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Fraud Charges Plaguing Planned Parenthood

Colorado Abortionists Launch Campaign AGAINST Personhood Ballot Initiative

Executive Director Ends Tenure at Pro-Abortion UN Population Fund

Young People Launch Pro-Life/Pro-Family “Statement to the UN and the World”

Pro-Life Activists Call for Charges Against Assailant

Vital Signs: Current Cigarette Smoking Among Adults Aged ≥18 Years — United States, 2009   

Vital Signs: Nonsmokers’ Exposure to Secondhand Smoke — United States, 1999–2008   

Percentage of Youths Aged 5--17 Years Ever Diagnosed as Having a Learning Disability and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD),* by Sex --- National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2006--2009

Students for Life Welcomes Wilberforce Leadership Fellows

Announcing the “Cultivating Your Campus” Training Conference 11 Sept 10

Teen Pro-Life Phenomenon 'Lia' Defends Rights of the Unborn

Commentary: Are Children the Enemy of Productivity?

Commentary: IVF BABY HAS BABY: Firsts Have Enormous Significance for Human Personhood

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Files Suit Against Pro-Lifer

Newly Identified Corporate Supporters of Planned Parenthood Named / Boycott List Includes Pro-Abortion Firms AOL, Hilton, ING

Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz Found Improperly Billing Medicaid in New Jersey

NJ Planned Parenthood Caught Billing Fraudulent Medicaid Claims

New Jersey Returns $2.9M to Medicaid After Planned Parenthood False Billing

Planned Parenthood Files To Block Public Records After Tip From Iowa Board Of Medicine

Administration Spending $63 Billion on ‘Woman-Centered’ Global Health Care Program

UNFPA Uses International Year of Youth to Exploit Children

Human Rights Watch Incorrectly Charges Argentina with Treaty Violations over Abortion

Preventing Neural Tube Defects with Folic Acid Fortification

"Miracle" as Baby Begins Breathing after Two Hours

Forty College Students Walk over 10,000 Miles in Crossroads Pro-Life Walks Across U.S.

A Farce: The UN's World Youth Conference

>>No Baby Deserves to Die Before Having a Chance to Live

Plan of Pro-Life Action in Swaziland

A Conversion to the Truth

University of Alabama-Birmingham Arrests Pro-Life Advocates Protesting Abortion

Abortionist from Notorious Rockford Abortion Facility Claims Victimhood in NYT Article

Unborn Baby Saves Mom's Life by Kicking in Womb!

BREAST CANCER

QuickStats: Breast Cancer Death Rates Among Women Aged 45--64 Years

QuickStats: Death Rates* for the Three Leading Causes of Injury Death† --- United States, 1979--2007

Vital Signs: State-Specific Obesity Prevalence Among Adults --- United States, 2009...

Fraud Charges Plaguing Planned Parenthood
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is forcing Planned Parenthood to defend itself against a whistleblower's allegations of fraudulent overbilling of the federal government.

The whistleblower's attorneys contend that if the abortion industry's leading player loses the case, the defeat would reinforce perceptions of a pattern of fraudulent billing in other states, raising the possibility that Congress eventually might cut off federal funding for the organization.

The appeals court on Aug. 24 rejected Planned Parenthood's motion to dismiss a former employee's lawsuit alleging that the organization fraudulently overbilled the government for services provided in California. Planned Parenthood will have to defend itself in trial court against the suit.  [8 Sept 2010, ALL Pro-Life Today, http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=198841 , World Net Daily]

Colorado Abortionists Launch Campaign AGAINST Personhood Ballot Initiative

Planned Parenthood and pro-abortion medical practitioners this week kicked off a campaign to snuff out the Colorado Personhood initiative, which aims to extend personhood to all human beings from the beginning of their biological development, as it heads to voters in November.  [September 3, 2010, Denver, CO, http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/sep/10090307.html , LifeSiteNews; ALL Pro-Life Today, 7 Sept 2010]

Executive Director Ends Tenure at Pro-Abortion UN Population Fund
Last week, Thoraya Obaid delivered her last speech as executive director to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Board of Directors. Ending a ten-year term at the helm of the controversial United Nations (UN) agency, Obaid took the opportunity to highlight some of her “greatest achievements,” including her relentless promotion of the “reproductive rights” agenda.

Obaid said she was “proud of the progress that we have made to secure a solid policy and legal foundation for sexual and reproductive health.”  According to Obaid, “Today the concept of reproductive health is widely accepted and reflected in international, regional and national policies and plans.”

While perhaps not as well known as her predecessor Nafis Sadik, Thoraya Obaid’s tenure at UNFPA has arguably made a bigger impact on the UN system, bringing more money and increased global and regional activity.   Early in her tenure, Obaid raised eyebrows when she praised China for its “remarkable achievements in population control,” made possible by the country’s one-child policy, although such missteps were rare.

Obaid claimed agency neutrality on the abortion issue, stating that UNFPA only tries to prevent "unsafe abortion."  However, UNFPA staffers under Obaid intervened on the question in at least one instance.  Prior to a vote to ban abortion in Nicaragua in 2006, UNFPA ignored broad-based support for the abortion ban and attempted to stop the Nicaraguan Parliament from changing the law.  And in 2007, UNFPA was one of the largest donors of the abortion advocacy law firm, the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Obaid pushed hard for “universal access to reproductive health” to be recognized as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), despite its repeated and explicit rejection as a goal by heads of state in both 2000 and 2005.  While initial efforts failed, starting in 2007, Obaid was at the forefront of promoting this concept as a new MDG target, which was referenced in an annex of a Secretary-General’s report. At a UNFPA board meeting, several board members countered Obaid’s claim, interjecting that member states had not agreed to a new target and the only thing that could generate one was a resolution of the General Assembly.

Apart from nearly doubling the agency’s funding from $400 million to $700 million, Obaid also increased the scope of UNFPA’s activities, delving into regional activities such as in the African Union (AU) where UNFPA was instrumental in drafting and pressuring countries to adopt the Maputo Protocol and the Maputo Plan of Action, which activists have used to claim for expanded abortion rights. 

Obaid’s UNFPA has also begun targeting youth and adolescents, most recently taking a leading role at the World Youth Conference in Mexico where UNFPA-selected and funded youth representatives pushed governments for “sexual rights” including abortion and contraceptives.

Obaid closed her speech with a final plea to UNFPA board members “to keep standing up for this vision of universal reproductive health and rights” and “to take this message forward in the upcoming MDG Summit” which will take place from September 20-22.

UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon will announce the new UNFPA Executive Director later this year.

Link to speech: http://unfpa.org/public/home/news/pid/6551 
[September 9, 2010, Friday Fax, vol. 13, no. 39, Samantha Singson, NEW YORK, http://www.c-fam.org/publications/id.1696/pub_detail.asp ]




Young People Launch Pro-Life/Pro-Family “Statement to the UN and the World”
This week the International Youth Coalition launched its Statement of Youth to the UN and the World, a petition that will be presented to the UN (United Nations) General Assembly this Fall.  Consisting of eight fundamental principles, the Statement was drafted by an international team of youth, and was first presented at a press conference at the World Youth Conference in León, Mexico.

The Statement comes as a response to the “blueprint” for the United Nations International Year of Youth, the World Program of Action for Youth (WPAY).  This program, which was adopted back in 1995 by the General Assembly without a debate or vote, contains numerous references to sexual and reproductive health “rights” and calls for a radical autonomy for youth.

The Statement was also envisioned as an alternative to what many observers feared would be a radical document coming out of the Non-Governmental (NGO) Forum at the World Youth Conference in Mexico.  Those fears, based on overwhelming evidence that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) had paid for a majority of the youth delegates who voted on the final youth statement, proved to be well founded.

The NGO Youth Statement calls for “universal access to confidential, youth‐friendly sexual and reproductive health services, including access to evidence‐based comprehensive sexuality education, in formal and non‐formal settings.”  Further, in the context of maternal health, it calls for interventions, “including access to a full range of contraceptives and safe abortion.”  Governments are also requested to “recognize LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender] as part of the spectrum of gender identities.”

There are concerns that the radical youth document will be appended to the governmental document that will be presented to the UN later this month. If that happens, the opinions of these UNFPA-led youth will be considered by some as authoritative.

The Youth Statement to the UN and the World released this week is intended to show the UN and the world that radical youth do not speak for most young people. The counter Statement is organized around eight principles, including ‘Young People are Relational Beings’, ‘Parents are the Primary Educators of Young People’, ‘Rights of Youth are Based on their Evolving Capacities’, ‘A Proper Understanding of Sexuality and Healthy Relationships Must be Respected’, and ‘Man and Woman are Based in Nature’. 

Recalling key human rights documents that are often left unmentioned in recent UN pronouncements on youth, the Statement of Youth to the UN and the World emphasizes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights principle that the “family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society” and is entitled to special protection by the state. 

The Statement also balances the rights of youth with parents based on evolving capacities, as stated by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.   Finally, it evokes the only binding international agreement on the definition of gender, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which asserts that, “gender refers to the two sexes, male and female.”

C-FAM, the publisher of the Friday Fax, has released the counter Statement on its website and is calling for 50,000 young people to sign it.
[September 9, 2010, Friday Fax, vol. 13, no. 39, Terrence McKeegan, J.D., NEW YORK, http://www.c-fam.org/publications/id.1697/pub_detail.asp ]

 
Pro-Life Activists Call for Charges Against Assailant

After enduring repeated threats and physical assaults outside abortion clinics, Albuquerque pro-life activists are calling on the police and prosecutors to protect them by filing charges against a recent armed assailant. Police responded in force on August 25 when an armed Arizona man bringing his 16-year-old daughter for an abortion at an infamous late-term abortion facility, Southwestern Women's Options, threatened to "shoot [a sidewalk counselor] in the heart."  [http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=199301 , World Net Daily; ALL Pro-Life Today, 7 Sept 2010]

Vital Signs: Current Cigarette Smoking Among Adults Aged ≥18 Years — United States, 2009   
  
Cigarette smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States, causing approximately 443,000 premature deaths each year.

