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Pro-Life Counselors Using New QR Code Technology to Bring Face of Unborn to Abortion-Bound Moms
China’s One-Child Policy and UNFPA: A Silent But Deadly Partnership
PSU Researchers Find Breast/Cervical Cancer Killing Virus at Hershey Medical Center
Abortion Advocates Continue Attacking Baltimore Pregnancy Centers
New Video Series Documents Pro-Life Concerns About Girl Scouts
Court Ratifies Landmark Anti-Life Healthcare Law, Covert Abortion Premium Mandate Remains Law of the Land: AUL Breaks Down the Ruling / AUL Legal Team: Initial Analysis of Supreme Court Ruling in Healthcare
“Covert Abortion Premium Mandate” Chart to Show How Abortion is Hidden in the Law
HHS Shoveling Cash to Planned Parenthood Funders Before ObamaCare Ruling: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Went on a Spending Spree Even Before the Supreme Court HHS Mandate-Tax Decision
Key State Billboard Project Began June 23
80-Year-Old Mom Receives Surprise ‘Baby Shower’
PLANNED PARENTHOOD
CDC: A black child is at least 2.33 more times likely to be killed in the womb than a white child
PP Resources — http://www.stopp.org/reference/
2011 Report on Planned Parenthood Facilities in the United StateS — 8 page report — http://www.stopp.org/pdfs/2011/2011_Survey_of_Planned_Parenthood_Facilities.pdf
Planned Parenthood is Suing to Keep Our Tax Dollar Funding Flowing
Medicaid Fraud: PP Hit with $5.5 Billion Lawsuit for Half Million False Medicaid Claims
Feds Overstep State; Give $1.2 Million to Memphis PP
Planned Parenthood’s Manipulative Language Strategy Leaked
Planned Parenthood Ad: “No Stress, No Worries, No More Pregnancies”
Planned Parenthood Targets African-American Music Festival: Black Pro-Life Leaders Furious
Planned Parenthood Annoys Supporters With Unsolicited Telemarketing Calls
School in Washington State Uses Planned Parenthood Curriculum to Teach Elementary School Kids Oral Sex
Planned Parenthood Loses Battle to Open Mega-Abortion Business in Auburn Hills, MI
Komen Sees Huge Drop in Support After New Round of Planned Parenthood Funding
Planned Parenthood Aborts Plans to Open a Mega-Business
Planned Parenthood Must Give Up Building 'Planned' Huge Abortion Building
Planned Parenthood Runs Public School-Based 'Clinic' [sic] in Los Angeles…
Pro-Life Counselors Using New QR Code Technology to Bring Face of Unborn to Abortion-Bound Moms
Stunning 4-D ultrasound imagery of children smiling, yawning, and kicking in the womb may be coming to a mobile phone near you – in the hands of those who need it most.
The Cleveland Right to Life Education Fund announced June 28 that it is launching a new campaign to get the scientific evidence of life in the womb in the hands of abortion-bound mothers through the use of smartphone technology.
Already known for sponsoring the Truth Booth – an unmanned kiosk showing ultrasound images of the child in the womb in public venues throughout the United States and Canada – the Cleveland Right to Life Education Fund is now using QR Codes to expand the reach of its message to those who need it most.
Smaller than a postage stamp, a QR (or Quick Response) Code is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode that most smartphones can scan, often sending users to a product website – a technique now frequently used by companies and advertisers.
By placing a QR Code on business cards and other literature, said the group, pro-life activists can now provide those considering abortion a “window to the womb” – and one last chance to rethink their decision.
When scanned using a smart phone, the QR Code will provide a three-minute video that shows 3D and 4D ultrasound images of a developing child from 8 to 34 weeks.
WIth this technology, 3D ultrasound images can be put into the hands of abortion-bound women with the press of a button.
&
ldquo;Imagine sitting in the waiting room of an abortion clinic and being able to see 3D and 4D ultrasound images of an unborn child through literature provided by a sidewalk counselor,” said Molly Smith, president of Cleveland Right to Life. “Statistics show that many women considering an abortion who see an ultrasound choose life.”
The video is the same one available through the Truth Booth, which already has been seen by millions of individuals at malls, community fairs, schools and other public and private arenas. It provides information about prenatal development and pregnancy in a visual form for people to process without cumbersome words or confrontation.
“The Truth Booth is factual, scientific, creative, gentle and informative in its content presentation, allowing all age groups to comprehend our early development with clarity,” said Susan Cipriani, manager of the Truth Booth. “It is simply pictures of the developing child, not a provocation for controversy.”
“We know from feedback we’ve received that the Truth Booth has had a positive impact on countless women struggling with the most important decision they will ever make. Now, through the QR Code, that impact has the potential to reach women in every country through their phones.”
The Cleveland Right to Life Education Fund, through its educational program Truth Booth International, is making the QR code image available for free downloading at www.truthbooth.org. The QR code can be printed on the back of business cards or on any counseling literature.
[3 Jul 12, Kathleen Gilbert, CLEVELAND, Ohio, http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pro-life-counselors-using-new-qr-code-technology-to-bring-face-of-unborn-to?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=423d8ccb07-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_07_03_2012&utm_medium=email]
China’s One-Child Policy and UNFPA: A Silent But Deadly Partnership
Beijing continues to vigorously pursue its infamous one-child policy, ignoring the massive human rights abuses that this entails, the skewed sex ratios that have resulted, and the labor shortages that it has produced.
For Remainder of Article — http://www.lifenews.com/2012/07/10/chinas-one-child-policy-and-unfpa-a-silent-but-deadly-partnership/
PSU Researchers Find Breast/Cervical Cancer Killing Virus at Hershey Medical Center
Penn State College of Medicine researchers have found a virus that kills human breast cancer cells. The virus, Adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2), is a non-disease forming virus that typically infects humans. Researchers have discovered that AAV2 attacks the tumor cells found in cervical cancer cells that have been infected with the human papilloma virus (HPV).
As progress continues in the laboratory, the question of how exactly the AAV2 virus is killing cancer cells remains unanswered; if researchers can target which viral genes are being used, then they will be able to proceed in finding ways to use the virus for therapy purposes. AAV2 will not affect the healthy cells in a cancer patient; however, there is still potential for the body’s immune system to fight off the virus. Studies have also shown that AAV2 can kill prostate cancer cells, melanoma, methoselioma, and squamous cell carcinoma.
Laboratory test results on AAV2’s affect on the tumors in mice will be released soon.
