Sunday, June 19, 2011

News form the past....

From time to time I will put some old news on to take us back to were we have come from, and how things have change (for the good and bad).

01/22/2001

Bush blocks funds for international abortions


WASHINGTON (AP) — On Monday's anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, President Bush signed a memorandum reinstating the full abortion restrictions on U.S. overseas aid that his father and former President Reagan had instituted before him.
"It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion either here or abroad," Bush wrote in his executive memorandum to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversees family-planning aid to foreign countries.
It was Bush's first major policy action since becoming president on Saturday.
It reverses the Clinton administration's position on unrestricted family-planning aid and bars U.S. money to international groups that use their own money to support abortion — either through performing the surgery, counseling on abortion as a family-planning option or lobbying foreign governments on abortion policy.
On his first workday in the White House, Bush also gave a written statement to marchers on the 28th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
"The promises of our Declaration of Independence are not just for the strong, the independent or the healthy. They are for everyone, including unborn children," his statement said. "We share a great goal, to work toward a day when every child is welcomed in life and protected in law .. to build a culture of life, affirming that every person at every stage and season of life, is created equal in God's image."
Abortion-rights supporter Kate Michelman saw it as Bush's latest act of war on women's reproductive rights, following on his nomination of staunch abortion opponents to key Cabinet posts — former Sen. John Ashcroft for attorney general and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson as secretary of health and human services.
Bush "is using his presidential powers quite aggressively already to undermine a woman's right to choose and clear a pathway to the overturning of Roe v. Wade," Michelman said. "I think it's a harbinger of things to come — Supreme Court appointments, judicial appointments .. . There's quite a bit of harm that can be done to women's reproductive rights.
"He clearly is bending to the will of the far right on these issues. He so quickly shed his facade and his cloak of moderation on this issue," she said.
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer refused to speculate on the timing. "It's an important issue. Executive orders are possible at any time," Fleischer said.
Current law bans the use of U.S. funds for any abortions in foreign countries. Former Presidents Reagan and Bush further banned U.S. aid to international groups that use their own money to support abortion — either through performing the surgery, counseling on abortion as a family-planning option, or lobbying foreign governments on abortion policy — in what became known as the Mexico City policy because it was announced by Reagan at a 1984 population conference there.
President Clinton repealed the policy, which abortion-rights advocates call "the global gag rule," two days after he entered office in 1993. It went through several subsequent iterations as the Democratic president reached different compromises with congressional Republicans.
U.S. funds will flow unrestricted to international family-planning groups on Feb. 15 unless the new president acts by executive order to impose abortion restrictions, as Bush has decided to do.
Anti-abortion lawmakers who agreed in last year's spending bill to let U.S.-assisted family-planning groups do whatever they wanted with their own money gambled that Bush would be elected.
With the Bush White House signaling a decision Monday, abortion opponents celebrated.
"This means that the U.S. government will no longer be using taxpayer dollars to try to legalize abortion in countries in Latin America, Africa and Muslim countries in which the people are strongly opposed to abortion and believe in the protection of unborn children," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life Committee.
Bush's written statement to the "March for Life" was delivered by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., a leader of the anti-abortion movement, to activists gathered on the National Mall.
Asked why Bush wasn't presenting the statement himself, either in person or by telephone, Fleischer said the president chose the manner in which to deliver his message and it "signifies that he has an important statement to make."
The politically and emotionally charged issue of abortion promised to test Bush's ability to deliver on his oft-repeated promise to unite Democrats and Republicans.
Since the election was decided, Bush has answered questions on the issue with a relatively tepid reminder: "As you know, I campaigned as a pro-life candidate."
But while he may not himself engage in the sound and fury of the activists who back him, Bush has nominated a staunch abortion opponent for attorney general, former Sen. John Ashcroft, and signaled quick action to reverse Clinton policies supporting access to abortion.

