Jamaica Beauty Queen Who Refused Abortion Can Keep Miss World Title
Judge Who Dismissed Charges Against Notorious Abortionist Concealed Financial Ties With Tiller / 'Roe' Pleads with Kansans to Charge Tiller
Federal Judge Strikes Down Law Protecting Children from Porn as Violating Free Speech
British Children's Commissioner: Don't Report Underage Sex to Police
SC Gov Endorses Abortion-Ultrasound Bill as House Votes
MO Gov Pulls Funding from Planned Parenthood Program
GA House Approves Ultrasound Viewing Before Abortion
Pregnancy Center Groups Hold Congressional Briefing on their Work...
JAMAICA BEAUTY QUEEN WHO REFUSED ABORTION CAN KEEP MISS WORLD TITLE. The head of the Miss World beauty pageant says it will not strip the Miss World Caribbean title from beauty queen Sara Lawrence, who announced she would step down as Miss Jamaica after saying she was pregnant and would not have an abortion. Lawrence will also be able to keep her Miss Jamaica title.
Julia Morley, the founder and chairman of Miss World Limited, has also written to the organizers of the local Jamaica pageant and asked them to allow Lawrence to keep her crown rather than having the 2005 contestant serve the remainder of her term. A Radio Jamaica report indicated that Morley called Lawrence, who is a medical student, "a brilliant girl whose behavior and promotion of Jamaica is second to none." She also said Lawrence is a "warm, compassionate and caring person."
Lawrence has already performed in the 2006 Miss World contest and won the Miss World Caribbean title as the top Miss World contestant from the region. Miss Jamaica World franchise holder, Mickey Haughton-James, previously called Lawrence a "fabulous young woman who did Jamaica proud" but said keeping her crown and carrying the baby to term were incompatible, implying that an abortion would let her continue her reign. "Sara's role in all of this cannot be ignored; her actions could potentially harm the tradition that is the Miss Jamaica World pageant and past and future winners," Haughton-James said. Morley's letter came in response to those comments and Haughton-James appeared to change his stance after getting Morley's letter. He told the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper that Morley suggested he allow Lawrence to keep her titles and that he would do so. [19Mar07, Kingston, Jamaica, LifeNews.com]
JUDGE WHO DISMISSED CHARGES AGAINST NOTORIOUS ABORTIONIST CONCEALED FINANCIAL TIES WITH TILLER. A Kansas legislator has filed a complaint claiming judicial misconduct against a district judge, who failed to disclose his financial ties to the state's most notorious abortion provider before tossing the 30 misdemeanor charges against him.
State Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, has alleged District Judge Paul W. Clark committed judicial misconduct in the investigation of abortionist George Tiller, who was under investigation by then-Attorney General Phil Kline for illegal late-term abortions, failures to report properly the details to state health officials, and failure to report suspected child sexual abuse.
"Judge Clark failed to disclose on the record his financial ties with abortionist Tiller and D.A. Foulston while ruling in their favor," reads the complaint lodged today by Huelskamp with the Kansas Commission on Judicial Qualifications (KCJQ). The complaint requests the KCJQ "take appropriate disciplinary action, and thereby preserve and protect the public trust in the judicial system of the State of Kansas."
For two years, outgoing Attorney General Phil Kline pursued an investigation into Tiller's activities resulting in 30 criminal misdemeanor charges. However, Dec. 22, 2006, Judge Clark dismissed the charges - a day after Kline filed his criminal case - at the behest of Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, who claimed the AG had no jurisdiction in the matter unless she gave her consent, and she had no intention of prosecuting Tiller.
Operation Rescue (OR) investigated and exposed Judge Clark's campaign finance ties with Dan Monnet, the attorney representing Tiller, and with DA Foulston. Records show they both contributed $500 to Clark's election campaign in 2004.
Judge Clark held the hearing with Monnet and Foulston present, but did not notify Kline, who then had to dispatch lawyers to defend his right under Kansas law to prosecute Tiller at later separate hearings. The judge's maneuvers, however, killed Kline's investigation into Tiller, since Kline had to vacate the AG office on Jan. 8 to pro-abortion Democrat Paul Morrison. Morrison then fired the special prosecutor Kline appointed to bypass Clark's decision and handle charges against Tiller.