Penn State researchers are seeking a patent for their work. [Nov 2011]
***
Elizabethtown College alumnus John Fuesler ’11 researched this topic at the medical center. He examined Meyers’ paper about the tests he performed and described the findings to prove that AAV2 does not kill normal breast cells but breast cancer cells in culture. “The cell death occurred through apoptosis, which is an orchestrated process of cell suicide. This virus was able to ‘turn on’ the process in cancer cells, but not normal cells, in part because it did not infect the normal cell type,” Fuesler said.
According to an article on www.pennlive.com, AAV2 is a miniscule virus that could be vital to the development of modern science but cannot easily replicate. In this article, Dr. Nicholas Muzyczka of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology from the University of Florida in Gainesville explained that the virus needs help to react. AAV2 cannot damage healthy cells and is harmless on its own, but one of the viruses that aided it in responding is the human papillomavirus (HPV), suspected to instigate cervical cancer.
Meyers and his team at the center were studying AAV2 and HPV together, as well as the idea that AAV2 can modify the chance of a patient developing cervical cancer. They infected cervical cancer cells with AAV2 and found them dead after only a week. They performed this study a dozen times and then began researching other types of cancer cells, such as breast cancer. The AAV2 experiment worked on breast cancer tumors in laboratory mice a year prior, proving the study to be consistent. Sciencedaily.com elaborates that all of the cancer cells are eliminated in seven days, but an aggressive breast cancer cell line took three weeks to die. This indicates that AAV2 may eliminate all stages of breast cancer.
According to Fuesler, AAV2 can kill cervical, breast, prostate, melanoma, and squamous cell carcinoma cells, but has only been successfully tested in culture. It is unknown whether these other cancer cell types would be targeted and killed in an animal model, he said.
The pennlive.com article reveals that the link between viruses and cancer is not a new concept. Two decades ago, the common cold was tested on field mice in a similar fashion as AAV2, and the flaws of the study were identified when tested on humans. Some humans were able to fight the virus because their bodies were immune to it.
For remainder of article — http://www.etownian.com/news/hershey-med-isolates-cancer-killing-virus/
November 27, 2011, NICK MALAWSKEY, The Patriot-News
Lab at Hershey Medical Center identifies a virus that could kill cancer
…But it is here, on the fifth floor of the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where Dr. Craig Meyers and his team might have conducted a miracle.
What he and his lab claim discovery of is breathtaking in its simplicity.
A common virus, omnipresent in the world. When it infects humans, it does no harm. But introduce it into certain kinds of tumors and the virus appears to go wild, liquefying every cancer cell it comes into contact with.
It’s the type of discovery that could change the world. And like all great stories of scientific discovery, it begins with a moment of sublime serendipity, not unlike Isaac Newton nodding off beneath an apple tree…
…At the University of Florida in Gainsville, Nicholas Muzyczka has made a career studying AAV2 and he knows the virus about as well as anyone.
“And the deal with [AAV2] is that it will go into the cells in your body — and do nothing,” Muzyczka said. “It’ll just sit there.”
By itself, the virus is harmless and, in some cases, won’t even replicate.
Instead, it relies on a “helper” virus to poke it along. One of its helper viruses is believed to be the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which is widely believed to be one of the major causes of cervical cancer.
There has also been evidence that not only does HPV impact AAV2, but AAV2 might have some form of impact on HPV — and alter the chances of someone developing cervical cancer.
Which is exactly what Meyers’ lab at Penn State
was studying when the lab had its Newton-under-the-apple-tree moment five years ago. What happened involves a cervical cancer sample, some AAV2 and a few extra days in an incubator.
‘WE THOUGHT SOMETHING HAD GONE WRONG’
…Their method was simple: Infect groups of cervical cancer cells with AAV2 and harvest the cells after 24, 48 or 72 hours to note any changes taking place.
On a whim, Meyers told one of his research assistants to infect a cancer cell culture and let it sit for awhile — say, a week.
A week later, she walked into his office and said something strange had happened. That culture of cancer cells they had infected a week ago?
They were all dead.
“We thought something had gone wrong,” Meyers said. “My first reaction was: ‘The incubator. I’ll have to get the incubator fixed.’”
The lab repeated the process five, 10, a dozen times. Each time, it had the same result.
A week after being infected with AAV2, the cervical cancer cells were dead.
The lab began to spread out its research, collecting other types of cancer samples from other labs to infect with AAV2, including breast cancer.
Each time, they had the same results: Infect the cancer cells, wait a week and the cells die. By replicating the experiment, the laboratory was able to gain some understanding of the mechanics of what was happening.
“What the virus seems to be doing is turning on [a gene in] all these cancer cells that causes them to die, to turn on themselves and commit suicide,” Meyers said.
Even more encouraging, when his lab infected mice that had human breast cancer tumors with AAV2 earlier this year, they found the tumors had liquefied — a reassuring result because that isn’t always true.
“A lot of times in science, you tend to plan out your experiments and you have a goal, your hypothesis of what you’re trying to prove,” Meyers said. “But sometimes you see bits of data or someone else’s work and you get an idea … a lot of times some of the best things come from those little ideas.”
The Penn State lab isn’t the first to announce what could be a major breakthrough using viruses to combat cancer.
Twenty years-ago, researchers at the University of California thought they found the silver bullet — a modified cold virus that killed about 60 percent of human tumors grown in laboratory mice.
News of the research caused The New York Times to ask: “Can the common cold cure cancer?”
Headlines in The Los Angles Times and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette proclaimed the research to be “a cancer-killer.”
It didn’t turn out that way.
During clinical testing in humans, the modified virus fizzled. But the research, which centered around a gene named P53 did rejuvenate an entire field of study — oncolytic virology…
…The common cold viral study two decades ago highlights some of the major hurdles in moving a virus-based treatment from the laboratory to the bedside.
There’s a world of biological complexity between mice and humans, and the vast majority of drugs, somewhere around 90 percent, that never bridge that gap.
In the case of the modified cold virus, researchers didn’t account for the fact that most people, at one time or another, suffer from the cold and build biological defenses against it.
So when they introduced the engineered virus, the body attacked and killed it, reducing its effectiveness in treating patients…
…All of which requires time and money — roughly $2 billion annually. The American Cancer Society and the National Institute of Health are only able to pay for about 10 percent of the grant requests they receive.
That means a lot of research could be stalled in the pipeline. Even Meyers’ research wasn’t able to secure national funding for his preliminary testing of the AAV2 virus.
