Increased Access to Morning-After Pill May Increase the Abortion Rate (12/23/03)

Sixth Circuit Upholds Ohio Law Restricting Partial Birth Abortion (12/17/03)

In a ruling with possible national significance, Ohio's law restricting the brutal practice of partial-birth abortion was upheld December 17th by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  The law was challenged by Ohio abortionist Martin Haskell, whose 1992 instructional paper on how to perform this method of abortion touched off the national debate over partial-birth abortion.  In Women's Medical Professional Corp. v. Taft, a three-judge federal panel upheld the law.  By a vote of 2-to-1, the panel rejected the arguments of abortion advocates that the Constitution requires that partial-birth abortions must be allowed when the health risk to the mother is only negligible or transient.  The Ohio law includes an exception "to preserve the life or health of the mother as a result of the mother's life or health being endangered by a serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function."    Read more ...    Implications of the ruling  

Supreme Court Upholds Campaign Finance Laws (12/10/03)

The United States Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling on December 10th upheld the major portions of the Campaign Reform Act, also called the McCain-Feingold law.  The Court in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission agreed with Congress that so-called "soft-money" is a corrupting influence on candidates and officeholders.   The Court's ruling also upheld a ban on citizen groups (other than a federal PAC) from sponsoring TV or radio ads that mention a candidate 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election.  This blackout provision is a sweeping restriction on the right to communicate with the public regarding the positions and votes of federal politicians.  It harms the public's interest and our First Amendment right to participate in the democratic process.    Read more ...   

Delay of UN Vote to Ban Human Cloning
Reduced to One Year (12/09/03)

On December 9th the United Nations General Assembly reduced the delay for a vote to ban all human cloning to one year.  The consensus approval of this change will allow action on the proposal in September 2004 when the next UN session begins.  Efforts by the United States and Costa Rica led to this action to reduce the two year delay that had been approved on an 80-79 vote in the legal committee.  Attempts to obtain immediate consideration of the ban failed when a group of Islamic nations joined cloning advocates in supporting a delay.     Read more ...   

Guardian Says Swallowing Test Needed, but Claims
Terri Schiavo's Condition is Hopeless (12/02/03)

The December 2nd report from guardian ad litem, Dr. Jay Wolfson, indicates that Terri Schiavo should be given a swallowing test.  At the same time, the report states that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) with little hope for recovery.  Governor Jeb Bush reacted postitively to the request for the swallowing test, but expressed some concerns about other unanswered questions in the report and the lack of information about which medical experts provided the PVS diagnosis.    Read more ...   

Rockford Diocese bans pro-abortion speakers (12/01/03)

A November 26th Illinois Leader article reports the Catholic Diocese of Rockford has indicated they are implementing a new policy that bans pro-abortion speakers from all Catholic institutions.  This new policy states, "In the Diocese of Rockford, permission to speak at or use diocesan, parish, or institutional property shall not be granted to individuals who hold any view that is contrary to the Catholic Magisterium’s moral teaching and practice."   Read more ...

UNFPA condemns NFP but ignores coercion (11/28/03)

C-Fam reports that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), while saying nothing about recent laws and court rulings that will encourage forced abortion in India, has found the time to condemn use of $1.5 million of UNFPA funds for natural family planning in the Philippines.  UNFPA has currently allocated $75 million to assist India's government to achieve "population stabilization."   Read more ...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon be considering whether to allow over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception, also known as the morning-after pill.  Reports indicate that FDA doctors consider emergency contraception safe, but need to consider whether women will understand exactly how and when to take the drug without medical advice.   It is certainly a scary concept that FDA doctors consider emergency contraception safe!  Does the FDA make decisions based on safety or as political favors?  How can a higher dosage of contraceptives be considered safe?   Dr. Stephen Spaulding identifies the following side effects of emergency contraception: nausea, vomiting, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and blood clot formation.  Does that appear safe?  The FDA should not allow over the counter sales of emergency contraception.  Instead, they should consider more restrictions on its use!

On November 24th, after a great deal of work by Rep. Dave Weldon (R FL) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Congress has agreed to include a provision in a large spending bill that would bar the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from issuing patents on human organisms. The amendment simply legislates the current policy of the Patent Office that human life should not be treated as property.  This provision will discourage efforts to clone human beings and ensure that life is treated with dignity and not as a commodity to be bought and sold.  The full bill that includes the amendment has not yet been voted on and may be delayed until early next year, but House and Senate leadership have agreed to include the human patenting amendment in the eventual vote.   Read more ...    