In heated presser, Cain discusses the Fed, abortion and gun rights

Abortion was the third hot-button issue to be brought up. Cain, along with Mitt Romney, has refused to sign a pledge circulated by the Susan B. Anthony List. Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum each signed, vowing to nominate judges and appoint executive branch officials who are opposed to abortion. The pledge also commits signers to push legislation to end all taxpayer funding of abortion and to sign a law to “protect unborn children who are capable of feeling pain from abortion.”
Cain explained that he could not pledge to “advance” legislation as president because that’s the job of the Congress.
“I don’t know about other folks, but I read, and I had problems with one word in there,” he said. “But people went nuts … They didn’t consider that small request or point of clarification good enough so they threw me under the bus.”
He stressed that he opposes all abortion rights, from conception to delivery.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Pennsylvania senators vote to study cost of proposed abortion-clinic rules



HARRISBURG - The battle over proposals to impose tougher standards at Pennsylvania's 20 abortion clinics took a new turn Monday as state senators voted to study what those standards would cost the clinics.
After an hour of heated debate, the Senate approved an amendment that would require the independent Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a study within 90 days of the bill's becoming law detailing additional costs that would be incurred by abortion clinics.
The amendment would not delay implementing the law, but it would address concerns that abortion providers have voiced that the law would impose such costly physical and staffing requirements that some clinics would be forced to close.
The issue has provoked an unusual running floor battle between two Republican senators - Bob Mensch, a former business executive from Montgomery County, and Pat Vance of Cumberland County, the legislature's only registered nurse.
Monday's 31-19 vote on the "study" amendment, proposed by Vance, was largely on party lines, but with notable Republican defections on sex and geographic lines. The measure picked up support of the majority of Republican women as well as several GOP senators from Southeastern Pennsylvania.
A final vote could come as early as Tuesday.
Vance, the lead sponsor of the original bill, said a study would shed light in the dispute over whether new requirements would shutter clinics. "Some say, 'Yes, it would shut them down'; others say, 'No, it won't,' " she said.
Mensch - who won passage last week of an amendment toughening the restrictions in Vance's original bill - said he was merely following the recommendations of the grand jury report last year that led to murder charges against Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell. That report - which said Gosnell's clinic had gone uninspected for 17 years - prompted calls for tougher scrutiny of abortion clinics.
Mensch's amendment would require clinics that perform abortions after nine weeks of pregnancy to meet the same standards as the nearly 300 "ambulatory surgical facilities" that perform outpatient operations. Those facilities have larger surgical rooms, wider, hospital-grade elevators, and a registered nurse on-site at all times.
Mensch's language would make Pennsylvania's abortion clinic regulations among the nation's most stringent. Ten states, including New Jersey, have similar laws - but they apply only to abortions later in pregnancy.
Mensch said during the Senate debate that there was no evidence clinics would be forced to close by such a law.
In 2009, two researchers who support abortion rights reached the opposite conclusion. They studied the effect of similar laws in two states and published their findings in the American Journal of Public Health.
In Texas, they found, the number of clinics offering abortions after 16 weeks of pregnancy dropped from 20 providers to none in 2004, when the law was imposed. By 2005, two clinics managed to come into compliance, with renovation costs estimated by one administrator at $750,000. By 2007, four clinics qualified as outpatient surgery centers; those clinics' fees increased $200 to $1,000 per procedure.
The researchers said Mississippi's only abortion clinic turned away more than 600 women seeking second-trimester abortions during the 18 months it took to comply with a 2005 law.
At Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, president Dayle Steinberg oversees four clinics. Of those, she said, only the Northeast Philadelphia clinic could comply with the proposed new requirements because it is on a ground floor and needs no elevator.
Even there, Steinberg said, it would take an estimated two years and $1 million in construction to comply with the proposed new standards by turning four small operating rooms into one big one.
Both sides in the legislative debate have invoked the importance of women's health and safety. In urging the defeat of Vance's amendment, Mensch said the Gosnell grand jury report noted that most abortion clinics already "meet the highest level of care" and wouldn't have to make drastic changes.
Vance disagreed, telling colleagues, "If [the clinics] close down, women won't have health care."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/123795454.html