"We think this is a very serious charge," Huelskamp said according to the Associated Press. The senator stated Judge Clark's haste to dismiss the result of Kline's two-year investigation against Tiller gave an appearance that the campaign contributions influenced his decision.
Rules established by the Kansas Supreme Court require a judge to recuse himself from a case "in which the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned." Huelskamp charges Clark had 3 opportunities to disclose his campaign ties with Foulston and Monnet and wants the KCJQ to investigate any illegal private conversations Clark may have made with Monnet and DA Foulston.
"Judges must be held to a high standard of ethics, and we believe that Clark violated those ethics by making a ruling that showed obvious partiality," OR President Troy Newman said in a press release. Newman added that Clark should be held accountable for his actions to restore Americans' confidence in the justice system.
Narrative of complaint filed against Clark can be found here: http://operationrescue.org/files/Clark/Appendix%20A.pdf
Links to the complete complaint can be found at: http://www.operationrescue.org [23March07, Peter J. Smith, TOPEKA, Kansas, LifeSiteNews.com]
'ROE' PLEADS FOR KANSANS TO CHARGE TILLER. The longtime poster child for America's abortion industry, Jane Roe of the precedent-creating Roe v. Wade lawsuit in 1973, is pleading with Kansas lawmakers to enforce their own state law and prosecute a late-term abortionist accused of failing to follow state law.
"As the woman who helped make abortion 'legal' in America, I urge you to do everything in your power to stop one of the worst abortionists in America. George Tiller MUST be punished for the crimes he has committed – and you can help make that happen," said the letter this week to Kansas lawmakers.
It is from Norma McCorvey, who has run the "Roe No More" ministry, now called "Crossing Over Ministry," since she abandoned the abortion industry to become a Christian a decade ago.
Tiller was the subject of a multi-year investigation by former Kansas state Attorney General Phill Kline, who filed 30 criminal counts against him in late 2006. However, those charges were dismissed by a judge with connections to Tiller's lawyers on the request of a prosecutor who also had connections to the other players in the case.
Efforts by a special prosecutor subsequently to pursue the case were defeated when the state's new attorney general, Paul Morrison, fired him and asked that his requests to the state Supreme Court be dismissed.
The actual allegations, which never have been evaluated in a courtroom, were reviewed in advance by two separate judges and approved, and accused Tiller of performing illegal late-term abortions in Kansas and failing to provide the documentation the state requires for late-term procedures.
Now Resolution 6018 in the state House of Representatives would direct Morrison to refile the charges and pursue them to a just conclusion. The resolution was approved by the Federal and State Affairs Committee earlier this week, but Morrison has informed the Legislature that he alone will decide whether charges will be filed against Tiller. "Any further charges will be based on my professional judgment, not legislative action or political calculations," he wrote.
McCorvey's pleas went directly to lawmakers.
"Hello, my name is Norma McCorvey. Perhaps you've heard of me. It was my Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade, that sentenced tens of millions of innocent babies to die by abortion...Now I work to tell people that abortion is a horrible crime against humanity – at ANY stage in a woman's pregnancy. But the most abhorrent abortions of all are LATE-TERM abortions, such as those performed by Dr. George R. Tiller of Wichita.
"Dr. Tiller performs abortions on babies up to 37 weeks – past the point when most babies are born. And, to justify his crimes, he claims the women are 'depressed' or have 'anxiety disorders' – two conditions that are not valid reasons to have late-term abortions, according to Kansas law 65-6703," she wrote.
Kansas law actually considers those conditions as reasons for substantiating an abortion, but only if they also cause "substantial and irreversible" impacts on a "major bodily function."
McCorvey's letter says Tiller's "political connections" triggered the "improper" dismissal of the counts.
"You and your colleagues in the Kansas Legislature have the legal authority to force Attorney General Paul Morrison to prosecute Dr. Tiller on those 30 criminal counts," she wrote. "Please vote to enforce KSA 75-702, which requires the Attorney General to appear on behalf of the state and 'prosecute or defend, in any other court or before any officer, in any cause or matter, civil or criminal, in which this state may be a party or interested.'"