According to a new Gallup Youth Survey, most teens (aged 13 to 17) do not consider abortion to be a morally acceptable choice and oppose the use of abortion in most circumstances.  Some 72% of American teenagers agree that abortion is morally wrong while only 26% find abortion morally acceptable.  When asked, 32% of teens said abortions should be illegal in all circumstances, and 47% said abortions should only be legal under certain circumstances.  Less than one in five (19%) say abortion should always be legal.   Read more ...

November 20th was the last day of the Illinois Legislature’s veto session.  State senators concerned with life issues were successful in stopping the key anti-life and anti-family bills that might have been slipped through during this brief session.  Democratic leadership in the Illinois Senate determined that they did not have the votes to pass the federal Equal Rights Amendment.  No attempts were made to resurrect either the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (HB 2486) or the Stem Cell Research Act (HB 3589).

As the 40-hour debate in the U.S. Senate on Democratic obstruction of President Bush’s judicial nominees came to end on November 14th, the Wall Street Journal published secret staff memos to Senators Durbin and Kennedy detailing a scheme to politicize our courts.  Now there is documented evidence of the Democrats’ intent to obstruct eminently qualified Bush nominees.   One memo described Miguel Estrada as "especially dangerous, because he has a minimal paper trail, he is Latino, and the White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment.”  On November 18th, the Washington Times revealed how Ted Kennedy's staff and a 6^th Circuit appeals court judge conspired to rig rulings in the Michigan affirmative action cases by blocking one of President Bush's nominees to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in order to ensure a liberal majority.  How do Democrats react when caught red-handed?   Do they apologize?  No, they attack!   Dick Durbin is demanding an investigation into how the memos got out!.   Read more ... 

The Republican leadership of the U.S. Senate held a 40 hour debate on the judicial nominating process in response to continuing obstruction of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees by the Democrats.  This debate went from 6:00pm on November 12 to 9:00am on November 14th, making it the longest Senate debate in 15 years.  When the debate ended the Democrats denied a confirmation vote to three of Bush's judicial nominees: Priscilla Owen, Carolyn Kuhl, and Janice Rogers Brown.  Use of the filibuster rules to prevent votes on judicial nominees is unprecedented in U.S. Senate tradition.     Read more ...   

Organized by Pro-Life contractors in Texas, a boycott of a Planned Parenthood construction project has lead one of the state's largest construction companies to pull out of the project.  The six-week old boycott has stymied the project to build Planned Parenthood's new Austin facility.  The scope of the boycott seems to be expanding.    Read more ...  

President George W. Bush signed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act on November 5th at a ceremony held at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.  He stated that "The executive branch will vigorously defend this law against any who would try to overturn it in the courts."  Anti-life groups had already filed suit against this ban even before it became law.  Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco to block the law from taking effect.  Additional suits were filed in New York and Nebraska by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union.    Read more ...      In Depth   

The autopsy report on Holly Patterson's death confirms that septic shock from an incomplete RU 486 abortion caused her death.  Planned Parenthood admits it violated FDA guidelines for use of RU 486.   The FDA is investigating the case.    Read more ...

On October 30th Pat Anderson, the attorney representing Terri Schiavo's parents, said Terri's reflexes have been improving in the week since the feeding tube was restored.  Terri is again smiling when her mother enters the room, Anderson said.

On October 24th Terri Schiavo’s parents held a press conference where a group of doctors stated emphatically that Terri is not in a “persistent vegetative state” and has the ability to recover with proper rehabilitative and medical care.  These doctors disagreed with claims that Terri's actions such as attempted verbal responses and opening and closing her eyes are mere reflexes.  Dr. William Maxfield, a radiologist, said CT scans from last summer show some brain damage but not the enormous loss of tissue described by others. "People ought to know she can be rehabilitated," he said.  Dr. William Hammesfahr, a neurologist, is a recognized national expert on PVS (persistent vegetative state) and is a Nobel Prize nominee.  "She looks at you, she can follow commands," he said.  "This is a case about a judicial system making an error," Hammesfahr concluded, referring to Judge George Greer granting Michael Schiavo's request to remove Terri's feeding tube.      Read more ...  

Former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar gave a talk entitled "Centering Yourself in the Public Life" at Saint Xavier University in Chicago.  Given his strong support for abortion, his presence was picketed by at least 30 people holding tragic pictures of aborted babies.  In her introduction of Jim Edgar, Sr. Sue Sanders, head of Xavier's Center for Religion and Public Discourse, acknowledged the protest outside, but expressed justification for Edgar's appearance there.  Arlene Sawicki of Vote Life America observed, "She has an interpretation of the Pope's encyclical (on Catholic universities, called Ex Corde Ecclesiae) that is solely her own."     Read more ...      Background information ...

