New Study on Availability of Campus Resources for Pregnant Students

Planned Parenthood Day was April 24: PP Accused of Reproductive Racism and Unethical Business Practices (more than once...)

Planned Parenthood in CA Accused of $180 Million Fraud

OH Police Officer Cutts Sentenced for Murder of His Unborn Baby and Her Mother

Alaska Gov. Palin Gives Birth to Down Baby Despite Abortion Pressure

Moving to the UK Worsens Maternal Health Behaviors

Genetics: Computational Approaches to the role of Epigenetic Marks in Transcription Regulation

Abortion Rights Groups Plan Fall Push; Unprecedented Spending Raises Concerns From Conservatives

Eminent Psychiatrist Says Homosexuality is a Disorder that Can be Cured

British Abortion Practitioner Found Guilty of Sexually Assaulting Teenager

Embryo Donation-Adoption Conference

Swiss Grant Rights to Animals, Consider Same for Plants While They Liberalize Abortion Laws

No Partial-Birth Lawsuits Shows Abortion Advocates Lied About Health Exception

Pro-Abortion Terrorists Claim Responsibility for University Bombing

Planned Parenthood of Nebraska / Council Bluffs Scrambles for Funds

Planned Parenthood Mega-Centers Partially Explained...

FFL STUDY ON AVAILABILITY OF CAMPUS RESOURCES FOR PREGNANT STUDENTS. Patricia Heaton, two-time Emmy-winning actor and New York Times best-selling author, weighed in on a study released by Feminists for Life Wednesday, April 23.

In order to determine what students perceived about the availability of resources and support for pregnant and parenting students on their college and university campuses, Feminists for Life launched the first-ever nationwide Pregnancy Resources SurveySM in the fall of 2007.

The students’ revealing answers are unveiled in Feminists for Life’s groundbreaking study, Perception is Reality.

According to FFL’s report, responses to the survey reveal that either most surveyed campuses lack resources or that students—including student activists most interested in the provision of resources—are ignorant of the resources available. For pregnant and parenting students on those campuses, the perception that they have no resources or support is their reality.

Heaton said, “Through my experience addressing schools in the Los Angeles area, including UCLA, Pepperdine, and Loyola Marymount, I have been impressed by the desire of student activists to work toward solving problems and addressing difficulties for pregnant and parenting students on their campuses.”

“At Pepperdine, in particular, I got to witness firsthand a rapid response to Feminists for Life’s call to action on behalf of pregnant and parenting students. Resources and support became a real priority. Administrators and department heads immediately went to work transforming school policies.”

Heaton delivered her speech “Women Deserve Better than Abortion” at Pepperdine in March 2006, and returned for FFL’s Pregnancy Resource ForumSM at Pepperdine in April 2007.

The Forum inspired the creation of a task force on pregnancy and parenting to address a broad range of needs among student parents at Pepperdine University.

With input from FFL, the school began to create new policies, procedures and resources, and a plan of action for future development. Recognizing that a woman who has just learned she is pregnant will want something concrete, Pepperdine’s health center created a handout including a statement of support from the university and elaborating the resources available both on and off campus.

“I appreciate the fact that Feminists for Life is willing to work with people on both sides of the abortion debate, bringing them to create holistic solutions for pregnant women and parents,” said Heaton. “It is my hope that the results of this study will encourage more people to take up this mission and move it forward.”

Patricia Heaton is Honorary Chair of Feminists for Life. Heaton, recognized for her role as Debra on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” was awarded with back-to-back Emmys by her peers for the role. She now appears on Fox's new television series "Back to You" with Kelsey Grammer of "Frasier" fame, which premiered in the fall of 2007. Heaton co-founded FourBoys Films with her husband, actor/producer David Hunt, and produced and starred in the TNT/FourBoys Films production The Engagement Ring. She starred in the TNT/Neil Simon production of The Goodbye Girl, and produced the movie Amazing Grace as well as the documentary film The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania.

To read the study and related documents, please visit www.feministsforlife.org.

Feminists for Life is a non-sectarian, nonpartisan grassroots organization dedicated to empowering women through progressive, woman-centered solutions for themselves and their children. 25Apr08, www.feministsforlife.org]
"Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women. Women deserve better than abortion."
REFUSE TO CHOOSE® WOMEN DESERVE BETTER®

New Report Reveals Lack of Awareness of College Resources for Pregnant Students
 Feminists for Life of America has released Perception is Reality, a study of FFL's first nationwide Pregnancy Resources Survey. FFL's Pregnancy Resources Survey was created to discover students' awareness of resources and support for pregnant and parenting students on college and university campuses. This report, the first of its kind, highlights the perceptions that students have about resource availability on their campuses.

