NEW! Senators Ask Democrats to Support an Amendment Revoking Abortion Industry Funding

NEW! Bully Portuguese Government to Prosecute National Medical Group Over "Illegal" Conscience Policy

LA Times Reporter Admits Inflating Mexico's Illegal Abortion Count

Human Rights Group Files Charges Against Nicaraguan Abortion Lobby

Brazilian Government's National Health Conference Rejects Abortion

UN activities: Week of 12-17November07: Abortion finally openly discussed

Editorial: Fighting for our Rights: Why the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act Should be a No-Brainer

No parental consent required in Alaska

6,400 Signatures Collected to Convene a Grand Jury in KS

Hearing is Set to Appeal PP’s Zoning Approvals

Map of PP sites

Abortionist to Speak at Wayne State U

Cuban Abortion Opponent Receives US Presidential Award (in absentia)

Uruguay Senate Approves Bill Legalizing Abortion, President to Veto

Breast Cancer Link to Abortion   

Women Deliver Conference

Men & Abortion Seminar 28-29 November  

Abortion and the Alan Guttmacher Institute

107-Count Grand Jury Indictment v. PP Leads to Call for Suspension of Tax Funding

AL Health Department Will Inspect Abortion Centers

New York Pregnancy Center's Mobile RV Helps Women Avoid Abortion 

Eugenic Abortion for Minor Problems Criticized by Abortion Provider 

Abortion Parental Consent Laws Also Reduce STDs/STIs 

FDA Documents Show Abortion Drug RU 486 Made in China at Facility Not in Compliance with FDA Safety Requirements...

SENATORS ASK DEMOCRAT SUPPORT FOR AMENDMENT REVOKING ABORTION FUNDING. Several members of the Senate sent a bill to Democratic leaders last week urging them to accept an amendment to a federal spending bill revoking taxpayer funding for abortion businesses.

The lawmakers want Congress to remove hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars for Planned Parenthood et al through the family planning program.

The Senate already defeated an amendment Vitter sponsored last month on the Title X program, but the lawmakers say “we believe recent findings warrant such a suspension pending further investigation.”

PP, which receives more than $300 million in taxpayer funding each year, should lose its federal funding because of the 107 charges a KS county attorney has filed against one of its abortion centers there for performing illegal late-term abortions in violation of state law. It is also accused of falsifying documents and failing to comply with medical reporting requirements.

The letter says: “One of the many reasons to withhold federal funding from groups that promote abortion are these troubling accusations of negligent medical practice…We should not use tax dollars to subsidize abortion [sites] – particularly when there are serious concerns regarding their compliance with state law and medical standards”.

Other members (besides Brownback and Vitter) signing the letter include pro-life Republican Sens. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, John Barrasso and Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Jon Kyl of Arizona, Trent Lott of Mississippi, Mel Martinez of Florida, Pat Roberts of Kansas and June Thune of South Dakota. [12Nov07, Ertelt, LifeNews.com, DC]






Bully Portuguese Government to Prosecute Doctors Group Over "Illegal" Conscience Policy: Medical Association says "doctors must maintain respect for human life from its beginning".

Since October of this year the Portuguese Medical Association has resisted repeated threats of legal action by the socialist-dominated government for refusing to accept abortion in its code of ethics. Now, the pro-abortion Portuguese Health Minister Antonio Correia de Campos says he he will begin procedures against the organization through the office of the Attorney General.

"The thinking of the Attorney General of the Republic is very clear and establishes that a special administrative action should be carried out to address the illegal nature of some articles in the ethical code of the Medical Association," said Correia de Campos. "And therefore what we are going to do is share with the MP (Justice Department) that the OM (Medical Association) is unwilling to fulfill these dispositions."

Medical Association spokesman Pedro Nunes maintains that the code, which states that "doctors must maintain respect for human life from its beginning", and "the practice of abortion constitutes a grave ethical failure", will not be applied to those who choose to do abortions. However, the Association wishes to maintain the code "as a moral reserve, allowing a space for conscientious objection."

The controversy arises out of the fact that earlier this year Portugal's socialist government decriminalized all abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy (see previous LifeSiteNews coverage at http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/mar/07030901.html). Correia de Campos insists that "Anyone can have his own personal or collective code of ethics, but collective codes of ethics cannot go against the general law of the country," and complains that "the Association absolutely refuses to negotiate its principles."

Although the Medical Association has acknowledged the possibility that its members might change the code at their annual meeting next year, this is not enough for Correia de Campos.

"That's not going to stop the process," he said in a recent interview. "I am going to immediately begin the mechanism (together wtih the Public Ministry), but if the doctors by their own free and spontaneous will, and through the Medical Association, make that decision, the process will no longer have an object. Having conformed to what was requsted and initially rejected, we will all be satisfied and we will all win."

Nunes is unimpressed. "This is a Ministry with so many concerns, which is experiencing enormous financial problems, which is falling apart, and would therefore need the support of all health professionals so that it can function, but is seeking to distract public opinion, sending a message that physicians are ultra-conservatives and that it is impossible to work with them," he said in a recent interview. "The Ministry is making a little game out of public opinion."

Embassy of Portugal in the United States
2125 Kalorama Rd., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008.
Phone: 202-328-8610.
Fax: 202-462-3726.
E-mail:


Embassy of Portugal in Canada
645 Island Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1Y 0B8, Canadá
Tel.: (613)729-0883, Fax: (613)729-4236
Email:

Embassy of Portugal in other countries: http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/portugal1.htm

Portuguese Government Orders Doctors to Remove Anti-Abortion Restrictions from Code of Ethicshttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/oct/07102203.html
Portugal Offers Free Abortions for Women Followed by Mandatory Education on Contraception
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07062103.html
Portuguese Parliament Approves Abortion - Waiting For Pro-Abortion PM's Signaturehttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/mar/07030901.html
Portugal Abortion Bill Approved by Legislative Committee
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/mar/07030806.html
Portugal Government Shows Hypocrisy in Abortion Vote Biashttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/feb/07021207.html
Socialist Portugal Government to Introduce Abortion Vote January 2007
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/sep/06091803.html
Abortion-Pushing Socialists Elected in Portugalhttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/05022105.html

[22Nov07, By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, Portugal, LifeSiteNews.com]
 

Los Angeles Times Reporter Admits Inflating Mexico's Illegal Abortion Count. A Los Angles Times news reporter has admitted that he inflated the number of illegal abortions he reported in a recent news story on Mexico. Hector Tobar reported that 1 million illegal abortions had been occurring there annually before the legislative assembly in Mexico City legalized abortions in the capital city. In an editorial LifeNews.com carried earlier this month,

NewsBusters blogger Dave Pierre challenged Tobar on the assertion. Pierre noted how only 3,400 women have received abortions at 14 of the capital's public hospitals in the six months since lawmakers legalized abortions there.

With 40 percent of Mexicans living in the capital or within a day's drive from it and so few abortions done legally, Pierre said there is no way so many illegal abortions would be done in the nation annually. "The Times and Tobar have some explaining to do," Pierre said at the time. "By grossly inflating the number of illegal abortions and the deaths they caused, the Times has propagated abortion falsehoods yet again."

Tobar has now admitted the numbers are wrong, but his correction didn't come in the way of an article in the newspaper. Instead, he posted a response on the Times' blog. Tobar admits "the 1-million figure appears too high" and acknowledges that there is an "obvious inconsistency" between the number of legal abortions and the illegal abortion claims. [21Nov07, Los Angeles (LifeNews.com]


Human Rights Group Files Charges Against Nicaraguan Abortion Lobby
Involvement of Internationally Connected "Women's Network" in "Rosita" Case Under Fire
The Nicaraguan Pro Human Rights Association (ANPDH) has filed charges against members of the "Women's Network Against Violence", a network of pro-abortion feminist groups, for their role in covering up the rape of a nine year old girl and protecting her victimizer in an attempt to promote "therapeutic abortion" in Nicaragua (see recent coverage at http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/nov/07111609.html).

According to the Managuan daily La Prensa, Roberto Petray of ANPDH has accused nine members of the Network of colluding with Francisco Fletes, the stepfather of "Rosita" (as she is referred to by the press to protect her identity), who was raped and impregnated in 2003.

The Network used the pregnancy of Rosita to promote their abortionist agenda in Nicaragua, and in the process helped to cover up the girl's rape by her stepfather, who fled Costa Rican authorities with their aid. With the abortion of Rosita's child and the secretive disposal of its remains that followed, DNA testing could not be done by the Nicaraguan authorities.

The charges filed include omitting required medical procedures for obtaining a "therapeutic abortion" (legal at that time in Nicaragua) and concealing evidence of the rape by secretly disposing of the body of the aborted child.

The organization also states that while the Network was taking care of the family in the years following the abortion, they learned about Fletes' relationship with his stepdaughter and helped to hide the situation.

