The state of New Jersey is seeking to suspend the medical license of notorious abortionist Steven Brigham. New Jersey officials maintain that Brigham “would represent a clear and imminent danger to the public health, safety, and welfare.” Brigham operates a chain of abortion centers in a number of states. He is no longer permitted to own abortion facilities in Pennsylvania, although he is reportedly appealing that decision. The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation is closely monitoring the Brigham situation and will bring you further developments as they occur.
The latest installment of the radio commentary Pro-Life Notes is available at http://www.paprolife.org/news/commentaries.html . There, you’ll find out about Mother Teresa and the pro-life cause…an “American Idol” pro-life story…and why you need to register for the 2010 Celebrate Life Banquet. Happy listening!
The issuance of a new postage stamp in honor of the late Mother Teresa should bring new attention to the Catholic woman’s steadfast defense of human life. Education Director Maria Vitale has written a column for LifeNews.com about Mother Teresa, the Postal Service, and the pro-life cause. You’ll find the piece at http://lifenews.com/int1636.html .
Notorious abortionist Steven Brigham, who has been ordered to stop operating abortion centers in Pennsylvania, is facing more legal trouble. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Brigham’s four state abortion business is under investigation. After one of his patients was critically injured, Brigham allegedly refused to call an ambulance, placing the semi-conscious, bleeding woman in the back of a rented car and driving her to an emergency room. In August, the state of Maryland ordered Brigham to stop performing abortions in the state. During a raid of one of his facilities, police discovered the remains of 35 preborn babies and various fetal parts. One nagging question remains: How many other abortionists are endangering the lives of women through similar unsafe practices? You can find the latest on Brigham at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/102131499.html .
Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum and the Most Rev. Joseph McFadden, Catholic bishop of Harrisburg, will speak at the 2010 Celebrate Life Banquet October 19th at the Sheraton Harrisburg-Hershey, 4650 Lindle Rd., Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
“We are honored to have these two men of distinction appear at our banquet. Both Senator Santorum and Bishop McFadden have been champions of the right to life and both have worked diligently to restore a culture of life that respects the dignity of all persons, from conception to natural death,” said Maria Vitale, Education Director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life.
Former Senator Santorum will give the keynote address. He led the fight to ban the outrageous practice of partial-birth abortion during his time in Congress. National polls show that as many as 70 percent of Americans supported the ban. Senator Santorum and his wife Karen have also served as an inspiration to many in their handling of the special challenge of caring for a child with disabilities.
Bishop McFadden will offer opening remarks at the banquet. He has said that honoring the sanctity of human life will be a priority in his role as bishop of the 15-county diocese of Harrisburg. During his time as auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, Bishop McFadden won the respect and admiration of the pro-life community for his efforts to protect preborn children and their mothers from the harm of abortion. The 2010 Celebrate Life Banquet benefits the life-saving work of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation Education Fund. To learn more about the Federation, please visit our website at www.paprolife.org.
Many Americans cannot remember a time when abortion was illegal. Pro-abortion forces conjure up all sorts of images about what an abortion-free America would look like, but those images are likely to be highly distorted. Education Director Maria Vitale recently wrote a column for LifeNews.com about the myths surrounding the effort to protect preborn children and their mothers from harm. You’ll find her eye-opening column at http://lifenews.com/nat6661.html .
A new poll shows that the vast majority of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of destructive embryonic stem cell research. The Rasmussen Reports survey indicates 57 percent of those questioned do not want their tax dollars spent on such questionable research. The poll shows that the Obama Administration is clearly out of step with the American public on this critical issue. You can read more about the poll at http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/august_2010/57_oppose_taxpayer_funding_of_embryonic_stem_cell_research .
A new poll shows that a plurality of Americans oppose abortions at taxpayer-funded military bases. The Polling Company Survey found respondents don’t want abortions performed at hospitals that treat soldiers. The margin of opposition was 49 percent to 41 percent. 51 percent of members of the armed forces opposed such abortions. Congress should keep these findings in mind when it comes to setting policy. You can read more about the poll at http://lifenews.com/nat6642.html .
A new national poll indicates that a large number of Americans believe that abortions are too easy to obtain in the U.S. The Rasmussen Reports survey shows nearly half of those surveyed hold that view. Interestingly enough, women were more likely to say that abortions are too easy to obtain than men were. Also, 54 percent of respondents said that abortions are morally wrong most of the time. You can read more about the poll’s findings at http://lifenews.com/nat6638.html .