According to FFL's report, responses to the survey reveal that either most surveyed campuses lack resources or that students - including student activists most interested in the provision of resources - are ignorant of the resources available.

FFL's survey grew out of Feminists for Life's Pregnancy Resource Forums. The forums were inspired by a Feminists for Life board member who shared her experience of facing an unplanned pregnancy while in college. "Without housing on campus for me and my baby, without on-site daycare, without maternity coverage in my health insurance, it sure doesn't feel like I have much of a free choice," she told the board in 1996.

In January 1997, FFL President Serrin Foster moderated the first of many Pregnancy Resource Forums in the country at Georgetown University to evaluate resources on and off campus as well as to help administrators and students create a blueprint for progress. "It appeared that either the resources were lacking or information about existing support was missing on many campuses," said Foster. "We needed to see if this was widespread."

Perception is Reality shows that, among many issues, survey respondents were most confused or unaware of campus childcare options, school financial aid, and healthcare policies. "This survey confirms everything I have been told during the last decade of moderating Pregnancy Resource Forums on campuses across the country," Foster said.

"Even when students who are not feeling the pressure of an unplanned pregnancy try to look for resources, either they can't find them or the resources are inadequate or expensive. And perception is reality. A perceived lack of resources can drive pregnant women to abortion or result in parents dropping out of college to face a lifetime of poverty. Pregnant women and parents need and deserve better resources and easily accessible information."

"Students' difficulty finding answers to survey questions suggests a need for colleges to designate or establish a central office or staff person to guide pregnant and parenting students to the resources they need," said FFL National Program Director Cayce Utley, M.A. Public Policy, who prepared the report.

See the full study online here:
http://www.feministsforlife.org/cop/perception.htm
[24Apr08, Washington, D.C., LifeSiteNews.com]




PLANNED PARENTHOOD DAY WAS APRIL 24: PP ACCUSED OF REPRODUCTIVE RACISM AND UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES. American Life League is working with Students for Life of America, as well as other national pro-life groups, to increase congressional support for defunding Planned Parenthood.

On April 24, there was a silent protest in front of the PP in Washington, D.C., followed by a press conference at 11 a.m. with African-American leaders.

Below is an excerpt from an e-mail blast that SFLA sent out last week:"Join SFLA on Thursday, April 24th to tell Congress that the Racism and Unethical Business Practices of Planned Parenthood should not be funded with tax-payer dollars…

In case you have missed it, this is what Planned Parenthood has been up to:

** Planned Parenthood is currently under criminal investigation in KS for falsifying documents and performing illegal late-term abortions.

** In CA, a former Planned Parenthood employee has accused CA Planned Parenthood of defrauding taxpayers upwards of $180 million.

** A recent video of YouTube shows a Planned Parenthood Development Director “excited” at the possibility of taking money specifically earmarked to kill black children.

** The Alan Guttmacher Institute, along with the CDC, show that a huge majority of abortion businesses are located in minority neighborhood [sic] and some experts estimate the number at higher than 75%.

** Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest provider of abortions. They have over 850 centers across the country.

** In OH, a Planned Parenthood is being charged with failing to report the rape of a 16 year old by her father.

** Recently, a Wall Street Journal story reported that Planned Parenthood is going to spend an unprecedented $10 million this election cycle.

Planned Parenthood receives over $300 million dollars each year from the federal government. For more information, contact www.studentsforlife.org. [23Apr08, STOPP]



PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACCUSED OF $180 MILLION FRAUD. The latest victim of Planned Parenthood's thieving appears to be none other than the California government. A former Vice President of Finance for the L.A. affiliate, P. Victor Gonzales, has filed a whistleblower suit in federal court, claiming that Planned Parenthood committed years of fraudulent overbilling against government-funded programs. Gonzales submitted documents spanning the late 1990s to 2004, including a series of audits, which suggest that the nation's biggest abortion merchant may have swindled upward of $180 million from California taxpayers. Gonzales says he was fired in 2004 after repeated attempts to address the "illegal accounting, billing, and donation practices of Planned Parenthood" with his supervisors. According to Gonzales's attorney, Planned Parenthood manipulated its status as a charitable organization in order to buy contraceptives at a discounted rate, then billed the state's Medi-Cal program for 12 times as much as it paid. The Los Angeles Times obtained copies of the 2004 audit, which substantiates over $5.2 million in overbillings at the San Diego branch during fiscal year 2003 alone. In total, the overcharging is said to exceed $10,000,000 a year. In addition to the birth control scam, Gonzales also claims that the Los Angeles branch violated the IRS code that prohibits political advocacy from charitable organizations by forwarding about $12,000 a month to the Sacramento branch for "lobbying" expenses. At least one PPLA executive used a corporate credit card to make Victoria's Secret and private video purchases on the government's dime. And the list of alleged abuses goes on. Although the suit was filed in 2005, it was made public on Friday--much to the dismay of the PP spokesmen, who were already facing a public relations nightmare after tape recordings revealed that employees agreed to accept racially-motivated donations. We can only hope that California responds swiftly to investigate this charge of gross exploitation of taxpayer dollars. Regardless of the outcome, we urge the state to move quickly, as Virginia has done, to de-fund Planned Parenthood and end its relentless cycle of exploitation against women, children, and taxpayers! [FRC, 11Mar08]

Related: Lawsuit: California Planned Parenthood Overcharged State Millions for Birth Control. A former Planned Parenthood official has filed a lawsuit against affiliates in California saying they overcharged the state hundreds of millions of dollars on birth control. P. Victor Gonzalez says the abortion business fired him because he raised concerns about the illegal practices.

Gonzalez says his own internal audit estimates that Planned parenthood overcharged California taxpayers for purchasing birth control by at least $180 million.

He was the vice president of finance and administration for Planned Parenthood of Los Angles and, according to a Los Angeles Times report, the overbilling began in the late 1990s.

While other public health facilities and private facilities charged the state between $8 and $9 for a cycle of birth control pills, Planned Parenthood charged almost $12.

The Planned Parenthood charge to the California government was several times more than it paid for the drugs originally.

That practice occurred until former state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson of Santa Barbara sponsored legislation allowing Planned Parenthood to charge more based on concerns the abortion business presented her that it would suffer financial problems without it.

However, altering the statute didn't address the billing practices prior to it and the Times says a 2003 state audit found at least $5.2 million in overbilling in 2003 alone from just one of the nine California Planned Parenthood affiliates.

Gonzalez's attorney Jack Schuler told the Times that Medi-Cal officials first noticed the problems in 1997 and that Planned Parenthood received two separate letters at that time pointing out the problems.

However, the Times says state officials now say Planned Parenthood was given conflicting information on billing practices. They say Planned Parenthood does not need to repay the millions it overcharged state taxpayers.

Still, Gonzalez want's the abortion business to be held accountable for firing him for doing his job and pointing out that it was breaking the law.

"Contrary to their national reputation as a prominent charity organization and as a healthcare provider for reproductive services, there is probable cause to believe Planned Parenthood's ... California affiliates have systematically engaged in fraudulent overbilling against government funded programs," the lawsuit says.

The Times indicates Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California spokeswoman Ana Sandoval refused to comment on the lawsuit saying she hadn't seen it. Though details of it became public only recently after the courts originally sealed it, Gonzales filed the suit three years ago. [9Mar08, Ertelt, Los Angeles, CA LifeNews.com]





OH Police Officer Cutts Sentenced for Murder of His Unborn Baby and Her Mother
On 27Feb08, a jury recommended that Canton OH police officer Bobby Cutts be sentenced to life in prision without parole, for 34 years. Cutts murdered his 9-month yet-unborn daughter Chloe, and her mother Jessica. [Right to Life, www.cincinnatirighttolife.org. Cincinnati Right to Life, April 2008]





ALASKA GOV. SARAH PALIN GIVES BIRTH TO DOWN BABY DESPITE ABORTION PRESSURE. As many as 80 percent of unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome become victims of abortion, but Alaska Gov, Sarah Palin didn't let her child become a statistic.

Palin, who has deeply-felt pro-life views, gave birth to her fifth child this week and the baby was diagnosed with the condition.

On Tuesday, Palin confirmed her baby, named Trig, has Down syndrome."Trig is beautiful and already adored by us," Palin said in a statement LifeNews.com obtained."

We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives," she said.