Just about a week earlier, a Kansas state lawmaker filed a formal complaint against the district judge for refusing to disclose his financial ties to the attorney for Tiller and others while ruling in Tiller's favor in that criminal case. State Sen. Tim Huelskamp has submitted the complaint against District Judge Paul W. Clark, which was co-signed by several leaders of national pro-life organizations, to the Kansas Commission on Judicial Qualifications.
At issue are Clark's repeated rulings that prevented Kline from pursuing a case while he still was in office involving the criminal counts against Tiller. [March 30, 2007, WorldNetDaily.com]
[NOTE: This story continues to change. There is a possibility that charges will still be brought against Tiller, as of 1 April 2007.]
FEDERAL JUDGE STRIKES DOWN LAW PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM PORN AS VIOLATING FREE SPEECH. A US district court judge stuck down a 1998 law passed by Congress against Internet pornography that made it a crime for commercial website operators to let children under 18 view pornographic materials.
Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr., who presided over the four-week trial last fall, ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union that the 1998 Child Online Protection Act (COPA) violated a constitutional right to free speech.
The judge ruled that while the law intends to protect children from commercial pornography, parents can protect their children through software filters and other less restrictive means that do not impinge upon the rights of others to unrestricted access to pornography.
"Perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection," wrote Reed in his 84-page long decision.
However, Justice Department attorneys argued the government has a duty to help parents protect their children from viewing online pornography.
"It is not reasonable for the government to expect all parents to shoulder the burden to cut off every possible source of adult content for their children, rather than the government's addressing the problem at its source," Peter D. Keisler argued in a post-trial brief.
COPA would have criminalized US-based websites that allow children to access material deemed "harmful to minors" according to "contemporary community standards." The law required pornographic sites to require a credit card number or other proof of age, and remove "teaser" pornographic images from their access pages.
Penalties included a $50,000 fine and up to six months in prison, however the ACLU representing a cadre of "sexual health" sites, Salon.com, obgyn.net, the Philadelphia Gay News, and others objected that more than just pornographers would be subject to the restrictions of COPA.
"This law was carefully crafted to address hardcore pornography and raise a wall of protection between children and these hardcore pornographers who seek to exploit them by exposing them to this obscene material," Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural Issues for Concerned Women for America (CWA) told LifeSiteNews.com.
Barber noted while the McCain-Feingold campaign finance laws have an "overt chilling effect on free speech, here for some reason hard core pornography gets this additional layer of protection which other forms of free speech are not entitled too. It stands logic and reason on its head."
"Parents can't be everywhere at once, we need additional layers of protection. COPA is a very basic, non-restrictive, and common-sense way to protect these children from hard-core pornographers."
The 1998 law has never been enforced since President Clinton signed it due to its court challenges. It followed Congress' unsuccessful 1996 effort to ban online pornography, which the Supreme Court struck down in 1997 as unconstitutionally vague and trampling on adults' rights.
The government is expected to appeal the ruling, and the case may return eventually to the Supreme Court.
"To contact respectfully the US District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania:
United States District Court
Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Office of the Clerk of Court
U.S. Courthouse
601 Market Street, Room 2609
Philadelphia, PA 19106-1797
Phone: (215) 597-7704
Fax: (215) 597-6390
BRITISH CHILDREN'S COMMISSIONER: DON'T REPORT UNDERAGE SEX TO POLICE. The Children's Commissioner for England said last week that underage sex involving teenagers and adults should not be reported to the authorities. The comments come at a time when states in the United States are turning their attention to prosecuting abortions done on young teens who are victims of statutory rape.