In 2009, 20.6% of U.S. adults aged ≥18 years were current cigarette smokers. Men (23.5%) were more likely than women (17.9%) to be current smokers. The prevalence of smoking was 31.1% among persons below the federal poverty level. For adults aged ≥25 years, the prevalence of smoking was 28.5% among persons with less than a high school diploma, compared with 5.6% among those with a graduate degree. Regional differences were observed, with the West having the lowest prevalence (16.4%) and higher prevalences being observed in the South (21.8%) and Midwest (23.1%). From 2005 to 2009, the proportion of U.S. adults who were current cigarette smokers did not change (20.9% in 2005 and 20.6% in 2009)...

This Vital Signs report describes how previous declines in smoking prevalence in the United States have stalled during the past 5 years; the burden of cigarette smoking continues to be high, especially in persons living below the federal poverty level and with low educational attainment. Sustained, adequately funded, comprehensive tobacco control programs could reduce adult smoking.    [7 Sept 2010, CDC Vital Signs, MMWR, Volume 59, Early Release, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm59e0907a1.htm?s_cid=mm59e0907a1_e ]

  
Vital Signs: Nonsmokers’ Exposure to Secondhand Smoke — United States, 1999–2008   
  
Secondhand exposure to tobacco smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, middle ear disease, exacerbated asthma, respiratory symptoms, and decreased lung function in children.

During 2007--2008, approximately 88 million nonsmokers aged ≥3 years in the United States were exposed to secondhand smoke. The prevalence of serum cotinine levels ≥0.05 ng/mL in the nonsmoking population declined significantly from 52.5% (95% CI = 47.1%--57.9%) during 1999--2000 to 40.1% (95% CI = 35.0%--45.3%) during 2007--2008. The decline was significant for each sex, age, race/ethnicity, and income group studied except non-Hispanic whites. The change was greatest from 1999--2000 to 2001--2002. For every period throughout the study, prevalence was highest among males, non-Hispanic blacks, children (aged 3--11 years) and youths (aged 12--19 years), and those in households below the federal poverty level.

Conclusions: Secondhand smoke exposure has declined in the United States, but 88 million nonsmokers aged ≥3 years are still exposed, progress in reducing exposure has slowed, and disparities in exposure persist, with children being among the most exposed. Nearly all nonsmokers who live with someone who smokes inside their home are exposed to secondhand smoke.
[7 Sept 2010, CDC Vital Signs, MMWR, Volume 59, Early Release, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm59e0907a2.htm?s_cid=mm59e0907a2_e

Percentage of Youths Aged 5--17 Years Ever Diagnosed as Having a Learning Disability and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD),* by Sex --- National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2006--2009

Among youths aged 5--17 years, during 2006--2009, boys were twice as likely as girls (18.2% versus 9.2%) to have been diagnosed with either a learning disability or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Approximately 5.7% of boys had a learning disability without ADHD, compared with 3.9% of girls, 7.0% of boys had ADHD without a learning disability compared with 2.8% of girls, and 5.5% of boys had both a learning disability and ADHD compared with 2.5% of girls.

Alternate Text: The figure above shows the percentage of youths aged 5-17 years ever diagnosed as having a learning disability and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), by sex, in the United States from 2006-2009, according to the National Health Interview Survey. Among youths aged 5-17 years, boys were twice as likely as girls (18.2% to 9.2%) to have either a learning disability or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Approximately 5.7% of boys had a learning disability without ADHD compared with 3.9% of girls, 7.0% of boys had ADHD without a learning disability compared with 2.8% of girls, and 5.5% of boys had both a learning disability and ADHD compared with 2.5% of girls.

[CDC, MMWR Weekly, September 10, 2010 / 59(35);1148; http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5935a7.htm?s_cid=mm5935a7_e ; SOURCE: National Health Interview Survey, 2006--2009. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm ]

Students for Life Welcomes Wilberforce Leadership Fellows
On August 20th, Students for Life of America (SFLA) launched its inaugural Wilberforce Leadership Fellowship at their National Headquarters in Virginia.

The vision of the Fellowship is to equip and further train student pro-life leaders to form national and state leaders who will help end abortion in our lifetime.
For the kick-off weekend, SFLA welcomed the 2010-2011 class of Wilberforce Leadership Fellows. During the weekend, Fellows heard from David Bereit, National Coordinator for 40 Days for Life and participated in seminars on the history of the pro-life movement, pro-life apologetics, how to build and cultivate pro-life campus groups, and leadership training given by Students for Life staff.

Upon finishing the Wilberforce Leadership Fellowship Kick-Off Weekend, Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director of Students for Life, remarked: “These students are the rockstars of the campus pro-life movement. The Fellowship will help to continue their growth in leadership as well as propel them into a pro-life career by networking them with mentors and leaders from the national pro-life movement. We are so excited to be working with them this school year!”

Throughout the 2010-2011 school year, each of the Wilberforce Fellows will be participating in a pro-life leadership training program to help them build their campus groups and to become better leaders. The Fellows will be reading various books and articles on leadership, listening to webcasts and seminars on leadership in the pro-life movement, and will be meeting and talking with mentors on a regular basis. Each Wilberforce Fellow has been paired with a national pro-life leader to help them get the training and experience they need to start a career in the pro-life movement. Students for Life of America selected 9 Wilberforce Fellows, all of whom are leaders in their University Students for Life groups.

After listening to one of the mentors’ speech, David Bereit of 40 Days for Life, the Wilberforce Fellows were inspired to carry Bereit’s message of hope back to their campuses. “It gave me a boost in passion and I just want to get out there and see it done and actually end abortion,” said Sean Maguire from Liberty University. “It is so encouraging that there is so much faith and hope in this movement; that we are coming on a time when [abortion] will end!”

The Wilberforce Fellowship begins in August of 2010 and will end in July of 2011. “I can only imagine that by the time I’m done with the Wilberforce Fellowship, I will have gained so much knowledge and understanding,” said Jessica B.

For more information on the Wilberforce Fellowship, please contact Mary Powers, Communications Director for Students for Life of America. or 703-351-6280. [Blog, August 26th, 2010, http://www.studentsforlife.org/]
 

Announcing the “Cultivating Your Campus” Training Conference

The 5th Annual Students for Life/ Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) Conference will take place on September 11, 2010 in Knoxville, TN.

What sets this day-long training conference apart is its focus on personalized, hands-on planning and preparation for the upcoming school year. Pro-life leaders who attend will leave the conference confident in their goals and activities for the 2010-2011 academic year and better equipped to change their campuses for Life.

Please come and bring your group members! It’s only $10 to attend to get training from speakers from all across the pro-life spectrum! (Meals included in cost.) Go to the website to register your group. [August 20th, 2010,  http://www.studentsforlife.org/]





Teen Pro-Life Phenomenon 'Lia' Defends Rights of the Unborn
Pro-life prodigy Lia Mills, whose Youtube orations have amassed nearly a million views, has set out to prove the humanity of the unborn in a new video, part of an ongoing campaign to promote the message of life.

If the unborn are not human, the 13-year-old Toronto-native explains in her ten-minute address, then abortion is simply a matter of personal preference.  But, she says, "if the unborn are human, then they have value and rights."

She points out that textbooks on embryology clearly state that life begins at conception and human development begins at fertilization.  "At conception, a new life with its own unique DNA begins,” she explains.  "All of the body parts of the mother share the same DNA, the mother's DNA.  But an unborn baby has an entirely different DNA.  He or she is separate from the mother."

“It should be clear that when two living beings from the same species mate, the product will be the same species as the parents," she adds.

Lia argues that all of the claims against the humanity of the unborn distinguish them from the born based on (1) size, (2) level of development, (3) environment, or (4) degree of dependency.  She goes through each one and points out that we do not devalue born people based on these differences.

To take the fourth, for example, she observes that many argue the unborn should not be given the same rights as others because they depend so completely on their mother for life and sustenance.  But Lia points out that a one-week-old baby is totally dependent on her parents, and the infirm are dependent on medical implements.

"Really if we take this argument to its logical conclusion, we should be able to kill those who are on welfare, because they depend on the government," she asserts.  "We are all dependent on someone to a degree and no one goes around saying that those who are more dependent aren't human or are somehow less human than others."

In the end, she admits that abortion advocates now accept the humanity of the unborn, but rely instead on the claim that the unborn are not persons.  “They acknowledge the humanity of the unborn, but are now denying them their personhood, and thereby denying them their rights,” she says.  "Is it possible to be a human and not a person?"

Having shown the humanity of the unborn, Lia’s next video answers the question “Are the Unborn Persons?”

See the video, ‘Are the Unborn Human?’ -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ffs9j9snfE&playnext=1&videos=Mj_pr22zqPQ&feature=sub

Related:  13-Year-Old Pro-Life Superstar Tackles Euthanasia
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/mar/10030212.html

12-Year-Old Pro-Life Prodigy Gives Moving Speech at Canadian March for Life
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09052210.html

Project Truth : A Youth Defence Project
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKXEnRVeBo4

[31 August 2010, Patrick B. Craine, TORONTO, Ontario, http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10083102.html ]

Commentary: Are Children the Enemy of Productivity?
Comment: The barren Left argues that children are a nuisance and a distraction. The truth is that men and women with children are more, not less, productive than their childless counterparts. Steve Mosher

Cyril Connolly once said that “there is no more somber enemy of good art than the pram in the hallway.”  Connelly is here suggesting that the distractions implicit in rearing a child will undercut an artist's attempt to create, so children are to be avoided insofar as possible.

