Unanimous U.S. Supreme Court Recognizes Unborn Human Being to Be a “Child” in a Case Unrelated to Abortion

Special Report Shows 'Handwriting On The Wall' For Failing Abortion Industry

New Report Says Radical Women's U.N. CEDAW Committee Simply Ignored by Many Countries

Biological Colonialism: Murdered For Fat for Cosmetics

Fort Hood Killer Subject to Charge of Murdering Unborn Child: Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) amended in 2004 to include Unborn Victims of Violence Act

Planned Parenthood Fails to Silence Former Abortion Center Director in Court

Million in Ukraine Hit by 'Plague Worse Than Swine Flu'  /  Joseph Moshe arrested for predicting Baxter bioweapon outbreak mutated H1N1 flu in Ukraine! (not verified)

Illinois Parental Notification Law on Abortion Blocked Again by Court Decision

4th Pro-Life World Congress Calls Abortion "Mega-Genocide"

New York Lawsuit Would Stop Paying Women for Donating Eggs for Research

Breast Cancer Awareness Month was October 2009

New UN Report Pushes Gender as a Social Construct, NOT Based in Nature

Handheld Vscan Ultrasound: A Peek at the Future of the Pro-Life Movement?

Spain Awakens Against Abortion

Scottish Homosexual Rights Activists Found Guilty of Pedophilia Sentenced to Life Imprisonment

Czech Republic Leader Signs Lisbon - No More Barriers to New European Superstate

Document Celebrates the Rights of Unborn Children at United Nations Mtg

Chinese Women Face Infertility Issues Brought on by Abortion, One-Child Policy

Vitae Monologues Presents the Heart-Wrenching Aftermath of Abortion for Women

Miracle baby: Mother Successfully Battles for Right to Deliver Healthy Baby Despite Terminal Cancer

Vision Health Initiative Website

New UN Head Says Homosexuality "Not Acceptable"

Dominican Republic Passes Complete Abortion Ban

Court Gets Brief in Planned Parenthood $180 Million Birth Control Fraud Case...

Unanimous U.S. Supreme Court Recognizes Unborn Human Being to Be a “Child”

On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous per curiam opinion [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-10537.pdf ] in Porter v. McCollum in favor of the habeas petition filed by a death-row inmate. 

Specifically, the Court ruled that the inmate was deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel when his counsel failed to discover significant mitigating evidence and to present that evidence at the sentencing phase of his trial.

By e-mail, Walter Weber of the American Center for Law and Justice highlights an interesting phrase in the Court’s opinion: 

In the course of relating the criminal convict’s troubled childhood, the unanimous Court states, “Porter routinely witnessed his father beat his mother, one time so severely that she had to go to the hospital and lost a child.” Slip op. at 4.

The unmistakable reference is to a miscarriage. The stage of gestation is not mentioned.

Outside the abortion context, every Justice knows that a pregnant woman carries “a child.”
I’ve added the italics.   [Ed Whelan]
[3Dec09, National Review Online, http://bench.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzU4OWEzZjZhZDgwMDAyNTk3YzI3ZGM1YjZhNmJkMDU ]

Special Report Shows 'Handwriting On The Wall' For Failing Abortion Industry

Pro-life Movement gaining ground: Over two-thirds of all abortion businesses have closed since 1991.

An extensive research project into the abortion industry showing that the number of abortion clinics continues to dwindle as Americans become more pro-life has been released.

"We now have an accurate listing of every open abortion clinic [sic] in the country," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "In 1991, it was estimated that there were nearly 2,200 abortion clinics [sic] in the country, today there are just 713. The pro-life movement has made significant strides exposing and closing abortion clinics [sic] and shifting public opinion toward the pro-life position. This has resulted in lower abortion rates."

Operation Rescue has listed all abortion businesses along with a map showing their locations. The information shows a general relationship between access to abortion centers and the abortion rate in each state. With few exceptions, the states with greater access to abortion have higher abortion rates.

The release of the list launches "Project Daniel 5:25", Operation Rescue's latest campaign to expose abortion industry abuses and bring the perpetrators to justice. Project Daniel 5:25 is named after the Biblical story of Daniel, who was able to read the handwriting on the wall and predict the fall of a wicked kingdom.

"The days of legal abortion in this nation are numbered. Pro-life sentiment continues to gain ground as abortion support slips. Abortion clinics [sic] continue to close as demand decreases and as abortionists are increasingly exposed and reported to the authorities," said Newman.

"Project Daniel 5:25 encourages those with pro-life views to establish a presence at their local abortion clinic [sic] to pray and offer help to abortion-bound women - but also to monitor the clinic [sic] for criminal violations and other suspicious acts. We have never found an abortion clinic [sic] that follows the law. It is up to pro-life activists to serve as the watchdogs of the abortion industry and be the eyes and ears of law enforcement.

"We can do more than simply protest abortion clinics [sic]. We can document their illegal and dangerous behavior and work within the law to close them down.

"With a pro-life watchdog group at every clinic [sic] reporting what they see to the authorities, we will certainly see more abortionists criminally charged and abortion clinics [sic] closed. We know first-hand from having our offices in a closed former abortion clinic [sic], that when clinics [sic] close, lives are saved."

Those who wish to participate in Project Daniel 5:25 are encouraged to call Operation Rescue at 1-800-705-1175.

Read the report, view the map and list -- http://www.operationrescue.org/archives/project-daniel-525-numbering-the-days-of-legal-abortion/
[8Dec09, Press Release, OR]

New Report Says Radical Women's U.N. CEDAW Committee Simply Ignored by Many Countries
The committee responsible for monitoring state compliance with the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) says it increased its activism in the last two years by working more closely with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to develop its agenda, and with select parliamentarians and jurists to enforce it across the globe. On the other hand, according to the report, many nations are simply ignoring the committee and refusing to send in their reports.  

In its "Report to the Secretary General" the committee said that it is working assiduously to enforce its interpretations of the treaty by creating new "rapporteurs" to "follow-up" on country reports, using UN agencies to implement their agenda, and working with individual parliamentarians and judges to influence national laws and policies. It has also increased the amount of "pre-session" time that allows activists to sway the committee, mostly from US-based NGOs among which it has "attract[ed] wide followership."

But the report says that 30% of states parties to the convention are choosing not to participate in the controversial country reviews at all. "As of 15 August 2009, 56 States parties had a total of 102 overdue reports, including 20 initial reports … [some of which have] been overdue for more than five years." Many periodic reports have been overdue for more than a decade, the report says. CEDAW has 186 state parties.