'We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed," the 44 year-old governor added.

Trig was born on Friday, one month before his due date, and he weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces.

Pro-life advocates heaped praise on Palin about the news and said she and her family made a courageous decision to keep the baby.

“I can't help but remember Governor Palin’s campaign slogan ‘Take a Stand,'" Debbie Joslin, the president of Eagle Forum Alaska told LifeNews.com.

"Her choice to value life in a very personal way speaks volumes and gives those of us in the pro-life community in Alaska cause to believe that we truly do have a pro-life leader in charge of our state," she said.

"When so many in our culture have chosen to devalue the lives of those who face special learning disabilities, Governor Palin shines as a great positive role model," Joslin added.  [22Apr08,  Ertelt, LifeNews.com Juneau, AK]

MOVING TO THE UK WORSENS MATERNAL HEALTH BEHAVIORS. After women immigrate to the UK their maternal health behaviours worsen as their length of residency increases. The longer ethnic minority women live in the UK the more likely they are to smoke during pregnancy or give up breastfeeding early, concludes a study published on bmj.com.
 

These findings will have public health implications for countries with large migrant populations, say the authors.
 

The UK has experienced an increase in immigration over the past 50 years. Previous studies have show that compared with British/Irish white women, women from ethnic minority groups are more likely to breast feed. However, no studies have compared their use of alcohol or tobacco during pregnancy, or whether women's behaviours change with acculturation.
 

So researchers from the UCL Institute of Child Health in London compared health behaviours during pregnancy (smoking and alcohol consumption) and after birth (initiation and duration of breast feeding) between British/Irish white mothers and mothers from ethnic minority groups.
 

he study involved over 8588 mothers with singleton children from the millennium cohort study. 6478 British/Irish white mothers and 2110 mothers from ethnic minority groups were interviewed about their maternal health behaviours, generational status and length of residency in the UK.
 

The researchers found that compared with British/Irish white mothers, mothers from ethnic minority groups were less likely to smoke (15% v 37%) or consume alcohol (14% v 37%) during pregnancy, and were more likely to start breast feeding (86 v 69%) and breast feed for at least four months (40% v 27%).
 

They also found that among mothers from ethnic minority groups, first and second generation mothers were more likely to smoke during pregnancy, but were less likely to start breast feeding, and less likely to continue breast feeding than immigrants.
 

Importantly, for every additional five years spent in the UK, immigrant mothers were 32% more likely to smoke during pregnancy and 5% less likely to breast feed for at least four months.
 

The authors warn that health professionals should not underestimate the likelihood of women engaging in risky health behaviours because of their ethnicity.
 

National policies should ensure that all mothers can achieve recommendations to foster their own and their children's health, they conclude.
 http://www.bma.org.uk
[13-Apr-2008, http://www.news-medical.net/?id=37279; www.clearresearch.org]

GENETICS: COMPUTATIONAL APPROACHES TO THE ROLE OF EPIGENETIC MARKS IN TRANSCRIPTION REGULATION.  A closer alliance between computational and experimental researchers is needed to make progress towards one of biology's most challenging goals, understanding how epigenetic marks contribute to regulation of gene expression. 

This emerged from a recent workshop organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF), "Computational Approaches to the Role of Epigenetic Marks in Transcription Regulation".

Epigenetics studies features of the DNA and chromatin that are stably inherited through cell division but that are beyond the DNA sequence itself.

It has been well established that epigenetic features influence the transcription process whereby the DNA sequences of genes are translated into the RNA and protein products that determine structure and function.

Just as crucially, it is believed that epigenetics also allows changes to these gene expression patterns to be remembered, so that different organs and tissues can emerge during embryonic development, and retain their identity and function for the rest of the organism's lifetime.

Changes in gene expression can result from modifying chromatin, which is the structure comprising proteins and DNA that is the repository for genetic information. Marks are imposed that serve as templates for modification of the chromatin, altering the ability of genes to be accessed by the DNA transcription machinery.

The result is that some genes are suppressed and others are silenced altogether.

One of the key questions discussed at the ESF workshop concerned how these changes are "remembered" during cell division through replication of the epigenetic marks, and yet how in some cases these can be reversed, allowing a cell to be reprogrammed so that it can take on a different role or function.

The ability of cells to be reprogrammed by having epigenetic marks removed is of great interest and importance in stem cell research, said Erik van Nimwegen from University of Basel in Switzerland, convenor of the ESF workshop.