I have long believed that Connelly is wrong in opposing children to art.  So I was pleasantly surprised, recently, to see my view validated by Frank Cottrell Boyce, a successful British screenwriter, novelist and actor.  Boyce's article, entitled “The Parent Trap: Art After Children” and appearing in Britain's Guardian, makes the case that children, far from inhibiting or destroying an artist's creativity, are actually a creative boon.  He has this to say about fatherhood and art:

What is "me", if not the sum of all my relationships and obligations? A customer, that's what. The more you give, the more you are. Think of Chekhov, with his patients and his crowds of dependent relatives, whose living room became such a public space that he had to put up no smoking signs. His advice to young writers was "travel third class". Ralph Waldo Emerson's was to "buy carrots and turnips" …

There's a belief that to do great work you need tranquility and control, that the pram is cluttering up the hallway; life needs to be neat and tidy. This isn't the case. Tranquility and control provide the best conditions for completing the work you imagined. But surely the real trick is to produce the work that you never imagined. The great creative moments in our history are almost all stories of distraction and daydreaming — Archimedes in the bath, Einstein dreaming of riding a sunbeam — of alert minds open to the grace of chaos.

I totally agree with this wonderfully articulated sentiment.  Children are distractions from creative work, as Boyce recognizes, but they are emphatically the right type of distractions.  Children see things that we cannot see, they remind us of truths and insights that we long ago forgot.  And they remind us that the greatest insights in the world were discovered not while ponderously meditating, but while delighting in the simple pleasures and pains of life.

In fact, I would go even farther than Boyce.  Being a father of two young boys myself, I believe that children actually increase one's productivity in all sense of the word. 

I have a powerful memory of the moment my older son was born.  He came into this world, tiny and rosy-pink, by caesarian section.  As I held him, swaddled tightly to about the size of a nerf football, I remember staring into his screwed-shut eyes and thinking: “It's official.  It's time for me to grow up.”

I was seized by a heady combination of feelings.  There was an overwhelming sense of wonder conjoined with a steely determination to care for this little bundle of life as best as I could.  I knew that if I failed to man up, there would be no one to blame but myself.  And I also knew that, if I didn't start accomplishing my life goals now, I never would.

I am certain that every new father worth his salt has had a similar experience.

Children are a great blessing to grown-ups not simply because of the joy, the wonder, and the incredible privilege of caring for a young soul that they provide. 

Children are also a blessing because they are a kind of living alarm clock, telling us that it is time to wake up and seize the day.  The chain of generations has added another link, the cycle of life has come round again, and it is time to get busy. 

They remind us, just by being there, that time is irrevocably passing by—time that we can never get back again.  

By reminding us that we are mortal, children concentrate the mind, and galvanize us to accomplish the tasks that are set before us.  Because if we don't have all the time in the world, how are we going to spend the time we do have?

This is why children are not merely a boon to creativity, they are, in many ways, a boon to life itself. 

The dystopia portrayed in the film Children of Men is correct in this, that a world without children is a world without a reason to live. 

Children are not just the next generation, they are, in many ways, the life-blood of this generation.  The fact that a child is born and grows so quickly in maturity and needs, demands a refocusing of ourselves and our energies.  It demands that we make decisions about what is really important to us.  

The responsibility of raising children translates easily into more discipline, more focus, and more of a determination to succeed in what we do.

In other words, children don't just help us be creative or productive;  in many cases, they are the very reason we succeed at all.
 
Colin Mason is the Director of Media Production at Population Research Institute.
 [10 August 2010,  PRI Weekly Briefing, Vol. 12 / No. 21, by Colin Mason ]
 

Commentary: IVF BABY HAS BABY: Firsts Have Enormous Significance for Human Personhood
          
It was interesting to read Elizabeth Comeau’s Boston Globe article about her new baby and her own notoriety as the first baby born in the United States as a result of in vitro fertilization. The very fact that she wrote about her son helps put the good and the bad of IVF into the proper perspective.

We know that, according to [certain religious] teaching, IVF is defined as deserving of a “negative moral judgment.”
The reason why the PROCESS is defined as such is this:

The desire to have a child and the love between spouses who long to obviate a sterility which cannot be overcome in any other way constitute understandable motivations; but subjectively good intentions do not render heterologous artificial fertilization conformable to the objective and inalienable properties of marriage or respectful of the rights of the child and of the spouses.

However the [teaching] has not stated, nor would it ever state, that the preborn child resulting from the IVF process is immoral or, for that matter, any less a human person than any other human being conceived...

Elizabeth Comeau’s humanity was never questioned and now we can appreciate, from her own words, the excitement of her own personal journey and desire to bear a child within the context of the natural means available to married couples through conjugal relations. In fact, as she writes, despite her “abnormal childhood,” she had a normal pregnancy. She wrote that she hopes this proves once and for all that she is, indeed, like everyone else.

And yes, it does. Her existence also proves that a human being begins at the time of her biological beginning. Elizabeth did not begin in her mother’s fallopian tube but rather in a petri dish through the artificial uniting of her dad’s sperm and her mom’s egg. Elizabeth is living testimony to the reason why we strive to achieve equal rights and human rights for every human being regardless of their biological beginning.

Sadly, though, Elizabeth goes off track because, and this is indeed a natural reaction, she is hoping to help infertile couples deal with their problem by seeking IVF or some other technological process for the purpose of bearing a child. She tells the reader that “People who have fertility issues deserve to know they can have healthy, normal babies.”

True, but such people also need to know that many children whose lives began as Elizabeth’s did die prior to being moved to the waiting mother’s womb because they have to go through quality control testing. Some of those babies are killed, others are submitted to research labs where they are killed, and still others live a life of suspended animation in a tank somewhere frozen in time.

Elizabeth has not told her readers about the gruesome side of IVF. Perhaps she is not even aware.

Furthermore, Elizabeth did not mention that there are ethical ways to deal with infertility that do not involve killing the preborn. NaProTechnology is the most famous of these processes, and the results have been incredible!

It is for these reasons that the [religious teaching] clarifies that no couple has a right to a child, but every child has a right to be brought into the world...

We know that it takes faith ...and total surrender ...for a couple facing the agonies that Elizabeth’s parents confronted to accept that it may not be His will for them to bear a child.

Elizabeth’s parents experienced three ectopic pregnancies, each of which could have been life-threatening to Elizabeth’s mother.

But the fact remains that the sordid side of IVF must be exposed—even when told by the living result of a successful IVF procedure— if one is to treat the topic fairly.

As we at American Life League work toward the day when human personhood is recognized in law and in the culture, we realize that our position on IVF is unpopular, and may even be viewed as heartless.

But then again, those who kill the preborn prior to implantation and those who do so with chemicals or surgical instruments after implantation are currently not held accountable for their murderous deeds. We must speak for the preborn.

Establishing human personhood will end the lies, the cruelty and the processes that result in killing human beings who have every right to live.

In the meantime, we will insist that, when celebrating something like the positive outcome of an IVF procedure, we recognize the deadly aspect as well and strive to encourage infertile couples to surrender their lives to God and seek ethical ways to have a family.
[Posted Blog, August 11, 2010, Judie Brown, http://www.all.org/newsroom_judieblog.php?id=3110]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Files Suit Against Pro-Lifer
Liberty Counsel has agreed to represent Mary Susan Pine, a sidewalk abortion counselor, who is being sued by the politically motivated U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder. Using the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) federal law and seeking the maximum fine of $10,000, Holder alleges that Pine "obstructed" a car entering a Florida abortion clinic nearly a year ago, on November 19, 2009. The suit is entitled Holder v. Pine.

 Holder’s lawsuit acknowledges that Pine frequently appears at the Presidential Women’s Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Pine herself has had an abortion and for the past 20 years has counseled women about the tragedy of abortion. The suit alleges only one act on November 19, 2009, in which Holder claims Pine obstructed a car by stepping in front of the vehicle when it entered the clinic. Pine never obstructs anyone and denies she ever obstructed any vehicle. Notwithstanding, Holder’s suit alleges Pine is a threat and must be fined the maximum of $10,000. Holder’s complaint is only 3½ pages. Since the passage of FACE in 1994, this case is the first time anyone has been sued in Florida under the law.

In the Liberty Counsel case of Cheffer v. Reno, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that FACE can only be applied to actual physical force or threat of force. Based on the erroneous allegations in Holder’s complaint, the Attorney General has no case.

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “This lawsuit by Attorney General Eric Holder is politically motivated and patently frivolous. It is designed to intimidate pro-lifers. We will not allow the Attorney General to push around little people and intimidate them for their pro-life beliefs. When Attorney General Eric Holder should be prosecuting terrorists, he is wasting time manufacturing baseless lawsuits against harmless pro-lifers. This action by the Attorney General is an abuse of power and an example of misplaced priorities.”

AAPLOG comment: Come to your own conclusions. [24 Aug 10, Liberty Alert, http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=968; AAPLOG]

Newly Identified Corporate Supporters of Planned Parenthood Named / Boycott List Includes Pro-Abortion Firms AOL, Hilton, ING

Life Decisions International (LDI) has released a revised edition of The Boycott List identifying corporations that support of Planned Parenthood, the world's primary abortion-advocacy group.