Similarly, the report touts the fact that the committee is "developing its jurisprudence" through its work under the ten year old CEDAW Optional Protocol. A separate document from the treaty, the optional protocol, allows individual citizens from its 98 member states to submit complaints about their own government directly to the committee.

Though human rights activists promote this venue available under the Optional Protocol as a sort of international judiciary that can hand down judgments against sovereign states and promote new norms, such opinions by the committee are non-binding. The report indicates that the venue has gained little credibility among the public, admitting that "few communications have been submitted" and those that were received in 2008-2009 were thrown out as unsubstantiated.

Despite the apathy from many nations, the report asserts that "the Committee's concluding observations must be considered as authoritative and its new follow-up procedure in this context should be implemented fully by States parties."

Pro-life and pro-family groups have long criticized the fact that the CEDAW committee has read a right to abortion into the treaty via its "General Recommendation 24" even though abortion is never mentioned in the document. Since adopting the "general recommendation" in 1999, the committee has pressured more than 90 countries to liberalize their abortion laws.

The report announces "a joint working group" between CEDAW and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and promotion of a "unified and integrated human rights treaty body system." Critics argue that this increasing collaboration among the human rights committees not only subverts the intended meaning of treaties, but detracts from the differentiation of purpose among the treaties.

The CEDAW committee created one new general recommendation in the last two years and is working on three more, including guidance on article 2, which concerns national constitutions and penal codes. [26Nov09, Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D., New York,  NY, C-FAM, www.LifeSiteNews.com]

Biological Colonialism: Murdered For Fat - Wesley J. Smith
Peruvian police said on Thursday they had broken up a gang that allegedly killed dozens of people and sold their fat to buyers who used it to make cosmetics. Four Peruvians were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, murder and trafficking in human fat.
[http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/11/20/biological-colonialism-murdered-for-fat/ ; www.lifesitenews.co, 21 Nov09]

Both items below from www.lifesitenews.com, 21 November 09
Joseph Moshe arrested for predicting Baxter bioweapon outbreak mutated H1N1 flu in Ukraine! (1 of 2)
(LSN NOTE: We do not know what to make of this. We present it for your information. There have been increasing reports of a major and deadly flu epidemic in the Ukraine, but getting accurate, verifiable information on the situation has been difficult)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A66kx0KYFCA&annotation_id=annotation_2452&feature=iv

Million in Ukraine Hit by 'Plague Worse Than Swine Flu'
A Deadly plague could sweep across Europe, doctors fear, after an outbreak of a virus in Ukraine plunged the country and its neighbours into a state of panic. A cocktail of three flu viruses are reported to have mutated into a single pneumonic plague, which it is believed may be far more dangerous than swine flu. President Yushchenko said: “People are dying. The epidemic is killing doctors. This is absolutely inconceivable in the 21st Century.”
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/140492/Million-hit-by-plague-worse-than-swine-flu-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Illinois Parental Notification Law on Abortion Blocked Again by Court Decision
The on again, off again nature of the Illinois parental notification law reads like the script of a soap opera because the status of the relationship between the law and the courts changes so frequently. In the latest turn of events, a circuit court judge decided to uphold a restraining order.

That order prevents enforcement of the law -- meant to allow parents to know 48 hours in advance when their minor daughter is considering an abortion so they can help her find positive alternatives -- from going into effect until at least January.

Judge Dan Riley says he's waiting for briefs from both sides before determining whether the law should stand. Lorie Chaiten represented the American Civil Liberties Union in court in its attempt to overturn the law while Thomas More Society attorneys presented a motion to vacate the temporary restraining order.

Earlier this month, Judge Riley blocked enforcement of the parental notification law on abortion just hours after a state board approved letting it go into effect. Parents in Illinois have waited for 15 years for a law to go into effect and a vote from the Illinois' Medical Disciplinary Board made it appear that would happen.

The Illinois legislature approved the law in the 1990s, but it has been held up in court waiting for the Illinois Supreme Court to issue the rules guiding the law's implementation.

After the court did its job, state officials blocked enforcement of the law with a 90-day grace period for abortion centers to became aware of it -- even though similar laws have been on the books in other states for decades.

The board met in Chicago and decided not to extend the grace period further that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation put in place.

However, Riley ruled in favor of the pro-abortion American Civil Liberties Union, which convinced him to issue an injunction with its claims that it violates the state constitution -- even though abortion was not legal when the constitution was put in place.

Illinois would have joined 35 other states with similar laws with a statute that requires that abortion practitioners inform the parents of a teenager seeking an abortion.

The Chicago-based Thomas More Society told LifeNews.com why it supports the law.

"Girls that face an unwanted pregnancy will be guaranteed access to the most important pregnancy crisis counselors: their parents," said Tom Brejcha, the president of the pro-life legal group.

"We've fought this legal battle so that Illinois would join with the majority of the people in the nation who value parental rights and the well-being of their children," he added.

Not content to run an operation that guides young women on how to avoid a parental notification law and have a secret abortion, the ACLU of Illinois filed a lawsuit last month seeking to overturn the statute.

The ACLU claims that having a teenage girl notify her parents that she wants to have a surgical procedure that would kill her unborn child and could possibly cause her medical and mental health problems presents "serious and irreversible harm to teens."

The lawsuit, on behalf of Illinois abortion centers, says "most young women who seek abortions already involve their parents," which makes pro-life advocates in the state wonder why the ACLU would sue to overturn the parental involvement law.

The lawsuit cites emergency situations and gives examples of "teens whose
parents beat them, threw them out of the house, and/or forced them to become a parent against their will when they found out about the pregnancy."

However, the law already provides for a judicial bypass procedure whereby teenagers who face domestic violence concerns don't have to involve their parents in the abortion decision.

The ACLU should know because it is already exploiting that aspect of the law.

Anna Clark at RH Reality Check, a pro-abortion blog, wrote recently that she is excited about how the Illinois ACLU is exploiting that loophole in the law to get abortions for any teenager who doesn't want to tell their parents.

Leah Bartelt, the pro-abortion staff counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in Illinois, is among those who have teamed together to form The Illinois Judicial Bypass Coordination Project as a response to the state’s new parental involvement law.

Clark admits the ACLU will exploit the abuse provision.

"It is designed to not only protect the right of the judicial bypass, but to make it accessible to young women who might otherwise be daunted by dodging through the legal process on their own," she said.

In its legal papers, the Illinois ACLU claims "Illinois courts are not prepared to handle these cases," which makes it appear it will push so many teenagers into secret abortions that the court system will be overwhelmed.

