Blog Archives

Chinese Man Describes Wife's Forced Abortion by Government Officials

10/21/2010

A victim of China's coercive one-child policy has offered the world a bitter personal account of the country's oppressive population control law, which officials have affirmed would continue following its 30th anniversary last month.

Although investigations have pointed to countless similar incidents being carried out every day under the country's brutal one-child policy, the abuse is usually hidden behind a shroud of secrecy - making Luo Yanqua's account a rare glimpse into the world of Chinese population control tactics.

All Girls Allowed, a young organization founded by a leader of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in 1989, noted that according to China's own official statistics, at least 35,000 abortions are performed every day, or about one every 2.5 seconds.

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First ESCR human trial begins

10/21/2010

The first government-approved human trial using cells derived from embryonic stem cells has begun, it was announced Oct. 11.

With approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Geron Corp. said it had initiated treatment in a patient with a spinal cord injury. The trial, which is the first known use of such cells in a human being, is primarily intended to determine whether it is safe for spinal cord patients or whether they can tolerate it. Geron is not using federal funds in the research.

Embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) is highly controversial, primarily because extraction of such cells results in the destruction of days-old human embryos.ESCR also has been plagued by tumors in lab animals, thereby making its safety for use in human beings highly questionable.

Meanwhile, human trials with adult stem cells not only are safe for the donor and recipient but have produced treatments for more than 70 ailments in human beings.

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A sensible step on stem cell research

10/21/2010

The saga on stem cells took two important twists in recent days. One was from a court standing behind its decision two weeks earlier that sent the pro-life community cheering by halting taxpayer dollars to unethical embryonic stem cell research. The second was from opponents in Congress hoping to keep the money flowing. The now uncertain future course on stem cell research helps to make a clear case for taking a sensible step: prioritizing funding for research that is ethical and has demonstrated success.
While Rep. DeGette’s Stem Cell Research Advancement Act (H.R. 4808) would authorize taxpayer dollars for research involving the killing of human embryos, it goes much further. Human cloning would also become legitimate. Under a deceptively written definition, human cloning would be permitted as long as a clone is not implanted. Fittingly, many call it the clone and kill bill.

Yet the congressional tug-of-war on a preferred route to finding treatments to diseases and other ailments using stem cells helps to make the case for another bill, one that has lingered in Congress since its introduction. The Patients First Act (H.R. 877) would do exactly as its title suggests: put patients ahead of politics, making the treatment of patients—not the pursuit of what’s been dead-end, unethical research.

(read more and link to contact legislators at end of article)

Federal Funding for Human Cloning?

10/18/2010

It’s baa-ack! Just when you thought the political fight over federal funding of embryonic-stem-cell research (ESCR) was over, United States District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that President Obama’s ESCR policy violates the “Dickey-Wicker Amendment,” a federal law barring federal funding of “the creation of a human embryo . . . for research purposes” and “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed.” In response, a group of lawmakers introduced legislation that would authorize federal funding for human cloning.
Because SCNT creates a new embryo, under Dickey-Wicker it cannot be funded by the NIH. That ban would be rescinded by DeGette/Castle/Specter.
Here’s how: Under the disingenuous title “Prohibition against Funding for Human Cloning,” the legislation inaccurately defines “human cloning” as the implantation of a cloned embryo, instead of as the creation of such an embryo. From the legislation:
In this section, the term “human cloning” means the implantation of the product [the cloned embryo] of transferring the nuclear material of a human somatic cell into an egg cell from which the nuclear material has been removed or rendered inert [SCNT] into a uterus or the functional equivalent of a uterus.

Thus, if the bills become law, only the implantation of cloned embryos would be barred from being federally funded, rather than actual cloning. In other words, the bills use a phony definition to legalize the very funding that they dishonestly purport to prohibit. No wonderpeople don’t trust the government anymore.

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Pollster: Republicans Will Take House From Pro-Abortion Democrats in Election

10/18/2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Pollster Scott Rasmussen, who runs one of the most respected polling firms in the nation that is closely tracking the November elections, predicts Republicans will pick up 55 seats in races for the House of Representatives. That's well over the 39 needed to recapture the chamber.