"As a direct result of the commitment, action and prayers of pro-family people, at least 256 corporations have stopped funding Planned Parenthood," said Kenneth C. Garvey, LDI's Director of Communications. It is estimated that the boycott has cost Planned Parenthood more than $40 million since the Corporate Funding Project (CFP) began nearly 18 years ago.

"This should serve as a testament to those who thought it impossible to change corporate philanthropic behavior," he added.

New boycott targets include AOL, Darden Restaurants (Bahama Breeze, The Capital Grille, LongHorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Season 52), Franchise Services (PIP, Signal Graphics, Sir Speedy), Hilton Worldwide (Conrad Hotels, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inns/Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Hotels, Homewood Suites), Ignite Restaurants (Brickhouse Tavern+Tap, Joe's Crab Shack), ING (financial services), Kohl's (department stores), Mrs. Fields (cookies), Staples (office/school supplies), Toys "R" Us, and Trader Joe's (markets/supermarkets).

Returning to The Boycott List are The Gap (apparel/accessories) and Freddie Mac (U.S. government-sponsored secondary mortgages).

Corporations continuing as boycott targets from the previously released Boycott List include AlphaGraphics, Wells Fargo (including Wachovia), Nike, Time Warner, Bank of America, Walt Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Lost Arrow (Patagonia, etc.), Chevron, and Nationwide Insurance, among others.

Garvey was critical of pro-life organizations that continue to use PayPal even though it has been a boycott target for several years now. "PayPal is owned by boycott target eBay," Garvey said. "Most pro-life groups are aware that it is a boycott target because it has funded Planned Parenthood, but they have consciously chosen to continue doing business with the company. Doing so is indefensible."

Garvey said alternatives to PayPal exist, and he will gladly help anyone who has trouble tracking them down. "It is unconscionable that anyone who claims to be pro-life would willingly do business with a company that funds the number one enemy of preborn children," Garvey said.

The new Boycott List includes a "Dishonorable Mention" section, which identifies charitable groups that are associated with Planned Parenthood and/or its agenda. Groups named in this section include Lions Clubs, the American Cancer Society, Easter Seals, Boys & Girls Clubs, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Camp Fire, Girls Inc., Girl Scouts, Kiwanis Clubs, March of Dimes, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Rotary Clubs, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Salvation Army, YWCA, America Gives Back (formerly [American] Idol Gives Back), and YMCA, among others.

"This has not been some sort of 'Jesse Jackson boycott' where we make news for a few days and then go away," said LDI Chairman Thomas C. Strobhar. "Corporate officials are learning that those who value life are among the most dedicated people on earth. We will not go away until corporate involvement with Planned Parenthood comes to an end."
For more information about the CFP, including the steps taken before a corporation is placed on The Boycott List, visit www.fightpp.org
[11 August 2010, FRONT ROYAL, Virginia, http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10081101.html ]  


Planned Parenthood Boycott List Now Has Pro-Abortion Firms AOL, Hilton, ING
The pro-life group that has compiled the national boycott list of companies and corporations that give contributions to the Planned Parenthood abortion business today released its updated list. Several new companies joined corporations that have been longtime Planned Parenthood supporters.

Some of the new companies on the boycott list include Internet giant AOL and Darden Restaurants, a conglomerate that oversees popular restaurants like Bahama Breeze, The Capital Grille, LongHorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and Season 52.

Another restaurateur, Ignite Restaurants, made the list, and it includes Brickhouse Tavern+Tap and Joe's Crab Shack.

Hilton Worldwide made the boycott list and it manages hotels ranging from Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inns/Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Hotels, and Homewood Suites.

Other new Planned parenthood-supporting companies to make the list include ING financial services, Kohl's department stores, Mrs. Fields cookies, Staples office supply stores, Toys "R" Us, and Trader Joe's markets.

Kenneth C. Garvey, the director of communications for Life Decisions International, which compiles the list of companies backing the abortion business, said the boycotts have worked over the years because millions in Planned Parenthood funding has stopped.

"As a direct result of the commitment, action and prayers of pro-family people, at least 256 corporations have stopped funding Planned Parenthood," he told LifeNews.com.

LDI estimates that the boycott has cost Planned Parenthood more than $40 million since the Corporate Funding Project (CFP) began nearly 18 years ago.

"This should serve as a testament to those who thought it impossible to change corporate philanthropic behavior," Garvey said.

Some of the companies that make a return appearance on the boycott list include The Gap clothing stores and Freddie Mac, the troubled government-sponsored mortgage firm.

AlphaGraphics, Wells Fargo (including Wachovia), Nike, Time Warner, Bank of America, Walt Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Lost Arrow (Patagonia, etc.), Chevron, and Nationwide Insurance are among the other companies included in the boycott list again.

As was the cast with past editions, the new boycott list includes a "Dishonorable Mention" section, which identifies charitable groups that are associated with Planned Parenthood, by either supporting it financially, co-sponsoring events or programs or allowing it access to its members and supporters.

Those charitable groups include Lions Clubs, the American Cancer Society, Easter Seals, Boys & Girls Clubs, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Camp Fire, Girls Inc., Girl Scouts, Kiwanis Clubs, March of Dimes, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Rotary Clubs, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Salvation Army, YWCA, America Gives Back (formerly [American] Idol Gives Back), and YMCA, among others.

"This has not been some sort of 'Jesse Jackson boycott' where we make news for a few days and then go away," said LDI chairman Thomas Strobhar.

"Corporate officials are learning that those who value life are among the most dedicated people on earth. We will not go away until corporate involvement with Planned Parenthood comes to an end," he concluded.

Related web sites:
LDI - http://www.fightpp.org
[August 11, 2010, Washington, DC, Ertelt, LifeNews.com, http://www.lifenews.com/nat6623.html]

Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz Found Improperly Billing Medicaid in New Jersey
The U.S. Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services has uncovered a consistent problem with New Jersey-based family planning clinics run by the Planned Parenthood abortion business. They were found to be improperly billing Medicaid for services that did not qualify as family planning.

The new information comes as New Jersey lawmakers have been lobbying Governor Chris Christie to restore $7.5 million in state taxpayer funds to family planning and Planned Parenthood centers.

They want to require state residents to apply for a federal waiver which would reimburse these clinics 90% for every Medicaid service they provide, including family planning services.

Marie Tasy, the director of New Jersey Right to Life, released the new information showing the improper billing problems at Planned Parenthood.

She says state officials were sent letters in July 2007, June 2008 and August 2008 notifying them of the problems and requesting action to correct the errors. The reports found billing errors from February 1, 2001 through January 31, 2005.

An initial audit revealed New Jersey improperly received federal reimbursement at the enhanced 90% rate for 160,955 prescriptions drug claims that were billed as family planning, but did not qualify as family planning services. A letter from the Inspector General to New Jersey officials recommended that New Jersey repay $2,219,746 to the federal government.

A second audit by the U. S. Inspector General for the HHS Department found Planned Parenthood family planning centers improperly received the enhanced 90% rate for outpatient services which did not qualify as family planning services.

Of the 107 claims, 64 were for family planning services eligible for federal Medicaid reimbursement at the 90 percent rate and 43 claims did not qualify as family planning services, and were therefore ineligible for federal Medicaid reimbursement at the 90% rate.

Tasy says the report specifically cites Planned Parenthood officials who told investigators that they billed all claims to Medicaid as "family planning" and "populated the family planning indicator field on Medicaid claims even though the service provided did not meet the criteria for 90 percent Federal funding."

As a result, the Office of Inspector General sent a letter on June 17, 2008 to the Commissioner of Human Services recommending that the state refund $597,496 to the federal government and amend their procedures to prevent improper billing in the future.

A third audit found New Jersey received federal Medicaid reimbursement for 111 of the 161 claims for inpatient services which were improperly billed as family planning at the enhanced 90 percent rate. The Office of Inspector General recommended New Jersey reimburse $162,548 to the federal government and determine the amount of federal Medicaid funds improperly reimbursed at the 90% rate for inpatient hospital services following the audit period and refund that amount as well.

"The facts cannot be denied. These audits show a systematic abuse of improper billing of Medicaid for family planning services to the federal government to obtain 90% reimbursement," said Tasy of New Jersey Right to Life.

"Planned Parenthood has been cited specifically as one of the principal agents of these improper billing practices by the OIG," she mentioned.

Tasy cited page five of the 2008 report entitled, "Review of Outpatient Medicaid Claims Billed as Family Planning by New Jersey."

The report said: "During our visits to family planning clinics throughout the State, many providers (especially Planned Parenthood providers) stated that they billed all claims to Medicaid as 'family planning.' Therefore, officials at these clinics often populated the family planning indicator filed on Medicaid claims even though the service provided did not meet the criteria for 90 percent Federal funding. By populating this field, the MMIS designated the claim as eligible for 90 percent Federal funding."

Tasy responded, "Planned Parenthood's supporters not only want to use $7.5 million in taxpayer dollars to fund these family planning clinics, they also want the state of New Jersey to permanently apply for a federal waiver to reimburse family planning clinics 90% for every Medicaid service they provide."

She says Planned Parenthood wants this "despite the clinics' history of improperly billing Medicaid and contributing to the nearly $3 million in fees calculated by the federal government to be refunded to them."

"Taxpayers should be outraged. These facts should give every legislator who voted for Bill S2139 a good reason to now oppose any misguided effort to override Governor Christie's veto," she concludes.

This isn't the first time Planned Parenthood has been caught overbilling the government for family planning and birth control.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in July, reinstated the lawsuit filed by a former vice president of a Planned Parenthood abortion business affiliate in California. The case details allegations of massive fraud where the abortion giant overbilled state officials.

