stage.”
The
House of Representatives has approved
a version of PEPFAR anti-AIDS funding that is much improved from the original
version which would have mandated abortion funding, drastically cut back
abstinence and faithfulness education, and weakened anti-prostitution
provisions. Though significant
improvements have been made to the bill, not all conservatives support the
measure because of fiscal concerns over massive spending increases and concerns
that there is insufficient accountability over how funds are spent. The bill will now go to the U.S. Senate.
LifeNews reports. Excerpt:
A leading pro-life member of Congress plans
an amendment to a bill on health care for Native Americans that's similar to
the language of an amendment the Senate approved last month. Rep. Joe Pitts
wants to make sure the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (H.R. 1328) isn't
used to fund abortions with public money.
AdvanceUSA
thanks Congressman Pitts for proposing this important pro-life amendment, and
urges the rest of the Energy and Commerce Committee to support it. CitizenLink also
reports.
You
can look up members of the committee here, and
find your representative’s contact
information here (look them up by name or zip code).
Graphic source: CitizenkLink
Planned
Parenthood has released its annual
report for 2008. The following
points are a few important and outrageous facts AdvanceUSA has been alerted to:
- An increase in the number of
provided abortions from 264,943 in 2005 to 289,650 in 2006.
- A doubling of “excess of
revenue over expenses” funds from $55.7 million in 2005 to $112 million in
2006.
- Acknowledge receipt of over
$336 million in [local, state, and federal] government grants and
contracts.
With
all the recent controversies regarding potential illegal activity by Planned
Parenthood centers across the country, why is Planned Parenthood getting our
tax dollars?
To
sign the Family Research Council’s petition to withhold federal Title X funding
from Planned Parenthood click
here.
The
Virginia Senate has voted to prohibit
funds for Planned Parenthood because they advocate for and perform
abortions. Let’s hope other states and
the federal government begin to follow their example. It is a travesty that the largest company in
the abortion industry receives millions of dollars in tax dollars.
LifeNews reports. Furthermore, our friends in the House tell us
that abstinence and faithfulness education will still be supported, and they
are convinced that language allowing abortion promoting organizations to receive
taxpayer dollars has been fully eliminated.
Our thanks
to all who made their voice heard on this issue. Also, special thanks to Rep. Chris Smith
(R-NJ), Chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, for his tireless efforts to address
the pro-life and pro-family concerns with PEPFAR.
Rep. Chris Smith
(R-NJ)
The
bi-partisan PEFAR anti-AIDS funding legislation is being marked up right now. To watch the hearings via live streaming
check the website
of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and click on the “Live Webcast” link
in the lower right margin or click
here.
Listening
in around 11:30 one could hear Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) give an excellent
defense of abstinence and faithfulness education for combating the global
spread of AIDS. Let’s hope that no tax
dollars will go to support abortions under this bill.
 AdvanceUSA is happy to report that the Vitter amendment passed this morning by a vote of 52 - 42. Now Americans can rest assured that their tax dollars will not be used to fund abortions under the Indian Health Services bill (click here for more information). For full vote results and to see how your senators voted on this important pro-life amendment check the vote box below (or click here).
AdvanceUSA thanks all those who called their senators concerning this pro-life matter. The voice of ordinary Americans can make a powerful difference in Washington when people exercise their rights to petition their government and to express their political opinions.
Also, AdvanceUSA thanks Senator David Vitter (R-LA) for proposing and defending this important legislation. UPDATE: LifeNews reports.
Senate Vote on the Vitter Amendment (S.A. 3896) to codify the pro-life Hyde amendment in the Indian Health Services bill
February 26, 2008
Full Results | News Story
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Yeas |
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Nays |
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PRES |
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NV |
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Republican |
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43 |
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3 |
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— |
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3 |
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Democratic |
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9 |
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38 |
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3 |
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Independent |
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— |
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1 |
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— |
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— |
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TOTALS |
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52 |
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42 |
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— |
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6 |
See other important Congressional vote results on the Congress Vote Watch page.
Our
friends in the Senate tell us that the pro-life Vitter amendment (# 3896) will
be considered tomorrow. The Vitter
amendment would prevent taxpayer dollars from supporting abortions under the
Indian Health Services bill.
Call
both
your senators today and urge them to vote “Yes” on the pro-life Vitter
amendment (# 3896)!
 The House Foreign Affairs Committee will vote on PEPFAR anti-AIDS funding reauthorization on Thursday, February 28. Call your representative today (especially if they serve on this committee) and urge him or her to vote against the PEPFAR legislation unless pro-abortion code words like “family panning” and “reproductive health” are removed and abstinence education and anti-prostitution language is maintained. LifeNews reports on the abortion funding aspect while the AP reports on President Bush’s statements urging lawmakers to preserve crucial abstinence and faithfulness funding.
Click here for more information on PEPFAR or check the AdvanceUSA home page.
AdvanceUSA
has learned that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has filed cloture on
the Indian Health Services bill, and a vote on the essential pro-life Vitter
amendment is expected on Monday or Tuesday (25th or 26th). Call both
your senators and urge them to support the Vitter Amendment (# 3896) to the
Indian Health Services bill!
Click here for more information on the imporant Vitter amendment.
As
the AP reports, proposed changes to PEPFAR funding would side-step the crucial
Mexico City Policy allowing
tax dollars to support overseas abortions.
The AP report also mentions that the Lantos bill would undermine
ant-prostitution regulations and withhold funding from successful abstinence
and faithfulness anti-AIDS education.