A Texas version of the hotline found 469 minors from around the country called to get secret abortions with its help.

The Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995 had been enjoined and
dormant since its passage by the Illinois General Assembly. This summer, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals dissolved the permanent injunction.

The filing by the ACLU in state court challenges the law on state constitutional grounds and asks for an injunction to prevent the law from helping teens and their parents while the lawsuit moves forward in court.

The Hope Clinic for Women abortion center and Dr. Allison Cowett, the Director of the University of Illinois at Chicago's Center for Reproductive Health are the plaintiffs named in the ACLU lawsuit. No teenagers or their parents are parties in the suit claiming to represent their interests.

Related web sites:
Thomas More Society - http://www.thomasmoresociety.org
[20Nov09, http://www.lifenews.com/state4589.html, Springfield, IL]

Fort Hood Killer Subject to Charge of Murdering Unborn Child: Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) amended in 2004 to include Unborn Victims of Violence Act
A US Army officer with ties to radical Islam who is alleged to have perpetrated Thursday's massacre of thirteen US servicemen and women at the Fort Hood Army base, may very well find that he claimed a fourteen victim under federal law - the unborn child of slain private first class Francheska Velez.

Velez, 21, had returned from a tour of duty in Iraq and had requested maternity leave upon discovering that she was pregnant. The private, already three months pregnant, had stopped at Ft. Hood briefly with leave just several weeks away, when her life was among those violently taken by Maj. Nidal Hasan. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist and a US Muslim who appears to have established ties with a radical imam overseas, was allegedly upset that he was scheduled for a tour of duty in Iraq where he felt he would be participating in the killing of fellow Muslims.

Hasan was able to kill 12 soldiers, one civilian, and wound at least 30 others until he was taken down by a civilian policewoman who was herself wounded.

While Hasan recovers at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, the Army is readying itself to charge Hasan in military court, where he could face the death-penalty. But prosecutors will have to charge Hasan under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), which was amended in 2004 to include "Laci and Conner's Law" or the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA).  

The UVVA requires that the justice system charge the perpetrator of a violent crime against a pregnant woman, resulting in death or bodily injury to her unborn child, with committing a separate and distinct offence against the mother's unborn child. The law specifies that the punishment applied for the injury or death of the child must be the same - with the exception of the death penalty - as if "that injury or death occurred to the unborn child's mother."

For these reasons, Hasan could face an additional murder charge in the death of Velez's unborn child in addition to the thirteen other counts of murder he will likely face when he is well enough to stand trial.

A Fort Hood media specialist told LifeSiteNews.com this afternoon that pending more information, the Army was unable to comment at this time regarding which charges Hasan might face, including any charges relating to the UVVA.

Hasan has yet to be formally charged under the UCMJ.

The Washington Post reports that Hasan created a powerpoint presentation in June 2007 entitled "The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military." In the presentation, Hasan lectured doctors and staff at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Islam and the possibility of "adverse events" the military could expect from Muslims in the armed services who are sent to fight against other Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.  [10Nov09, Peter J. Smith, FORT HOOD, TX, www.LifeSiteNews.com]

NOTE: The Military will not include charges against Hasan for the death of this child (13Nov09).

Planned Parenthood Fails to Silence Former Abortion Center Director in Court
Planned Parenthood officials have failed in their bid to silence a former abortion center director who quit working for the abortion business after seeing an ultrasound of an abortion. They had pushed for a restraining order on Abby Johnson and a pro-life group that helped her conversion.

Johnson had been the director of the Planned Parenthood center in this southeast Texas city that is home to Texas A&M University.

She turned in her resignation on October 6 after years of a local pro-life group helping her see the problem with abortion. After the ultrasound, she decided to leave.

Planned Parenthood officials hit both Johnson and the Coalition for Life with restraining orders requiring them not to disclose information about the abortions done at its facility.

But, District Judge J.D. Langley issued a ruling today saying Planned Parenthood did not provide sufficient evidence that Johnson breached a confidentiality agreement concerning identity of an abortion practitioner who works at Planned Parenthood. [11Nov09, #4750, Bryan, TX, www.LifeNews.com]




4th Pro-Life World Congress Calls Abortion "Mega-Genocide"
The representatives of national and international pro-life organizations who gathered in Saragossa, Spain from November 6 to 8, 2009, in the Fourth Pro-Life World Congress, have issued a statement - the so-called Declaration of Saragossa - that has condemned the slaughter of the unborn by abortion as a "mega-genocide."

Comparing the six million "legal" deaths in the Nazi concentration camps, which constitute the international crime of genocide, to the "eight hundred million deaths, provoked, up to the moment, by means of 'legal' abortions, in the countries of the world that have authorized it," the Declaration states that "for its number and extension" abortion "constitutes a crime against humanity, a mega-genocide."

The Declaration identifies the UN and its agencies, various international organizations such as the Rockefeller, Ford, Gates, and Soros Foundations and the International Federation of Family Planning (IPPF), as well as "the current president of the United States of America and the bureaucracy of the European Union, among other groups of global power," as the main elements that encourage, "sometimes in a direct way and sometimes using euphemisms," this mega-genocide.

The pro-life representatives make a distinction between the lives lost to direct abortion, and the "hardly determinable number of victims" of "diverse contraceptives capable of killing human beings in their first days of life," such as intrauterine devices (IUDs), the "morning after" pill, systemic use contraceptive pills, injectable or subdermal implants, and the chemical abortifacient drug misoprostol.

Artificial fertilization also falls within this category of "invisible mega-genocide," since, according to statistics, only 4% of embryos conceived in "extracorporeal fertilization" (e.g. IVF) are born.

Demanding respect for life from conception to natural death, the Declaration calls for the promotion of rational solutions, respectful of life, for human needs, the penalization of abortion, euthanasia, eugenic practices and the manipulation of human life, and the protection of conscience of doctors and health care workers who refuse to participate in the killing of innocent human life.

The Declaration concludes with the warning that, "A society that tolerates with indifference the mega-genocide of abortion, be it surgical or chemical, loses the most elementary sign of humanity, and sooner or later it will be inclined to damage in a violent way some other human rights of its citizens."

The full English text of the Declaration of Saragossa will be available on the Pro-Life World Congress website, http://www.prolifeworldcongress.org/ as soon as it is translated. [10Nov09, T. M. Baklinski, Saragossa, Spain, www.LifeSiteNews.com]





New York Lawsuit Would Stop Paying Women for Donating Eggs for Research
Albany, NY (LifeNews.com) -- Feminists Choosing Life of New York (FCLNY) filed suit Friday in New York State Supreme Court in Albany to block the use of taxpayer funds to pay women recruited to “donate” their eggs for embryonic stem cell research.