P. Victor Gonzalez says the abortion business fired him because he raised concerns about illegal practices of overcharging the state hundreds of millions of dollars on birth control.

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 Angeles 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.

Related web sites:
New Jersey Right to Life - http://njrtl.org
[August 16, 2010, Trenton, NJ, LifeNews.com, http://www.lifenews.com/state5348.html ]

NJ Planned Parenthood Caught Billing Fraudulent Medicaid Claims
Planned Parenthood affiliates in New Jersey have been caught ripping off taxpayers by improperly billing Medicaid claims.  They join the ranks of several other Planned Parenthood affiliates that have been recently exposed for systematically filing fraudulent claims.

Over the course of four years, New Jersey family planning facilities were found by the US Inspector General for Health and Human Services to have inappropriately billed an accumulated $3 million, according to a recent press release from New Jersey Right to Life.

A 2008 audit report entitled, "Review of Outpatient Medicaid Claims Billed as Family Planning by New Jersey" says, "During our visits to family planning clinics throughout the State, many providers (especially Planned Parenthood providers) stated that they billed all claims to Medicaid as 'family planning.' Therefore, officials at these clinics often populated the family planning indicator field on Medicaid claims even though the service provided did not meet the criteria for 90 percent Federal funding. By populating this field, the MMIS designated the claim as eligible for 90 percent Federal funding."

As a result of fraudulent claims uncovered in three audits, the State of New Jersey has been asked to pay back the $3 million improperly billed by New Jersey family planning facilities to the federal government.

In light of this revelation, coupled with the discovery of Medicaid fraud by PP affiliates in California, New York and Washington, and the missing millions that are unaccounted for in a recent report by the GAO on Planned Parenthood expenditures of federal funds, American Life League is renewing its ongoing call for defunding of Planned Parenthood, and encouraging attorneys general throughout the United States to investigate and pursue legal action against Planned Parenthood affiliates guilty of defrauding the government.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie recently laudably cut $7.5 million from the New Jersey state budget that was earmarked for family planning, most of which would have gone to Planned Parenthood. He subsequently vetoed an attempt by legislators to restore the funding. ; PFLI PharmFacts E-News Update, 19 August 2010]

New Jersey Returns $2.9M to Medicaid After Planned Parenthood False Billing
After a U.S. Inspector General report showed New Jersey-based family planning clinics run by the Planned Parenthood abortion business were improperly billing Medicaid for services that did not qualify as family planning, the state has returned $2.9 million to the Medicaid program.

Last week, the New Jersey Department of Human Services refunded $2.9 million in prescription drug and medical payments, the Star Ledger newspaper reported.

Marie Tasy, the director of New Jersey Right to Life, released the information about the improper billing problems at Planned Parenthood last week.

Falsely billing programs that were not qualified as family planning programs able to be reimbursed by the federal government had the state receiving $9 in reimbursement for each $1 spent on the nonqualified programs.

State officials were sent letters in July 2007, June 2008 and August 2008 notifying them of the problems and requesting action to correct the errors. The reports found billing errors from February 1, 2001 through January 31, 2005.

An initial audit revealed New Jersey improperly received federal reimbursement at the enhanced 90% rate for 160,955 prescriptions drug claims that were billed as family planning, but did not qualify as family planning services. A letter from the Inspector General to New Jersey officials recommended that New Jersey repay $2,219,746 to the federal government.

A second audit by the U. S. Inspector General for the HHS Department found Planned Parenthood family planning centers improperly received the enhanced 90% rate for outpatient services which did not qualify as family planning services.

Of the 107 claims, 64 were for family planning services eligible for federal Medicaid reimbursement at the 90 percent rate and 43 claims did not qualify as family planning services, and were therefore ineligible for federal Medicaid reimbursement at the 90% rate.

The newspaper indicated the state health department sent a notice in March 2009 to those involved in family planning programs across the state notifying them of the problems.

Tasy says the report specifically cites Planned Parenthood officials who told investigators that they billed all claims to Medicaid as "family planning" and "populated the family planning indicator field on Medicaid claims even though the service provided did not meet the criteria for 90 percent Federal funding."

As a result, the Office of Inspector General sent a letter on June 17, 2008 to the Commissioner of Human Services recommending that the state refund $597,496 to the federal government and amend their procedures to prevent improper billing in the future.

A third audit found New Jersey received federal Medicaid reimbursement for 111 of the 161 claims for inpatient services which were improperly billed as family planning at the enhanced 90 percent rate. The Office of Inspector General recommended New Jersey reimburse $162,548 to the federal government and determine the amount of federal Medicaid funds improperly reimbursed at the 90% rate for inpatient hospital services following the audit period and refund that amount as well.

"The facts cannot be denied. These audits show a systematic abuse of improper billing of Medicaid for family planning services to the federal government to obtain 90% reimbursement," said Tasy of New Jersey Right to Life.

"Planned Parenthood has been cited specifically as one of the principal agents of these improper billing practices by the OIG," she mentioned.

The new information comes as New Jersey lawmakers have been lobbying Governor Chris Christie to restore $7.5 million in state taxpayer funds to family planning and Planned Parenthood centers. http://www.lifenews.com/state5281.html

They want to require state residents to apply for a federal waiver which would reimburse these clinics 90% for every Medicaid service they provide, including family planning services.

Related web sites: New Jersey Right to Life - http://njrtl.org
[August 23, 2010, Trenton, NJ (LifeNews.com, http://www.lifenews.com/state5364.html ]

Planned Parenthood Files To Block Public Records After Tip From Iowa Board Of Medicine ... COLLUSION OF IA MEDICAL BOARD AND PP HEARTLAND ON TELEMED RECORDS...??
http://www.operationrescue.org/archives/planned-parenthood-files-to-block-public-records-after-tip-from-iowa-board-of-medicine/
[PFLI PharmFacts E-News Update, 30 Aug 2010]

Obama Administration Spending $63 Billion on ‘Woman-Centered’ Global Health Care Program

The Obama administration is focused not just on health-care reform in the United States – but also on improving health care systems around the world, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on Monday. The new plan has a “woman- and girl-centered approach,” according to an administration fact sheet.

Speaking at Johns Hopkins University, Clinton outlined the six-year, $63-billion Obama administration initiative to bring global health care services “to more people in more places.” The administration’s Global Health Initiative has “everything” to do with foreign policy, she said.  http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/71210 , CNS News; PFLI PharmFacts E-News Update, 19 August 2010]

UNFPA Uses International Year of Youth to Exploit Children
Last Thursday, the United Nations (UN) officially launched the “International Year of Youth” (IYY) in the UN General Assembly Hall.  The theme for the year is “Dialogue and Mutual Understanding,” with a focus on health and development, particularly the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  But some observers fear that the IYY agenda has been taken over by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and its allies who are using it to promote new “rights” to sexual and reproductive health education and services for young people.

     The UN has devoted considerable resources for the IYY, including for a new cutting-edge website, and has incorporated the youth agenda into the work of all of the major UN agencies.  At the UN launch, the Joint Statement of the Heads of UN Entities was delivered by the head of UNFPA, Thoraya Obaid.
 
     Obaid’s statement emphasized new rights for youth under a right to health. “We all agree that health is a human right and an integral part of youth development. … Investments in health care, including universal access to evidence-based sexual and reproductive health programmes are crucial to prevent unwanted pregnancies, maternal mortality, sexually transmitted infections and other threats to young people’s health.”

     The blueprint for the IYY is the “World Program of Action for Youth” (WPAY), a document that was adopted by the UN General Assembly without debate in 1995.  In the area of health, WPAY calls for the leadership of UNFPA (the only named agency in the section). “The United Nations Population Fund and other interested United Nations organizations are to be encouraged to continue assigning high priority to promoting adolescent reproductive health.”  The term “adolescent reproductive health” is now used in dozens of programs and curriculums by UNFPA and other international organizations to promote sexual and reproductive rights, including access to contraception and abortion, for young people between the ages of 10-14.

     According to WPAY, “The reproductive health needs of adolescents as a group have been largely ignored to date by existing reproductive health services. The response of societies to the reproductive health needs of adolescents should be based on information that helps them attain a level of maturity required to make responsible decisions.”

     One of the major new initiatives of UNFPA on youth is Y-PEER, which focuses on peer education and whose  membership includes “thousands of young people who work in the many areas surrounding adolescent sexual and reproductive health.” The primary Y-PEER “training” manual includes a “condom relay race,” a section on how to convince religious leaders to implement the reproductive health agenda, and several exercises to impress upon students the difference between gender and sex, with sex being biological, but gender being a social construct.  According to its website, Y-PEER’s areas of focus are Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, including many predominately Muslim countries.

     According to one long time UN observer, “Much of this agenda is being driven by the deep fear that the global cohort of young people, which is a booming cohort, will reproduce. They have to catch them early, corrupt them and convince them they do not want any children.”  [19 August 2010, Friday Fax, Volume 13, Number 36, New York, by Terrence McKeegan, J.D., http://www.c-fam.org/publications/id.1685/pub_detail.asp ]

Human Rights Watch Incorrectly Charges Argentina with Treaty Violations over Abortion

A report released last week by the human rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch promotes abortion in Argentina and criticizes Argentina for not complying with international law.  The report, “Illusions of Care: Lack of Accountability for Reproductive Rights in Argentina,” charges that “[i]n Argentina, nationalistic interests combined with an orthodox Catholic discourse on ‘family values’ have historically underpinned some of the most anti-contraception and pro-population-growth policies in the region.”