Last week, Ipsos pollster Cliff Young projected a 227-208 split for the GOP.

Should GOP candidates pick up that amount, the November election will have resulted in a landslide victory for pro-life advocates.

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Why It's Absurd to Deny Obama's Health Care Bill Contains Abortion Funding

10/18/2010

With the decision of the Ohio Elections Commission to allow a hearing to decide whether the Susan B. Anthony List has falsely represented the voting record of Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-OH), the question is again raised: Was abortion funding authorized by the healthcare legislation signed into law by President Obama?

The complaint arose from the SBA List's use of billboards declaring that Rep. Driehaus of Ohio's 1st Congressional District had voted for taxpayer-funded abortions by voting for the healthcare bill. If Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA, is found guilty, she could go to jail. Supporting Driehaus's effort to imprison Dannenfelser are James Salt, policy director of Catholics United, and Kristen Day, president of Democrats for Life of America.

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Komen for the Cure Donated $730K to Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz in 2009

10/15/2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- October is the month for breast cancer awareness, but it's difficult for pro-life advocates to lend their support to one of the primary organizations involved in the fight against breast cancer because it has provided contributions to the Planned parenthood abortion business.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation has long denied that abortion plays any role in elevating the risk for women of contracting the deadly disease.

That's despite a wealth of research over decades showing an average increased risk of about 40 percent for women having abortions compared to those who carry their pregnancy to term.

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Obama Admin Targets Pro-Lifers in FBI Training Forum With Pro-Abortion Orgs

10/6/2010

Documents LifeNews.com obtained today reveal the Obama administration partnered with leading pro-abortion organizations to host an FBI training seminar in August with the main focus of declaring as "violent" the free speech activities of pro-life Americans.

On August 25, 2010, the FBI and the United States Department of Justice co-sponsored a training seminar with Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation and the Feminist Majority Foundation.

When information about the seminar, which took place at FBI headquarters in Portland, Oregon, reached pro-life advocates, they asked officials for permission to attend and were granted access to the seminar and the training materials.

FBI and Obama administration officials provided participants with an 84-page document entitled “Resource Guide: Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers" that contained print copies of Power Point presentations prepared by the Justice Department and an analysis of alleged pro-life "violence" prepared by the pro-abortion groups.

The so-called violence perpetrated by pro-life advocates mostly contained examples of constitutionally-protected free speech, including activities such as praying, providing women outside abortion centers with alternatives information, and peaceful protesting or picketing.

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Pastoral Letter | Every child brings us God's smile

10/6/2010

Archbishop Robert J. CarlsonDear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I love the theme for the 2009-2010 Respect Life Sunday, which was taken from Pope Benedict XVI's wonderful statement, "Every child brings us God's smile." This simple statement tells us so much about God and about the beauty and dignity of every human life.

Our God is someone who smiles. He is loving and joyful and filled to overflowing with goodness. Out of God's goodness comes life — all of creation — with its natural wonders, its breathtaking loveliness and its marvelous diversity. Minerals, plants, animals and human beings all come into existence because of the goodness of God, the joyful Creator.

Every human person is made in the image and likeness of this smiling, joyful God. From the moment of conception to the experience of natural death, our very existence as human persons gives witness to the unbounded goodness of God. Because of our human sinfulness, as we grow older we may turn the smile He gave us into a frown or a scowl or even bitter tears. But that is not the way God made us.

At just 11 weeks in the womb, an unborn child smiles.

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Columbia abortion clinic goes into limbo

10/6/2010

COLUMBIA--The suspension of abortion services at the Planned Parenthood Columbia clinic from Aug. 9 through at least Sept. 20 was viewed positively by pro-life advocates who have been working hard to pass laws that would have the effect in Missouri of creating a predisposition toward life.“The cultural indicators point to a shift in the culture that has been fostered by Christian involvement in public policy,” said Kerry Messer, founder, Missouri Family Network, and legislative liaison, Christian Life Commission, Missouri Baptist Convention.The secular press has even begun to refer to this shift as a “tipping point” that is leading more and more citizens to identify themselves as pro-life.In Columbia, Planned Parenthood blamed “scheduling issues” for the recent temporary suspension of operations that has now gone on for six weeks.

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