FCLNY director Wendy McVeigh told LifeNews.com Wednesday, “New York State has the responsibility to protect women. Instead, the state is using taxpayers’ dollars to entice young, economically vulnerable women to experiment in this medically risky procedure.”

New York State is the first governmental entity anywhere in the U.S. to approve taxpayer money to pay women to undergo an invasive procedure to harvest eggs for embryonic stem cell research.

The legal complaint was filed on October 9, 2009 in Feminists Choosing Life of New York v. Empire State Stem Cell Board.

In part, the complaint states, “The Payment for Eggs Program provides significant monetary inducements to women to engage in this painful and risky procedure, which in part disproportionately appeals to economically vulnerable women.... (it)… fails to satisfactorily provide for informed consent and other safeguards to ensure adequate disclosure to women of the risks of egg harvesting.”

On June 11, 2009, the Empire State Stem Cell Board (ESSCB), which was given the responsibility for administering the funds, passed a resolution authorizing significant taxpayer monies of up to $10,000 per donation to be used to compensate young women who donate their eggs for research.

FCLNY also argues that research on adult stem cells, which are plentiful and don’t involve the ethical and medical concerns of embryonic stem cell research, have produced positive results that make the egg donation program funded by taxpayer monies excessive spending.
[14Oct09, http://www.lifenews.com/nb228.html]




 
Breast Cancer Awareness Month was October 2009

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is the most frequent type of cancer in women, and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in women (1). In addition, approximately 30% of women aged ≥40 years have a disability (2), and during 2008 women aged ≥40 years with a disability were less likely to have a mammogram (72.2%) than were women without a disability (77.8%) (2). To decrease delayed diagnosis of breast cancer, health-care providers should encourage and schedule mammograms every 1--2 years for all women aged ≥40 years, including those with disabilities.

Women with disabilities disproportionately encounter barriers to preventative health care, which can be reduced by improving environmental access, enhancing provider training and education, increasing outreach efforts to women with disabilities, and improving overall health education. To encourage women with disabilities aged ≥40 years to get screened for breast cancer, CDC has launched the Right to Know campaign (available at http://www.cdc.gov/righttoknow). The campaign includes resources and materials that can assist health-care professionals, organizations, and their partners in effectively communicating the need for early and regular breast cancer screening for women living with physical disabilities. 
References

   1. US Cancer Statistics Working Group. United States cancer statistics: 1999--2005 cancer incidence and mortality data. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC and National Cancer Institute; 2009.
   2. CDC. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey data. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2008.
[CDC, Weekly, October 16, 2009 / 58(40);1126;
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5840a4.htm?s_cid=mm5830a4_e ]

[ED. NOTE: The CDC -- as well as the American Cancer Society and Komen Fdn, among others -- should take notice of the mounting studies which suggest a connection between abortion and breast cancer. This connection is especially striking for women who abort their first pregnancy, as breast tissue is rapidly developing, then stopped suddenly at the time of the abortion.]


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New UN Report Pushes Gender as a Social Construct not Based in Nature

An advisory report on the protection of human rights in the context of counter terrorism recently submitted to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (GA) includes a radical redefinition of the term "gender," claiming that it is a purely social construct not connected to biology.

UN Special Rapporteur Martin Scheinin was asked to report to the UN on "gender-based human rights abuses in counterterrorism measures" – with an intended focus presumably upon hardships encountered by women caught up in the war on terror.
Instead, in his report, Scheinin asserted "Gender is not synonymous with women but rather encompasses the social responsibilities that underlie how women's and men's roles, functions and responsibilities, including in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity, are defined and understood."

Labeling gender a "social construct," the non-binding submission claims that "gender is not static," but rather "changeable over time and across contexts." Readers are told that "understanding gender as a social and shifting construct rather than as a biological and fixed category is important because it helps identify the complex and inter-related gender-based human rights violations caused by counterterrorism measures."

Such a definition of gender has been bitterly debated in formal UN settings for years and has been rejected repeatedly by member states in negotiated UN documents.

There is a longtime tension on this question between the sovereign states of the GA and the UN bureaucracy.
Even though the GA has repeatedly defined gender in a traditional way, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women defines gender, similar to this new bureaucratic report, as a social construct.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which is binding upon ratifying nations, states that gender "refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society."

In addition, two non-binding UN conference outcome documents – the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action and the Report of the Conference on Human Settlements held the following year in Istanbul – consider "gender" to be "understood in its ordinary, generally accepted usage."

Another concern with this new document is its promotion of “gender identity and sexual orientation.” 
The document asserts that three treaties – including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – now require States to ensure "de jure and de facto" non-discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation and gender identity."

In support, the report cites the non-binding Yogyakarta Principles, a statement devised by representatives from various non-governmental organizations and UN special rapporteurs. However, not only do the treat texts fail to mention sexual orientation and gender identity as a human rights category, but member states have repeatedly rejected inclusion of such a category.

Originally circulated during the sleepy summer months, the report has only recently begun to attract attention from delegates to the GA's Third Committee, which is the usual forum for vetting contentious social issues.
One delegate told C-fam's Friday Fax that "it would not be surprising that not only was the document released during the summer months," but that it was snuck into a report ostensibly on counterterrorism to avoid immediate notice.

He speculated that once implanted, advocates would begin to cite the "stealth" document as additional authority in support of a gay rights agenda
[15Oct09,  Piero A. Tozzi, J.D., New York,  NY, October 15, 2009, C-FAM] (This article reprinted with permission from www.c-fam.org)

Handheld Ultrasound: A Peek at the Future of the Pro-Life Movement?

New technology hailed as a stunning leap forward in modern health care may be about to give pro-life advocates unheard-of power to save a life - in the palm of their hand. 

At the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco this week, General Electric unveiled the ultraportable and user-friendly Vscan, an ultrasound machine about the size of a large flip phone. 

Dubbing it "the stethoscope of the 21st century," the company offered various scenarios in which the device could vastly advance the landscape of diagnostics.  

For pro-lifers on the front lines, the new gadget could hugely improve abortion-bound women's access to ultrasounds, which have been found highly effective in helping mothers choose life for their baby. 

In the past, the sheer size of the devices has given pro-lifers a perennial puzzle over how to bring the heavy medical equipment into the paths of such women.  [http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/oct/09102312.html, Life Site News; ALL Pro-Life Today, 26Oct09]


Spain Awakens Against Abortion

On 17 October 2009, Madrid became the Capital of Life for several hours, when over 1.5 million people gathered to protest the new abortion bill that Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and the socialists want to approve in the Congress.