The charges state: "They gave them housing and furniture, and according to witnesses, neighbors in the area, the women of the Network knew that the girl they knew as 'Rosita' was pregnant and was subject to sexual abuse on the part of her stepfather Francisco Leonardo Fletes Sanchez, a fact that the members of the Network hid."

Despite the conviction of Fletes and their intimate involvement in the case, representatives of the Network still refuse to apologize for their actions. "The Network fulfilled the role that corresponded to it," said a spokeswoman, "which was to save the life of the girl and for us the most important thing in every case is the life of women, of girls, boys and adolescents who are running a risk and if in that momeent that pregnancy meant the coming death of the girl, we believe that there is no reason to be sorry that that situation occurred."

However, the original doctors treating Rosita, as well as a panel of medical experts convoked to examine the case in 2003, denied that she was in mortal danger from the pregnancy. Three anonymous doctors recruited by the Network reportedly disagreed and secretly carried out the abortion in 2003. The Network used the abortion as a "hard case" to press the issue of decriminalizing abortion in Nicaragua. However, the opposite occured, and in 2006 Nicaragua eliminated "therapeutic abortion" from its criminal code, thus criminalizing all abortions except indirect procedures to save a woman's life. The Nicaraguan Congress reaffirmed the law last week, voting to include it in the new criminal code.

Related:Molestation Coverup Proven in Internationally Famous Abortion Case in Nicaraguahttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/nov/07111609.html
Recent three-part series on "Rosita" case:
Part I: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/aug/07081602.html
Part II: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/aug/07081603.html
Part III: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/aug/07081604.html

Nicaragua Government Moves to Close Legal Loophole Allowing Abortion
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jul/04072705.html

Questions Still Unanswered in Case of Nine-Year-Old Nicaraguan
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/apr/03040404.html

No Charges Laid in Nicaragua Abortion
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/mar/03030411.html

Ipas' Marta Maria Blandon Involved in Abortion Deception
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jan/070105a.html

Women's Health Journal Interview with Ipas Director Marta Maria Blandon
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Marta+Maria+Blandon+and+Lorna+Norori%3a+%22we+have+successfully...-a0109580675
[19Nov07, MC Hoffman, Managua, LifeSiteNews.com]




Brazilian Government's National Health Conference Rejects Abortion
Vote Seen As Devastating Blow Against Lula Regime's Desire to Legalize Practice
The Brazilian National Health Conference, an arm of the pro-abortion Ministry of Health of the socialist Lula regime, has made headlines across the nation by roundly rejecting the legalization of abortion.

"The Ministry of Health was defeated", summed up the Globe, a nationally recognized newspaper, which attributed the event to the superior organization of Catholic delegates to the conference.

According to Francisco Batista Junior, president of the National Health Council, at least 70% of the participants voted against the proposal, even after it had been watered down with vague language. The word "abortion" had been removed from the original text, and replaced with the term "reproductive rights", a phrase often used by the abortion lobby to refer to the availability of abortion.

The text of the resolution read: "Ensure sexual and reproductive rights, respect the autonomy of women regarding their bodies, recognizing it as a public health issue and debate its decriminalization by means of legislation."

The rejection of the pro-abortion amendment is seen as a particularly significant setback for pro-abortion forces because the National Health Conference had recommended the decriminalization of abortion eight years ago in December of 2000. The decision may reflect the recent surge in awareness about the possibility of legalizing abortion, which has spurred a growing national pro-life movement that has the support of 60% of the Brazilian population.

Adson Franca of the National Alliance for the Reduction of Maternal and Neonatal Mortality, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Health, expressed his disappointment. "The rejection was very surprising because the proposal passed in more than eight plenary sessions, with more than 300 delegates in each one," he said.

Franca later made it clear that the Ministry of Health would continue to promote the legalization of abortion despite the vote. "The force of religious thinking is very great and, paradoxically, does not perceive that penalizing doesn't help society," he said. "We believe that the central question is to decide if a woman should be a prisoner or not."

Clovis Boufleur, from the Pastoral Institute for Children, had a different perspective on the vote. He called it a "victory for society". [20Nov07, By MC Hoffman, Brasilia, LifeSiteNews.com]


Briefing on UN activities: Week of 12-17November07: Abortion finally openly discussed
 Last week was filled with surprise at the United Nations. The UN issued a report on Climate Change and the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report on Iran. However, what created special attention was the fact that, in the midst of the usual activities, something surprising occurred. The words "protection for the unborn" were uttered at the UN.

In the context of a debate around a resolution calling for a moratorium of the death penalty, Egypt, Iran, Libya Mauritania, Sudan and Bahrain introduced a right to life amendment which urged all member states "to take all necessary measures to protect the lives of unborn children". The amendment was defeated.

Egypt subsequently tried to introduce a second amendment to try to incorporate the following paragraph in the resolution "Reaffirms that every human being has the inherent right to life and stresses that abortion should only be admissible in necessary cases and only when the life of the mother or child is at serious risk". This amendment was also defeated.

The resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty passed after a recorded vote of 99 for, 52 against and 33 abstentions.

Some may wonder what was concretely achieved by the abortion discussions. For once, member states agreed to discuss the right to life in its broader sense next year. More importantly, it was one of the first times that abortion was openly debated at the United Nations.

Normally, abortion and population control are included in the draft resolutions using the terms sexual and reproductive rights and are rarely debated. Last Thursday, the rights of the unborn were at the forefront of the discussion.

The historical UN bias towards anti-family policies was made evident in many resolutions passed last week. For example, under the umbrella of the Promotion and protection of the rights of children, the resolution supporting efforts to end obstetric fistula was passed on November 15th and attempts were made to attach an abortion supportive agenda to the resolution.

According to Wikipedia The Free Online Encyclopedia, obstetric fistula "is a severe medical condition in which a fistula (hole) develops between either the rectum and vagina (see rectovaginal fistula) or between the bladder and vagina (see vesicovaginal fistula) after severe or failed childbirth, when adequate medical care is not available."

Earlier this year, the UN, mainly the UN Population Fund and the World Health Organization, launched a campaign to end obstetric fistula. Unfortunately, as reflected by this latest resolution, the UN bodies seem to want to utilize any cause to promote sexual and reproductive rights (read abortion and contraception).

The obstetric fistula resolution emphasizes the need to ensure access to trained medical personnel and mentions early childbearing as one of the main risks leading to maternal mortality. The fact that the resolution was discussed under the umbrella of the protection of the rights of children is not a coincidence. It gives the UNFPA and WHO's emphasis that young girls are affected by this an opportunity for them to push a pro-abortion, anti-family agenda as a supposed solution to the fistula problem. However, obstetric fistula affects women of all ages. The Secretary General was asked to report on the implementation of this resolution under the item titled "Advancement of women".

For a brief few moments this week, the UN seemed to fulfill the role many see that it is supposed to play in the world. This was due to the tenacity of a few member states and not any willingness by the international body to face the abortion issue without hiding behind semantics.

Some hope was generated that the UN will fulfill its true mandate of upholding human rights, including the right to the most basic right to life of the most vulnerable and innocent of all humans - unborn babies. [19Nov07, Toronto, By Marie-Christine Houle Official representative of NGO Campaign Life Coalition at the United Nations, LifeSiteNews.com]

Editorial: FIGHTING FOR OUR RIGHTS: WHY THE TITLE X ABORTION PROVIDER PROHIBITION ACT SHOULD BE A NO-BRAINER
Once again, a sensible Congressman has pointed out the glaringly obvious to America's pro-choice lobby: regardless of what you believe about abortion, it is unethical, un-democratic, and simply un-American to force taxpayers to pay for something that they have moral issues with.

Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN), introduced legislation earlier this month that seeks to amend the current Title X family planning funding. Under this amendment, tax dollars would prohibited from going toward domestic abortion providers, much like the Mexico City Policy does for NGO's abroad.

However, what Mr. Pence is eager to emphasize is that his amendment does not cut funds to family planning. According to a statement released from his office on November 8, the bill does not "cut one penny from family planning funds. The bill does not affect hospitals. In fact, hospitals are specifically exempted." A quick read of the bill proves exactly that.

According to the amendment itself, it "does not apply with respect to a hospital, so long as such hospital does not . . . provide funds to any non-hospital entity that performs an abortion [other than in cases of rape, incest, or life of the mother]," similar to the Mexico City Policy. Unlike the Mexico City Policy, however, the bill does not prohibit abortion recommendations. It does not even touch contraception. It can in no way be bent or twisted into a "gag rule" of any kind.
   
All Mr. Pence's bill demands is that the rights of pro-life Americans be respected. "There is simply no reason in the world why the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans should be used to underwrite abortion providers in this country," says Pence. Taxpayer dollars should not be indiscriminately handed out to organizations that promote abortion, when so many Americans have serious moral issues with the practice.

Nevertheless, American pro-choicers have gotten themselves worked up over the amendment. As occurs every time there is even a hint of abortion restriction, the old, tired arguments are trotted out.