     The report erroneously cites several international human rights treaties and committees, including the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), for its claim that international law requires Argentina to provide abortion-on-demand.  In fact, no international human rights treaty contains a right to abortion.  When CEDAW and ICCPR were negotiated, many of the negotiating countries had pro-life laws on the books that still remain in place today.

     “Illusions of Care” further suggests that two other international treaties—the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)—require that Argentina allow adolescents the right to contraception or an abortion without the consent of their parents.  These two treaties do not mention abortion or contraception, and while the committees that oversee them can issue advisory opinions, they do not have the authority to make binding interpretations of treaty provisions.

     The CRC specifically contains a “right to life” provision, which states that “every child has the inherent right to life . . . . States Parties shall ensure . . . the survival and development of the child.”  The preamble of the CRC calls for “appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth” for the child.  The ICCPR states, “every human being has the inherent right to life.  This right shall be protected by law.  No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”

     “Illusions of Care” also appears to suggest that one of the newest international treaties ratified by Argentina, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), requires Argentina to allow abortion-on-demand for its citizens with disabilities.  For example, the report cites language in CRPD that states that persons with disabilities are entitled to the same standard of health care as provided to other persons, “including in the area of sexual and reproductive health.”  The word abortion is not mentioned in the CRPD, however, and more than a dozen countries made explicit statements upon the adoption of CRPD by the UN General Assembly that nothing in the treaty could be interpreted to establish any new rights, including a right to abortion.

     Last month, the CEDAW committee also criticized Argentina’s abortion laws, stating that it “urges [Argentina] to review existing legislation that criminalizes abortion, with serious consequences for the health and lives of women.”  

The Committee additionally requested Argentina to ensure that “education on sexual and reproductive health is undertaken in all schools at all levels.”
[19 August 2010, Friday Fax, Volume 13, Number 36, by Seana Cranston, J.D., New York,
http://www.c-fam.org/publications/id.1684/pub_detail.asp ]

CDC Grand Rounds: Additional Opportunities to Prevent Neural Tube Defects with Folic Acid Fortification

This is another in a series of occasional CDC Grand Rounds reports. These reports are based on grand rounds presentations at CDC on high-profile issues in public health science, practice, and policy. Information regarding CDC Grand Rounds is available at http://www.cdc.gov/about/grand-rounds.

Neural tube defects (NTDs) are serious birth defects that result from the failure of the neural tube to close in the cranial region (anencephaly) or more caudally along the spine (spina bifida) by the 28th day of gestation. Infants born with anencephaly usually die within a few days of birth, and those with spina bifida have life-long disabilities with varying degrees of paralysis.

Currently, identified risk factors for NTDs include a mother who previously had an NTD-affected pregnancy, maternal diabetes, obesity, hyperthermia, certain antiseizure medications, genetic variants, race/ethnicity, and nutrition (particularly folic acid insufficiency).

In the United States, during 1995--1996, approximately 4,000 pregnancies were affected by an NTD. This number declined to 3,000 pregnancies in 1999--2000 after fortification of enriched cereal grain products with folic acid was mandated (1). Worldwide, in 1998, approximately 300,000 births were affected by an NTD (Figure 1).

Both observational and intervention studies, including randomized, controlled trials, have demonstrated that adequate consumption of folic acid periconceptionally can prevent 50%---70% of NTDs (2).

Three approaches can increase intake of folate/folic acid*: dietary improvement, supplementation, and food fortification. Efforts to improve women's dietary habits so that they consume more foods rich in folate or daily vitamin supplements have had little success because they require behavior change, improved accessibility, affordability, or sustainability (3). Supplementation alone also has not been an effective approach because approximately 50% of pregnancies are unplanned. Fortifying foods with folic acid has been a highly effective and more uniform intervention, because fortification makes folic acid accessible to all women of childbearing age without requiring behavior change.

In 1992, the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) recommended that all women of childbearing age capable of becoming pregnant consume 400 µg of folic acid daily for prevention of NTDs. In 1996, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) established regulations that required that by 1998 all standardized enriched cereal grain products sold in the United States include 140 µg folic acid/100 g and provided for the addition of folic acid to breakfast cereals, corn grits, infant formulas, medical foods, and foods for special dietary use. Also in 1998, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) conducted an independent review, with conclusions supporting the USPHS recommendations for folic acid consumption; in 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force published updated guidelines reinforcing these recommendations (4).

Impact of Fortification with Folic Acid

U.S. NTD and blood folate trends. The mandatory fortification of standardized enriched cereal grain products in the United States resulted in a substantial increase in blood folate concentrations and a concomitant decrease in NTD prevalence. The percentage of the population with low serum folate (<3 ng/mL) declined from 21% in the period before fortification (1988--1994) to <1% of the total population in the period immediately following fortification (1999--2000) (5). NTD prevalence decreased by 36% after fortification, from 10.8 per 10,000 population during 1995--1996 to 6.9 at the end of 2006 (6).

Health disparities. After mandatory fortification in 1998, NTD prevalence declined 30%--40% among the three largest racial and ethnic groups. Nevertheless, 2005--2007 National Birth Defects Prevention Network (NBDPN) data show that Hispanic women continue to be at significantly greater risk (prevalence ratio = 1.21; 95% confidence interval = 1.11--1.31) for having a baby affected by an NTD than non-Hispanic white women (CDC, unpublished data, 2010) (Figure 2).

Non-Hispanic black women have consistently had lower NTD prevalence than Hispanic women and non-Hispanic white women (Figure 2), despite having the lowest folate levels before and after mandatory fortification.
Nonfolate risk factors for NTDs might explain this inconsistency between NTD prevalence and folate status and merit further study. Factors that might be contributing to the inconsistency include genetic differences in folate metabolism, maternal diabetes, and obesity, which are known to vary by race and ethnicity; another possibility is intake of nutrients other than folic acid, such as Vitamin B12 (7).

Global NTD and blood folate trends. Successful mandatory fortification programs also have been documented in several other countries, including Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, and South Africa, resulting in significant increases in blood folate concentrations and 25%--50% declines in the prevalence of NTD-affected pregnancies (3). For example, in Chile, fortification of wheat flour for bread at 220 µg folic acid/100 g was associated with a 43% reduction in NTDs from 17.1 per 10,000 population in 1999--2000 to 9.7 in 2001--2002 (8).

Cost. Published economic evaluations have shown that folic acid food fortification is cost saving in the United States and other countries. A 2008 study estimated that current folic acid fortification produces an annual savings of about $300 million, or $100 for each $1 invested in fortification (9). Fortification also has resulted in substantial cost savings globally. Chile has demonstrated a savings of $11 (in international dollars) for each $1 invested in fortification (10).

Potential adverse effects. Concerns have been raised that intake of folic acid might cause harmful effects, including progression of nerve damage in B12-deficient persons; excess intake in children; accumulation of unmetabolized folic acid; blunting of antifolate therapy (methotrexate and phenytoin); accelerated cognitive decline in the elderly; epigenetic hypermethylation; and cancer promotion (11). Most of these concerns are associated with consumption of high levels of folic acid from supplement use rather than fortification.

A 2010 study using NHANES 2003--2006 data showed that 6% of the U.S. adult population aged >19 years consumed more than the recommended 400 µg folic acid/day from supplements, and almost half of these persons (2.7% of the U.S. adult population) exceeded the tolerable upper level (UL) of average daily usual folic acid intake of 1,000 µg (12).

Conversely, none of the remaining 94% of the U.S. adult population, who consumed ≤400 µg folic acid per day from supplements, exceeded the UL, regardless of folic acid intake levels from enriched cereal grain products and ready-to-eat cereals.

No conclusive evidence exists to indicate that folic acid intake at recommended levels contributes to the causation of any of these conditions of concern; however, continued monitoring and research are needed to ensure that folic acid public health recommendations do not have unintended negative consequences.  [CDC, MMWR Weekly, August 13, 2010 / 59(31);980-984 ; http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5931a2.htm?s_cid=mm5931a2_e ]

"Miracle" as Baby Begins Breathing after Two Hours
Doctors were baffled in April when a premature baby boy whom they had pronounced dead appeared to come back to life after two hours of being held by his mother. Staff had given child, Jamie, a twin, to his mother to hold and to “say goodbye” after the 27-week gestation boy had been pronounced dead. The attending doctor had spent 20 minutes after the birth trying to get the boy to breathe.

Kate Ogg, of Sydney, Australia, held the child directly next to her skin and when he showed signs of life, gave him some breast milk on the end of her finger.

But Kate and husband David Ogg now say that they fear that their son, who was born with his twin sister Emily, may be brain damaged or suffer other long-term medical complications because their doctor didn’t believe them when the boy showed what the parents believed were signs of life. After Jamie began moving, they asked the doctor to return, but he refused, sending the midwife back to say the baby was just going through death throes.

“We knew the doctor wasn’t coming back in, so we called for him again,” Kate Ogg later told an interviewer on Australian TVl. “In the interim, the midwife took some footage and my mother and my sister were taking photos for us. Eventually my husband said, ‘Go and tell the doctor we weren't ready to listen to his explanation of how the baby died, can he come and explain it again,’ and that's when he returned.”

It was two more hours before Jamie received medical attention.

A friend of the Oggs told the Daily Mail that, “To be fair, the doctor genuinely believe Jamie was dead. When he came back into the room, even he told Kate it was a miracle,” but added that if Jamie suffers aftereffects from the lack of treatment, there could be legal action.

Mrs. Ogg told the Australian television program Today Tonight that hearing that her child was dead “was the worst feeling I've ever felt.”

When Jamie was handed to her, she said she wanted to hold him next to her skin.

“I took my gown off and arranged him on my chest with his head over my arm and just held him. He wasn't moving at all and we just started talking to him.

