International Marches for Life in France, West Coast,  and D.C.

Leading Abortion Advocate Frances Kissling Retires

South Dakota, Ohio, California, Sex-Trafficking...
 

FRANCE: JANUARY 21 INTERNATIONAL MARCH FOR LIFE Expected to Draw 10,000 Participants. The Federation of Organizations in the Defense of Life expected at least 10,000 participants for the 2007 March for Life scheduled for Paris January 21, with pro-life groups from several European countries expected to attend again this year. [12 Jan07 LifeSiteNews.com]
 

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PRO-LIFE PEOPLE MARCH FOR LIFE IN WASHINGTON. Proving the pro-life movement is alive and well despite abortion advocates obtaining control of Congress last November, hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates participated in the annual March for Life. The mood was optimistic and positive despite 34 years of legalized abortion since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision. The 2006 elections dashed the hopes of pro-life advocates of continuing the pro-life agenda they've been able to enact during large portions of President Bush's tenure in office. National Right to Life political director Karen Cross said the election results didn't mean Americans were changing their attitudes opposing abortion. She pointed to a post-election poll conducted by the Polling Company firm showing 24% of voters were opposed to abortion except when the mother's life is in danger, or in cases of rape or incest. Another 14% were opposed to abortion except to save the mother's life and 14% were opposed to abortion in all circumstances. "Fully 52% of the country is opposed to abortion except in very rare circumstances," Cross explained. There are other reasons to rejoice despite 34 years of legalized abortion. The rate and number of abortions in the United States continue to decline, most notably among teens.  [22Jan07, DC, LifeNews.com]

WEST COAST WALK FOR LIFE ATTRACTS THOUSANDS OF PRO-LIFE ADVOCATES. About 20,000 pro-life people participated in the 3rd annual Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco, a location most people don't think of as a place for a large pro-life event. Last year, more than 15,000 families, friends and students attended the 'walk' to celebrate women and to celebrate life. This year, organizers and law enforcement said there was an even greater turnout. "The Walk for Life West Coast is a growing movement that is attracting national attention, especially among young people," said Dolores Meehan [co-founder of the event]. "Clearly, the pro-life movement is quite alive in California." "Walk for Life's primary goal is to reach out to women and men of all political persuasions with the message that abortion hurts all women," said Eva Muntean [Walk for Life co-founder]. [22Jan07, LifeNews.com]

UCLA SURVEY FINDS INCOMING COLLEGE STUDENTS SPLIT ON ABORTION. The 2006 freshman norms are based on the responses of 271,441 first-time, full-time students at 393 of the nation's baccalaureate colleges and universities. UCLA's annual survey of the nation's entering undergraduates finds incoming college students more divided on politics and abortion.

As more freshmen report that they discussed politics frequently as high school seniors, 43.1 percent identified themselves as "middle-of-the-road," the lowest mark since first measured by the research program in 1970. Additionally, the percentage of students identifying as "liberal" (28.4 percent) is at its highest level since 1975 (30.7 percent), and those identifying as "conservative" (23.9 percent) is at its highest level in the history of the Freshman Survey, now in its 40th year. While 78.4 percent of liberal freshmen support legalized abortion, only 31.8 percent of conservative students do. Middle-of-the-road freshmen come in at 56.3 percent.  [22Jan07, LifeNews.com]

MS BILL WOULD ALLOW WOMEN TO SEE AN ULTRASOUND BEFORE ABORTION. A new bill filed in the Mississippi state legislature would allow women considering an abortion the chance to see an ultrasound beforehand. When women see an ultrasound of their unborn child at a pregnancy center, a large percentage decide not to have an abortion. Senate Public Health Committee Chairman Alan Nunnelee, a Republican from Tupelo who sponsored the same bill last year, is behind this year's version. "Abortionists make a lot of money and they want to convey the idea that this procedure involves a mass of tissue when in reality it involves a child," he told the Hattiesburg American newspaper. But Ann Rose, the vice president of the National Women's Health Organization, which operates the only abortion business in Mississippi, says it already shows women an ultrasound picture if they want it. "This bill is just another one of their litany of issues trying to harass clinics and women trying to get abortions," Rose said. "It don't think it will see the light of day." Last year, the state Senate approved Nunnelee's proposal but the bill eventually died as the state House turned it into a ban on virtually all abortions in the state. [22Jan07, LifeNews.com, Jackson, MS]