"Rep. Mike Pence," contends Birth Control Watch, "has turned his attention to making contraception more difficult to access in the United States . . . Pence and his anti-family planning extremists would like you to think this is an anti-abortion bill but, if passed, it will lead to a lot more." Birth Control Watch insists that by denying funds to organizations like Planned Parenthood, one is actually increasing abortions, seeing as "contraception represents 37% of services [Planned Parenthood] provides."
This is, of course, shelving the fact that if Planned Parenthood softened its hard-line stance on abortion, they would be eligible for funds under this Title X amendment and thus able to distribute contraceptives.    Though the widespread distribution of contraceptives is a problem in dire need of addressing, that problem is not the objective of this bill.  All this bill seeks to accomplish is to force providers of non-essential abortions to fund these abortions themselves.  It appears that even that is too much for the pro-choice left.

Other groups, like NARAL, have already spoken about Pence's earlier stance against Title X funding for overseas NGO's. This earlier amendment, which would have similarly refused tax dollars to abortion organizations was defeated 231-189 earlier this year. NARAL's arguments, like all the others, are stale and weary. "Rep. Pence launched a direct attack on birth control," NARAL president Nancy Keenan raged. "Anti-choice politicians want to block women's access to contraception, which is the best way to reduce the need for abortion." This is only further proof that these activists have sacrificed all on the altar of abortion-on-demand. The fight was never about women's rights or reproductive health. The fight is about the abortion religion, and all is casualty to that.
At the House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on the Mexico City Policy last month, Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) pointedly remarked that Mexico City is an inconsistency in U.S. policy. It is inconsistent that American tax dollars are not allowed to go to foreign abortion-providing NGOs, and yet they are permitted to flow freely into the coffers of domestic organizations like Planned Parenthood. Rep. Pence's amendment simply recognizes this fact and seeks to rectify it.
 Colin Mason is the Director for Media Production at PRI. www.pop.org

NO PARENTAL CONSENT REQUIRED IN ALASKA. Alaska’s supreme court has ruled that girls who are underage can receive abortions without getting their parents’ permission. A law passed in 1997 stated that girls who were 16 or younger had to have their parents’ consent to receive an abortion.

Planned Parenthood challenged the law, and the state supreme court voted 3-2 to overturn it. As a result, girls aged 16 and younger can now receive abortions without their parents even finding out about it. Clover Simon, the head of Planned Parenthood of Alaska remarked, “The Supreme Court ruled that the law infringes on a pregnant teen’s rights to reproductive freedom.”

Governor Sarah Palin has directed Attorney General Talis Colberg to petition for a rehearing. The governor commented, "The state supreme court has failed Alaska by separating parents from their children during such a critical decision, moving in the exact opposite direction from the law's intent." [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003991974_webabortion03.html;7Nov07, STOPP Report,  www.all.org/stopp/]    

6,400 SIGNATURES COLLECTED TO CONVENE GRAND JURY IN KS. Three groups form the LIFE (Life Is for Everyone) coalition. The Wichita-based Operation Rescue, Concerned Women for America and Women Influencing the Nation were able to collect 6,400 signatures to assemble a grand jury in the investigation of Planned Parenthood in Overland Park, Kansas. The required number is 3,815 signatures, but the pro-lifers in Kansas provided the courts with more than enough.

This new development of convening a grand jury is an additional action that people in Kansas are taking to end abortion. It is expected that the grand jury, once convened, will file charges against Planned Parenthood. This is in addition to the 107 criminal charges that were filed by the county’s district attorney, which we told you about in our October 24, 2007 edition of the WSR.
[7Nov07, STOPP Report,  www.all.org/stopp/]
 
 
 
 
HEARING IS SET TO APPEAL PP's ZONING APPROVAL. The people of Aurora, Illinois have not given up the fight. Planned Parenthood will be an item of discussion once again. Peter Breen [attorney, Thomas More Society] requested an appeal of Planned Parenthood’s zoning approvals. This hearing will be held on November 28 at 7 pm in the council chambers at Aurora City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place.

On September 19, ALL reported that a judge delayed the opening of the Planned Parenthood in Aurora due to the investigation of PP sneaking its way into the city by lying on permit applications. The appeal requested by the Thomas More Society claimed that PP did not receive “proper approvals and variances from the city.” It also explains that since Planned Parenthood sought permits under the name of Gemini Office Development, LLC, Planned Parenthood needed to obtain a “special-use permit because it is a not-for-profit operating a health center.”
[7Nov07, STOPP Report,  www.all.org/stopp/]
 

American Life League’s Map of PP sites -- www.all.org/stopp/maps. In the United States, Planned Parenthood kills 5,095 children per week. [7Nov07, STOPP Report,  www.all.org/stopp/]

During its 2005-2006 fiscal year, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America performed a record 264,943 abortions, reported a tidy profit of $55.8 million -- and received a record high in taxpayer funding of $305.3 million. [Abstinence Clearinghouse E-Mail Update, 11/07/07]
 

ABORTIONIST TO SPEAK AT WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY in Detroit, Michigan on 9 Nov 07. Abortionist Dr. Alberto Hodari, according to SFL, is alleged to have performed fatal abortions on two Michigan women.
 
Tamia Russell and Chivon Williams both died following Hodari's abortions, and, at least, four other women filed charges against Hodari for serious malpractice.  Over the past 25 years, at least 23 lawsuits have been filed against Hodari.  Wayne State is allowing this speaker to fulfill required seminars and encourages students to attend.
 
Wayne State Physician's Assistant student Joanie Barrett said, "Many women have abortions because they feel that is their only option, and the abortion industry profits off their fear and desperation. That is not a choice. We need to provide real options for women, showing them that they can have their education, career or whatever is important to them, and have their child as well."
 
The undergraduate Students for Life group has been involved with giving women resources and choices, notably by volunteering at a local pregnancy center  which gives resources to expectant mothers and counsels them to choose life.
 
"I hope Dr. Hodari tells these medical students the truth: that you make decent money and someone else cleans up all the body parts," said SFLA Executive Director Kristan Hawkins.  "If you want a job dealing in death, misery, trauma, and hurting women, this is the one for you.  It doesn't pay as good as a drug lord or crime boss, but you definitely get to kill more people and be protected by a billion dollar industry.  We're told abortion is to be safe, legal, and rare, and, yet, this is a man whose only financial interest is to hurt as many women and children as possible."
[7Nov07, Students for Life of America email update] 
 

CUBAN ABORTION OPPONENT DR. OSCAR BISCET RECEIVES US PRESIDENTIAL AWARD (in absentia). Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet is more than a physician in his native Cuba. He is an outspoken abortion opponent in a pro-abortion nation that doesn't take kindly to dissent. On Monday, he will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- America's highest civil honor -- in recognition of his struggles.
 
Biscet was arrested and served three years in a prison camp after publishing an article condemning abortion. After he was released, Biscet was again arrested and is serving 22 years in prison for anti-government views.
 
Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1961, Biscet received his degree as a specialist in internal medicine, and, by 1987, he was practicing and teaching obstetrics at the Hijas de Galicia hospital in the nation's capital city.
 
In the early 1990s, the drug Rivanol was being used to provide young Cuban women with chemically induced abortions, said Raimundo Rojas, the Hispanic Outreach Director for National Right to Life.
 
Dr. Biscet began researching and compiling evidence as to how this strong abortifacient was being used to destroy children. He also documented many accounts of children being killed after surviving this type of abortion.
 
Biscet eventually wrote a paper titled "Rivanol: A Method to Destroy Life," that he published in April 1998. Later that year, he denounced the Cuban National Health System as being a party to genocide, Rojas said.
 
Shortly thereafter, the nation's health system officially expelled Biscet, preventing him from practicing medicine in Cuba.
 
In February 1999 Dr. Biscet staged a peaceful pro-life protest in front of an abortion facility notorious for providing Rivanol abortions. He and another pro-life doctor were savagely beaten by a mob.
 
"He was tried and sentenced to three years in jail for simply stating the truth," noted Rojas.
 
Biscet served the entirety of his three year term.
 
One month after his release, Dr. Biscet was arrested while meeting with other dissidents in a private home. He was again savagely beaten and this time sentenced to 25 years in jail, Rojas explained.
 
"His torture at the hands of Castro's henchmen is well documented and he continues to speak from his cell for the dignity of all life including that of the unborn," Rojas says.
 
"Dr. Biscet is a champion of human rights and most deserving of this medal. As Cuban-born pro-life activist, I pray for Dr. Biscet and his family every day. I am most grateful to this administration for bringing to light the plight of this great man," Rojas added.
 
In a statement about Biscet, the White House said he "is a champion in the fight against tyranny and oppression."
 
"Despite being persecuted and imprisoned for his beliefs, he continues to advocate for a free Cuba in which the rights of all people are respected," the White House added.
 
The Presidential Medal of Freedom, first established in 1963, is the nation's highest civil award.
 
The president gives the award to "any person who has made an especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."
 
President Bush honored Biscet and other recipients at a White House ceremony November 5 2007.
 
