California ProLife

OBAMA'S ABORTION EXTREMISM
Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr.'s endorsement of Barack Obama last week -- "I believe in this guy like I've never believed in a candidate in my life" -- recalled another dramatic moment in Democratic politics. In the summer of 1992, as Bill Clinton http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Bill+Clinton?tid=informline
solidified his control over the Democratic Party http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+Democratic+Party?tid=informline, Robert P. Casey Sr., the senator's father, was banned from speaking to the Democratic convention for the heresy of being pro-life. The elder Casey (now deceased) was then the governor of Pennsylvania http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Pennsylvania?tid=informline one of the most prominent elected Democrats in the country. He was an economic progressive in the Roosevelt tradition. But his Irish Catholic conscience led him to oppose abortion. So the Clintons chose to humiliate him. It was a sign and a warning of much mean-spirited pettiness to come. The younger Casey, no doubt, is a sincere fan of Obama http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Barack+Obama?tid=informline. He also must have found it satisfying to help along the cycle of political justice. But by Casey's father's standard of social justice for the unborn, Obama is badly lacking. Obama has not made abortion rights the shouted refrain of his campaign, as other Democrats have done. He seems to realize that pro-choice enthusiasm is inconsistent with a reputation for post-partisanship. But 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 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Illinois?tid=informline 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. And now Obama has oddly claimed that he would not want his daughters to be "punished with a baby" because of a crisis pregnancy -- hardly a welcoming attitude toward new life. For decades, most Democrats and many Republicans have hoped the political debate on abortion would simply go away. But it is the issue that does not die. Recent polls have shown that young people are more likely than their elders to support abortion restrictions. Few Americans oppose abortion under every circumstance, but a majority oppose most of the abortions that actually take place -- generally supporting the procedure only in the case of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother.

Perhaps this is a revolt against a culture of disposability. Perhaps it reflects the continuing revolution of ultrasound technology -- what might be called the "Juno" effect. In the delightful movie by that name, the protagonist, a pregnant teen seeking an abortion, is confronted by a classmate who informs her that the unborn child already has fingernails -- which causes second thoughts. A worthless part of its mother's body -- a clump of protoplasmic rubbish -- doesn't have fingernails.

Abortion is an unavoidable moral issue. It also has broader political significance. Democrats of a past generation -- the generation of Hubert Humphrey http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Hubert+Humphrey?tid=informline
and Martin Luther King Jr. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Martin+Luther+King+Jr?tid=informline spoke about building a beloved community that cared especially for the elderly, the weak, the disadvantaged and the young. The advance of pro-choice policies imported a different ideology into the Democratic Party -- the absolute triumph of individualism. The rights and choices of adults have become paramount, even at the expense of other, voiceless members of the community. These trends reached their logical culmination during a congressional debate on partial-birth abortion in 1999. When Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Barbara+Boxer?tid=informline was pressed to affirm that she opposed the medical killing of children after birth, she refused to commit, saying that children deserve legal protection only "when you bring your baby home." It was unclear whether this included the car trip.

Having endorsed partial-birth abortion, Obama has little room to maneuver on the broader issue. But he does have some. He could take the wise counsel of evangelical Democrats such as Amy Sullivan and come out strongly for policies that would reduce the number of abortions -- support for pregnant women, abstinence education, the responsible promotion of birth control. An organization called Democrats for Life has proposed the creation of a "95-10 Initiative" in which states and the federal government would work toward the reduction of abortion rates by 95 percent within 10 years. That would be a unifying national goal. Such efforts will not please many pro-lifers, who are waiting on Obama to support any type of legal protection for the unborn. But a real effort to reduce the number of abortions would indicate that Obama's Democratic Party is moving beyond its humiliation of Gov. Casey. And maybe Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Bob+Casey?tid=informline, with his newfound leverage, could insist upon it.
Source: Michael Gerson, April 2, 2008