Prof Sir Albert Aynsley-Green said nurses, teachers and youth workers must follow government guidelines published last April which state that while there is a "presumption" that information is passed on to social workers or police, decisions should be made using individual discretion on a case by case basis. But Norman Wells of the Family Education Trust said that trumpeted the importance of parents and held them responsible for their children's behavior. He said the commissioner is "effectively saying that children have a right to a private sex life and are treating with contempt the protection given by the age of consent." He added, "Confidentiality policies drive a wedge between parents and their children and expose young people to risk of abuse and disease." [19Mar07, London, England (LifeNews.com]
SC GOV ENDORSES ABORTION-ULTRASOUND BILL AS HOUSE VOTES. Gov. Mark Sanford has endorsed a proposal in the South Carolina legislature that would allow women considering an abortion to see an ultrasound of their baby beforehand. Ultrasounds have proven effective in helping to persuade women considering an abortion to keep their baby instead. "I believe life is sacred, and in the debate over when life begins I believe that as a society we should always err on the side of life," the governor said in a statement he sent to legislators on Monday.
"This new ultrasound requirement is an important one in that I think it has the potential to lessen the number of abortions carried out in South Carolina," Sanford added. The state House held a short debate on the bill, H3355, earlier this month, but didn't take a vote because Democratic Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter scolded her colleagues for debating the bill and was able to get a vote postponed until today. [21March07, LifeNews.com, Columbia, SC]
MO GOV PULLS FUNDING FROM PLANNED PARENTHOOD PROGRAM. Missouri Governor Matt Blunt announced on 19Mar07 that he is pulling state taxpayer funding of a Planned Parenthood program that provides breast cancer screenings. Pro-life advocates applaud the move saying tax dollars shouldn't fund the nation's largest abortion business. Blunt said his administration found that previous governors had programmed taxpayer money to go to Planned Parenthood in Springfield and Joplin through the Show Me Healthy Women Program. That's the state-funded program that offers free breast and cervical cancer screenings to thousands of Missouri women who meet specific residency, age and income guidelines.
In a press statement about the move that LifeNews.com obtained, Blunt said he yanked funding because "Patients should not have to go to an abortion clinic to access life saving tests." "Today I put an end to taxpayer dollars going to Planned Parenthood in Springfield and Joplin through the [program]," he said. "This ensures women may access important preventative care without contributing to abortion providers' goal of facilitating the destruction of innocent life." Instead of funding Planned Parenthood, the Jordan Valley Community Health Center will be expanding their program to provide more screenings for women and Joplin's Ozark Tri County Health Care will participate in the screenings as well. [21March07, LifeNews.com, Jefferson City, MO]
GA HOUSE APPROVES ULTRASOUND VIEWING BEFORE ABORTION. The Georgia state House has approved a bill that would allow women considering an abortion the chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child beforehand. The bill could result in a high reduction in the number of abortions since so many women who see ultrasounds decide to carry the baby to term. The House signed off on HB 147 116-54 after a lengthy debate.
Rep. James Mills, a Republican who is the main sponsor of the bill, told his colleagues "If all of us — no matter where we're at — if we hate to see an abortion take place no matter what, why not support a bill that gives a woman all the facts before she makes such a critical decision?" The bill is an extension of the Woman's Right to Know Act and will add an ultrasound component to the existing informed consent requirements. Under the measure, abortion facilities must offer the mother the opportunity to view the fetal image and the fetal heartbeat at the conclusion of an ultrasound. The ultrasound itself isn't mandated unless the woman says she wants to see one. [21March07, LifeNews.com, Atlanta]
PREGNANCY CENTER GROUPS HOLD CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING ON THEIR WORK. With crisis pregnancy centers under attack in Congress and throughout the country in both the media and from pro-abortion groups, three leading pregnancy center organization held a briefing on Capitol Hill to educated lawmakers and their staffs about the centers and their work. Heartbeat International joined with representatives of Care Net and National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, a group that provides centers with legal help, told hold the briefing last week.
Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., the national director of Heartbeat, told LifeNews.com that members of Congress and staff members from both political parties attended the forum. "After an onslaught of attacks against pregnancy centers, there is a great need to be proactive and explain to Congressional members and staffers the importance of the life-saving work of pregnancy centers across the country," she said. Harthshorn also pointed to recent national media attention pregnancy centers have received from Time magazine and CBS News. "We needed to present the history of the pregnancy center movement along with our vision for the future where women are able to recognize abortion as the harmful choice that it is," she added. [21March07, LifeNews.com, D.C.]
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