Cuba legalized abortion 40 years ago and it has become a method of contraception.
 
According to the Communist Cuban government's own numbers, an extraordinarily high six out of 10 (60.2%) pregnancies in Cuba end in abortion, the largest number of any nation in this hemisphere.
 
The high abortion rate in Cuba has also increased the number of women having complications and dying from the abortion procedure.
 
The Public Health Ministry's Health Statistics Yearbook indicates 11 women died in 2004 alone from botched abortions. Cuba health officials believe that more than 70 percent of women who have infertility problems have a history of one or more abortions. [Comment: Here is a physician who has lost his career and freedom for following his conscience on the abortion issue. In a loose analogy, ACOG might be seen as functioning as the Cuban government with regard to pro-life physicians...Where will you stand when they come to put you in jail? Dr. Hoeldtke] [30October2007, LifeNews.com, Ertelt, DC; AAPLOG]
 

URUGUAY SENATE APPROVES BILL LEGALIZING ABORTION, PRESIDENT TO VETO. The Senate in the South American nation of Uruguay has approved a bill to legalize all abortions up to 12 weeks into pregnancy. The legislative chamber tied 15-15 on its last vote, but pro-abortion lawmakers forced a vote on a modified version of it.
 
Abortion advocates have worked overtime to try to get several Latin American nations to legalize abortion and they have been successful so far only in Mexico City.
 
The Senate ultimately decided to postpone the vote after a bomb threat late last month. But, at the time the vote was halted, a 15-15 tie emerged and one lawmaker abstained from voting.
 
The new vote was 18-13 in favor of the abortion law.
 
Despite a membership in the party backing the bill in its Congress, Uruguayan president Tabare Vasquez has repeatedly promised to veto it -- and that could be the remaining hope for pro-life advocates there.
 
Speaking on the Telenoche 4 TV network, Archbishop Cotugno said he felt “very sad that an issue of such importance depends on the decision of a few legislators.”
 
He said he was “perplexed” that lawmakers would be allowed to introduce another version of the “Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Health Act,” despite its defeat on the tie vote last month.
 
Local pro-life advocates in Uruguay said pro-abortion lawmakers introduced the bill right before a three-day weekend in order to avoid media scrutiny.
 
The bill was similar to a previous measure introduced in May 2004 that lawmakers ultimately defeated 17 to 13.
 
The new bill would legalize virtually all abortions in the first trimester of pregnancy by allowing them to preserve the life or health of the mother.
 
Health is defined in the bill as “the general state of physical, mental and social well-being, and not only the absence of illness or ailments" -- a definition similar to one in the United States that allows abortion on demand.
 
The proposed measure also would have allowed abortions to be done on minor teenagers without the involvement of their parents.
 
One of the bill's sponsors, Senator Monica Xavier of the Socialist Party, said the measure links abortion to “aspects related to sexuality and reproduction,” bypassing a “black and white debate."
 
Like most counties in the region that are strongly Hispanic and Catholic, Uruguay prohibits abortions in virtually all cases excep when a woman's life is in danger or she is a victim of rape.
 
Abortion advocates launched their latest campaign after news surfaced that a 20 year-old woman was criminally charged for having an illegal abortion.
 
In June, Rafael Sanseviero, a former Communist Party legislator, and a leader of the pro-abortion campaign told Reuters he and his associates have started a new web site to advocate their cause.
 
"We felt that people needed a place to express their indignation over the injustice done to this young woman," he said of the woman in the illegal abortion case.
 
He said about 3,500 people have signed a petition to legalize abortion including writer Eduardo Galeano and singer Jaime Roos
 
Although the contemporary pro-life community opposes attempts to jail women, instead focusing on the abortion practitioner, the 1983 Uruguay abortion law puts women who have illegal abortions in prison for up to nine months. Anyone who does an abortion faces up to two years in jail or as much as six years if the abortion kills the woman.
 
Abortion advocates claim that the illegal state of abortion leads to tens of thousands of such abortions in the country each year, and that women often die as a result.
 
But pro-life groups point to the women who have died from legal abortions and they say abortion is dangerous whether legalized or not.
 
During the 2004 battle, local pro-abortion groups received the support of Catholics for a Free Choice, a U.S.-based organization that claims to represent thousands of Catholics who back abortion. Former CFFC president, Frances Kissling, traveled to Uruguay and spoke before the Senate vote.
 
"Most Spanish speaking countries have strong Judeo-Christian values and protect unborn life," Magaly Llaguno, the director of Vida Humana Internacional, said.
 
Llaguno fears that if Uruguay approved abortion, other Latin American countries would follow, Observers from several nations were on hand for the vote.
 
The only Latin American nations where abortion is legal are Cuba and Guyana and legislators in Mexico City recently voted to legalize abortion there. [6Nov07, Ertelt, LifeNews.com, Montevideo, Uruguay]
 

[Comment: Although this article is meant to support abortion, the reality of killing keeps coming through. The "tiny arm", the refusal to do late abortions, the legal but "ghastly" abortion, etc. It seems that this abortionist needs to justify her actions by saying that prolifers don't help prevent abortions but-reality again-failed contraception has been reported in over 40% of abortions. Not to mention that almost half of abortions are repeats. Now will the NYT cover the abortionists who have become prolife? N. V.]
 


BREAST CANCER LINKED TO ABORTION. A new UK study says that induced abortion is the “best predictor” of breast cancer, and calls the current widespread incidence of breast cancer “epidemic.” The study appears in the Fall edition of The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, and is authored by Patrick Carroll, M.A., who is the Director of Research for the Pension and Population Research Institute in London.
 
The study is based on data collected in eight European countries: England and Wales; Scotland; Northern Ireland; the Irish Republic, Sweden; the Czech Republic; Finland; and Denmark. The national cancer registration data in each of these eight countries was correlated with comprehensive abortion data on file. The study made special note of the fact that such detailed, reliable data is not available in the United States, asserting that “official abortion statistics in the United States and France are known to understate the numbers of legal induced abortions.”
 
The forecasts for the increase in breast cancer in the eight countries studied are huge and they are dire. In England and Wales, for instance, the cases are expected to explode from the 39,229 cases reported in 2004 to over 65,000 in 2025, an increase of more than 66 percent. Similar trends are forecast in the other seven countries.
 
The study lists seven known factors which either raise the risk of breast cancer or lower it.
 
Factors that raise the risk:
 
• Induced abortion. Induced abortion is given as the number one risk-raising factor, especially when a woman has never given birth to a child because, the researchers said, such an abortion “leaves breast cells in a state of interrupted hormonal development in which they are more susceptible.”
 
• Hormonal contraceptives
 
• Hormonal replacement therapy (HRT)
 
Factors that lower the risk:
 
• Bearing children
 
• Giving birth at a low age.
 
• Higher fertility – giving birth to a larger number of children.
 
• Breastfeeding
 
The study concludes that the increase in breast cancer rates is tied first to an increase in abortion rates, and second to lower fertility (fewer births). For the immediate future, the study said a further increase in breast cancer is to be expected because women who are now older than 45 have had more abortions and fewer children than previous generations.
 
[7November2007, Sylvia Hubbard, Newsmax.com; prolifeamerica.com]
Related:
    * Prevent the Serial Killer of Women: Breast Cancer. Fight Fear with Facts. http://w3.newsmax.com/blaylock/33a.cfm

Women Deliver Conference
14 Groups Formally Protest Hijacking of UN "Maternal Health" Conference by Abortion Lobby
 "Women Deliver", an international conference held last weekend in London, was billed by its promoters as a global meeting on "increasing investment in women's health", with an emphasis on childbearing. But a group of organizatons involved at the international level have formally protested that the real purpose of the meeting was to promote abortion worldwide.

According to an October 20 joint letter co-signed by 14 organizations and delivered to conference organizers, "Delegates were invited to attend a global conference on the causes, prevention and treatment of the complications of pregnancy and childbirth... Regrettably, the conference agenda was so preoccupied with promoting the ideology and practice of abortion that the genuine health care needs of women and children were virtually ignored in the plenary sessions and overwhelmed in the panel discussions."

Eight of the letter signing organizations have official UN "consultative" status, including Sexual and Reproductive Health of Mexico, United Families International, the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations, and MaterCare International.

In addition to dominating the panel discussions generally, promoting abortion was the explicit purpose of main panels and speeches, including "Investing in Women's Access to Safe Abortion: What Are We Waiting For?", "Advances in Ensuring Medically Safe Abortions", and "Empowering Young People to Become Advocates for Abortion Rights Worldwide". As reported previously by LifeSiteNews, thirty-five out of 98 sessions were related to abortion.

Susan Yoshihara of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), noted that one of the main purposes of the conference seemed to be "to get African and South Asian officials and health workers to accept the reproductive rights agenda." She also reported, "Some 1500 of the 1700 conferees, largely from these regions, reportedly attended the very expensive event courtesy of corporate sponsors such as Brazil's Tibotec, Exxon Mobile, and GlaxoSmithKline."