His most recent research was funded through a roughly $35,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition.
Even once a drug or therapy passes through the FDA approval process, there’s one final step before it makes it to the general public — production and distribution…
…His next step will be to push toward clinical trials in people. But first he has to complete pre-clinical testing before he can apply to the Food and Drug Administration for human testing.
Bottom line: Even with unlimited funding, it could be another two to four years before Meyers injects AAV2 into the first patients.
Until then, he’ll continue to receive the emails from desperate people, begging him for a cure.
“It’s a very emotional topic. Everyone has somebody they know who has one type of cancer or another,” Meyers said. “And cancer’s not like one day you’re alive and the next day you’re dead. It’s a long, debilitating, chronic problem.
“You need to be reminded sometimes that the research you’re doing could have an affect on people out there.”
In the meantime, Meyers isn’t the only one looking at AAV2.
Remember Muzyczka at the University of Florida?
He’s among the many researchers looking at AAV2 for its use as a transportation device for genes.
Because the virus is so simple, it’s relatively easy for scientists to remove its small amount of genes and replace them with human ones.
The idea is to introduce the carrier virus into the body of a person who might be suffering from a genetic disorder due to a problem in their own body’s DNA structure.
AAV2 virus, carrying the human genes, enters the patient’s cells and inserts its DNA fragment into our genes, repairing or replacing the broken sequence.
Because the virus is small, simple and doesn’t easily replicate, it reduces the chances of something going wrong.
“In a lot of different ways, it’s proving to be the safest way to deliver genes,” Muzyczka said. “And a lot of people are getting kind of excited about this because it does seem innocuous.”
It’s already being tested to treat hemophilia in England, where researchers used it to introduce healthy genes into people with the condition.
AAV2 then could be the key to … systemic gene therapy.
Not only could it kill cancer cells, but it could be the vehicle to treat other genetic conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and cystic fibrosis.
“No one’s at the point where the Food and Drug Administration has approved it,” Muzyczka said. “But it is getting to the point where people think it’s going to work.”
Steps to FDA approval
It’s a long, long road from the laboratory to the bedside, governed by the Food and Drug Administration. The vast majority of all drugs and therapies developed don’t make it. The American Cancer Society estimates it takes about 10 to 12 years to fully develop a drug or therapy from the laboratory to bedside use.
1. Preclinical (animal) testing. This i
s where Dr. Meyers team is in the process.
2. Phase 1 studies (typically involve 20 to 80 people).
3. Phase 2 studies (typically involve a few dozen to about 300 people).
4. Phase 3 studies (typically involve several hundred to about 3,000 people).
5. Submission of a new drug application is the formal step asking the FDA to consider a drug for marketing approval.
6. After an application is received, the FDA has to decide whether to file it so it can be reviewed.
7. Review of the application resulting in application approval or the issue of a response letter.
Source: Federal Food and Drug Administration
Video
http://videos.pennlive.com/patriot-news/2011/11/lab_at_hershey_medical_center.html
Abortion Advocates Continue Attacking Baltimore Pregnancy Centers
Abortion advocates are unhappy that an initial decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said a law attacking pregnancy centers in Maryland was unconstitutional. They have asked the full appeals court to review the decision.
Earlier this month, the appeals court affirmed that laws in Baltimore and Montgomery County, Maryland that force pregnancy resource centers to post signs discouraging women from using their services are unconstitutional.
Now, the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights and the City of Baltimore filed a petition for a new hearing today before the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in their case. The petition requests the entire Fourth Circuit rehear the case en banc, which would allow all active judges on the circuit court to consider the case.
“We wholly disagree with the panel’s decision that crisis pregnancy centers have a First Amendment right” to resist the law, said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “We are confident the full court will agree and ultimately uphold Baltimore’s ordinance.”
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent a pregnancy resource center in the Montgomery County case and filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case involving the Baltimore law.
“Pregnancy centers offer real help and hope to women. They should be free to share that message instead of being compelled to provide the government’s preferred message, which sends women elsewhere,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Pregnancy centers provide women with the emotional support and practical resources they need, giving them more choices. They should not be made to speak negatively about the important services they provide. The 4th Circuit was right to rule against that in both of these cases.”
In Centro Tepeyac v. Montgomery County, the court upheld a district court’s decision that struck down most of the county’s ordinance and reversed the district court on the one section of the ordinance that it didn’t strike down, concluding that “it still amounts to an impermissible government control of speech.”
Mark Rienzi, an ADF-allied attorney and a law professor at Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, argued before the court as lead counsel for Centro Tepeyac in March. Bowman served as co-counsel in the Montgomery County lawsuit as did attorneys Bob Michael and John Garza, two of more than 2,100 attorneys in the ADF alliance.
ADF attorneys filed suit against the county on behalf of Centro Tepeyac in May 2010. The suit concerned a new law that made “limited-service pregnancy centers” and individuals who have a “primary purpose” of offering information about pregnancy face steep fines if they do not post signs saying the county believes women should see a health care professional.
In 2011 in Greater Baltimore Center for Pregnancy Concerns v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, ADF together with the Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the 4th Circuit on behalf of three pro-life medical associations concerned about Baltimore’s law, which was similar to Montgomery County’s. ADF-allied attorney law professors with approximately 20 of their colleagues also filed a brief in opposition to the law.
In January 2011, a federal judge struck down the Baltimore law that was the subject of a lawsuit brought by the Archdiocese of Baltimore because it unfairly attacks pregnancy centers that provide women with abortion alternatives.
The judge granted summary judgment finding the anti-pregnancy center law is viewpoint-based and impossible to render constitutional under the First Amendment. He dismissed without prejudice all other claims and found a couple of the plaintiffs lacked standing (including the Archbishop and the Catholic church that provides space for one of the pregnancy centers that filed suit) but the ruling is viewed as a substantial victory by pro-life advocates.
Early in March 2011, a federal judge struck down most of the law Montgomery County, Maryland officials passed that targets pregnancy centers and requires them to post signs that may turn potential clients away.
ADF attorneys have filed two additional lawsuits involving such laws: one against New York City and the other against Austin, Texas. A federal court halted New York City’s law in July of last year.
In the New York case, last year, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the enactment of the measure abrogating the First Amendment rights of the crisis pregnancy centers. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new ordinance, today filed its brief at an appeals court in response to New York City’s appeal of the preliminary injunction.