BARACK OBAMA, AFRICAN-AMERICAN LEADERS MUST CONFRONT HIGH ABORTION FIGURES
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A leading African-American pro-life advocate says Barack Obama and other black leaders must confront the phenomenon of black women having abortions at significantly higher rates than their white counterparts. Instead of advocating more abortions, the leader says Obama and others should promote alternatives. Walter Hoye, who heads community relations at the Progressive Missionary Baptist Church of Berkeley, California, told LifeNews.com about the problem. Hoye points to new statistics published in January by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a research affiliate of Planned Parenthood. AGI found black women were 4.8 times as likely as non-Hispanic white women to have an abortion.
Source: LifeNews, April 1, 2008

DEMOCRAT BILL RICHARDSON ENDORSES PRO-ABORTION PREZ CANDIDATE BARACK OBAMA
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Barack Obama received the endorsement of former Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson on Friday. Richardson, the New Mexico governor, is a pro-abortion activist in the same mold as Obama and he will provide the leading Democrat with an inroad into the Hispanic community. Richardson's campaign for the Democratic nomination never caught fire and he was consistently at the top of the second tier of candidates but behind Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. The Clinton campaign has extensively wooed Richardson, and invited him to a Super Bowl party with former President Bill Clinton, but the governor wound up siding with Obama. According to a New York Times report, Richardson ultimately sided with Obama because he feels the pro-abortion Illinois senator is the likely nominee.
Source: LifeNews, March 21, 2008.

PRACTITIONER WHO KILLED WOMAN IN BOTCHED ABORTION FACES LAWSUIT, INDICTMENT
Hyannis, MA (LifeNews.com) -- The Massachusetts abortion practitioner who killed a woman last year in a botched legal abortion is facing a lawsuit from her mother and a possible indictment from officials. Rapin Osathanondh gave up his medical license permanently last month and now he faces more repercussions from the failed abortion. Osathanondh did the abortion on 22-year-old Laura Smith, who died in September at his Women's Health Center abortion business. Eileen Smith, Laura's mother, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Osathanondh in Barnstable Superior Court on March 10. Her attorney David Angueira told the Cape Cod Times that Smith is not seeking a specific monetary amount but is asking a jury to award punitive damages for gross negligence in the death of her daughter. "This is not your standard medical malpractice case," Angueira said in court yesterday, according to the newspaper. "This doctor did something really wrong." During the initial hearing in front of Judge Robert Rufo, Angueira said the abortion practitioner failed to properly monitor Laura following the abortion while she was still under the effects of anesthesia. Osathanondh also allegedly failed to monitor Smith's vital signs. The newspaper said defense attorney Kenneth Kohlberg claimed the lawsuit was without merit, that Smith's death was an accident and that Osathanondh did nothing wrong.
Source: LifeNews, March 21, 2008

ABORTION PRACTITIONER MALACHY DEHENRE GETS MAXIMUM 20 YEARS FOR KILLING WIFE
Laurel, MS (LifeNews.com) -- Former Mississippi and Alabama abortion practitioner Malachy DeHenre has received the maximum jail sentence of 20 years for killing his wife. In January, DeHenre, who has lost his medical license in three states over botched abortions, was found guilty by a grand jury of killing his wife. DeHenre apparently killed his wife, Dr. Mysha Rose DeHenre, 10 years ago. A Jones County Circuit Court jury unanimously convicted DeHenre of manslaughter after deliberating for just 45 minutes. Last week, Jones County Circuit Court Judge Billy Joe Landrum sentenced DeHenre to 20 years in prison and required the former abortion practitioner to pay $10,000 in court costs. The Laurel Leader Call newspaper indicated three of DeHenre�s four children participated in the sentencing hearing and asked the judge to be lenient.
Source: LifeNews, March 24, 2008.

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California ProLife Council (CPLC) (www.californiaprolife.org.) is the largest statewide organization in California solely dedicated to pro-life issues. CPLC is a non-sectarian, non-partisan, non-profit grassroots organization of pro-life groups and individuals in California dedicated to protecting and fostering the most basic value of our society- respect for LIFE itself. We seek to educate our community in regard to abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide, to identify and organize the pro-life population of the state into an effective team, and to restore respect for human life to public policy. California ProLife Council is the California affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, Inc. (www.nrlc.org)

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