One delegate from Spain told C-FAM, "It seems Europeans have been completely ignored since we already have widespread abortion, and this is about English speaking elites trying to convince elites in the developing world to accept abortion in their countries."

The conference was in part sponsored the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), an organization supposedly neutral regarding abortion, which included a sophisticated promotional section on its website. It was also sponsored by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the preeminent advocate for abortion worldwide.

"Members of the organizing committee, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Marie Stopes International, who have financial interests in the provision of abortion, have used the conference to promote a private agenda to spread abortion throughout the developing world," noted the petitioners, who also accused the organizing committee of attempting "to manufacture a false consensus by ensuring that only the views that reinforced its preconceived ideas were represented during the conference".

The letter of protest follows:

LETTER TO THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE OF THE CONFERENCE "WOMAN DELIVER" London, 20 October 2007
 
DELIVERED TO:
Jill Sheffield, President, Family Care International and the Organising Committee
CC: Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Conference
Honorary Co-Chair
CC: Hon. Mary Robinson, President of Realizing Rights and Conference Honorary Co-Chair
 
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED ORGANISATIONS, wish to express our profound disappointment
and dismay that the Women Deliver conference has failed to meet its stated objective of
addressing Millennium Development Goal 5, which is to reduce maternal mortality and
morbidity.
 
Delegates were invited to attend a global conference on the causes, prevention and
treatment of the complications of pregnancy and childbirth which lead to the deaths of so
many mothers, particularly in developing countries, and to consider effective solutions.
 
Regrettably, the conference agenda was so preoccupied with promoting the ideology and
practice of abortion that the genuine healthcare needs of women and children were
virtually ignored in the plenary sessions and overwhelmed in the panel discussions.
 
Numerous UN reports, such as The World's Women 2005: Progress in Statistics, have
concluded that accurate data about maternal mortality, including abortion, are not
available, especially for the developing world. Therefore, the presentation of
unsubstantiated and unreliable data on illegal abortion as fact can only be seen as a
deliberate attempt to mislead the conferees and the international community.
 
To assert that ¨unsafe abortions¨ are only those that are illegal, and to subsequently
imply that legal abortion is therefore safe, is both disingenuous and scientifically flawed.
The fact that the WHO will not be collecting information on the morbidity and mortality
related to legal abortion is unconscionable if there is truly a commitment to accurate and
meaningful data collection on morbidity and mortality statistics.
 
The consistent assertions that improvements in the maternal mortality rate are dependent
on the promotion of legal abortion not only diverts attention from the urgent need for
basic heath care, skilled birth attendants and emergency obstetrics, it threatens to
undermine the field of obstetrics and gynaecology if implemented on a wide scale.
 
Furthermore, we oppose the fact that:
 
- Members of the organising committee, including the International Planned
Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Marie Stopes International, who have financial interests
in the provision of abortion, have used the conference to promote a private agenda to
spread abortion throughout the developing world;
 
- The organising committee has attempted to manufacture a false consensus by
ensuring that only the views which reinforced its pre-conceived ideas were represented
during the conference;
 
- The conference has sidelined the main issues related to maternal mortality (basic
health conditions based on vaccine availability, clean water, sanitation, basic nutritional
supplementation, primary medical post-natal and peri-natal care, fistula, female genital
mutilation, haemorrhage, sepsis, obstructed labour, eclampsia). Such sidelining is a
serious act of negligence which leads not only to continuing, but increasing, the risks
associated with maternal health.
 
We call upon the conference partners to focus on basic health care, skilled attendants and
emergency obstetrics, which have been the key to decreasing maternal mortality in the
developed world, instead of exploiting the tragedy of maternal mortality to promote
abortion rights.

Joint signers of protest letter:

Those with ECOSOC consultative status with the United Nations
* Instituto De Política Familiar (IPF)
* Concerned Women for America (CWA)
* MaterCare International (MCI)
* World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC)
* United Families International (UFI)
* Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC)
* World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations (WUCWO)
* Federación Española de Asociaciones Provida

Other organizations
* Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM)
* American Association of Prolife Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG)
* Instituto Mujer y Vida, Spain
* Comité Nacional Provida de México, A.C.
* Salud Sexual y Reproductiva De México, A.C.
* Asociación Mexicana Cultura de la Vida
[aaplog, 23Oct07]

Related: Letter to "Women Deliver" Conference Organizershttp://www.c-fam.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=706World

Bank Hosts "Women Deliver" Special Session on "maternal mortality"http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/oct/07102309.html

One-Third of Sessions at UN Conference Devoted to Abortion
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/oct/07101803.html

UNICEF Participates in Conference With 35 Sessions Promoting Abortion
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/oct/07101201.html

See special UNICEF page promoting Women Deliver
http://www.unicef.org/womendeliver/index.html ;
[25Oct07, Hoffman, London, LifeSiteNews.com]

World Bank Hosts "Women Deliver" Special Session on "maternal mortality"
A brief overview of significant "Women Deliver" conference developments. Reports from the "Women Deliver" Conference held in London and other locations last week are starting to come in. The pro-life coalition denounced the fact that no attention was given to some topics that would drastically improve maternal and child health.
 
Conference organizers identified 32 'focus countries' because they did not successfully reduce their maternal mortality rates since the ratification of the Millennium Development Goals. Rina Jimenez- David of The Inquirer explained that "in each of the focus countries, government representatives and civil society leaders have been invited to participate in a 'ministers' meeting' to discuss firm budgetary and program commitments to address maternal mortality".
 
A special Women Deliver session on the conference theme, "Invest in Women - It Pays!" was hosted by the World Bank on Oct. 18 in Washington. The World Bank meeting agenda is reported to have included discussion of recommendations in a Women Deliver background research paper on the economic and social benefits of investments in improved "maternal health", Women Deliver's code word for increased abortion rights.
 
Johann Oman from the Global Health Council reported that "Ministers of finance from 32 Women Deliver target countries were invited to the special gathering, along with donor governments' ministers of development cooperation".
 
The list of the 32 countries selected by the "Women Deliver" conference as 'focus countries' was not available on the conference website. Meetings of this type are typically used to pressure pro-life countries to review their position on family planning and abortion in exchange for funding. The World Bank invitation to the 32 ministers of finance would have been especially intimidating to those nations, most of which are likely currently very dependent on aid for development.
 
Another document utilized by pro-abortion groups at Women Deliver was "A measure of survival: calculating women's sexual and reproductive risk PAI report card 2007", published by Population Action International. The purpose of the document was to rank the countries according to the sexual and reproductive risks faced by women. The many variables evaluated for the purpose of the report include abortion policies and whether or not family planning demands are met. It states that "pregnancy is the leading cause of death for young women aged 15 to 19 worldwide".

The analysis constructs pregnancy as a problem to which abortion is seen as a legitimate solution.
 
For the most part, Latin American countries are found in the high and moderate risk categories. There is substantial variation within the region on issues such as HIV prevalence among adults 15-49, adolescent fertility and others. However, notably common among these countries is the fact they allow abortion only to save the life of the mother, to preserve the mother's physical heath or prohibit it all together.
 
For Population Action International strict abortion laws are cause to give a country a bad ranking. This bias attitude in favor of abortion legalization is demonstrated through various statements made in the report such as "it is estimated that up to 100,000 maternal deaths could be avoided each year in unintended pregnancies were prevented" or "women's health and lives are less at risk where abortion is legal". The statements are supported by statistics that are unreliable due to the fact that, in some of the countries studied, abortion is illegal and would therefore not be reported.
 
Pressure is increasing as Latin American leaders are asked to move away from their historical support for pro-life legislation.

A session of "Women Deliver" titled "Repositioning Latin America and the Caribbean to Address the Unfinished Sexual and Reproductive Health Agenda" was only one of the means utilized to launch an assault on the right to life in Latin America.

The conference abstract for this session states that the panel aimed at "exploring the on-going sexual and reproductive health problems faced by marginalized sub-groups".

Using the minority protection credo, pro-abortion members of the international community will continue to pressure the region to fall in line at the risk of losing funding and support from donor countries in Europe and elsewhere.
 
A more generic summary of "Women Deliver" will be presented later this week, as more information about specifics is acquired.
 
The Marie Stopes "Global Safe Abortion Conference 2007" is opening in London and is using the platform of the just completed "Women Deliver" in London to promote its own agenda. It will be interesting to see how much the two conferences will have in common and the outcomes of their pro-abortion message on the international psyche. A comparative analysis will be prepared at the close of "Global Safe Abortion Conference 2007" scheduled to conclude Wednesday evening. See Global Safe Abortion Conference 2007 web page http://www.globalsafeabortion.org/conference_update.html [23Oct07, Marie-Christine Houle, London, LifeSiteNews.com]

British Medical Group Says Marie Stopes Abortion Conference Hurts Women. Marie Stopes International, one of the largest abortion businesses in the world, is hosting a conference in England today promoting abortion. But one British medical group says the conference is a disservice to women because MSI officials will be discussing building more abortion facilities rather than how to tell women abortion hurts them. The Christian Medical Fellowship accuses the group of failing to meet the real needs of women.