“We told him what his name was and that he had a sister. We told him the things we wanted to do with him throughout his life.”

Jamie started gasping but his parents were told this was just a “reflex” action.

“But then I felt him move as if he were startled, then he started gasping more and more regularly. I gave Jamie some breast milk on my finger, he took it and started regular breathing normally.

A short time later he opened his eyes. It was a miracle. Then he held out his hand and grabbed my finger. He opened his eyes and moved his head from side to side. The doctor kept shaking his head saying, ‘I don't believe it, I don't believe it’.”
[30 August 2010, Hilary White, SYDNEY, Australia,  http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10083002.html ]

Forty College Students Walk over 10,000 Miles in Crossroads Pro-Life Walks Across U.S.
This Saturday, August 14, over 40 young people walking across the country with the group Crossroads will meet in Washington, D.C. to mark the conclusion of their 3 simultaneous pro-life treks across America.

Crossroads has sponsored these pro-life walks across America every summer since 1995. Passing through 36 states and thousands of towns and cities, they have witnessed the reality that the overwhelming majority of Americans identify themselves as pro-life.

“The mainstream media may tell you different, but we can say with authority and through actual experience at the grass-roots level, that America is truly a pro-life country,” observed Martha Nolan, National Director of Crossroads Pro-Life.

The reality, she said, "is that the Obama Administration is sadly out of touch with the values of mainstream America."  "We know because what we experience firsthand from the hundreds of thousands of people we meet along the way is in stark contrast to the strident stances now coming from the leadership in Washington, D.C.," said Nolan.

The three walks started on May 24th on the West Coast and conclude in Washington, D.C. tomorrow on August 14th with a rally at noon at the Capitol's Upper Senate Park.

Walking night and day, through rain or shine, the young people have spent the last 12 weeks witnessing to hundreds of thousands of Americans. Wearing shirts that are emblazoned with the words “PRO-LIFE” in big letters on the front, these dedicated walkers say they have had an amazing summer.

“The youth of America are rejecting the lies of previous generations and are the real future of the pro-life movement,” stated Nolan.  “We’ve seen this each year as we conduct these cross-country pilgrimages – each summer more and more young people are taking a stand for life and being a voice for the voiceless.”

Since 1995, Crossroads has organized 12-week-long walks across America from the West Coast to Washington, D.C., to take part in dynamically rebuilding a Culture of Life in the United States.  During the journey, each walker averages over 1,000 miles and takes an active role in the organization’s mission by speaking to churches and youth groups as well as doing radio and newspaper interviews.  Crossroads walkers also engage local communities through peaceful, prayerful protests and sidewalk counseling at abortion clinics in the cities they travel through.

This summer, Crossroads is also sponsoring their 3rd Annual Pro-Life walk across Canada.

Made up of volunteer colleges students from throughout Canada, this walk started in Vancouver, British Columbia on May 24th and ends tomorrow, Saturday, August 14th at the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, Ontario.  [WASHINGTON, D.C., August 13, 2010, LifeSiteNews.com, http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10081304.html ]




 
A Farce: The UN's World Youth Conference

[Sergio Burga, a young researcher who works out of our PRI Latin American office, has just spent three tumultuous days at the UN's so-called World Youth Conference. PRI's Sergio Burga, providing on-the-scene, in-depth coverage from Mexico as the U.N. launches its new attack on children and families.]

The United Nations officials who set up the World Youth Conference 2010 (WYC) thought that they had everything under control. They had carefully choreagraphed the event in order to achieve the results that they wanted. But things at the conference, held in the city of Leon from August 25–27, did not go entirely as they had planned. The conference agenda was greeted by strong protests by many of the young people in attendance. The UN did not look kindly upon this deviance from its agenda, and expelled these young people from the event.

UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNAIDS and other UN agencies had begun their preparation for WYC 2010 by handpicking about two hundred youth delegates from around the world to attend.

Their selection criteria was highly restrictive, so it is no accident that almost all of these "youth representatives" were actually radical activists of one stripe or another, ranging from leaders of pro-abortion organizations, to members of homosexual and radical feminist groups. At the same time, these UN agencies attempted to exclude all young people belonging to pro-life, pro-family groups. As the protests inside the conference showed, this effort was not enitrely successful.

Among the mainstream groups that were excluded from the conference was the International Youth Alliance (IYA). This is an umbrella organization that includes over 50 youth groups from Mexico, Spain, Chile, Argentina, Colombia and the U.S. The IYA publicly rejected the UN's pro- abortion and pro-homosexual policies and demanded that the UN respect the Latin American culture, with its strong emphasis on family values.

The UN, supported by the government of Mexico, had picked as the theme of the 2010 WYC the phrase “Say it Strong.” The International Youth Alliance brought together hundreds of young people excluded from the 2010 WYC on a march under the banner of "Say it Right." The contrast between the UN's loud propagandizing of falsehoods about life, family and human sexuality, and the IYC's insistence on telling the truth about these same subjects could not have been starker.

Another UN gambit—this one used to maintain iron-fisted control of the wording of the “Final Declaration”—was to make participation in the conference incredibly complicated. The public was given the impression that the declaration represented the collective voices of young people worldwide, but in fact it was drafted by UN bureaucrats.

To further complicate matters, the WYC was divided into three tracks: the Social Forum (which itself was subdivided into an NGO forum and a gathering of the youth), the Government Forum, and the Legislative Forum. The three of these forums operated almost simultanously from the beginning to the end of the conference.

Even the hand-picked UN delegates had little input into the “Final Declaration.” These young people, as a few of them belatedly realized, were there only to provide window dressing. They were kept busy participating in workshops, thematic conferences and roundtables, and had little or no opportunity to ensure that their real opinions were reflected in the final document.

The Legislative Forum provided another example of this kind of anti-democratic manipulation. The Legislative Forum, according to the UN, will work independently of the Government Forum, since both will give their findings on the same day without any contact with each other. But this is just more window dressing. It is not difficult to see how the UN will use the Legislative Forum, which is packed with more of its hand-picked supporters from around the world—all there on the UN's dime—to approve another pre-fabricated “Declaration” which dovetails with the others.

Like China's one-party dictatorship with its rubber-stamp National People's Congress, the UN bureaucracy pays lip service to democratic forms while ensuring that its own party line prevails. And so we hear its young puppets declaring that abortion is a human right, the family is a social construct, and any expression of sexuality, however perverted, is OK.

Don't believe it.
 
 [27 August 2010, Vol. 12 / No. 24, PRI Weekly Briefing; Sergio Burga is Special Envoy to León, Guanajuato, Mexico]

No Baby Deserves to Die Before Having a Chance to Live

Debbe Magnusen felt bereft after hearing about an abandoned baby found suffocated in a trash bag close to her home in California.

As a compassionate woman who had already fostered more than 30 drug-exposed babies while raising two biological children, Magnusen chose to channel her anger and frustration into constructive action.

"As a foster mother, I had always hoped that unwanted babies would be brought to me. But it did not occur to me until that moment that no one knew where I was, or that I wanted to rescue their newborn."

This insight led her to create a 24/7 crisis hotline in her Orange County living room in 1996.

Within 12 hours, she received her first call, from a frantic, frightened woman who had hidden her pregnancy from everyone she knew.

To date, since 1996, Project Cuddle has helped rescue 675 unwanted babies.

"No baby deserves to die before having a chance to live" says Magnusen, who understands the desperation of girls and women who can be in labor while still denying that they are pregnant.

This tireless activist imagines herself in the place of every abandoned child and is inspirationally refueled each time she sees a newborn baby crying SAFELY in a hospital.

"I'm alive so that I can unconditionally love every scared girl or woman [who
comes to me] through her ordeal."

Project Cuddle now operates nationally [www.projectCuddle.org ; hotline 888-628-3353 English, 1-888-483-2323 Spanish,
Email : ]

Plan of Pro-Life Action in Swaziland
During a pro-life training in Swaziland in September 2009, each participant wrote out their action plan, outlining the major areas where they would work on advancing the culture of life.

These plans encompass a year of work, and among the topics were:
* Showing abortion videos to students in schools, colleges and universities

* Educating on the problems and consequences to youth of using condoms and all other contraceptives

* Explaining the Maputo Protocol and its implications to the people of Swaziland

* Explaining the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Swaziland and the need for the Abstinence and Faithfulness (fidelity) approaches for its control, even in sero-discordant couples (when one person is HIV positive and the other is HIV negative)

* Conducting workshops on legislative issues in Swaziland

They will run these programs by:

* Taking advantage of social gatherings

* Approaching church leaders and traditional elders in their societies

* Reaching out to the youth in churches and neighborhoods

* Using grassroots campaigning and education

* Working with schools, colleges and universities

* Conducting workshops for members of Parliament


They will get funding for these programs by:

* Asking church leaders for financial assistance

* Approaching SWAGAA (Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse – a non-governmental organization) for financial assistance

* Requesting office space in the Council of Churches building

* Utilizing other fundraising approaches

No matter our country, we could all use these basic steps to begin to do SOMETHING to spread the Culture of LIFE!

Let us not be shy... lives and generations hang in the balance...
[March 2010, HLI Mission Report no. 303]

A Conversion to the Truth
While in the area of Port Moresby of Papua New Guinea from 13-27 February 2010, Dr. Ligaya Acosta wrote about her series of talks to hundreds of people, who were touched by the message of LIFE.