The New York City ordinance requires crisis pregnancy centers to post signs in the lobbies of their counseling centers, add extensive additional written language to their advertising materials, and to provide oral statements during both “in person” and telephonic conversations regarding the services offered by crisis pregnancy centers. The requirements apply only to crisis pregnancy centers and not to abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood.
Pregnancy centers in Austin, Texas are fighting a law there as well.
[Ertelt | Baltimore, MD | LifeNews.com | 7/13/12, http://www.lifenews.com/2012/07/13/abortion-advocates-continue-attacking-baltimore-pregnancy-centers/]
New Video Series Documents Pro-Life Concerns About Girl Scouts
A newly-released, three-part video series, produced by former Girl Scouts members and their families, offers compelling evidence of the Girl Scouts’ ties to abortion advocacy groups. The producers say the videos demonstrate how the Girl Scouts’ official curriculum and website connects girls to pro-abortion role models and groups, as well as explicit sexual content.
The video series provides an in-depth look at the facts behind the pro-life concerns over the Girl Scouts, including troubling content in the Journeys curriculum books and the Girl Scouts’ financial and mission-oriented relationships with pro-abortion groups like the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
For remainder of article — http://www.lifenews.com/2012/07/10/new-video-series-documents-pro-life-concerns-about-girl-scouts/
Court Ratifies Landmark Anti-Life Healthcare Law, Covert Abortion Premium Mandate Remains Law of the Land: AUL Breaks Down the Ruling / AUL Legal Team: Initial Analysis
of Supreme Court Ruling in Healthcare
“Covert Abortion Premium Mandate” chart to show your friends how abortion is hidden in the law:
http://www.aul.org/2012/06/graphic-covert-abortion-premium-mandate/
"The Supreme Court decision ratified a landmark anti-life law, containing a covert abortion premium mandate which unfairly forces Americans to pay for abortions – Congress must now take action,” said AUL’s Dr. Charmaine Yoest
“The healthcare law is the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade,” said Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest, and this week’s decision is a “failure to overturn an unconstitutional law that forcibly and unfairly intertwines all Americans and their hard-earned money with the abortion industry.”
“The Obama Administration and the authors of the Affordable Care Act hijacked healthcare reform, as a vehicle for forcing their radical pro-abortion agenda on America.
"AUL is exposing the ‘Covert Abortion Premium Mandate’ that conscripts healthcare managers as secret agents of the abortion industry who are almost entirely forbidden to tell people that they are paying for abortion coverage. Congress must take action. Americans United for Life and AUL Action will be working to advocate that all healthcare is based on life-affirming principles.”
[http://www.aul.org/2012/06/aul-legal-team-initial-analysis-of-supreme-court-ruling-in-healthcare/]
AUL Legal Team: Initial Analysis of Supreme Court Ruling in Healthcare
By Legal Staff
Thursday, June 28th, 2012
Today, the United States Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In an opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court held that the “individual mandate”—the provision that requires nearly all Americans to purchase insurance or pay a penalty—is permissible under Congress’ tax power. Further, the Court held that the ACA’s dramatic expansion of Medicaid funding is constitutional, so long as States are not penalized for rejecting the expanded funding. As explained in more detail below, the Court’s decision did not address any of the abortion-related provisions in the law; further, the decision is not an endorsement of the policies in the Act. Lawsuits challenging unconstitutional mandates in the law will go forward, and Congress can act to repeal anti-life provisions in the law.
The portion of the opinion in NFIB v. Sebelius that upheld the individual mandate under Congress’s authority to “tax,” in which Chief Justice Roberts was joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, may be criticized as requiring a strained reading of the ACA. The Chief Justice admits that
The most straightforward reading of the mandate is that it commands individuals to purchase insurance. After all, it states that individuals ‘shall’ maintain health insurance (emphasis added).
However, while the Chief Justice does not think considering the individual mandate as a “tax” is the “most straightforward” reading of the ACA, he explicated that
The question is not whether that is the most natural interpretation of the mandate, but only whether it is a ‘fairly possible’ one. As we have explained, ‘every reasonable construction must be resorted to, in order to save a statute from unconstitutionality’ (emphasis added).
The Chief Justice’s effort to save the statute from unconstitutionality, however, required reading the provision in a way he rejected earlier in the opinion:
It is of course true that the Act describes the payment as a ‘penalty,’ not a ‘tax.’ But while that label is fatal to the application of the Anti-Injunction Act, it does not determine whether the payment may be viewed as an exercise of Congress’s taxing power.
While it will be hotly debated whether the Chief Justice’s opinion was “reasonable” and permits meaningful limits to the enumerated tax power, it should be noted that the Justices who “joined” his opinion to uphold the individual mandate only did so in part. Justice Ginsburg authored a dissent which was joined by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan[i] that would have upheld the individual mandate under every theory advanced by the Government. However, Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion ensured that the individual mandate was not validated as an exercise of Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause or Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution.
Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito dissented, arguing that both the individual mandate and the Medicaid expansion were unconstitutional. In fact, the dissent would have struck down the entire ACA, stating that these provisions were not severable from the rest of the law.
Regardless of what one thinks about the merits of today’s opinion, it is not an endorsement of the ACA and its anti-life provisions. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, “We do not consider whether the Act embodies sound policies” (emphasis added).
Moreover, today’s opinion is not a declaration of the constitutionality of the anti-life provisions of the ACA. Chief Justice Roberts wrote, “We ask only whether Congress has the power under the Constitution to enact the challenged provisions” (emphasis added). Of the hundreds of provisions in the ACA, only two were challenged in the lawsuit that the Court ruled on today. “The Act’s 10 titles stretch over 900 pages and contain hundreds of provisions. This case concerns constitutional challenges to two key provisions, commonly referred to as the individual mandate and the Medicaid expansion.”
The arguments advanced by Americans United for Life about the unconstitutionality of other provisions of the law were not ruled on by the Court. As AUL, along with lead counsel The Bioethics Defense Fund and other pro-life organizations outlined in our Amicus Curiae Brief submitted to the Court, the ACA violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by effectively forcing millions of individuals to personally pay a separate abortion premium in violation of their sincerely held religious, ethical, or moral beliefs.
This is how the “abortion premium” works. The ACA permits health plans that provide abortion coverage to participate in the Exchanges that must be established in each state under the law. While states are allowed to enact new laws “opting out” of permitting insurance plans that cover abortions to participate in their Exchanges, some states are unable or unwilling to do so. To date, only 16 states have enacted opt-outs. Americans who are inadvertently or through employment enrolled in insurance plans that cover abortion in their state Exchange will be required to pay an “abortion premium” that will be used exclusively to pay for abortions.