Over 100 young women are expected to picket outside the 'Global Safe' Abortion Conference at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, located off Parliament Square in London. Speakers at the MSI event include healthcare professionals, abortion activists and menbers of parliament.

Some of the people attending the protest include pro-life advocates from Nigeria who say that women in their country do not want abortion on demand, despite Marie Stopes' campaign. Dr. Peter Saunders, the general secretary of the Christian Medical Fellowship sent LifeNews.com a statement about the MSI event. "The title of this conference may be 'Global Safe' but there's nothing safe about it when you consider the impact it could have on hundreds of thousands of lives who may be aborted as a result," he said. [24Oct07, London, LifeNews.com] United Nations'

Maternal Mortality Conference Criticized for Promoting Abortion
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- A United Nations conference that was supposed to focus on the issue of maternal mortality has instead concentrated on promoting abortion. A coalition of pro-life groups is blasting the international entity for promoting a procedure that harms women medically and presents a host of mental health problems.

The Women Deliver conference in London was supposed to be dedicated to improving maternal health around the world, but it is under fire for failing to meet that objective.

"Women are dying all over the world from malaria, a lack of clean water and much else, and all this crew wants to talk about is legal abortion," Austin Ruse, the president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, said in comments sent to LifeNews.com. A coalition of groups, including C-FAM, Concerned Women of America and the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologist released a letter about the weekend conference. They expressed profound disappointment and dismay" that the Women Deliver Conference failed to focus on its goals. "Regrettably, the conference agenda was so preoccupied with promoting the ideology and practice of abortion that the genuine healthcare needs of women and children were virtually ignored in the plenary sessions and overwhelmed in the panel discussions," the letter states. The groups said pro-abortion presenters gave conference attendees unreliable data to justify legalizing abortion and they said pro-abortion groups should never have been included in the agenda.[23Oct07, LifeNews.com]

RECLAIMING FATHERHOOD: MEN AND ABORTION The National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing will host a seminar, Reclaiming Fatherhood, on November 28-29, 2007 in San Francisco. This conference is the first to focus on the effects of abortion on men. Speakers will cover the following topics: pertinent research, abortion as trauma, and counsel for men who have experienced pregnancy loss through abortion. This is a unique opportunity for those who deal with men in pastoral or clinical settings to learn about this much neglected topic. For more information, see http://menandabortion.info/index.html.    

Abortion and the Alan Guttmacher Institute
by Steven W. Mosher

The abortion fundamentalists at the Alan Guttmacher Institute have an ax to grind.  Guttmacher styles itself the "research arm of Planned Parenthood," but it may more properly be called its lobbying arm.  

In its new report on abortions worldwide, Guttmacher makes several claims.  These fall into two broad, overlapping categories.  The first consists of ploys to raise more funds for the population control-abortion crowd.  The second, intended to pander to radical feminists, consists of veiled pleas to legalize abortion, couched in the form of arguments. 

Guttmacher claims that the number of induced abortions worldwide declined from nearly 46 million to under 42 million between 1995 and 2003.  "Significantly, the abortion rate for 2003 was roughly equal in developed and developing regions ... despite abortion being largely illegal in developing regions." 

In actual fact, neither Guttmacher nor anyone else knows how many abortions have been performed worldwide in this year or any other year.  Guttmacher's numbers may be reasonably accurate for countries with socialized medicine, like Great Britain, where accurate records are kept.  But for other developed countries, like the United States, they are at best educated guesses.  Abortion may be legal, but its proponents have kept it deliberately shrouded in secrecy.  

As far as the numbers given for the developing world, they are simply bogus.  Take the case of Columbia, for example.  In the hysteria surrounding the effort to legalize abortion there, the feminists kept advancing higher and higher numbers.  The numbers of illegal [hence "unsafe"] abortions spiraled upward at a dizzying pace--250,000, 300,000, 450,000.  All fantasy.   

I interviewed the Vice Minister for Health of Columbia on September 28th of this year.  She informed me that, since the legalization of abortion in that country on May 10th of last year, the Ministry for Social Protection's health clinics had performed approximately 50 abortions.  Not 50,000, or 5,000, or even 500.  Fifty.  This is several orders of magnitude smaller than predicted. 

Why, you may ask, does the Guttmacher crowd play fast and loose with zeros?  Because they are deliberately exaggerating the magnitude of the problem in order to create a "health crisis."  After all, the more women they can claim have "unsafe" abortions, the more women they can claim die as a result.  The numbers are merely chips in a high-stakes poker game to legalize abortion-on-demand worldwide.  

Another Guttmacher claim is that the number of abortions has "fall[en] most where abortion is broadly legal."  "On the whole, the abortion rate decreased more in developed countries, where abortion is generally safe and legal on broad grounds ... than in developing countries, where the procedure is largely illegal and unsafe."   This statement is speculative at best, since there are no hard numbers where clandestine abortions are concerned.  Again, Guttmacher invents absurdly large numbers of "unsafe abortions," which then enable it to claim that the abortion rate plummets with legalization (and the collection of real statistics).

"We know, and the new evidence confirms yet again, that the best way to make abortion less necessary is to help women avoid unwanted pregnancies in the first place."  Or so says Guttmacher.   Yes, well, in China the number of abortions has declined from 15 million to only 9 million, not because of the wider availability of contraceptives, but because so many women have been sterilized.  The same is true in Vietnam and several other countries which have seen government-run sterilization campaigns.

Guttmacher's final claim is that "unsafe abortion remains a major global health challenge." Dr. Sharon Camp, president and CEO of the Institute, maintains that " ... we know that the crucial first step in making abortion safer is to legalize the procedure, ensuring that it is performed by skilled providers under the best possible conditions. It's high time for policymakers worldwide to renew their commitment to women's health by addressing these crucial issues."

Legalized abortion is never "safe" for the baby being aborted, of course.  Neither is there any reason to assume that the legalization of abortion will instantly bring medical facilities up-to-date and start money pouring into rural clinics.   Abortion, legal or not, is an invasive medical procedure with the potential for many complications and health risks.

This is Guttmacher's first global review of abortion since 1995, perhaps because its numbers the first time around were so risible that they were disinclined to attempt it again.  But with pro-aborts in the Congress determined to kill the Mexico City policy, and to give money to International Planned Parenthood Federation and other abortion-performing groups, it probably seemed like an excellent time to trot out the same old tired arguments.
[Steven Mosher is President of the Population Research Institute, www.pop.org, 11October07]

107-Count Grand Jury Indictment Against Planned Parenthood Could Open “New Front” in US Abortion Fight: US Pro-life leaders call for suspension of tax funding. Pro-life advocates in the US have asked for the suspension of taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood, the largest and richest abortionist organisation in the world. Citing a criminal case against the group, pro-life leaders will send a letter to all members of Congress urging suspension of the more than $300 million Planned Parenthood receives as a tax free organisation.
 
A grand jury indictment is pending against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri on 107 counts, 23 felony and 84 misdemeanour, of unlawful late-term abortions and other abortion-connected crimes. The case is set to go forward since a judge ruled there is “probable cause” to proceed. The allegations were brought by Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline.
 
Robert D. Novak wrote in the Washington Post that the action brings up a “new front” in the US abortion fight and that the case may end by bringing Planned Parenthood under the legal gun throughout the country.
 
Charges include “unlawful failure to determine viability for late-term abortion,” “making false information” and “unlawful failure to maintain records.” Should the case succeed, pro-life advocates could use it as a means to stop Planned Parenthood throughout the US. Forty other states have laws similar to those in Kansas that say abortion is legal only if it has been established that the child could not survive outside the womb.
 
Concerned Women for America is among the groups signatory to the letter to Congress that says, “We urge you to act to ensure that our tax dollars are not subsidizing abortion clinics that perform possibly illegal abortions.”
 
The charges were based on 29 patient's abortion records dating to 2003 and some Kansas legislators are asking why the same information has not been brought to bear in the last four years. This week, three legislators sent a letter to Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison demanding to know why the same charges were not filed earlier. Morrison had cleared Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri of any criminal wrongdoing earlier this year.
 
Dr. David Stevens, the head of the Christian Medical Association asked, “If just 29 records from one Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Kansas have produced 107 criminal charges, isn't it possible that similar abuses are also occurring at other of the 860 Planned Parenthood facilities nationwide?”
 
Stevens asked, “Why does the abortion industry remain the most unregulated medical operation in this country? Is political correctness stifling investigations and enforcement of the law?”
[25Oct07, Hilary White, Topeka, KS, LifeSiteNews.com]

Sixty Pro-Life Groups Ask Congress to Block Funding Planned Parenthood.

A coalition of sixty pro-life groups have signed onto a letter to every member of the House and Senate asking that Congress stop providing federal funds to Planned Parenthood. The letter follows the more than 100 charges a Kansas county DA has leveled against an abortion business there.
 