The latest edition of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Online News is up and ready for viewing at http://www.paprolife.org/resources/e_news.html . There, you’ll find out why Senators Casey and Specter don’t reflect the views of the pro-life community…how the Obama Administration is playing politics with science…and two big reasons why you should attend the 2010 Celebrate Life Banquet in Harrisburg. To subscribe to the Online News, please send an e-mail with the word “subscribe” in the subject line to lifelines@paprolife.org.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has published the amazing story of the survival of two babies who were born at 23 weeks’ gestation. The miracle of modern technology is helping these children to live despite incredible odds. It’s ironic that preborn babies of similar gestation are aborted in America under the devastating U.S. Supreme Court rulings known as Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. You’ll find the Inquirer story here.
A new column shows the parallels between “Climategate,” the scientific scandal over global warming, and human embryonic stem cell research.
Gene Tarne and David Prentice write:
Like Climategate, the public policy debate over hESCR has shown that scientists are not always disinterested parties.. Rather, scientists can be every bit as political and partisan as the politicians, selectively using scientific “evidence” to justify their ideological viewpoint.
The patterns of behavior promoting public funding of hESCR have been strikingly similar to Climategate: selective use of data, manipulation of the peer review process, demonizing colleagues who questioned the prevailing orthodoxies and appeals to a bogus scientific “consensus,” among others. Those who questioned this supposed “consensus” were dismissed as scientifically ignorant and accused of playing politics with science.
You can read the rest of the eye-opening column here.
The latest edition of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Online News can be found at http://www.paprolife.org/resources/e_news.html . There, you’ll find out about a special guest at our Celebrate Life Banquet…how PA became the center of a national abortion debate…and why there’s a prediction the U.S. Supreme Court will move to restrict abortion.
Executive Director Michael Ciccocioppo has written an insightful op-ed piece about how Pennsylvania became the center of a national debate over public funding of abortion. This is a must-read for all Pennsylvania pro-lifers. You’ll find the column at http://www.centredaily.com/2010/07/23/2110103/state-finds-itself-at-center-of.html?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted&qwxq=4502474#Comments_Container .
The Pennsylvania Department of Health has ordered notorious abortionist Steven Brigham to end his ownership of abortion centers in Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, and State College.
According to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Brigham is under fire for consistently employing unlicensed personnel. He’s also facing nearly a quarter of a million dollars in liens from the Internal Revenue Service for failing to pay payroll taxes.
Unfortunately, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Health now says that the abortion centers can continue operating under a different owner.
Brigham has a long history of health and safety violations. In 1994, the state of New York revoked his license, ruling that he was guilty of “gross negligence” and “inexcusably bad judgment” involving late-term abortions. He lost his license in Florida for failing to disclose the fact that he lost his license in New York. His license was suspended in New Jersey in 1993.
The question remains: how many other abortionists in Pennsylvania are guilty of the same kind of reckless disregard for patient safety?
From a National Right to Life press release:
WASHINGTON (July 13, 2010) – The Obama Administration will give Pennsylvania $160 million to set up a new “high-risk” insurance program under a provision of the federal health care legislation enacted in March — and has quietly approved a plan submitted by an appointee of Governor Edward Rendell (D) under which the new program will cover any abortion that is legal in Pennsylvania.
The high-risk pool program is one of the new programs created by the sweeping health care legislation (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) that President Obama signed into law on March 23. The law authorizes $5 billion in federal funds for the program, which will cover as many as 400,000 people when it is implemented nationwide.
“The Obama Administration will give Pennsylvania $160 million in federal tax funds, which we’ve discovered will pay for insurance plans that cover any legal abortion,” said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of right-to-life organizations in all 50 states. “This is just the first proof of the phoniness of President Obama’s assurances that federal funds would not subsidize abortion — but it will not be the last.”
An earlier version of the health care legislation, passed by the House of Representatives in November 2009, contained a provision (the Stupak-Pitts Amendment) that would have prevented federal funds from subsidizing abortion or insurance coverage of abortion in any of the programs created by the bill, including the high-risk pool program. But President Obama opposed that pro-life provision, and it was not included in the bill later approved by both houses and signed into law. An executive order signed by the President on March 24, 2010 did not contain effective barriers to federal funding of abortion, and did not even mention the high-risk pool program.
“President Obama successfully opposed including language in the bill to prevent federal subsidies for abortions, and now the Administration is quietly advancing its abortion-expanding agenda through administrative decisions such as this, which they hope will escape broad public attention,” Johnson said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has emphasized that the high-risk pool program is a federal program and that the states will not incur any cost. On May 11, 2010, in a letter to Democratic and Republican congressional leaders on implementation of the new law, DHHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote that “states may choose whether and how they participate in the program, which is funded entirely by the federal government.”
Details of the high-risk pool plans for most states are not yet available. But on June 28, Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario (a member of the appointed cabinet of Governor Edward Rendell, a Democrat) issued a press release (see: http://tinyurl.com/icrelease) announcing that the federal Department of Health and Human Services had approved his agency’s proposal for implementing the new program in Pennsylvania. “The state will receive $160 million to set up the program, which will provide coverage to as many as 5,600 people between now and 2014,” according to the release. “The plan’s benefit package will include preventive care, physician services, diagnostic testing, hospitalization, mental health services, prescription medications and much more, with subsidized premiums of $283 a month.”
