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Pro-Life News Briefs
Week of October 26, 2007
 

SIXTY PRO-LIFE GROUPS ASK CONGRESS TO BLOCK FUNDING TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD
Washington, DC -- A coalition of sixty pro-life groups have signed onto a letter to every member of the House and Senate asking that Congress stop providing federal funds to Planned Parenthood. The letter follows the more than 100 charges a Kansas county attorney has leveled against an abortion business there. Since most Planned Parenthood abortion centers follow similar internal health and safety protocols, the groups say that it's likely other Planned Parenthood facilities are breaking the law as well. A judge reviewed the 107 charges that Johnson County Attorney Phill Kline filed against the Planned Parenthood in Overland Park, Kansas and indicated there was enough "probable cause" to proceed with a trial. "Planned Parenthood operates around 860 facilities around the country, and there are approximately 40 states with laws banning late term abortions. This illegal conduct may be happening all over the country," the letter says. "We urge you to act to ensure that our tax dollars are not subsidizing abortion clinics that perform possibly illegal late-term abortions," the letter, provided to LifeNews.com, adds. Groups that signed the letter included Concerned Women For America, Focus on the Family, Eagle Forum, American Family Association, Traditional Values Coalition, and Americans United for Life. Source: LifeNews, October 26, 2007

107 CRIMINAL CHARGES FILES AGAINST KANSAS PLANNED PARENTHOOD
Overland Park, KS -- One hundred-seven criminal charges were filed in Johnson County, Kansas, on Wednesday against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. According to the Johnson County District Attorney's web site, the charges include:
23 felony counts of Making a False Information
26 misdemeanor counts of Unlawful Failure to Maintain Record
29 misdemeanor counts of Unlawful Failure to Determine Viability for a Late-Term Abortion
29 misdemeanor counts of Unlawful Late-Term Abortion
The felonies carry possible fines of up to $100,000 for each count, and the misdemeanors carry possible fines of up to $2,500 for each count. Source: Christian Newswire, October 18, 2007

KANSAS PRO-LIFE GROUPS SUBMIT PETITIONS FOR ABORTION CENTER PROBE
Overland Park, KS -- A coalition of pro-life groups officially turned in the petitions they've gathered to call for a grand jury to investigate the Planned Parenthood abortion business that operates just outside Kansas City. They say the abortion business has violated the law repeatedly -- and more often than they have been charged.
The abortion center has already been charged by the county attorney with over 100 violations, but the pro-life groups believe there are more. The groups submitted over 6,300 signatures of registered voters in Johnson County, Kansas, demanding an investigation into alleged criminal activity at the Planned Parenthood from 2004 through 2007. The Coalition, which includes Operation Rescue, Concerned Women For America, and Women Influencing the Nation, gathered nearly twice the required number of signatures.  Source: LifeNews, October 26, 2007.

SENATE MAY VOTE ON FEDERAL ABORTION FUNDING AS EARLY AS NEXT WEEK
Washington, DC -- The U.S. Senate could vote on an amendment to make sure that federal funds are not used directly to pay for abortions as early as next week. Though the Senate has frequently voted on funding groups that could use tax dollars to pay for abortions, but it hasn't voted on direct abortion funding since 1999. Next week, at the earliest, the Senate is expected to take up S. 1200, a bill to make extensive changes to the laws governing federal health programs for American Indians, which are administered by the Indian Health Service (IHS). According to an action alert LifeNews.com received from the National Right to Life Committee, IHS funds were used some years ago to pay for abortions directly in almost every circumstance. That funding no longer exists but pro-life groups and lawmakers want to add language to it proactively to ensure funding does not resume in the future.
Source: LifeNews, October 26, 2007.

NATIONAL, STATE POLLS SHOW SUPPORT FOR PRO-ABORTION RUDY GIULIANI DROPPING
Washington, DC -- Rudy Giuliani continues to drop in national and state polls following a seminal survey issued just two weeks ago by the Des Moines Register. That poll was the first to show Giuliani's campaign hurting as more Republicans recognize his pro-abortion view and newer polls show his numbers continuing to drop.
A new Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll showed the lowest numbers for Giuliani of any recent surveys. Giuliani is now supported by just 21% of likely GOP voters while Fred Thompson is the top choice for 19%. Another seventeen percent are undecided while John McCain has the backing of 14 percent and Mitt Romney enjoys the support of 12 percent. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, is up to double digits for the first time and now has the support of 10% of Republicans nationally. Looking at the daily tracking numbers from Rasmussen, Giuliani has steadily dropped from a high of 30 percent in the middle of October while Thompson and Romney have remained steady at about 20 percent and 15 percent respectively. Source: LifeNews, October 26, 2007.