Since most Planned Parenthood abortion centers follow similar internal health and safety protocols, the groups say that it's likely other Planned Parenthood facilities are breaking the law as well.
 
A judge reviewed the 107 charges that Johnson County Attorney Phill Kline filed against the Planned Parenthood in Overland Park, Kansas and indicated there was enough "probable cause" to proceed with a trial.
 
"Planned Parenthood operates around 860 facilities around the country, and there are approximately 40 states with laws banning late term abortions. This illegal conduct may be happening all over the country," the letter says.
 
"We urge you to act to ensure that our tax dollars are not subsidizing abortion [centers] that perform possibly illegal late-term abortions," the letter, provided to LifeNews.com, adds.
 
Groups that signed the letter included Concerned Women For America, Focus on the Family, Eagle Forum, American Family Association, Traditional Values Coalition, and Americans United for Life.
 
Current Title X rules prohibit federal money going directly for abortions. But the rules allow groups such as Planned Parenthood and others who do abortions to receive government money for family planning programs. The pro-life groups say that Congress should not be providing direct funding to abortion businesses even if the money isn't directly going to abortions.
 
However, on 18Oct07, the Senate rejected an effort by pro-life lawmakers to cut federal funding for family planning efforts carried out by abortion facilities.
 
The Senate voted 52-41 against the amendment pro-life Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, offered to the fiscal year 2008 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill (S 1710).
 
During the debate on his amendment, Vitter said it is a "very reasonable mainstream policy to say" that the government is not going to "support groups that perform abortions."
 
Vitter added that federal funds subsidize abortion by supporting organizations that provide them, even if the groups do not use federal funding to perform abortions.
 
"The way it works now, we send federal dollars to abortion providers ... and it supports their overhead and it supports their organizations," he said. Republicans were unified in support of the amendment, with pro-life Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.
 
But pro-abortion Sen. Barbara Boxer [D-CA] led the fight against the Vitter amendment and claimed it would have done "nothing to reduce abortions." Republican Sens. Kit Bond, Sue Collins, Dick Lugar, Lisa Murkowski, Olympia Snowe, Arlen Specter, and Ted Stevens joined Democrats in voting against the Vitter amendment.
See how your senator voted: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00379
[25Oct07, Ertelt, LifeNews.com DC]
Planned Parenthood of Overland Park, Kansas has been charged with 107 criminal counts. Of these 29 are charges of performing unlawful late-term abortions. Phill Kline, Johnson County’s district attorney has charged Planned Parenthood with 23 felonies and 84 misdemeanors. If Planned Parenthood is convicted, it faces more than $2.5 million in fines. Court date is scheduled for November 6. To view this story: http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/322081.html
[STOPP Report, 24Oct07]
Mainstream Media Covers Planned Parenthood Abortion Abuses
 Note: Brent Bozell is the founder and president of the Media Research Center, a watchdog organization. His most recent book, Weapons of Mass Distortion: The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media, was released in July of 2004.
 
As much as liberals decry major corporations that act as if they're above the law, there's always quiet when the subject is Planned Parenthood, America's number one corporate provider of abortions. During its 2005-2006 fiscal year, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America performed a record 264,943 abortions, reported a tidy profit of $55.8 million – and received a record high in taxpayer funding of $305.3 million.
 
This is one corporation the media hold in the highest regard. They're not “merchants of death.” That would be the tobacco companies, or gun manufacturers, or hamburger joints. These are the heroic “providers” of “a woman’s right to choose.”
 
They're also sleazy in their business practices. In Aurora, Illinois, Planned Parenthood planned to build the biggest abortion clinic in the country, but they lied by omission to the city. Throughout the construction process, the McDonald’s of the abortion industry applied for permits by listing the owner as “Gemini Office Development,” not as Planned Parenthood.
 
ABC News to the rescue! Barbara Pinto filed a report on the September 19 “World News,” suggesting black was white. “Planned Parenthood denies they've deceived anyone,” she stated, adding that their spokesman in Chicago said they were “entirely truthful.” Pinto proceeded to blame Aurora’s officials for being dimwitted: “None of the city officials or elected officials were aware that Planned Parenthood would be the tenant in this building. That, despite the fact plans they approved included a surgical center, bulletproof glass and numerous security cameras.” ABC ended by quoting the clinic’s neighbors wishing the pro-lifers would stop protesting: “I just wish that they'd go home. I'm tired of seeing their signs.”
 
Down the highway in Kansas, Johnson County District Attorney Phil Kline just filed 107 charges against Planned Parenthood, charging that its clinic in Overland Park, Kansas performed unlawful late-term abortions. Kansas state law holds that abortion is legal only when a doctor affirms that the baby is not viable to live outside the mother’s womb. If the baby can live, then two doctors must attest the abortion is necessary for the woman’s physical or mental health. That’s why clinic records are an issue.
 
The 23 felony counts allege that Planned Parenthood submitted false “pregnancy termination reports” to a court on August 21 in response to a subpoena. District Court Judge James S. Vano agreed there was probable cause to think crimes had been committed and set a November 16 court date. Planned Parenthood faces more than $2.5 million in potential fines. [Brent Bozell, October 24, 2007, LifeNews.com]
 


Alabama Health Department Will Inspect All Eight Abortion Centers. Now that the state's 8 abortion centers are all in compliance with state health and safety regulations, health department officials say they will conduct annual inspections to make sure the abortion businesses continue to follow the law. State Health Officer Don Williams said officials will have probed all 8 by December.

He has more staff members, so Williams promises to make sure every abortion center in the state gets a thorough checkup.

"I would anticipate this year not finding any problems as we had in the last few years," Williamson told the Associated Press. "We are in the process of having adequate staffing now and can complete inspections in a more timely fashion than we've ever done them."

The investigations are important because some Alabama abortion centers have had to close or shut down temporarily for health problems that put women's lives at risk. And they hadn't received a complete overview from the health department in five years.

Diane Derzis, who owns the New Women All Women abortion center in Birmingham, which was one of the facilities put on probation, spoke with AP about her facility getting its license back.

"When you're on probation it's a constant presence there and you're fearful that regardless of how well you conduct business and how well you do things -- the fact that you're on probation is always in the midst of that," she said.

One of the issues there was that abortion facility staff were ordering prescription medications for their own use.

Meanwhile, John D. Smith, director of the pro-life group Mission of Life, hopes more abortion centers will close down.

"We think it's very important that women's health is protected by inspections and for too long the abortion clinics in America have been given a free pass and blind eye," he said.

The Beacon Women's Center and Reproductive Health Services abortion business in Montgomery and the New Women All Women Health Care in Birmingham saw their licenses downgraded to probationary status last year.

Beacon and New Women All Women Health Care were reinstated on October 1 and Reproductive Health's license was restored in July.

The actions against them came after state health officials found significant concerns at the Summit Medical Center abortion center in Birmingham.

The abortion facility that was permanently closed in June 2006 after state health officials found numerous violations, including a nurse there giving the abortion drug to a woman with severely high blood pressure who needed medical attention.

The woman later gave birth to a stillborn baby because the drug is only allowed for use in the early parts of pregnancy.

At Summit, state health officials said they found "egregious lapses in care, including non-physicians performing abortions, severely underestimating the gestational age of a fetus, failure to appropriately refer or treat a patient with a dangerously elevated blood pressure, and performing an abortion on a late-term pregnancy."

Following the incident, nurse Janet Onthank King fabricated the abortion center's records in an attempt to cover up what happened.
Authorities arrested King in December and charged her with misdemeanor charges including performing illegal abortions.

Summit Medical Centers operates seven abortion businesses in five states.

It is the abortion business that employed Malachy Dehenre, who lost his medical license in both Alabama and Mississippi because of botched abortions.

Following the incident at Summit, the state began inspecting the state's other abortion facilities, which led to finding problems at Reproductive Health Services in Montgomery.

The Alabama Department of Health suspended RHS's license in August saying that the abortion business did not have a backup physician on hand kept inadequate medical records and conducted poor follow-up abortion care.

Then, in November, state officials found the Alabama Women's Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville violated 10 different health codes.

The state health department found the abortion center put women at risk by having those who called the facility experiencing medical problems after an abortion routed through to the abortion business administrator rather than a doctor.

Women who had serious bleeding or other complications following an abortion were not put in touch with a licensed physician.

Others were sent home early without allowing them any recovery time following the surgery.

The state health department also said the AWCRA abortion center routinely failed to document the gestational age of the unborn child prior to doing the abortion. [10October2007, Ertelt, LifeNews.com Montgomery, AL]



New York Pregnancy Center's Mobile RV Continues to Help Women Avoid Abortion. A New York chain of crisis pregnancy centers continues to provide positive alternatives to women considering abortions in the Big Apple. The center has employed a unique idea by using a converted motorhome with a portable ultrasound unit to assist women with unplanned pregnancies.
 