CHINESE ARMY 'HARVESTING BODY PARTS. From correspondents in Ottawa, CHINA'S military is harvesting organs from unwilling live prison inmates, mostly Falungong practitioners, for transplants on a large scale - including to foreign recipients- according to a study. The report's authors  - Canada's former secretary of state for the Asia Pacific region David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas - implicated dozens of hospitals and jails throughout China in July, after a two-month investigation.

Chinese officials denied those allegations.

Mr Matas and Mr Kilgour's second report, released 1Feb, includes interviews with organ recipients in 30 countries and Canadian hospital staff who cared for more than 100 patients who had undergone suspicious transplant surgeries in China.

"The involvement of the People's Liberation Army in these transplants is widespread,'' Mr Kilgour said at a press conference.

Like many civilian hospitals in rural China, military hospitals turned to selling organs to make up for government funding cuts in the 1980s, the report said.

But military personnel could operate with much more secrecy, it said.

"Recipients often tell us that even when they receive transplants at civilian hospitals, those conducting the operation are military personnel,'' the report said.

Hospitals in Canada's biggest cities - Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto - confirmed "a substantial number'' of Canadians had travelled to China for dubious organ transplants, Mr Kilgour said.

"We're in the three digits, up over 100 (from Canada each year), and the trend is accelerating,'' Mr Matas said.

To curb what they called a "disgusting form of evil", the pair asked pharmaceutical firms to stop selling organ anti-rejection drugs to China.

They also asked countries to post travel advisories warning about China's alleged organ harvest, asked states to cease offering follow-up care for patients who had dubious organ transplants in China and asked foreign doctors to cut ties with their Chinese counterparts suspected of such practices.

The authors said states should enact legislation to ban citizens from traveling to China for organ transplants from unwilling donors, although they admitted that such cases would be difficult to prosecute. [1Feb07, Agence France-Presse, http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C23599%2C21152231-1702%2C00.html]

Other studies have shown that there are two breast cancer risks are associated with an abortion. The first includes the loss of protection a full-term pregnancy afford women in terms of the beneficial effects it has on a woman's breast. The second concerns the additional risk the abortion itself causes.

An October study published in the International Journal of Cancer confirms previous research showing that carrying a pregnancy to term reduces a woman's risk. "It is well established that pregnancies that end in a full-term birth ultimately confer a protective effect on breast cancer risk," Dr. Gillian K. Reeves, of the University of Oxford, wrote in the IJC research article.

Previous studies have also confirmed that carrying a pregnancy to term reduces the breast cancer risk. Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center found a woman's risk of contracting breast cancer is lowered and the decrease is more substantial the more pregnancies a woman has had. nat2309.html. The source for the new breast cancer study is: Ives A, Saunders C, Bulsara et al. Pregnancy after Breast Cancer: Population based study. British Medical Journal 2007;334:194-200. [31Jan07, posted 1Feb07, Canberra, Australia, LifeNews.com]

Leading Abortion Advocate Frances Kissling Retiring From Group. The wheel in the pro-abortion movement continues to turn as the old guard leadership retires and paves the way for a new set of faces leading the debate to keep abortion legal. In the next couple of weeks, Frances Kissling is stepping down as president of Catholics [sic] for a Free Choice. The group is considered heretical by any Catholic who backs the Church's position against abortion and has been a thorn in the side of those trying to uphold pro-life laws of countries across the world.