Many aspects make this march noteworthy. The first is the unity displayed. More than 40 pro-life groups from the whole of Spain coordinated this march to send a message to the Spanish government that a very large portion of society disagreed with this new law. These same pro-life groups have opposed every abortion since 1985, when the previous socialist administration first legalized abortion in Spain.

Secondly, the 1.5 million protestors send a strong message that public opinion is firmly against abortion. The protesters constitute more than 3% of Spain's 48 million citizens, all gathered in the capital to make a stand for Life. Consider the results of a poll by the Spanish Family Forum, which show that only 21% of Spaniards condone unrestricted abortion, while 27% seek a full abortion ban, and 50% personally oppose abortion but think it should be allowed in certain cases. This reinforces the findings of PRI's own public opinion studies: the media battle has been lost by President Zapatero and his Socialist Party.

But the public outcry against abortion alone does not constitute reform. Many times we in the pro-life movement have thought that getting public opinion on our side would be sufficient to effect real change. This is not the case. Only 24 hours after the Madrid march, representatives of the Socialist Party in Congress spoke of continuing with the bill, regardless of the outcry, and sadly, they can force it if they choose. They have a majority due to an alliance with small portions of left-leaning representatives who have their own interest in the abortion bill. This new pro-life shift in popular opinion can't beat the mathematical advantage of the abortion axis in Congress.

However, this very crisis is causing many citizens to make the defense of life and family a central issue in the upcoming Spanish elections, who will not content themselves with simply voting for the "lesser evil." Over the next two and a half years leading up to the elections thfe Life issue will definitely be a defining one for politicians. Already, President Zapatero has become very unpopular with the Spanish people on account of his commitment to passing this abortion bill. Some analysts believe that the abortion issue will seriously hurt the Socialist Party in the next elections.

This issue connects us to the other major party of Spain, the Popular Party. Some of its leaders joined in the march. Many of the pro-lifers were uncomfortable with the presence of former President José  María Aznar. Though he now marches with pro-lifers, back when he was in office neither he nor anyone in his party took real action against abortion. In the final analysis, though, his fellow marchers were positive about his attendance, as it allows pro-lifers to make definite demands for the upcoming election, and they form a large majority of the Spanish people.

Today, pro-lifers in Spain have three conditions that a politician must meet to be considered a "Friend of Life." First, he must take action to get the abortion bill removed from parliamentary debate. Second, if the bill is approved into law, he must bring an appeal to the Constitutional Court. Third, he must publicly promise to fight against abortion if elected.

For now, the Popular Party has agreed to the first and second conditions. On the third, however, they have yet to comment. Fortunately, pro-life groups now know their strength, given the massive turnout at the march, and these groups are going to make their demands heard in the next election.

Just recently, this newfound power of the pro-life people of Spain showed itself, when a slew of e-mails from members of "Right to Life" convinced the Popular Party to postpone a meeting scheduled for October 17 in Barcelona. This seems to indicate that Spanish society has grown tired of abortion, and is now capitalizing on the great power of its unity to effect change.

On October 16, at the request of the Spanish Family Forum and the National Association of Parents in Catholic Schools, the Efrat Institute published an informative piece called "The Abortion Business in Spain," which revealed that the abortion industry has evaded paying some 50 million euros in taxes since 2007. (The Efrat Institute is a consulting and research organization concerned with the activities of public life.) The president of the Efrat Institute, David del Fresno, states: "The 'abortion industry' is the only industry that has public evidence of earning up to twice what they declare on their taxes without the Treasury at least opening an investigation. It's unusual. If a normal citizen shows any disproportion between his income and his possessions, a Treasury investigator starts an audit immediately. The abortion clinics seem to be immune to this logic.

The pro-life and pro-family groups are demanding that the Treasury Minister investigate the 80 registered abortion clinics in order uncover and end the fraud. Should the Minister fail to open these investigations, there would be yet another black mark against the Socialist government on Spain's election day.

Much has been said about the October 17th protest, especially in the pro-socialist media in Spain. But as always we believe that a picture is worth a thousand words. So we invite you to watch the video and make your own conclusions. Spain is waking up and her hopes for the future are as big as this march in Madrid.
[27Oct09, www.pop.org, PRI Weekly Briefing,
Carlos Beltramo is a European Correspondent for the Population Research Institute]

Scottish Homosexual Rights Activists Found Guilty of Pedophilia Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
An influential gay rights activist and youth group leader, and another homosexualist activist, have been jailed for life for their involvement in the largest pedophile ring ever uncovered in Scotland.

James Rennie, one time co-coordinator of the homosexual rights group LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Youth Scotland and a former teacher, and Neil Strachan, the former secretary of a Celtic boys club and campaigner on homosexual issues, were convicted in May on charges including sex attacks on children, conspiring to abuse children, and possessing and distributing child pornography.

Rennie and Strachan were the ringleaders of the pedophile network which was uncovered in 2007 after an intensive police investigation, codenamed Operation Algebra.

The investigation led to the arrest of six other men besides Rennie and Strachan, and to the seizure of over 125,000 images and videos of child abuse.

Rennie, 38, was convicted of 14 offenses, including molesting a young boy who was left occasionally under his care by friends over a period of more than four years, beginning when the child was three months old. Rennie was sentenced to life with a minimum of 13 years behind bars.

Strachan, 41, was convicted for nine offenses, including attempting to sodomize an 18-month-old boy and sexually assaulting a six-year-old boy. He was sentenced to life with a minimum of 16 years in prison.

The judge, Lord Bannatyne, said the pair were guilty of gross and appalling breaches of trust since both men had abused children entrusted to them for babysitting by close friends. They had both photographed the abuse.

"These offences involve real children and many of the photographs involve children being sexually abused, often in the most appalling ways. There are real victims of these offences, namely the children who were photographed and abused," Lord Bannatyne said.

Bannatyne imposed a "lifelong restriction" order, used for the most serious and violent sexual offenders, on both men, indicating they were likely to "seriously endanger the physical wellbeing of a member of the public." This order will place them under risk assessment and management plans until they die. [T. M. Baklinski, EDINBURGH, Scotland, November 3, 2009 www.LifeSiteNews.com]

Czech Republic Leader Signs Lisbon - No More Barriers to New European Superstate
The President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, signed the Lisbon Treaty at 3 p.m. Central European Time today, the last leader of the European Union's 27 members states to do so. This removes the last barrier to the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, the document that is said to be effectively identical to the European Constitution that was defeated by public votes in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

Klaus, the eurosceptic leader of the former Soviet bloc country, has warned repeatedly against Lisbon's encroachments on national sovereignty and democracy, calling the project of a "united Europe" a return to a leftist tyranny. Since the start of the battle over Lisbon, Klaus has warned that ratification of the Treaty would signal the end of his and all European countries as independent sovereign states.