LifeNews.com reported in February about Expectant Mother Care's mobile unit and its plans to park the motorhome at major abortion facilities six days a week to give women other options apart from abortion.
 
EMC founder and president Chris Slattery told LifeNews.com at the time that the idea marked "a dramatic new chapter in the pro-life movement's efforts to reach out in compassion to women" and he says the mobile unit continues to help women.
 
Slattery gave an update on the outreach to CBN News.
 
"We go out to the toughest neighborhoods in the South Bronx and the most international area of Queens where there's a huge pocket of abortion clinics along a strip we call it 'Abortion Row,'" he said.
 
On four days out of the week, Slattery and his ultrasound technician and bilingual counselor head to an abortion center in the Bronx. They offer free ultrasounds and helpful counseling for women in a variety of situations.
 
"We're probably intervening with a dozen women a week who we get to take an ultrasound, talk with the counselor in either English or Spanish," he told CBN.
 
Slattery said the mobile pregnancy center is seeing a high percentage of success.
 
"We are successful probably eight out of 10 times. We're successful in turning the mother around if we can get her in to talk with us," he explained.
 
Julie Beyel works with the RV and tries to get women headed to the abortion business to talk with her staff instead, she told CBN News.
 
"What I do is I basically look…to see if women may be getting dropped off in a cab and I approach that woman to let them know we offer free help for pregnant women," she explained.
 
Slattery indicated that the abortion center can't do much about their presence.
 
"There's nothing they can do except the cursing they throw at us and occasional harassment of us. We're pretty much free to do what we want on this public sidewalk," he said.
 
He said pregnancy centers across the country have visited with him about the mobile center with the idea of duplicating the concept in their communities. He said pro-life advocates as far away as New Zealand have contacted him. [25Oct07, Ertelt, LifeNews.com NYC] Pro-Lifers in Mobile, AL, and in Florida have used RV pregnancy centers for years with great success as well.

Eugenic Abortion for Minor Problems Criticized by Pro-Abortion Doctor. As the House of Commons Committee on Science and Technology continues this week to examine Britain’s 1967 Abortion Act, some are warning that eugenic abortion is degrading public perception of people with disabilities.
 
Britain’s Guild of Catholic Doctors, in a written submission told the Parliamentary committee, “We remain deeply concerned about the use of screening tests to identify children with disabilities before birth when the usual outcome is that the children be killed.”
 
The Daily Telegraph reports today that statistics on eugenic abortions from the South West Congenital Anomaly Register, show that between 2002 and 2005, fifty-four babies with club foot, 37 with cleft palates or lips and 26 with extra or webbed fingers or toes were “terminated” in the South West of England.
 
The Guild Doctors told the Commons Committee warned that the use of abortion to eliminate children with disabilities “creates negative attitudes to all who are disabled when everyone should be accorded equal standing as human beings.”
 
Even some who generally support abortion are warning of the dangers of eugenic selection. Vincent Argent, a gynaecologist and former medical director of one Britain’s largest abortionist organisation, British Pregnancy Advisory Service, told the MP’s that the age limit should be lowered to 16 weeks, pointing to the growing unease in public over late-term abortion and eugenic abortions for minor and treatable conditions such as cleft palates.
 
As with most countries that have legalised abortion, recent British statistics have shown that over 98 per cent of abortions in the UK are justified under the Abortion Act clauses C and D that allow abortion, with the consent of two doctors, in cases where there may be risks to the “physical or mental health of the woman.” The terms are normally interpreted so loosely as to have provided effective abortion on demand. There are no legal restrictions on abortion if the doctors believe the child might be “seriously handicapped”.
 
In his evidence to the Committee, Argent told of abuses of the current system of abortion with the consent of two-doctors. He told of the signing of batches of consent forms before patients are even seen and forms signed without doctors having met or spoken with patients or reading medical histories. Some, he said, signed consent forms after the abortion had been committed. Others faxed their consent forms to abortion facilities to be used in their absence.
 
The public unease with such eugenic abortions and with “late-term” abortions was echoed in a rare statement on abortion from the titular head of the Church of England, Dr. Rowan Williams. The Labour government-appointed Archbishop of Canterbury told the Observer newspaper that abortion in Britain had ceased to be a “last resort” and that the public risked losing its “moral focus” on abortion.
 
Dr. Williams warned of the growing belief that abortion was merely an “individual decision” with little moral weight, instead of “the kind of major moral choice that should involve a sharing of perspective and judgement.” [22October07, Hilary White, London, LifeSiteNews.com]
 

ABORTION PARENTAL CONSENT LAWS ALSO REDUCE STDs. When a teen asks, “Do you have to tell my parents?,” authorities in the forty-four states with parental involvement laws regarding abortion must answer “Yes.” New research shows that not only does that requirement reduce the number of abortions, but fewer young people are also becoming infected with std’s, specifically gonorrhea, as well.
 
"We actually see the teenage gonorrhea rate drop by about 10 to 15 percent relative to the non-teenage gonorrhea rate," said Jonathan Klick of Florida State University.
 
(Source: “Abortion Consent Laws Also Cut Teen STD Rates,” CNSNews.com, 10-16-07, http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200710/CUL20071016a.html) [Abstinence Clearinghouse E-Mail Update, posted 16Oct07, 10/24/07]
 
 

FDA Documents Show Abortion Drug RU 486 Made in China
A public interest group has obtained copies of Food and Drug Administration records showing that agency knew the dangerous abortion drug RU 486 was made in China before it was approved for use in the U.S. at the end of the Clinton administration.

The drug has killed several women in the U.S. and more than a dozen worldwide.

Judicial Watch told LifeNews.com it has obtained 175 pages of new documents pertaining to the abortion pill that had previously been withheld by the FDA.

Despite the FDA's refusal to disclose where the abortion pill is manufactured, these documents confirm that the China-based Hua Lian Pharmaceutical Company manufactured RU-486 at the time of approval. This seems to be the first official document confirming that the abortion drug has been manufactured in China, the group said.

The documents indicate that not only did Hua Lian fail its first FDA safety inspection, but that the company was not in compliance with safety requirements at the time the FDA approved the facility for manufacturing on August 15, 2000.

The documents also show the extent to which the pro-abortion lobby was involved in the approval process.

For example, one of the trials used by the FDA to justify its decision was conducted by Dr. Suzanne Poppema, President of the National Abortion Federation. Another trial was performed by Dr. Daniel Mishell, a senior scientist for RU-486's patent holder, the Population Council.  [19Oct07, DC LifeNews.com]
 

Judicial Watch Obtains FDA Documents Re: Abortion Pill RU-486.  Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced 16Oct that it recently received 175 pages of new documents pertaining to the abortion pill RU-486 that had previously been withheld by the Food and Drug Administration (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Food and Drug Administration, et al. (on remand 00-2973)). 

According to the documents uncovered by Judicial Watch:
 
• Despite the FDA’s refusal to disclose where the abortion pill is manufactured, these documents confirm that the China-based Hua Lian Pharmaceutical Company manufactured RU-486 at the time of approval. This seems to be the first official document confirming that the abortion drug has been manufactured in China.
 
• The documents indicate that not only did Hua Lian fail its first FDA safety inspection, but that the company was not in compliance with safety requirements at the time the FDA approved the facility for manufacturing on August 15, 2000. 
 
• The documents also show the extent to which the pro-abortion lobby was involved in the approval process.  For example, one of the trials used by the FDA to justify its decision was conducted by Dr. Suzanne Poppema, President of the National Abortion Federation.  Another trial was performed by Dr. Daniel Mishell, a senior scientist for RU-486's patent holder, the Population Council.
 
• RU-486 must be used in conjunction with another drug (Cytotec) that is not approved as an abortifacient.  According to FDA internal communications obtained by Judicial Watch, the agency knowingly participated in the “off label” use of Cytotec and helped the drug’s manufacturer, Searle, craft a letter designed to protect the company from legal liability for the unauthorized use of the drug.
 
“These documents show the reckless and politicized nature of the FDA’s decision to approve the abortion pill,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.  “The FDA certainly has a lot of explaining to do.  For starters, why has the FDA previously refused to disclose the Chinese connection and the related safety issues?  And why did the FDA allow the abortion lobby to participate in the clinical trial process?  The American people deserve answers.”
 
Through the Freedom of Information Act and litigation against the FDA, Judicial Watch previously discovered that RU-486 was approved under the “Accelerated Approval of New Drugs for Serious or Life-threatening Illnesses,” a measure that was adopted for use in rare cases to encourage the manufacture and importation of drugs designed to treat life-threatening diseases such as cancer or heart disease. 

Judicial Watch also uncovered clinical trials and other documents that revealed serious health complications resulting from the use of the drug.  These documents resulted in calls to recall RU-486 from the market.

Judicial Watch's RU-486 investigation and litigation -- http://judicialwatch.org/abortionpill.shtml
 [16October2007, http://www.judicialwatch.org/6433.shtml, DC; 18Oct07, N Valko, RN]