The
Foreign Affairs Committee will likely vote on PEPFAR on Thursday, February
14. Be sure to contact
members of this committee and urge them to preserve the crucial pro-life
and pro-morality provisions PEPFAR.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee markup for PEPFAR originally scheduled today has been postponed to next week. As currently written, the legislation undermines effective abstinence programs and mandates taxpayer support of overseas abortions. FRC has provided a helpful list of committee members. If your representative is in this list, be sure to encourage him or her to oppose any provisions which undermine the Mexico City Policy, allow tax dollars to support overseas abortion providers or proponents, undermine anti-prostitution regulations, or weakens support for successful abstinence and faithfulness education programs. If these concerns are not met, your representative should be encouraged to oppose the underlying bill. For more information on this issue check the PEPFAR blurb.
Liberals in Congress should stop endangering critical AIDS funding with attempts to advance their anti-life, liberal social agenda.
 The way Federal Title X (title ten) funds are spent in this country is in drastic need of reform. Title X funds are supposed to support family planning services but are often given to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. Under President Ronald Reagan and the first President Bush, federal regulations were clearly written to prevent recipients of Title X funds from referring for abortions or combining family planning services with abortion services (ex: working at the same location). AdvanceUSA encourages the current Bush administration to issue Title X regulations which do two things:
- reestablish prohibitions against family planning services co-locating with abortion providers
- rescind regulations for family planning services which require them to refer for abortions
AdvanceUSA also supports legislation aimed at preventing taxpayers’ Title X funds from supporting groups like Planned Parenthood (especially since Planned Parenthood is under investigation for serious allegations of law-breaking and ethical malfeasance). American’s tax dollars should not be used to support abortion, and we hope Congress and the President will act accordingly.
Check the pro-life page for more pro-life news.
AdvanceUSA
is happy to report that the crucial
Mexico City Policy is safe for now (this policy prevents taxpayer dollars
from supporting overseas abortions). The massive omnibus spending bill
facing Congress does not hinder or undermine this crucial pro-life
policy. LifeNews reports here.
Also, our
friends at Heritage Foundation have created an online
blog resource that tracks all the spending, earmarks, and budget issues
contained in the omnibus bill. Check it out at www.Omnibusting.com.
The Washington Times reports on the latest Planned Parenthood scandal in Kansas. A grand jury will investigate allegations that Planned Parenthood broke state law regarding the age of girls receiving abortions as well as alleged cover-ups of sexual abuse. Excerpts:
An unprecedented investigation into abortion-clinic practices will commence soon in Kansas now that the state Supreme Court has cleared the way for a grand jury with subpoena powers to be convened.
And…
Planned Parenthood receives millions of dollars in government funding each year. "They should have to answer these criminal charges before they get another dime of our tax dollars," she [Jennifer Giroux, director of Women Influencing the Nation, a Cincinnati group that is active in pro-life issues] said.
This story provides more evidence for Rep. Mike Pence’s (R-IN) proposed amendment to prohibit tax-payer dollars from going to support organizations that promote or perform abortions, like Planned Parenthood.
An important
pro-life, pro-women piece in the National Review Online. Excerpt:
A nationally recognized
organization may be intentionally distributing false information while protecting
rapists and child predators. And the federal government has given them $3.9 billion since 1987
in taxpayer funds.
Planned Parenthood has been caught in a tangled web. The spotlight is finally
being shed on this organization, which has failed to legally report the
pregnancies of a 16-year-old
who was raped by her father, of an 11-year-old girl
who was impregnated by her stepfather, and of a 15-year-old who was
sexually assaulted and impregnated by her stepfather’s friend.
Believe it or not, it gets worse.
LifeNews reports. Rep.
Mike Pence (R-IN) is championing similar legislation in the House.
 The House Foreign Affairs Committee held hearings yesterday on the Mexico City Policy which prohibits taxpayer dollars from going to international organizations that either provide or support abortions. It appears likely that these hearings were called as an excuse to challenge the Mexico City Policy and provide justification for overturning it in stalled appropriations bills. The policy is THE pro-life battle of this session of Congress!
To see a video of yesterday’s hearings CLICK HERE or visit the Committee’s website, go to the “testimony & transcripts” section, and click on the video link for the hearings on October 31.
AdvanceUSA monitored much of yesterday’s hearings. Continue reading for some notes:
To watch
this morning’s hearing on the important, pro-life Mexico City Policy (which prohibits taxpayer dollars from going to international organizations that either provide or support abortions) in the House Foreign Affairs Committee click here. Then click on the “live
WEBCAST” button in the lower right-hand corner.
The hearings are scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
Committee website: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/
UPDATE (10:39 a.m.): The Committee has heard some excellent testimony from pro-life advocates. It is now in recess until after some House votes take place.
AdvanceUSA has learned that pro-abortion activists and politicians have the Mexico City Policy in their sites. The Mexico City Policy (first instituted by Ronald Reagan) prohibits taxpayer dollars from going to international organizations that either provide or support abortions. Hearings on this important pro-life policy will be held tomorrow morning in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. AdvanceUSA Blog will work to provide you with the most up-to-date information on the efforts to preserve this crucial pro-life provision.
Some important things to remember concerning the Mexico City Policy:
- Pro-abortionists are willing to sacrifice important foreign policy funds in an attempt to funnel more taxpayer dollars to radical pro-abortion organizations.
- Despite claims that abortion could improve health care in developing countries, it must be remembered that there is no such thing as a safe abortion (it hurts mothers in many ways and is always harmful for the unborn child).
- The Mexico City Policy currently draws a helpful distinction between “abortion” and “family planning.”
- The problem of maternal mortality (women dying because of childbirth) should be addressed through life-affirming health policies.
CitizenLink reports on the upcoming Mexico City Policy hearings here.
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