Additionally, there is great concern that many Americans will unwittingly enroll in plans that cover abortions, because the ACA includes two “secrecy clauses” in the provision. First, insurance plans that include abortion coverage may only disclose the coverage in the plan’s summary of benefits and coverage, at the time of enrollme
nt. Second, neither Exchanges nor insurance plans may disclose the separate, monthly cost of the “abortion premium” that exclusively pays for abortions.
The 23 lawsuits challenging the “HHS mandate” are also not affected by this ruling. The Obama Administration’s violation of the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of conscience was not at issue in today’s case. Whether action comes through Congress or the courts, there is an urgency to address this anti-life, anti-conscience mandate that will force private health insurance plans to provide coverage for the abortion-inducing drug ella as early as August this year.
Further, the ACA dramatically expands Medicaid funding. The Court’s decision did not invalidate this expansion—it merely held that the federal government could not cut off a state’s current federal Medicaid funds if the state refuses to accept the new Medicaid funding.
Currently, the Hyde Amendment[ii] forbids the use of federal and state matching Medicaid funds for abortions or abortion coverage except in cases where continued pregnancy endangers the life of the woman or where the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. This standard guides both federal and state funding for abortions under joint federal-state Medicaid programs for low-income women, and will apply to the new Medicaid funding provided through the ACA.
Critically, the Hyde Amendment is an appropriations “rider” that must be enacted by Congress every year; therefore, the federal limitation on the use of Medicaid funds to pay for abortions faces potential elimination annually. There are many in Congress who would abandon the Hyde Amendment altogether, and the abortion lobby actively fights for the eradication of Hyde.[iii]
It is therefore imperative that the Senate pass and the President sign the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” which has already passed the House. This law would apply a comprehensive prohibition on federal funding for abortions or insurance coverage for abortion. In other words, this law would apply a Hyde-like restriction on abortion funding to all federal funds, including Medicaid funds and other funds authorized by or appropriated through the ACA.
Further Congress or a pro-life Administration, after carefully examining rules and regulations pertaining to Medicaid, Title X, and other sources of federal family planning funds, should place restrictions on recipients of federal family planning funding to protect life and ensure that the government is not subsidizing the abortion industry. Additionally, states should be permitted to enact additional restrictions on recipients of federal funds within their own jurisdiction.
It also bears repeating: all of the anti-life provisions in the ACA remain, requiring Congress to act. These provisions include:
The lack of a comprehensive prohibition on the use of federal tax dollars for abortions, insurance coverage for abortion, and abortion-inducing drugs and devices;
Federally-subsidized Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) may provide abortion coverage through the state insurance Exchanges required in all 50 states;
Not all multi-state qualified health plans are prohibited from providing coverage for abortion;
Many Americans will be required to pay an “abortion premium” to their insurance carrier;
A “preventive care” mandate is being used to force coverage of drugs and devices known to end life;
A failure to provide comprehensive First Amendment conscience protections for individuals, employers, and insurance companies that have religious or moral objections to abortion.
Two bills currently introduced in Congress would address the anti-life provisions in the ACA—the “Protect Life Act” and the “Respect for Rights of Conscience Act.”
Notably, Chief Justice Roberts opined that “Members of the Court are vested with the authority to interpret the law; we possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our Nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices” (emphasis added).
[i] Justices Breyer and Kagan did not join the Ginsburg dissent insofar as it would allow the federal government to penalize the states for not taking new Medicaid funding.
[ii] Hyde Amendment to the Medicaid Act, Title XIX of the Social Security Act (1976).
[iii] See, e.g. http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/media/fact-sheets/abortion-funding-restrictions.pdf.
[28 June 12, http://www.aul.org/2012/06/aul-legal-team-initial-analysis-of-supreme-court-ruling-in-healthcare/]
[Friday, June 29, 2012, http://www.aul.org/2012/06/graphic-covert-abortion-premium-mandate/]
HHS Shoveling Cash to Planned Parenthood Funders Before ObamaCare Ruling: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Went on a Spending Spree Even Before the Supreme Court HHS Mandate-Tax Decision
The traffic on the Capitol Beltway is nothing compared to the jam outside the U.S. Supreme Court. Reporters have been camped out for days, taking turns broadcasting from what will be the scene of Thursday’s blockbuster ruling on health care. Along the sidewalk, cameras are trained on the 77-year-old building, while crews sit perched in nearby lawn chairs. Everyone is staking their claim to a small piece of concrete, where they—along with the rest of America—will wait out the next 48 hours. If the outside looks like a legal version of Occupy, the inside is a hive of activity. Most former clerks say the major proofreading stage is probably underway, where editors will clock long hours to perfect the text of what could be multiple ObamaCare opinions.
Seven blocks away from the Court, the headquarters of Health and Human Services (HHS) is also buzzing. According to reports, employees there are scrambling to push health care dollars out the door before Thursday’s decision comes down. “Conservatives wanted the White House to stop spending on the health care law until the Supreme Court rules on whether it’s constitutional. But the administration has forged ahead,” Politico points out, “spending at least $2.7 billion since oral arguments in the case that ended on March 28. That’s more than double the amount that was handed out in the three-month period leading up to the arguments.”
In the event that the law is struck down and funding dries up, HHS officials seem anxious to shovel out as much cash as possible. The Wall Street Journal calculates that HHS has doled out almost $5 billion for early retiree coverage, $3.7 billion for prescriptions, another 10 percent in bonuses to doctors who treat Medicare patients, and “billions of dollars more in grants, contracts, and loans to health providers.” Some of the biggest beneficiaries of the Department’s last-minute spending spree have been the president’s pals. Last month, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sank $728 million into Planned Parenthood-eligible “community health centers”—a project that she topped off with another $128 million last week. No one seems to know how—or even if—the money could be recouped if the law is voided.
In the meantime, HHS’s cash dump is helping to expose ObamaCare for what it is: a money grab for the administration’s friends and political allies. Remember the Cornhusker Kickback? Tha
t was nothing compared to the Planned Parenthood Payouts and the Labor Union Shuffles. Let’s hope the justices do us all a favor and send the law to the trash heap where it belongs. Otherwise, the hole these dollars are burning in Secretary Sebelius’s pocket may be nothing compared to the hole they burn in the debt if the policy stays.