In some cases cells can be "de-differentiated" in this way, losing their normal function and becoming stem cells again, capable of subsequently dividing into different cell types by acquiring once again appropriate controls over expression of their genes.

The ability to lose as well as gain epigenetic marks that constrain the expression of certain genes is also important in early embryonic development, when rapid changes in structure and function are occurring.

One presentation at the workshop by Dirk Schur of the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel described how whole sets of genes can have their expression modified just temporarily through the process of DNA methylation, one of the main mechanisms for blocking access to the underlying DNA of a gene.

But with so much still to be discovered about the complex and subtle nature of gene regulation through epigenetic modification, the greatest triumph of the ESF workshop lay not so much in the individual presentations, but the collective decisions over future research priorities, and the relationships established between computational and experimental biologists.

"We think that the discussions among experimentalists and theorists regarding interesting outstanding questions has shaped the planning for future research of all participants," said van Nimwegen. "Several participants felt the workshop was rather unique in that it brought together a wide variety of researchers working in a field that is rather new."

Experiments and observation provide the data about gene expression patterns, while computational methods analyse the changes over time and help identify sequences that have been in effect memorised, and others that have been "forgotten".

This phenomenon whereby cells in effect remember what has happened to them and respond through changes in their expression is fundamental to development of organisms, along with their structure and function during their lifetime, as well as inheritance of adaptations to environmental factors.
[13-Apr-2008; http://www.esf.org/]

ABORTION RIGHTS GROUPS PLAN FALL PUSH; UNPRECEDENTED SPENDING RAISES CONCERNS FROM CONSERVATIVES. Abortion-rights groups are planning to spend unprecedented sums on voter outreach and education in this fall's elections, as they broaden their electoral targets in an effort to change the make-up of the House and Senate.

The Planned Parenthood Action Fund is promising to spend $10 million this election cycle — three times more than the organization has spent in any previous election. NARAL Pro-Choice America has also budgeted $10 million for the 2008 election campaign — the most it has spent in any election year since 2000.[ALL Pro-Life Today, 27Mar08] http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4528041&page=1 ABC News

EMINENT PSYCHIATRIST: HOMOSEXUALITY IS A DISORDER THAT CAN BE CURED. The eminent Spanish psychiatrist Enrique Rojas gave a speech yesterday in Buenos Aires declaring that homosexuality is "a clinical process that has an etiology, pathogeny, treatment, and cure".

Speaking at the Buenos Aires International Book Fair about his book "Goodbye, Depression", Rojas characterized homosexual orientation as a "disorder" rather than an illness, and stated his opinion that 95% of cases are caused by environmental factors, according to the Spanish news service Terra.

The disorder, according to Rojas, is the result of an absent father, overweening mother, or sexual abuse in childhood.

Rojas blasted the homosexual movement for promoting the development of homosexual tendencies in young people, and particularly condemned the practice of allowing homosexual couples to adopt children.
 
The child is deprived of a right to grow up "in a normal environment,  heterosexual, which is the standard" he said. "Heterosexuality is what  is normal, the natural condition of human beings." According to studies from the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, there is a 70-80 percent chance that a child adopted by homosexuals will develop the same tendencies, Rojas said.  Rojas is the author of various books on psychology, including "Who Are You?", "The Light Man" and "Remedies for Coldness". [5/1/08, M.C. Hoffman
 www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08050110.html, Buenos Aires,
LifeSiteNews.com]


BRITISH ABORTION PROVIDER FOUND GUILTY OF SEXUALLY ASSAULTING A TEENAGER & CHILD PORN CHARGES. A British abortionist who had been accused of sexually abusing a teenage patient after learning she was pregnant has been found guilty.

Rashid Sandhu, who works at James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, was convicted of sexually assaulting the girl after lying to her about the pregnancy. During the trial, Norwich Crown Court officials heard testimony saying Sandhu [molested her] while claiming he was doing an abortion on her.

After the girl approached authorities with the accusations, police found more than 100 images of child pornography on his computer. The court also heard that Sandhu asked the teenager if he could take a picture of her body and made sexual remarks to her.

Sandhu pleaded guilty to 17 charges related to the child pornography but denied the sexual assault charge. On 30April, the jury returned a guilty verdict after the eight-day trial completed. [1May08, www.LifeNews.com, Norwich England]







EMBRYO DONATION-ADOPTION CONFERENCE. Emerging Issues in Embryo Donation and adoption will be the centerpiece of a first of its kind conference next month in Washington D.C.