After the Yes vote in last month's Irish referendum, Klaus' opposition to Lisbon was the last barrier to the full implementation of the agreement that pro-life advocates have warned will likely result in the loss of the right of countries to pass laws protecting the unborn and elderly from abortion and euthanasia.

Pro-life leaders in Ireland warned that under the Treaty the laws of member states will be interpreted not through that state's courts, but by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that is under no legal obligation to consider any other law besides EU law.

Today the anti-Christian, secularist leanings of the EU's institutions were illustrated when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that crucifixes must be removed from Italian state schools.

In response to a complaint from an Italian woman in Padua, the Strasburg court ruled, "The presence of the crucifix ... could easily be interpreted by pupils of all ages as a religious sign and they would feel that they were being educated in a school environment bearing the stamp of a given religion."

The court ruled that the Italian state is to "refrain from imposing beliefs in premises where individuals were dependent on it." Campaigners have warned that this type of ruling under Lisbon's terms would become binding on all member states, ushering in the effective repression in all of Europe of public expressions of Christianity or any other belief that opposes the prevailing official European secularism.

In a 2005 speech, Klaus wondered if the former communist countries were not risking falling into "another blind alley of regulated society, of unproductive welfare state, of brave new world of European social democratism and of empty and artificial Europeanism."

Klaus's capitulation was anticipated at last week's EU summit, when French President Nicholas Sarkozy said, "The Lisbon Treaty will enter into force doubtless as early as December 1."

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Lisbon Will Force Abortion into Ireland through EU Charter of Human Rights: Irish Pro-Life Lobby
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09072006.html
[3November09, Hilary White, Prague, wwwLifeSiteNews.com]

Document Celebrates the Rights of Unborn Children at United Nations Mtg
[12 October 09, Geneva, Switzerland (LifeNews.com) -- The global outreach program of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life has been active in the 20th anniversary United Nations (UN) celebration of the Rights of the Child taking place in Geneva, Switzerland last week.

With the hope of directing attention to the rights of the unborn child, MCCL has published a new document which details the rights of unborn children in existing U.N. declarations. “With more than 400 delegates and child’s rights activists gathered in Geneva to celebrate the progress that has been made, MCCL GO is taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity to educate people from around the world,” the group's director Scott Fischbach told LifeNews.com.

“MCCL GO is reminding advocates that U.N. documents guarantee protection for unborn children.” The document and videos quote from four major U.N. declarations on child rights, dating back to 1924. The celebrated 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, General Assembly Resolution 44, is a comprehensive document to advance the cause and protection of all children throughout the world.

The document quotes the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which says in part: “The child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.”

Fischbach said: “In light of these U.N. protections for unborn babies, MCCL GO is making delegates and activists aware of the newest threats to the lives of unborn children, including sex-selection abortions and the aborting of the unborn based on DNA tests for possible disabilities. These new categories of abortion endorse discrimination against the unborn based solely on the child’s sex or possible physical or mental imperfections. Such injustices must not be tolerated by any in the international community.” 

[October 12, 2009, Ertelt, Washington, DC, www.LifeNews.com]

Chinese Women Face Infertility Issues Brought on by Abortion, One-Child Policy
[12 October 09, Beijing, China (LifeNews.com) -- Semi-official data indicate that 40 million couples, one in eight, have difficulties in having children and fertility treatment often fails.

The problems of infertility are blamed on the high abortion rates in China exacerbated by the forced-abortion one-child family planning policy.

The data, according to AsiaNews, puts the infertility rate at 12.5 percent for all couples in childbearing age. As a result of China’s one-child policy the most populous country in the world could soon experience expanded labor shortages and a rapidly aging population.

The 2009 Investigative Report on the Current State of Infertility in China, which was released at the China International Summit Forum on Infertility in August, found, in a survey of 18,000 people, seeking treatment for infertility in Beijing, that 10 percent had been trying to conceive for a year since getting married, 15 percent had been trying for two years and 25 percent for 10 years.

For women, the leading cause of infertility is the blockage of the fallopian tubes, mostly induced by abortions.

In all, 66 percent said their infertility had not been cured after repeated treatments.

Since the late 1970s, China has pursued a one-child policy, whereby couples are prevented from having a second child, except for rural couples when their first-born is female or members of ethnic minorities, and punished with heavy fines in case of violations.

Now medical experts conclude that abortion can cause complications for women who want to have children. The best fertility clinics in China, like the Reproductive and Genetic Hospital of Citic-Xiangya in Changsha, see long queues of desperate couples.

The situation is such that the hospital's president, Prof Lu Guangxiu, said it had implemented a waiting list system of up to a year to cope with demand.

He said that the high number of abortions and increasing levels of obesity were the main reasons for rising infertility rates.

Wang Tianping, vice-president of the Population Association of China, a non-governmental organization set up by academics in 1981, warned that the problem of infertility has been underestimated. 

[October 12, 2009, Ertelt, Washington, DC, www.LifeNews.com]

Peru's Justice Ministry Reiterates Official Pro-Life Position Against Abortions
[12 October 09, Lima, Peru (LifeNews.com) -- Peru's Justice Ministry reiterated last week its official position against abortion, despite the fact that one of its representatives, Ricardo Váscones, voted in favor of decriminalizing it in case of rape or severe deformations of the unborn child.

That vote came in the committee that is evaluating a reform of Peru's Penal Code. The Ministry cites articles took from the American Convention of Human Rights, Peru's Political Constitution and Peru's Civil Code, that affirm that every person has the right to live and that life starts at the conception. Rosa Mavila, a representative of the Bar of Lawyers, said that this law would be applied only “after a medical evaluation.”

In July, the human rights organization Amnesty International issued a report on maternal mortality in Peru that promotes abortion in the pro-life nation while advancing controversial interpretations of international law.

The report, "Fatal Flaws: Barriers to Maternal Health in Peru," also acknowledges that lack of emergency obstetric care – and not access to abortion – is the largest contributing factor to high maternal death rates in the Andean nation, while listing obstacles faced by poor, often indigenous, women in gaining access to basic maternal and newborn care.  [October 12, 2009, Ertelt, Washington, DC, www.LifeNews.com]

Vitae Monologues Presents the Heart-Wrenching Aftermath of Abortion for Women

Theatre at its best explores the depth of the human experience, showcasing both tragedy and triumph in well-chosen words and spellbinding performances. But it is a rare thing indeed for a modern play to accurately portray the trauma that is abortion.