Kissling started her abortion advocacy before the Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade and she directed one of the nation's first abortion businesses in New York City in 1970. She later went on to found and head the National Abortion Federation, a trade group for abortion centers. But Kissling became the most well known for her time as the director of the "anti-Catholic" group and spearheaded a fight to get the Vatican kicked out of the United Nations. Lately, Kissling has been trying to reform the pro-abortion movement by getting it to focus on building common ground with pro-life organizations. That means trying to get pro-life advocates to buy into promoting birth control and the morning after pill. [22Feb07, LifeNews.com #3968, DC]
 

Planned Parenthood Launches Nationwide Pro-Abortion Cell Phone Service. The nation's largest abortion business has started a new wireless communications system partnering with a long-time pro-abortion long-distance carrier.

Planned Parenthood's new cell phone service will allow pro-abortion activists to not only make calls but get action alerts from the organization. Planned Parenthood Wireless is a new affinity program that allows its supporters to sign up for a mobile phone service and see 10% of their monthly bill go back to the abortion business. The pro-abortion group will also use customers' monthly bills to include action alerts and information and will provide 30 free minutes of calls every month to encourage its members to talk to friends about abortion issues.

The service is handled exclusively by Working Assets, a company that exists to sell phone service to left-wing political activists who want to see their favorite groups supported. It has provided long-distance phone services for Planned Parenthood for years.

The pro-life side of the abortion debate also has companies that provide telephone service. The Missouri-based Pro Life Communications offers long-distance, local telephone, nationwide cellular, Internet, and will soon be adding satellite television to its lineup. The company says it donates all of its profits to pro-life organizations, which is currently about 15% of the monthly bill customers pay. Another company, Amerivision Communications, has been working with pro-life groups for many years to provide them with affinity long-distance services for their members. Also known as LifeLine Communications or Affinity 4, the company offers Internet services as well as wireless communications, credit cards, and DirecTV service. [22Feb07, LifeNews.com #3968]
 

South Dakota Senate Defeats Second Bill Attempting to Prohibit Abortion
Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) -- After getting through the state House on a lopsided bipartisan vote, a second attempt to ban abortions in South Dakota was defeated in a state Senate committee 21Feb. The committee voted against the bill on an 8-1 margin and lawmakers said the measure probably wouldn't stand up in court. Last year, South Dakota voters defeated an abortion ban by a 55-44 margin at the ballot box, but polls before the debate showed they would favor a ban with rape and incest exceptions. Legislators responded with a revised abortion measure that banned about 98 percent of all abortions but allowed them in those very rare sexual abuse cases. But the Senate State Affairs Committee said no to HB 1293 despite the House approving it 45-25 last week. [22Feb07, LifeNews.com #3968]
 

Ohio Attorney General Will Defend Law on Abortion Drug's Safety
Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) -- Though Ohio Governor Ted Strickland dropped the state's efforts to defend a law to protect women from the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug, Attorney General Marc Dann says he will help it. The law has been embroiled in a legal battle ever since an abortion business took it to court.

The abortion drug has been responsible for the deaths of seven women in the U.S. alone and has injured more than 1,100, according to the FDA. The Ohio legislature passed a law requiring abortion businesses to follow FDA guidelines when using the drug, as off-label usage may have contributed to the women's deaths. A lower court declared the law unconstitutional and previous Attorney General Jim Petro appealed the decision to a federal appeals court. But Strickland, a Democrat, said he wouldn't file papers for the state in the appeal. Dann says he will defend the law and feels the lower court's decision was wrong. Though he opposed the law in the state legislature, a representative said his role as the state's leading attorney is to uphold its laws whether he agrees with them or not. "He has an obligation as the attorney general to do the job of the attorney general," Jennifer Brindisi, Dann's spokeswoman said. Read the complete story. [22Feb07, LifeNews.com #3968]
 
 