Sessions will delve into a variety of subtopics in the emerging field of embryo donation and adoption under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Keenan.  He’s the director of the National Embryo Donation Center.

“We have here at the National Embryo Donation Center over 40% pregnancy and delivery rate per embryo transfer with these embryos.”

Medical experts, attorneys, and public policy representatives will cover angles like embryo donation qualifications, so couples craving to fill a nursery crib know this new form of adoption is safe.

“These donors are screened initially and ideally rescreened for sexually transmitted diseases and any infectious diseases that could impact the adopting couple.”

Marti Bailey and her husband have just given birth through embryo transfer and are the proud parents of twins… a boy and a girl.

“While I was waiting for a birth family to choose us I could be pregnant and be having my own adopted child. So that is what we decided to do.”

Because the procedure doesn’t compromise their Christian values, Jen and her husband Todd of Arizona have just begun the screening process.    

“We‘re both very passionately pro-life one thing that was really heavy on our hearts was just how many embryos are frozen in storage.”

Over half a million frozen embryos are in storage in the U.S. [25Apr08, by Karen Johnson, http://www.citizenlink.org/fnif/A000007234.cfm]



SWISS GRANT RIGHTS TO ANIMALS & CONSIDER SAME FOR PLANTS, WHILE THEY LIBERALIZE ABORTION LAWS.  The nation that liberalized its abortion laws in 2002 is now giving unprecedented protection to animal and plant life.

In an effort to respect the needs of "social species," the Swiss parliament passed legislation last week that threatens its citizens with punishment for not providing various animals a fit environment in which they can interact and flourish.

Enjoying the most extensive protection under the new laws, dogs proved to be the Swiss parliament's best friend. Prospective dog owners will now be required to complete a course in canine treatment that will include both theoretical and practical elements.

Due to concern over recent studies suggesting the pain experienced by fish, anglers are now subjected to a preparatory course on humane fishing.

The new laws will also dictate how farmers treat their livestock and even stipulates the proper treatment of rhinoceroses.

"The aim is not only to ensure treatment of animals appropriate to each species, but also to decrease the risk of attacks by dangerous dogs. Inappropriate treatment could lead to behavioural disorders," explained Hans Wyss, head of the Swiss Federal Veterinary Office.

In addition to tending to the animal kingdom, the Swiss government has also been busy wrestling with how best to treat the nation's plants.

The Swiss federal government's ethics committee on non-human biotechnology has been working to determine what kind of research respects "plant dignity" enough to be eligible for government funding.

"Plant dignity" considerations stem from the 2004 Gene Technology Law's requirement to take "the dignity of creatures" into account during any research.

Researchers are eagerly awaiting clarity on the notion of "plant dignity", which will decide whether or not they receive important funding to continue their work.

"At the moment not even authorities who decide on grants know what the 'dignity of plants' really means," committee member Markus Schefer said.

The committee has outlined guidelines to protect plant dignity, but the licitness of many particular practices is yet to be determined.

Most committee members consider interference with a plant's reproductive functions undignified, making some plant geneticists concerned that the committee could greatly hinder traditionally accepted genetic engineering, such as commercial seedless fruits or the hybridization of roses.

The added protections afforded to plant and animal life stand in sharp contrast to the Swiss government's recent disregard for the life of the nation's unborn. In June 2002, the country decided to allow women to abort their children during the first trimester, provided a doctor determines that she is in an ambiguously defined "state of distress."

Related : If Only Babies Were Pigeons: A Swiftian Vision
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08041609.html

Swiss Vote to Legalize Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/jun/02060304.html
[28April08, Michael Baggot, Switzerland, LifeSiteNews.com]




NO PARTIAL-BIRTH LAWSUITS SHOWS ABORTION ADVOCATED LIED ABOUT HEALTH EXCEPTION. April 18 marked the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in Gonzales v. Carhart, in which it rejected legal challenges to the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.

While opponents of the ban claimed numerous lawsuits would be brought forth to challenge the Supreme Court's ruling, thus far no challenges have been filed.

One of the four justices who dissented in the Gonzales ruling to uphold the ban, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, expressed her expectation of challenges.