One very moving comment came from a feminist who shared that she flew to Port Moresby to attend the National AIDS Council Meeting, but no one met her at the airport, and so, she found herself at this talk. She was almost crying as she spoke and said that the session changed her completely when she realized that many anti-life and anti-family things being done. She expressed the wish that Dr. Acosta would come to her province.  [May 2010, HLI Mission Report no. 305]

University of Alabama-Birmingham Arrests Pro-Life Advocates Protesting Abortion

Officials at the University of Alabama-Birmingham are coming under fire for arresting pro-life young adults hoping to share the pro-life perspective with students on campus. Members of the pro-life group Survivors returned to the streets of Birmingham last Thursday to participate in a series of pro-life events.

A consent agreement reached between the city and the group ensured city police would not interfere with the expressive activities of the pro-life youth group.

The city abided by the agreement and the Survivors were able to educate the public and show the truth about abortion, but that was overshadowed by what the organization is calling the unwarranted arrest of two of its members by UAB officials on Monday.

UAB administrators ordered the young people off of the campus -- claiming that the public university was actually “private property.”

When Survivors staffer Kristina Garza asked the UAB administrator what right he had to order the group off of public property, the UAB official refused to speak with Garza and would not provide his name to her.

UAB police responded to the call by administrators and within two minutes arrested the two activists for failing to heed the demand to leave the campus and for videotaping the incident.

Attorneys with the Life Legal Defense Fund made several calls to UAB’s general counsel and, within a few hours, the pro-life advocates were released from jail with no criminal charges.

LLDF Executive Director Dana Cody informed LifeNews.com of the incident.

“While we are pleased that the University of Alabama-Birmingham police have released the two pro-life demonstrators, there is clearly more work to be done in Birmingham," she said.

“We will be working to ensure that the University of Alabama-Birmingham follows in the steps of the city of Birmingham and allows these young people to peacefully exercise their free speech rights on the public campus when the Survivors’ Campus Life Tour returns to Birmingham this fall," she added.
Related web sites:
Life Legal Defense Foundation - http://lldf.org
[27 July 2010, Ertelt, http://www.lifenews.com/state5290.html , Birmingham, AL]


Abortionist from Notorious Rockford Abortion Facility Claims Victimhood in NYT Article

The author of a recent New York Times article on modern abortion providers may have made a strategic misstep in the abortionist that she chose to feature, if her intent was to paint a sympathetic picture of abortion practitioners. The lengthy article shines the spotlight on abortionist Emily Godfrey, who worked for several years at what may be the United States' most bizarre abortion clinic - the Northern Illinois Women's Center (NIWC) in Rockford, Illinois. While Godfrey attempted to paint a grim picture of a threatening crowd of pro-lifers who allegedly “surrounded” her as she walked to and from the notorious Rockford abortion facility, one of the leaders in the Rockford pro-life movement has countered that the claim is demonstrably baseless. Kevin Rilott has pointed out that pro-lifers are not even allowed on the property of NIWC, let alone able to approach anywhere near the abortionists.  [http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10072312.html
Life Site News, ALL Pro-Life Today, 26 July 2010]

Unborn Baby Saves Mom's Life by Kicking in Womb

You may call it a miracle - a baby saved his mother's life before he was even born just by kicking in the womb only to alert doctors of a tumour inside. Mother-to-be 26-year-old Claire feared she was losing him 18 weeks into the pregnancy. But, doctors discovered the "miscarriage" was actually a tumour of the womb -- which her unborn son had kicked free, the 'News of the World' reported. Claire was advised to have an abortion immediately so her cancer could be treated. But she said: "I couldn't end my baby's life when he had just saved mine...The cancer had been growing for months -- if he had not kicked the tumour it would have carried on growing until it was too late. I knew if anything happened to me, then this baby would be loved, so I was willing to take that risk."  [http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=42651
Central Chronicle, ALL Pro-Life Today, 26 July 2010]

BREAST CANCER

QuickStats: Breast Cancer Death Rates Among Women Aged 45--64 Years,* by Race --- United States, 1990--2007

* Rates per 100,000 women aged 45--64 years for whom breast cancer was the underlying cause of death (based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision [ICD-9] codes 174--175 for 1990--1998 and ICD-10 code C50 for 1999--2007).

In 2007, breast cancer was the second leading cause of cancer death for white women aged 45--64 years and the leading cause of cancer death for black women aged 45--64 years. From 1990 to 2007, the breast cancer death rate in this age group declined by 41% for white women and 24% for black women, increasing the disparity between the two groups. In 2007, the breast cancer death rate for women aged 45--64 years was 60% higher for black women than white women (56.8 and 35.6 deaths per 100,000, respectively).

Sources: CDC. National Vital Statistics System. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss.htm.

CDC. Health Data Interactive. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hdi.htm.

Alternate Text: The figure above shows breast cancer death rates among women aged 45-64 years, by race in the United States from 1990-2007. In 2007, breast cancer was the second leading cause of cancer death for white women aged 45-64 years and the leading cause of cancer death for black women aged 45-64 years. From 1990 to 2007, the breast cancer death rate in this age group declined by 41% for white women and 24% for black women, increasing the disparity between the two groups. In 2007, the breast cancer death rate for women aged 45-64 years was 60% higher for black women than white women (56.8 and 35.6 deaths per 100,000, respectively).  [CDC, MMWR Weekly, July 30, 2010 / 59(29); 915; http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5929a5.htm?s_cid=mm5929a5_e ]

[ED. Many studies now show a statistically significant link between abortion and breast cancer.]

Vital Signs: State-Specific Obesity Prevalence Among Adults --- United States, 2009
Weekly

On August 3, this report was posted as an MMWR Early Release on the MMWR website (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr).
ABSTRACT
Background: Obesity is a costly condition that can reduce quality of life and increases the risk for many serious chronic diseases and premature death. The U.S. Surgeon General issued the Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity in 2001, and in 2007, no state had met the Healthy People 2010 objective to reduce obesity prevalence among adults to 15%.

Results: Overall self-reported obesity prevalence in the United States was 26.7%. Non-Hispanic blacks (36.8%), Hispanics (30.7%), those who did not graduate from high school (32.9%), and persons aged 50--59 years (31.1%) and 60--69 years (30.9%) were disproportionally affected. By state, obesity prevalence ranged from 18.6% in Colorado to 34.4% in Mississippi; only Colorado and the District of Columbia (19.7%) had prevalences of <20%; nine states had prevalences of ≥30%.

Conclusions: In 2009, no state met the Healthy People 2010 obesity target of 15%, and the self-reported overall prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults had increased 1.1 percentage points from 2007.

Implications for Public Health Practice: Obesity should be addressed through a comprehensive approach across multiple settings and sectors that can change individual nutrition and physical activity behaviors and the environments and policies that affect these behaviors. New and continued national, state, and community-level surveillance of obesity, its behavioral risk factors, and the environments and policies that affect these behaviors is critical to monitor progress in obesity prevention and to target interventions.

Over the past decade, obesity has become recognized as a national health threat and a major public health challenge. In 2007--2008, based on measured weights and heights (1), approximately 72.5 million adults in the United States were obese (CDC, unpublished data, 2010). Obese adults are at increased risk for many serious health conditions, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, and premature death (2,3). Adult obesity also is associated with reduced quality of life, social stigmatization, and discrimination (2,3). From 1987 to 2001, diseases associated with obesity accounted for 27% of the increases in U.S. medical costs (4). For 2006, medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at as much as $147 billion (2008 dollars); among all payers, obese persons had estimated medical costs that were $1,429 higher than persons of normal weight (5). In 2001, the Surgeon General called for strong public health action to prevent and decrease overweight and obesity (3).
[CDC, MMWR August 6, 2010 / 59(30);951-955, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5930a4.htm?s_cid=mm5930a4_e




QuickStats: Death Rates* for the Three Leading Causes of Injury Death† --- United States, 1979--2007

†  Injuries are from all manners, including unintentional, suicide, homicide, undetermined intent, legal intervention, and operations of war. Poisoning deaths include those resulting from drug overdose, those resulting from other misuse of drugs, and those associated with solid or liquid biologic substances, gases or vapors, or other substances such as pesticides or unspecified chemicals.

§ In 1999, International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) replaced the previous revision of the ICD (ICD-9). This resulted in approximately 5% fewer deaths being classified as motor vehicle traffic--related and 2% more deaths being classified as poisoning-related. Therefore, death rates for 1998 and earlier are not directly comparable with those computed after 1998. Little change was observed in the classification of firearm-related deaths from ICD-9 to ICD-10.

In 2007, the three leading causes of injury deaths in the United States were motor vehicle traffic, poisoning, and firearms. The age-adjusted death rate for poisoning more than doubled from 1979 to 2007, in contrast to the age-adjusted death rates for motor vehicle traffic and firearms, which decreased during this period. From 2006 to 2007, the age-adjusted poisoning death rate increased 6%, whereas the motor vehicle traffic death rate decreased 4%, and the firearm death rate did not change.

Sources: National Vital Statistics System, mortality data, available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm.

CDC WONDER, compressed mortality file, underlying cause-of-death, available at http://wonder.cdc.gov/mortsql.html.

Alternative Text: The figure above shows death rates for the three leading causes of injury death in the United States during 1979-2007. In 2007, the three leading causes of injury deaths in the United States were motor vehicle traffic, poisoning, and firearms. The age-adjusted death rate for poisoning more than doubled from 1979 to 2007, in contrast to the age-adjusted death rates for motor vehicle traffic and firearms, which decreased during this period. From 2006 to 2007, the age-adjusted poisoning death rate increased 6%, whereas the motor vehicle traffic death rate decreased 4%, and the firearms death rate did not change.
[CDC, MMWR Weekly, August 6, 2010 / 5 (30);957 http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5930a6.htm?s_cid=mm5930a6_e]