[28 June 12, Family Research Center, http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/hhs-shoveling-cash-to-planned-parenthood-funders-before-obamacare-ruling?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=56028cb5e4-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_06_28_2012&utm_medium=email ; This article originally appeared on the website of the Family Research Center and is reprinted with permission]
Key State Billboard Project Begins Saturday June 23
Created Equal's voter education strategy, which focuses on the battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, and Iowa, will officially begin our billboard campaign in Columbus, OH on Saturday, June 23, 2012 [http://www.createdequal.net/projects/voter-education].
Other key state destinations are being considered. The goal is to save lives, register voters, and turn out the pro-life vote on November 6, 2012. Columbus is the initial location because Ohio is one the top battlegrounds for the upcoming election and social issues like abortion are beginning to take center stage. Educating voters on abortion in key states like Ohio before November 6, 2012, is incumbent to achieving our goal of restoring legal protections to the preborn.
"VOTE PRO-LIFE” Battleground States Project, sponsored by Created Equal and Operation Rescue, uses mobile billboards displaying aborted babies on the sides and rear of box trucks juxtaposed next to the phrase "VOTE PRO-LIFE on November 6, 2012.” It will be ongoing until November 6, 2012.
"America is at a crossroads. We have been killing children in the womb for almost forty years. On November 6, 2012, America will either choose life or death. Our billboards permit the victims of abortion to speak for themselves. Ohio voters will play a central part in determining the outcome of the November election. If the photographic evidence of the injustice of abortion doesn't motivate the pro-life vote, nothing will. ” –Mark Harrington, Executive Director, Created Equal
Related — see video (less than 2 minutes) at http://www.createdequal.net/projects/voter-education
[June 22, 2012, Mark Harrington, Columbus OH, http://www.createdequal.net/projects/voter-education]
80-Year-Old Mom Receives Surprise ‘Baby Shower’
An 80-year-old grandmother and mother of six may have stopped bearing children decades ago, but old age has only boosted her love for babies. Earlier this month, friends and family members celebrated the birthday of Joan S., an “avid pro-Life supporter,” by collecting baby items for a pregnancy support center in her honor.
“Joan is well known and loved in the community,” wrote Mary S., daughter-in-law to Joan, on a blog. “Kind and generous, she is beloved by friends and family alike.”
Friends describe Joan as “still a beauty at 80” and “very active.” She “happily” keeps a rigorous volunteer schedule and is recognized as a “tremendous blessing to her family and all who know her.”
As Joan’s big birthday bash approached, her children knew that their mom would not want to be inundated with birthday gifts. Instead, they came up with a novel plan that they made sure to communicate to everyone who knew Joan.
“Please, gifts are unnecessary, but if you would like, in lieu of gifts, please consider bringing an unwrapped item for a newborn baby to be donated in Joan’s honor to Birthright International located in Wentzville,” stated the invitation.
The idea proved to be a smashing success with Joan being, well, showered with baby gifts. An estimated $1,000 dollars worth of baby clothes, blankets, diapers, and toys were collected.
The director of Birthright International in Wentzville, told LifeSiteNews.com that she has never heard of “something like this happening before”.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “This is really stepping up to the plate.”
[For remainder of article — http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/80-year-old-mom-receives-surprise-baby-shower?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d913c2338f-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_06_29_2012&utm_medium=email ; [29 June 12, Peter Baklinski, TROY, MISSOURI]
PLANNED PARENTHOOD
CDC: A black child is at least 2.33 more times likely to be killed in the womb than a white child
PP Resources — http://www.stopp.org/reference/
2011 Report on Planned Parenthood Facilities in the United StateS — 8 page report — http://www.stopp.org/pdfs/2011/2011_Survey_of_Planned_Parenthood_Facilities.pdf
Planned Parenthood is Suing to Keep Our Tax Dollar Funding Flowing
In the last two weeks, Obama has made it crystal clear: his loyalty to Planned Parenthood knows no limits.
You see, while Planned Parenthood spends $1.7 million on a swing-state television ad campaign attacking Romney, incumbent Obama is paying them back by keeping the tax dollars flowing. In the last two weeks alone, Obama has bypassed two states where local pro-life groups and state legislators worked so hard to defund Planned Parenthood.
That’s right: In addition to already interfering in Indiana, Texas, and New Hampshire, the Obama Administration has now stepped in to protect America’s 'Abortion Giant' in Tennessee and New Jersey – by directly issuing grants of taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood and their allies, over which those states have no control.
The good news is that prominent national reporters are starting to take notice.
In fact, just this morning Marjorie was interviewed by Shannon Bream of Fox News about the cozy relationship between Obama and Planned Parenthood. See 2+ minute interview – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX8v5HXWOr8&feature=youtu.be
The SBA List 'is doing everything we can to expose Planned Parenthood’s radical abortion agenda and pass legislation to defund them'.
In May 2012, Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) signed the Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priority Act into law at an SBA List reception in Arizona. This bill was written by your SBA List and Alliance Defending Freedom – but now, Planned Parenthood is SUING the state of Arizona.
Planned Parenthood is suing to stop our pro-life, pro-woman law from being enacted – all because they stand to lose hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. When Planned Parenthood loses in the court of public opinion, they quickly file lawsuits or lean on their friends in the Obama Administration to keep the tax dollars flowing.
[17 July 12, Emily Buchanan, Executive Vice President, Susan B. Anthony List, www.sba-list.org ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX8v5HXWOr8&feature=youtu.be]
Medicaid Fraud: PP Hit with $5.5 Billion Lawsuit for Half Million False Medicaid Claims
Sue Thayer has filed a $5.5 billion whistleblower lawsuit against her former employer, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. According to an Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) press release, Thayer alleges that Planned Parenthood knowingly committed Medicaid fraud from 2002 to 2009 by improperly seeking reimbursements from Iowa Medicaid Enterprise and the Iowa Family Planning Network for products and services not legally reimbursable by those programs.
Thayer alleges that Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa, an affiliate now known as Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, filed nearly a half a million false claims with Medicaid from which Planned Parenthood received and retained nearly $28 million. If Thayer prevails, Planned Parenthood could be ordered to pay the United States and Iowa as much as $5.5 billion in False Claims Act damages and penalties.
The crux of the suit revolves around Planned Parenthood’s birth control pills by mail program. Women who were seen only once at Planned Parenthood (usually by personnel who were not qualified healthcare professionals) automatically received—unrequested—a year’s supply of birth control pills in the mail. While those pills cost Planned Parenthood $2.98 for a 28-day supply, Medicaid was billed $26.32. In instances where the pills were returned to PP by the postal service, PP resold them and charged Medicaid twice for the same pills.