She claimed they would "be mounted swiftly, to ward off serious, sometimes remediable harm, to women whose health would be endangered by the prohibition."

Ginsburg also claimed "the record already includes hundreds and hundreds of pages of testimony identifying 'discrete and well-defined instances' in which recourse to an intact D&E [partial-birth abortion] would better protect the health of women with particular conditions."

The lack of challenges in the past year sheds serious doubt on the validity of the testimony and claims of abortion advocates regarding partial birth abortion.

Edward Whelan, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, wrote in a recent National Review article that the ban appears safely constitutional long-term.

"In bringing an as-applied challenge, the abortion industry would have to show (in the Court's words) that, 'in discrete and well-defined circumstances, a particular condition has or is likely to occur in which the procedure prohibited by the Act must be used' to 'protect the health of the woman,'" he said.

"It hasn't dared even to try to do so," Whelan wrote.

In his article, Whelan explained that, when the Supreme Court declared a state ban on partial-birth abortion unconstitutional in the 2000 case Stenberg v. Carhart, it stated the practice could not be banned until "there exists a medical consensus that there is no circumstance in which any women could potentially benefit from it."

The 2007 ruling, however, requires that the standard rule of evidence be applied.

That the abortion industry hasn't brought lawsuit about supposed partial-birth abortions necessary to protect women's health isn't a shock to pro-life advocates.

They recall Ron Fitzsimmons, the director of a trade group of abortion businesses, who admitted "I lied through my teeth" when saying abortions were needed for health reasons.

President Bush signed the national partial-birth abortion ban into law in 2003 and abortion advocates took it to court in three separate lawsuits. Federal courts in each case relied on the Supreme Court's decision in 2000 and declared the ban unconstitutional.

In 2007, the Supreme Court reversed its 2000 decision.

The 2007 ruling indicated that the federal ban on the abortion procedure did not violate the so-called right to abortion established under Roe v. Wade.
[27Apr08,  Nowak, LifeNews.com, DC]





PRO-ABORTION TERRORISTS CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR UNIVERSITY BOMBING. A terrorist group calling itself the Insurrectionist Federation has reportedly taken credit for the recent bombing of the University of the Andes in reprisal for a decision of the Chilean Supreme Court prohibiting the distribution of the abortifacient [so-called] "morning after pill".

The bomb detonated in a university bathroom on April 23.  Although no one was hurt, ACI Prensa reports that the bathroom suffered severe damage, contrary to media reports that the device was just a "noise bomb".

"They say it's just a 'noise bomb' but in reality the bathroom was destroyed and if anyone had been there they would have been killed or injured," a university source told ACI Prensa.

The report, which originated with Chile's Radio Cooperativa, was based on an email message sent to Chilean authorities.

"Credit for the attack has been claimed in relation to the debate which has existed in our society regarding methods of avoiding contraceptives," said Xavier Armendáriz, a federal prosecutor, in an interview with Radio Cooperativa.

The Chilean Supreme Court struck down the government's policy as unconstitutional, because it violates the right to life guaranteed in the nation's charter document.

The attack was carried out against the University of the Andes because one of the court's judges has an affiliation with the institution, according to ACI Prensa.
[27Apr08, PharmFacts E-News Update, MC Hoffman, Santiago
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08042603.html]





PP OF NEBRASKA AND COUNCIL BLUFFS SCRAMBLES FOR FUNDS.
We have been receiving reports from local STOPPers in Nebraska and Iowa indicating that the Lincoln, Nebraska Planned Parenthood and Council Bluffs, Iowa Planned Parenthood facilities have temporarily stopped committing surgical abortions. There has been much speculation as to why, since the same abortionist had been covering both locations.

PP has also been strategizing as to how it can continue to provide its “services,” since it is running out of government money and the clinics in Nebraska are on the brink of closing.

Therefore, PP has outlined a plan for decreasing the amount of money it receives from the state of Nebraska so that it can receive more money from the state of Iowa. We want our dedicated STOPPers in Iowa to be aware of this and get the word out to stop taxpayer money from going into the hands of PP!

This plan includes three goals:

1. Voluntary withdrawal of PP’s Nebraska facilities from Nebraska’s federal Title X family planning program, effective April 1. 2008.

2. Consolidation of PP’s Omaha-Dodge facility with its other Omaha locations, effective May 1, 2008.

3. Opening of a second PP facility in Council Bluffs in 2008, by using public and private funding sources in Iowa.
 
PP also wants to replace its Omaha-Dodge building with a “larger, more attractive facility”; in other words, a bigger killing center.