Concord Medical Center at State and Grand in downtown Chicago has stopped committing abortions.  They had committed abortions for over 25 years.  Dedicated sidewalk counselors and prayer warriors have been present frequently for most of those years up to the very end.  Also, American Women's Medical Center in Des Plaines may soon be closing because there are indications they have lost their lease.

Two men who were praying the Rosary on the public sidewalk near the Albany abortion mill in Chicago were attached with pepper spray.  The pepper spray temporarily blinded Robert Rudny while Mike Walsh had less severe injuries.  Even though the attacker was on crutches, he managed to escape.  Police did spend 30 minutes inside the abortion clinic, but did not locate the attacker.  Other prayer vigil participants who witnessed the attack believe that abortion clinic personnel managed to hide the attacker from police.   They are convinced that he was not able to leave the area undetected.  Read more ...  

By late afternoon on October 21st, the Florida legislature sent Governor Jeb Bush a bill called Terri's Bill that gives the governor power to order that Terri's feeding tube be restored.  Bush immediately signed the bill and issued that order.  After her six-day ordeal without food and water, Terri was taken to a hospital for re-hydration before the feeding tube would be restored.  At the same time George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, got initial rejections of his attempts to get an injunction against Terri's Bill.  Felos has been directed to file an amended motion for judicial review of his request.   Read more ...  

After four hours of debate demanded by Democrats, a ban on partial-birth abortion was passed by the U.S. Senate on a vote of 64-34.  The bill now goes to President Bush for his signature.  Supporters are convinced the bill will survive legal challenges that will lead back to the Supreme Court.   Read more ...

At shortly after 2:00pm on October 15th, the feeding tube that has provided nourishment to Terri Schiavo for over 10 years was removed.  Judge George Greer's order to remove the feeding tube was demanded by her husband Michael.  However, in making his decision, Judge Greer ignored overwhelming evidence that Terri is not comatose.  He also refused to accept her ability to communicate her desire to live, which should override Michael's claim that years ago she had expressed to him her wish not to be kept alive artificially, if one could reasonably consider a tube to provide food and water as artificial.   IRLC Press Release    Read more ...   

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) vetoed a bill that would have defined the legal moment of birth and resulted in a ban on partial-birth abortion.  The bill defines the legal moment of birth as the first moment that any part of a fetus is outside a woman's body and is showing signs of life.  Since the bill declares that constitutionally protected rights begin when any part of the fetus is outside of a woman's body, the bill would effectively ban partial-birth abortion. Read more ...

In Kansas, pro-abortion attorneys have filed a lawsuit against the state of Kansas, challenging a state law that requires police to be notified when there's evidence of sexual activity involving an adult and a minor.  "The Center for Reproductive Rights is arguing that minors have a right to privacy and, therefore, sexual crimes against these minors should not be reported to the child protective agency," observed Michael Schwartz, Concerned Women for America's vice president of government relations.  He called it a lawsuit on behalf of child molesters. 

At least 26 Life Chains were formed Sunday afternoon around the Chicago area and over 40 for the state of Illinois.  Pro-Life citizens spent an hour on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to share the value of life and the tragedy of abortion with passing motorists.   They sacrificed the dramatic ending of the Bears game and other outdoor activities to hold signs including: Abortion Kills Children, Abortion Hurts Women, Adoption: the Loving Option, Jesus Heals and Forgives, etc.   Read more ...

By an overwhelming vote of 281-142 on October 2nd, the U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (H.R. 760).  Based on numerous past roll calls, the bill is likely to be supported by about 64 or 65 of the 100 U.S. senators, and President Bush is eager to sign the ban into law. Nevertheless, Democratic senators who oppose the bill, including Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.), reportedly are insisting on extensive further debate before allowing a final vote in the Senate.   This continued obstructionism will probably delay final Senate approval of the bill until after a Senate recess that runs October 3-13.    Read more ...  

Senator Sam Brownback conducted a Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing on in-utero surgery.  The hearing was attended by Samuel Armas and his parents.  Three years ago, a picture of Samuel Armas clasping a doctor's finger was taken during an in-utero surgery at Vanderbilt University hospital.  Samuel was asked, “Have you seen this picture of you?”  He replied, “They fixed my boo-boo.”  Read more ...

Partial birth abortion ban nearing final votes (10/01/03)