The Vitae Monologues does just that, piecing together the real-life testimonies of women and men who have gone through the agony of the abortion experience. It’s hard not to be moved, seeing the anguish of a woman doubled over in emotional pain, or a man cradling an invisible baby.

I had a chance to view the Vitae Monologues for the first time in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania as part of the play’s current East Coast tour. The cast consists of just two people -- Jeremy and Sarah Stanbary, a husband-and-wife team who brilliantly capture the heartache that comes with abortion. Jeremy and Sarah manage to create a number of entirely believable characters who are trying to deal with the emotional fallout from their abortions.

The biggest on-stage prop is a projection screen on which scenes are played out which further aid the playgoer in vicariously experiencing the aftermath of abortion.

As one playgoer states on the production company’s web site:

"This is wrenching and powerful stuff. I walked out of the auditorium feeling like I'd been turned inside out. Several people were sniffling. I was wiping tears away...I would never use the word 'play' in referring to 'The Vitae Monologues'. 'Play' doesn't fit. This is drama - and even that word seems weak. These are real stories. You will hear them. They will speak to you. It's real."

The production is like a dramatic representation of post-abortive research -- all the long-lasting consequences of abortion are there, including drug and alcohol abuse, broken relationships, difficulty bonding with subsequent children, eating disorders, self-hatred, overwhelming guilt, and shame. Anyone who has spent any time with women and men who regret their participation in abortion will hear echoes of familiar, emotionally gripping experiences.

It was heartening to see the young people in the audience. Certainly it’s uncommon for them to see a drama which captures the true Hell that is the post-abortion experience. Perhaps, by seeing this drama, they'll be better prepared to counsel against abortion -- or to console friends who have already gone through abortion.

It would be wonderful if the Vitae Monologues played every college campus in the nation. Students, who are a top audience for the abortion industry, need to know that abortion is far from an easy, simple procedure. The full impact of a single abortion may not be recognized until decades later, when a woman and man discover that they lost not only a baby -- as if that weren't enough -- but also a piece of their hearts, back at the abortion facility.

While these monologues can be gut-wrenching at times, they also offer the hope of post-abortion healing. In fact, the production company encourages women and men trying to deal with the devastation from abortion to seek recovery through a post-abortion ministry.

Faith-based colleges have been criticized for playing host to the sexually explicit Vagina Monologues. Those that made the mistake of staging that production should consider giving equal time to the Vitae Monologues, a drama which expertly depicts the confusion and chaos that can attack the human heart when abortion is sought as a solution to an unexpected pregnancy.
[Maria Vitale, LifeNews.com Editorial Columnist
November 2, 2009; LifeNews.com Note: Maria Vitale is an editorial opinion columnist for LifeNews.com. She is the Public Relations Director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and Vitale has written and reported for various broadcast and print media outlets, including National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and AP Radio.]





Miracle baby: Mother Successfully Battles for Right to Deliver Healthy Baby Despite Terminal Cancer
Carlos explained to me that his wife and mother of five children, named Nereyda, was in the abortion mill because their H.M.O. insurance company would not treat her for her serious stage 4 sarcoma cancer — unless she aborted her 5-month-old unborn child.  
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/oct/09101601.html
PharmFacts E-News Update -- 26 Oct 2009

Vision Health Initiative Website
CDC has created a new Vision Health Initiative website with information regarding vision and eye health, projects with diverse stakeholders, journal publications and reports, and vision health--related resources for professionals and consumers.

The website includes an interactive map displaying state-specific vision and eye health statistics. With this tool, states that use the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System visual impairment and access to eye care module can produce reports and presentations with data specific to their states.

The website can be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth

In 2004, approximately 3.3 million persons aged ≥40 years had blindness or visual impairment; this number is predicted to double by 2030 because of increases in diabetes and other chronic diseases and aging of the U.S. population (1).

With early detection and treatment, half of all blindness can be prevented or reversed (2).

References
   1. Prevent Blindness America. Vision problems in the U.S. 2008 update to the fourth edition. Available at http://www.preventblindness.org/vpus. Accessed October 29, 2009.
   2. Sommer A, Tielsch JM, Katz J, et al. Racial differences in the cause-specific prevalence of blindness in east Baltimore. N Engl J Med 1991;325:1412--7.
[6November09, CDC, MMWR Weekly,  58(43);1209; http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5843a4.htm?s_cid=mm5843a4_e]

New UN Head Says Homosexuality "Not Acceptable"
In an interview prior to his first address, the UN General Assembly's new president said that homosexuality is "not really acceptable."

Ali Abdussalam Treki, a veteran diplomat from Libya, was responding to a journalist's question about his position on the UN's "Declaration for the Universal Decriminalisation of Homosexuality" at a press conference prior to the opening of the 64th session of the General Assembly.

"It is a very thorny argument," he said. "As a Muslim, I do not agree with it. My opinion is not in favor of this matter at all.

"I believe it is not acceptable for most of the world, and it is totally unacceptable for our tradition and religion. And there are some countries that allow that, thinking it is a kind of democracy ... I think it is not," he added.

The response of the international homosexualist movement was swift, with one group saying that Treki's comment was contrary to the principles of the founding Charter of the United Nations. The International Lesbian & Gay Association (ILGA), one of the leading international homosexualist lobby groups, this week issued a statement demanding an explanation from Treki for his "failure to consider the protection of the life and safety of lesbians, gay men, trans, intersex and bisexual people all over the world."

ILGA continued: "The worrying and serious implications of this attitude, coming from the new head of an institution which is supposed to regard human rights - all human rights - as the most sacred value, cannot be overstated."

The UN declaration was opposed by a group of Arab countries and was signed only by a total of 66 of the UN's 192 member states, including all 27 European Union members as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and three dozen other countries. Until the election of Barack Obama as president, the US was the only western country that had refused to sign.

Late last year, the Vatican's representative at the UN, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, told a French news agency that those opposed to the declaration were concerned that it would place even more pressure on countries to adopt or expand same-sex "marriage" or civil unions and would generally fuel the movement to normalize homosexuality.
 