Examination of the detailed Pennsylvania plan (posted here: www.nrlc.org/AHC/PennsylvaniaHighRiskPoolPlan.pdf), reveals that the “much more” will include insurance coverage of any legal abortion.
The section on abortion (see page 14) asserts that “elective abortions are not covered.” However, that statement proves to be a red herring, because the operative language does not define “elective.” Rather, the proposal specifies that the coverage “includes only abortions and contraceptives that satisfy the requirements of” several specific statutes, the most pertinent of which is 18 Pa. C.S. § 3204, which says that an abortion is legal in Pennsylvania (consistent with Roe v. Wade) if a single physician believes that it is “necessary” based on “all factors (physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman’s age) relevant to the well-being of the woman.” Indeed, the cited statute provides only a single circumstance in which an abortion prior to 24 weeks is NOT permitted under the Pennsylvania statute: “No abortion which is sought solely because of the sex of the unborn child shall be deemed a necessary abortion.”
As a result, “Under the Rendell-Sebelius plan, federal funds will subsidize coverage of abortion performed for any reason, except sex selection,” said NRLC’s Johnson. “The Pennsylvania proposal conspicuously lacks language that would prevent funding of abortions performed as a method of birth control or for any other reason, except sex selection — and the Obama Administration has now approved this.”
A group of Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives who initially withheld support from the federal health care bill, because of concerns about pro-abortion effects, cited President Obama’s March 24 executive order in justifying their votes to pass the bill over objections from NRLC and other pro-life groups, which argued that the executive order did not contain effective barriers to federal subsidies for abortion. As USA Today reported on March 25, “Both sides in the abortion debate came to a rare agreement on Wednesday: The executive order on abortion signed by President Obama, they said, was basically meaningless. ‘A transparent political fig leaf,’ according to the National Right to Life Committee’s Douglas Johnson. ‘A symbolic gesture,’ said Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards.”
NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and Senior Legislative Counsel Susan T. Muskett, J.D., are available for interviews to discuss federal abortion subsidies through the new high-risk pool program and other abortion-related problems with the new federal health care law. To arrange an interview, call the NRLC Communications Department at (202) 626-8825 or send e-mail to mediarelations@nrlc.org
The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) is a federation of the right-to-life organizations in all 50 states (including the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation), with more than 3,000 local chapters.
Senator Orrin Hatch argues against confirmation of Elena Kagan as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice in a piece appearing in National Review Online:
The first important standard is experience. Ms. Kagan has never before served as a judge — and, in addition, has little legal experience of any kind. Over the Supreme Court’s long history, justices who were nominated without past judicial experience have had an average of 21 years of legal practice. Ms. Kagan has two. Her experience is instead academic and political.
Senator Hatch also believes that Kagan has an inappropriate judicial philosophy:
Will the Constitution control Elena Kagan, or will she try to control the Constitution? Does she believe that judges may change the meaning of the Constitution, and of the law generally? Is there any evidence that her personal or political views drive her legal views?
…Liberty requires limits on government; it always has, and it always will. That includes limits on judges. Measured against that standard, Elena Kagan’s record shows that her primarily academic and political experience and her activist judicial philosophy make her inappropriate for serving on the Supreme Court. Her hearing offered nothing to neutralize the clear evidence of what kind of justice she will be.
Please go to http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/alert/?alertid=15225531&type=CO to urge your Senators to oppose Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court.
Please take a moment to urge U.S. Senators Bob Casey and Arlen Specter to vote against the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. There is every indication that Kagan will not strictly interpret the constitution, but will rule based on her own pro-abortion feelings. Kagan played a key role in blocking the much-needed federal ban on partial-birth abortion during the Clinton Administration. To take action now, please go to http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/alert/?alertid=15225531&type=CO .
Thank you to all the students who stopped by our table at the Creation Christian music festival. We hope you enjoyed getting a chance to hold our soft-touch fetal models. Be sure to join our Facebook group, our MySpace Group, and follow us on Twitter. You can do them all through the homepage of our website at http://www.paprolife.org/. And thanks especially to our student volunteers. Creation would not have been the same without you!
Check out the newest edition of the PA Pro-Life Online News at http://www.paprolife.org/resources/e_news.html . You’ll find out why you need to be at our 2010 Celebrate Life Banquet….why the newest Catholic bishop of Harrisburg has such a strong pro-life record…and what Republican leader Congressman John Boehner plans to do next in the wake of pro-abortion health care reform. Happy reading!