In addition, Thayer alleges that PP personnel solicited payment from low-income women to pay for “services” Medicaid would cover in full.
Thayer joins a growing chorus of former Planned Parenthood employees filing suit against the organization to recover money wrongly concealed in its deep pockets that belongs to taxpayers. …
Read more here — http://www.stopp.org/article.php?id=10678
…AND AT — http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/former-planned-parenthood-employee-sues-abortion-giant-over-medicaid-fraud?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=1264341305-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_07_09_2012&utm_medium=email
RELATED:
Illinois’ Medicaid Inspector investigates Planned Parenthood doctor — Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Planned Parenthood’s Dr. Caroline Hoke was reimbursed for over $3 million by Medicaid during 2009, officially making the Chicago-based abortionist the second-highest-paid doctor of the program at that time.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/illinois-medicaid-inspector-investigates-planned-parenthood-abortionist?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=1264341305-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_07_09_2012&utm_medium=email
Feds Overstep State; Give $1.2 Million to Memphis PP
The federal government has interfered with Tennessee's efforts to defund Planned Parenthood by directly funding the abortion giant to the tune of more than $1.1 million, to be received over the course of three years.
Tennessee last year diverted Title X money to county health departments. In Shelby County, where Memphis is located, the county health department decided to partner with Christ Community Health Center to provide more services to women in need, effectively cutting off Title X funding to PP.
Read more at stopp.org
Planned Parenthood’s Manipulative Language Strategy Leaked
The power of words and formulating arguments is an extremely powerful and precise science. While pro-life advocates are careful to use words that accurately represent terms that surround abortion, Planned Parenthood is careful to craft their language and arguments in a way that will subtly manipulate the issue and cause confusion.
In addition to manipulating confusion, documents that SFLA has recently obtained from Planned Parenthood of NYC also proves that the abortion Goliath knows its losing in the court of public opinion.
For remainder of article — http://www.lifenews.com/2012/07/12/planned-parenthoods-manipulative-language-strategy-leaked/
Planned Parenthood Official Admits “We Have an Image Problem”
In a video that pro-life advocates have unearthed, a top Planned Parenthood official at one of the Western affiliates admits the abortion business has an “image problem” it needs to correct.
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/07/12/planned-parenthood-official-admits-we-have-an-image-problem/
Planned Parenthood Ad: “No Stress, No Worries, No More Pregnancies”
As I was checking my Facebook timeline the other day, I noticed one of several advertisements on the right sidebar on my screen. It was an ad for Planned Parenthood, and it read, “No stress, no worries, and no more pregnancies.”
How’s that for a marketing slogan, brought to you by the number one abortion provider in America!
The message here is clear: Children are a burden, not a blessing. You, the consumer, deserve to be carefree in this world. Babies are a nuisance. And Planned Parenthood offers a variety of services that will make sure no more children enter into the picture—which (hush, hush) includes its flagship product, the dismemberment of infants in the womb.
For Remainder of article — http://www.lifenews.com/2012/07/12/planned-parenthood-ad-no-stress-no-worries-no-more-pregnancies/
Planned Parenthood Targets African-American Music Festival: Black Pro-Life Leaders Furious
Black pro-life leaders are condemning Planned Parenthood’s sponsorship of the African-American 2012 Essence Music Festival, pointing to the abortion organization’s history of involvement in eugenics and targeting minorities.
“The 3500 black deaths linked to the Klan pale in comparison to Planned Parenthood’s 15 million plus Black deaths,” said Dr. Day Gardner, the president of the National Black Pro-Life Union, in response to Planned Parenthood’s sponsorship of the music festival. “Both the KKK and Planned Parenthood share the same ‘end game.’”
“Planned Parenthood is using the 2012 Essence Music Festival to portray themselves as an organization that cares about Black women,” said Walter Hoye II, of the National Black Pro-life Coalition. “This satanic stronghold and sadistic sanctuary is the only strategy Planned Parenthood has left to retreat to, in order to maintain their illegitimate air of credibility in the public square.”
According to official U.S. data, black Americans account for approximately 36.9 percent (2007) of the total U.S. abortion numbers, despite accounting for only 12.9 percent (in 2009) of the total U.S. population.
Numerous pro-life campaigns in the past several years have drawn attention to this disparity in the abortion rate, with many singling out Planned Parenthood, the country’s number one abortion provider, for allegedly targeting blacks.
The annual New Orleans music fest lasted four days, from July 5-8, and showcased African-American culture and talent. Planned Parenthood, in addition to sponsoring the event, had a booth where they provided birth control counseling and information. They also screened the film “A Vital Service: African American Stories of Reproductive Health Care.”
“They consider killing our children ‘a vital service’ and even created a film to sell gullible Blacks on the idea that we need to kill our children if we are to have successful and/or fulfil
ling lives,” Dr. Gardner said…
For remainder of story — http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/planned-parenthood-targets-african-american-music-festival-black-pro-life-l?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8873ae1681-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_07_12_2012&utm_medium=email
[12 July 2012, Jean McCarthy]
Planned Parenthood Annoys Supporters With Unsolicited Telemarketing Calls
I know I’m not the only pro-lifer who glances at Planned Parenthood’s Facebook page now and then. In the last week or so, a noticeable pattern has emerged on the page: supporters complaining about unsolicited phone calls from the abortion giant. Not just unsolicited, but “pushy” and “rude” phone calls.
For remainder of article — http://www.lifenews.com/2012/06/21/planned-parenthood-annoys-supporters-with-unsolicited-telemarketing/
School in Washington State Uses Planned Parenthood Curriculum to Teach Elementary School Kids Oral Sex
Parents could tell something was wrong with the children when they came home from school. They were quiet and withdrawn, embarrassed, and didn’t want to talk about what had happened.
When Curtis and Jean Pannkuk began questioning their young daughter, they discovered that her elementary school principal had instructed her that day in how to perform oral and anal sex. The traumatizing instruction was delivered as a part of state approved sex education that was orchestrated, developed, pushed, and policed by Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, SIECUS, and a host of other agencies.