"States which do not recognize same-sex unions as 'matrimony' will be pilloried and made an object of pressure," he said.
 Related: Obama Administration to Sign UN Declaration to "Decriminalize Homosexuality"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09031804.html
[28Sept09, Hilary White, NY, www.LifeSiteNews.com]

Dominican Republic Passes Complete Abortion Ban
  Last week, lawmakers in the Dominican Republic gave their final approval to a pro-life constitutional change despite fierce criticism and pressure from UN agencies and abortion advocates to defeat the measure.  The Dominican Republic’s National Assembly easily ratified a revision of Article 30 in a vote of 128 in favor with 32 opposed. The article now states that "the right to life is inviolable from conception until death."

    While the measure was widely supported by Dominican parliamentarians, it met with staunch opposition from international abortion proponents and even UN agencies, which are officially neutral on abortion. Last April, when the right-to-life provision was first debated, two UN officials interjected themselves into the debate. Nils Kastberg, UNICEF's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, called on Dominican legislators to consider liberalizing abortion so women would not be forced into "unsafe procedures." Kastberg also suggested that lawmakers would be "hypocrites" unconcerned with the nation's higher-than-average teen birth rate.

    United Nations Program for Human Development coordinator Miguel Ceara Hatton criticized the article stating the constitutional revision encourages the incidence of clandestine abortions and maternal deaths and disregards a woman’s right to life.  Hatton also took aim at the Catholic Church stating that it had "influenced in everything" and that, "for following a dogma [the Church] has become a source and a motor for social exclusion in the Dominican Republic. The dogma is placed ahead of the needs of the population, health, housing and better living conditions. "

    Contrary to the positions these UN officials took, the United Nations website maintains that "the legal status of abortion is the sovereign right of each nation" and that the organization "does not provide support for abortion or abortion related activities anywhere in the world."

    Non-governmental organizations have also condemned the constitutional change. Amnesty International (AI) has been at the center of an ongoing campaign against the Dominican right-to-life provision. In a report released earlier this year, AI claimed that the Dominican Republic’s constitutional and legal reforms "could lead to violations of women’s human rights" and that laws penalizing abortion would lead to increased maternal mortality.  Before the final vote last week, AI called on the Congress of the Dominican Republic to reject the right to life from "conception until death" part of Article 30. 

    The constitutional reform in the Dominican Republic echoes similar changes enacted at the state level in Mexico, where 12 states have recently adopted constitutional amendments declaring that life begins at conception. These follow the criminalization of abortion under all circumstances by Nicaragua in 2006, and El Salvador in 1998.

    As they had in the Nicaragua case, abortion advocates rallied against the abortion ban in Mexico by arguing that prohibiting abortions would lead to a greater increase in maternal mortality since women would arguably have to turn to "unsafe abortions." Critics, however, have pointed out that there is no substantiated evidence for this claim and preliminary evidence from Nicaraguan government statistics even shows a decline in maternal deaths since restricting abortion in 2006.

    When formally adopted, the Dominican Republic will join other Latin American nations whose constitutions explicitly protect unborn life, including Chile, Paraguay, and Guatemala.
Click this to view on the web : http://www.c-fam.org/publications/id.1433/pub_detail.asp
[September 24, 2009, Friday FAX, Volume 12, Number 41, Samantha Singson, NEW YORK,
c-fam.org]

Court Gets Brief in Planned Parenthood $180 Million Birth Control Fraud Case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit received legal papers from the American Center for Law and Justice today. They concern a case in which a former vice president of a Planned Parenthood abortion business affiliate in California has accused it of defrauding the state.

P. Victor Gonzalez says the abortion business fired him because he raised concerns about illegal practices of overcharging the state.

The former Planned Parenthood official filed a lawsuit in March 2008 against affiliates in California saying they overcharged the state hundreds of millions of dollars on birth control.

In January, a federal district court judge dismissed the case and Gonzalez filed an appeal. Now, the ACLJ, a pro-life legal group, filed a brief with the appeals court representing the federal whistleblower

The papers note that the federal False Claims Act (FCA) forbids government contractors from submitting “false or fraudulent” claims for payment. The FCA also authorizes private individuals to bring suit against the offenders to recover the fraudulently obtained funds.

“Nationally, Planned Parenthood is a billion-dollar operation. Now, it looks like they've been soaking the taxpayers even beyond the legal limits,” said Jay Sekulow, ACLJ Chief Counsel. “The False Claims Act provides an important weapon in rectifying illegal runs on taxpayer dollars.”

Gonzalez alleges that Planned Parenthood affiliates in California illegally marked up the supposed cost of various birth control drugs when seeking government reimbursement, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of overbilling – at taxpayer expense.

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.

Gonzalez alleges that other California-based Planned Parenthood affiliates and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California knowingly engaged in a scheme to defraud state and federal taxpayers by deliberately over-billing the Medi-Cal program.

Judge A. Howard Matz dismissed Gonzalez’s suit last October and he ruled that Gonzalez did not qualify as a whistleblower under federal law because he was not the "original source" of the data exposing the fraud. As a result, he said his court lacked jurisdiction in the suit.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Planned Parenthood overbilling occurred until 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 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.

Medi-Cal officials first noticed the problems in 1997 and Planned Parenthood received two separate letters at that time pointing out the problems.

However, 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 wants the abortion business to be held accountable for firing him abruptly on March 9, 2004 for doing his job and pointing out that it was breaking the law.

In its legal papers, ACLJ notes a California Department of Health Services audit in 2004 found more than $5 million in egregious over-billing in two years by the San Diego/Riverside Planned Parenthood affiliate.

In the reply brief filed with the appeals court on September 25th, the ACLJ counters arguments that the Planned Parenthood affiliates made in their own brief on appeal. In particular, the ACLJ brief takes Planned Parenthood to task for “misrepresenting” the record in the case and for “improperly” trying to inject new materials into the case on appeal.

When the former PP staffer sued the PP affiliates in federal court, charging the defendants with having fraudulently overbilled the state and federal governments in the amount of tens of millions of dollars, a prominent law firm began representing the Planned Parenthood defendants at no cost.

That's when the ACLJ intervened to help Gonzalez.

“This is a very complicated, highly technical area of the law,” noted Sekulow.

“There is no way an ordinary citizen, no matter how just the claim or how egregious the fraud, could afford to take on a prominent law firm in a complex area of the law like this. We're very pleased that the ACLJ was available to provide the high-powered analysis a case like this calls for,” he told LifeNews.com.

The ACLJ filed its opening brief in July and explained why the appeals court should reverse the lower court’s judgment and reinstate the lawsuit.
Related web sites:
ACLJ - http://www.ACLJ.org

[September 28, 2009, Sacramento, CA, Ertelt, http://www.lifenews.com/state4458.html]