California Pro-Life Advocates Protest Lawmaker's Assisted Suicide Bill
Eureka, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life advocates protested at the district offices of a state legislator who wants to make California the next state to legalize assisted suicide after Oregon voters pushed through a law there. They said assisted suicide brings the elderly and disabled death instead of compassion. The protest concerned AB 374, a bill that would allow adults who are diagnosed with less than six months to live to ask a physician for the drugs to kill themselves. Assemblywoman Patty Berg and Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, both Democrats, are again behind the measure. Last year, a state Senate committee narrowly rejected their assisted suicide bill on a 3-2 vote. Eureka resident Allen Rode was one of the people who attended the protest outside Berg's local office. He said legalizing assisted suicide would turn physicians into killers instead of healers. “There are better, more compassionate alternatives to suicide,” he told the Eureka Reporter newspaper. “The medical profession is about healing and the improvement of the quality of life. To assist in (suicide) goes against the whole ethic of the profession.” “The emphasis should be on pain management care, palliative care ... and building a community of support for people,” Rode said. Read the complete story. [22Feb07, LifeNews.com #3968]

Anti-Prostitution Pledge Ruling. The 28Feb07 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that the U.S. government may enforce a policy that groups receiving certain federal grants to fight AIDS and human trafficking must declare that they will not promote prostitution.

The government’s brief summarizes the case: “It would make little sense for the government to provide billions of dollars to encourage the reduction of HIV/AIDS behavioral risks, including prostitution and sex trafficking, and yet to engage as partners in this effort organizations that are neutral toward or even actively promote the same practices sought to be eradicated.” The CMA last year had authored a joint letter to President Bush, signed by over 100 women's, health and policy organizations, and personally delivered to the President's Domestic Policy Advisor, urging him to protect victims of sexual trafficking by upholding the policy. "As healthcare professionals, we recognize the harm that prostitution inflicts on its victims," noted CMA CEO David Stevens, M.D.

"That harm is made even more horrific when a woman or child is prostituted and enslaved. We know from the research that prostitution spreads AIDS and accounts for much of human trafficking worldwide. Incredible as it seems, there are groups out there that instead of rescuing these victims would employ a so-called 'harm reduction' approach of simply distributing condoms or advice. That's totally inappropriate for sex slaves, most of whom are children and women. We totally support the government's policy, which promotes an abolitionist approach that opposes prostitution as inherently harmful and degrading, and actively supports the rescue and restoration of sexually exploited individuals.

"The groups that would refuse to sign a commitment not to promote prostitution sued the government for a violation of their free speech rights. Thankfully, the Court said the First Amendment guarantees free speech, but it does not guarantee free government grants. And what about the free speech rights of the victims of prostitution and human trafficking?

"We are celebrating the 200-year anniversary of the abolishing of the slave trade in Britain. As we celebrate that monumental struggle for freedom, we must recommit to abolishing the slave trade that flourishes underground in our own country and around the world today.

Healthcare professionals should be at the forefront of that abolitionist movement." CMA leaders have met with top officials in the White House, the Department of State, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to promote strategies to educate healthcare professionals, including a meeting at the White House involving leaders of medical specialty groups.

Dr. Jeffrey Barrows, who serves as CMA's Health Consultant for Human Trafficking, has developed educational materials that carry Continuing Medical Education credit for healthcare professionals.

Dr. Barrows said, "One study showed that 28 percent of trafficking victims studied had encountered a healthcare professional during their captivity. Yet not a single healthcare professional reported a suspected trafficking victim. If we can educate healthcare professionals to recognize and report trafficking victims, we will see a dramatic increase in the number of victims rescued. A healthcare worker who is caring for individuals who have been forced into prostitution has an ethical responsibility to attempt to rescue those individuals from their enslavement once they become aware of that enslavement. A healthcare worker or researcher who fails to do so has failed to recognize and uphold the basic human right that all individuals have regarding freedom and liberty. Treating the health issues that come from forced prostitution without treating its cause is like treating a burn patient without getting them out of the fire." [Christian Medical Association (www.cmda.org)Washington, DC, February 28, 2007, J. Imbody]