Though parents in the small town of Onalaska, Washington, are furious that their children have been violated and traumatized by the highly inappropriate sex instruction, the superintendent defended the principal’s delivery of graphic instruction in aberrant sex to the elementary school students, telling local media, “I think the principal handled it appropriately at the time; she only gave factual information, no demonstrations.” In another interview, he indicated that she “stuck to the curriculum.” For Remainder of Article — http://www.lifenews.com/2012/06/20/school-uses-planned-parenthood-curriculum-to-teach-kids-oral-sex/
Planned Parenthood Loses Battle to Open Mega-Abortion Business in Auburn Hills, MI
http://www.jillstanek.com/2012/06/breaking-planned-parenthood-throws-in-1-million-towel-on-michigan-mega-abortion-clinic/
Komen Sees Huge Drop in Support After Planned Parenthood Funding
affiliates are seeing huge drops in support — in terms of the number of walkers participating in events and the amount of donations coming in — following its decision to re-establish funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
In Missouri, KMOX reports that one of the largest Komen walks in the country, in St. Louis, saw almost half the number of walkers this time as it did the year prior. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/06/21/komen-sees-huge-drop-in-support-after-planned-parenthood-funding/
Planned Parenthood Aborts Plans to Open a Mega-Business
In what pro-life leaders are calling a “huge victory for life,” Planned Parenthood has settled a lawsuit and quietly put the 17,050-square-foot building it purchased in Auburn Hills, Michigan back on the market for sale.
Pro-lifers are cautiously jubilant. “We prevailed in what was set before us,” said Dr. Monica Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society (CPLS), who spearheaded the opposition against Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan (PPMSM). “There will be no abortions out of there but we are watching to see if they are still looking for other places to open a clinic in Oakland County.”
The planned site of the Auburn Hills Planned Parenthood.
PPMSM announced that they intended to open a “full-service” clinic in Oakland County in April of 2010. In November of the same year, they purchased the prime property on N. Opdyke Road, local to several high schools, colleges, and universities. From that location, they could also target the African-American population in nearby Pontiac.
Upon hearing the news, pro-life activists and citizens in Auburn Hills began with swift and furious opposition, calling the situation a community crisis. Concerted efforts united Christian leaders, churches, and pro-life groups: Citizens for a Pro-life Society, Central Oakland Right to Life, Crossroads Pregnancy Center, Lifespan/RTL, Nurses for Life, Heartfelt Family Services, Real Estate for Life, and pro-life attorneys, who held organizational meetings and used their individual skills to delve into the problem.
The community petitioned and gathered 10,850 signatures and presented them to the Auburn Hills City Council and to Washington, D.C. CPLS organized a steady stream of protest rallies with speakers that drew hundreds to the site.
Residents promised to boycott any local contractors who would agree to develop the empty building. Lastly, but most of all, they called for prayer.
Believing that prayer was something that everyone could do, Miller said, “We need your prayers! Everyone should be praying daily and fervently that this abortion clinic will not open! Pray to stop the killing. Pray for the vulnerable women, the abandoned and lonely unborn child who wants to live. Pray that funds will be cut to Planned Parenthood[.]”
The fruit of all this effort and what appears to have won the day was a legal battle that began after Real Estate for Life founder Dave Theisen discovered a covenant deed restriction limiting the property to office, retail, or restaurant use only. The owners of the property, practicing Hindus, tried to enforce the deed restriction, causing PPMSM to file a lawsuit.
The building remained undeveloped while the judicial process played out. In the courtroom, Judge James Alexander decided that more time was needed before deciding on whether Planned Parenthood could call itself a “medical office” as a type of office under the restriction or whether Defense Attorney James Carey could define what a medical office means. Alexander ultimately ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood, but not until more than a year had passed from the time the land had been purchased.
Planned Parenthood lost hundreds of thousands on the property in the meantime. After 18 months of fighting to develop the empty building into an abortion mega-clinic, Planned Parenthood has settled the lawsuit, agreeing that they will never perform abortions at the site.
Details of the settlement are confidential, and Lori Lamerand, CEO of Mid and South Michigan Planned Parenthood, never admitted that they were in a financial bind, but rather claimed that the organization had decided not to waste money on “frivolous litigation.” Lamerand insists in the Oakland Press that PPMSM is content with the settlement. “Even though the lower court agreed that we had every right to operate a medical office on the site, we’ve decided that we are not going to
spend more time and money litigating their baseless claims,” she said. “Instead, we will focus upon providing critical health care services. We have not wavered in our commitment to opening more centers in Oakland County.”
Attorney James Carey said that in the settlement, Planned Parenthood and the hotel owners agreed to amend the restrictive covenant so that no abortion services will be permitted on the property.
This is something you can do in real estate, says attorney and pro-life leader Rebecca Kiessling. “Property owners, you can keep an abortion clinic from opening. Stipulate it in your deed. Add the words, ‘in perpetuity’ and an abortion may never been performed on your property!”
For remainder of article — http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/it-gives-me-the-chills-planned-parenthood-aborts-plans-to-open-a-mega-clini?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=56028cb5e4-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_06_28_2012&utm_medium=email
[29 June 12, Karen Dudek; LiveActionNews.org, 28 June 12 ]
Planned Parenthood Gives Up Building New Michigan Abortion Biz
The Planned Parenthood abortion business has given up on its bid to build a new abortion facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan, outside of Detroit. The decision comes even as a Michigan court, in January, allowed a local Planned Parenthood to build a new abortion business in the Detroit area despite a restriction on the deed Planned Parenthood obtained for a building prohibiting an abortion clinic.
The restriction was put in place by the owners of the Comfort Inn Hotel located behind the building Planned Parenthood purchased several years ago. In October 2010, attorneys for the abortion business tried to get the owners of the Comfort Inn to agree the building could be used as a “medical office” without mentioning that abortions would be done at the facility. Comfort Inn’s owners balked and Planned Parenthood sued in court. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/06/21/planned-parenthood-gives-up-building-new-michigan-abortion-biz/
Planned Parenthood Runs Public School-Based 'Clinic' [sic] in Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Times has a new profile of a school-based health clinic the Planned Parenthood abortion business runs in partnership with the Los Angeles public school district. These kinds of clinics have long been a concern for pro-life advocates, worried they have taxpayer-funded public schools obtaining more customers for the abortion business and preying on teenagers potentially without parental knowledge or permission.
As the Times reports: Throughout the school year, students visit the on-campus clinic [sic] to get birth control, pregnancy tests, counseling and screening for sexually transmitted diseases. The services, which are free and confidential, are offered through a unique collaboration between Planned Parenthood and the Los Angeles Unified School District designed to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies among teenagers at the Boyle Heights high school.
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/06/05/planned-parenthood-runs-public-school-based-clinic-in-los-angeles/