MISSOURI PLANNED PARENTHOOD WANTS STATE COURT TO WEIGH ABORTION LAW
Jefferson City, MO -- A federal judge in Missouri has already issued an injunction preventing state officials from enforcing a new abortion law designed to protect the health and safety of women. Now, Planned Parenthood is filing a lawsuit in state courts as well to make sure it doesn't have to follow the new rules. The statute in question makes sure abortion centers meet the same health requirements as legitimate medical facilities. It makes abortion centers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars or more on remodeling their facilities to ensure women are better protected in cases when abortions are botched and emergency medical care is necessary. Abortion advocates sued in federal court, saying they would have to close down because of the cost of the changes. Source: LifeNews, October 26, 2007.

NEW JERSEY APPEALS COURT RULES FOR STEM CELL RESEARCH BALLOT VOTE
Trenton, NJ -- The state appeals court in New Jersey has ruled against a pro-life challenge to next month's ballot vote on making taxpayers fund embryonic stem cell research which requires the destruction of human life. Pro-life groups say the proposal fails to disclose that the money will also pay for human cloning. Gov. Jon Corzine and the state legislature backed a bill asking voters to approve borrowing $450 million to fund stem cell research grants over the next 10 years.  New Jersey Right to Life and the Legal Center for Defense of Life filed a lawsuit saying the proposal also does not tell voters that the bonds will be paid through higher local property taxes if sales tax revenues are insufficient. Last month, Superior Court Judge Neil Shuster found the ballot question valid after a hearing and disagreed with the pro-life groups that the language is misleading. On Friday, a three judge panel of the state appeals court said that including the information about the higher taxes and money for cloning would be too confusing to voters and make the wording of the ballot question too long. Source: LifeNews, October 26, 2007.


PRO-LIFE STUDENTS HECKLED DURING ABORTION PROTEST DAY, MICHIGAN SEES ISSUES
Jackson, MI -- Pro-life students faced insults, attacks and harassment across the country as 4,000 schools participated in the annual Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity. The event is a silent witness to teens and college students to remind them of how abortion destroys the lives of babies before birth and hurts women.
But despite the attacks they faced, pro-life students report they were excited to take part in the annual event. “Before I thought it'd be so hard and everyone would make fun of me,” a student named Lindsey wrote on the sponsoring group's web site, “but about 15-20 decided to join me and told me they felt the same way.” Another student named Josh said "People also started joining in during the day as they found about it from the fliers."
Bryan Kemper the founder and director of Stand True Ministries said traffic to the group's web site was so high during the day that it had to temporarily shut down, according to the Christian Post. Source: LifeNews, October 26, 2007.


LIBERALS LIE, CHILDREN DIE
Townhall Column by Kevin McCullough -- At this very moment one of the most liberal organizations in our nation has fraudulent papers before a court in the Midwest awaiting permission to begin the systematic slaughter of innocent children on Tuesday. Using false pretense, misdirected answers on applications, and fraudulent forms Planned Parenthood is awaiting word to see if it will be allowed to open a super-butchery in Aurora, Illinois this coming Tuesday. The situation highlights a new trend for the tax-payer subsidized organization that is now resorting to lying to municipalities and their populations in order to set up shop, hack women's uteruses and slice children's bodies like lunchmeat. Some of the children just inches from birth. The way it works is first they set-up a phony name for a phony company. In the Aurora, Illinois case they filed their fraudulent permits under the name of Gemini Office Management Corporation. Pretending to be a neutral landlord, they then asserted on the forms requesting the construction permits that the "tenant is unknown." With the municipality duped, the residents of Aurora feel betrayed. Several reports have emanated from the region demonstrating that even people who do not normally protest abortion publicly are outraged and feel that they have been lied to. And they should feel this way, because they have. Source: Townhall, September 16, 2007. Note: Kevin McCullough is heard daily in New York City, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware on WMCA 570 at 2pm.

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