According to Chris Funk, president and CEO of PP of Nebraska and Council Bluffs, these will be PP’s “key operational changes.” To see the plan for yourself, watch a video that Planned Parenthood produced to explain it.

Visit www.stopplannedparenthoodtaxfunding.com to sign the petition and visit our website at www.all.org/stopp for more information on how to stop Planned Parenthood. [STOPP Report, 30 April2008]



PLANNED PARENTHOOD MEGA-CENTERS PARTIALLY EXPLAINED. As we have been reporting in the Wednesday STOPP Report over the last year, Planned Parenthood has been opening or trying to open large mega-center clinics all across the country. Such mega-centers are open or planned for Aurora, Illinois; Portland, Oregon; Stapleton, Colorado; Houston, Texas; Sarasota, Florida and a number of other places.

STOPP has obtained Planned Parenthood Federation of America documents that may partially explain these new mega-centers.

According to this information, PP is pushing for its affiliates to explore two new “business opportunities” ― that is PP’s description. These are laboratory services and clinical research.

PP currently is engaged in some activities, such as providing Pap smears, that require it to send material to local laboratories for analysis. PP could save money if it did this laboratory analysis itself. However, it would obviously need a certain volume of business to make the investment in equipment and personnel worthwhile.

We believe that PP is not only going to use its mega-centers to do the lab work for a large number of PP clinics in a region, but will also try to expand the business to offer laboratory services to local physicians and other medical groups.

The second “business opportunity” described by Planned Parenthood is clinical research.

This could take many forms, but, given Planned Parenthood’s highly concentrated young customer base, it is easy to imagine that this new business could include conducting drug trials on innocent young children.

One need only watch a couple of days’ worth of television commercials to see the veritable explosion of contraceptive drugs hitting the market.

All of these drugs need to be tested on humans and PP seems to be positioning itself to do such clinical research in its mega-centers. Of course, drug testing is only one possibility.

It is also possible that PP could do clinical research on new abortion techniques or engage in other ominous ventures.

We at American Life League are working with pro-life groups across the country to develop effective efforts to counter this new push by PP. As methods prove effective, we will bring them to you in the WSR so that you can use them in your communities. As all of this develops, we need your help. We ask every reader of this report to please do the following:

1.   Let us know if there is a PP mega-center (a building of more than 20,000 square feet) planned for your area.

2.  Use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain floor plans (from your local building or zoning department) of the existing or proposed facility and send a copy to us.

3.   If you currently have a presence outside of the PP facilities in your area, keep up the great work and make sure all regularly scheduled (at least monthly) events are listed in the American Life League Map Room (www.all.org/stopp/maps).

4.  Begin a presence outside of any PP facility in your area where there is not already a presence. You will find information on how to get started in our Map Room...Thank you for all you do. As always, we will bring you the latest developments in the fight against Planned Parenthood as they arise.   [STOPP Report, 30 April2008]



DEFUND PP DAY GETS NATIONAL COVERAGE. As we mentioned in last week’s Wednesday STOPP Report, American Life League has been working with Students for Life of America as well as other national pro-life groups to defund Planned Parenthood. On April 24, pro-lifers protested outside of a PP facility in Washington D.C. In conjunction with this activity, African-American leaders held a press conference that has received a lot of national attention.

Laura Ingraham, host of her own syndicated radio program, The Laura Ingraham Show; as well as author, frequent columnist and television commentator, has recently been discussing Planned Parenthood and its racist agenda. She also appeared on the FOX News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor on Friday, April 25, to discuss the purpose of this event.

FOX News has also been covering this story on its web site and elsewhere on its TV channel. To view its article titled “Pastors Accuse Planned Parenthood for ‘Genocide’ on Blacks,” go to: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352537,00.html. To view a television clip of its news coverage, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC_yU3BCmYQ.  [STOPP Report, 30 April2008]


PROTEST THE PILL DAY '08. "Join American Life League, along with our Pro-Life Wisconsin and Pharmacists for Life International Associate groups, in participating in Protest the Pill Day ‘08: The Pill Kills Babies. Pro-lifers across the country will protest the birth control pill by standing outside" businesses and facilities (especially Planned Parenthood centers) that distribute the pill.  [STOPP Report, 30 April2008]