Planned Parenthood Closes Center Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

"An affiliate of the Planned Parenthood abortion business that operates in Pennsylvania is closing one of its centers just north of Philadelphia due to financial concerns. The Doylestown center did not do abortions but made abortion referrals."

http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/14/planned-parenthood-closes-center-near-philadelphia-pennsylvania/

Three abortion bills could become law within the next two weeks

By Ashley Lopez

Gov. Rick Scott has two weeks to sign House Bills 501, 1127 and 1247 before they automatically become law:
  • House Bill 501 loosens up restrictions on where funds collected through the sale of Choose Life, Inc. license plates are spent. Some fear that some of the money could go to crisis pregnancy centers in Florida.
  • House Bill 1127 is the mandatory-ultrasound bill. The legislation will require all doctors to perform on ultrasound on women before providing any abortion service, whether it is medically necessary or not. The bill provides an opt-out provision for viewing or listening to a description of the ultrasound.
  • House Bill 1247 would impose more restrictions on minors seeking a judicial bypass for the mandatory parental-consent-for-abortion law. If the bill is signed, young women will only be able to appeal to courts where they reside (which some argue infringes on privacy rights). The bill also requires that young women be lectured by judges hearing the appeal, and the bill also extends waiting periods for a ruling on the appeal.
    Similar legislation was once sought by the husband of the current bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland. Stargel’s husband was a state representative before becoming a circuit court judge — the position he holds now. Judge Stargel is among a handful of people who decide whether or not a young woman may receive a judicial bypass. It is on the record that not only did he, prior to becoming a judge, favor legislation that makes it harder for these women to get a bypass, but that his wife incorporated many of the provisions he sought as a legislator in her own bill. She claims that the bill is an effort to lighten “burdens on the courts.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida has previously said that it has been taking a close look at some of the bills. Maria Kayanan, associate legal director for the ACLU, says that the organization never rules out suing over any bill. # Scott has already signed his first anti-abortion bill into law. The bill outlawed public funding for abortions in health care exchanges created by the federal health care reform law.

http://floridaindependent.com/33874/three-abortion-rights-bills-could-become-law-within-the-next-two-weeks

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Two Senate Republicans square off on abortion bill in PA

Vance drafted the original Senate Bill 732 to strengthen state licensing standards and inspections after physician Kermit Gosnell was charged with the murder of seven babies and one woman at his West Philadelphia clinic.

http://www.philly.com/phillycom/pm_21407/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=VeS59QPg

Ohio man gets 13 years in gunpoint-abortion case

An Ohio man charged under a fetal homicide law has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for taking his pregnant girlfriend to an abortion clinic at gunpoint and trying to force her to get an abortion.

His girlfriend didn't want to go through with the procedure, and she has since delivered a healthy baby.

A judge sentenced Holt-Reid on Thursday to five years for attempted murder, five years for abduction and three years for a gun being involved.

Prosecutors in Columbus argued that 28-year-old Dominic Holt-Reid lacked remorse.

The judge rejected arguments from a defense attorney that Holt-Reid was guilty of much less serious domestic violence charges, such as aggravated menacing and coercion, and should have received a lighter sentence.

Prosecutors brought their case using a 1996 law that says a person can be found guilty of murder for causing the unlawful termination of a pregnancy.

Teens Face More Mental Health Risks From Abortion Than From Bearing an Unplanned Pregnancy

Research Says Teens Face More Mental Health Risks, Even When Pregnancy Is Unplanned

http://afterabortion.org/2009/teens-face-more-mental-health-risks-from-abortion-than-from-bearing-an-unplanned-pregnancy/

Iowa House passes abortion ban after 18 weeks pregnancy


DES MOINES | Wed Jun 8, 2011 5:49pm EDT
(Reuters) - The Iowa House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would establish the toughest abortion restriction in the country, banning the procedure after 18 weeks.
Five other states have passed laws that ban abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy. Earlier this year, the Republican-led Iowa House embraced a similar ban, which was never taken up in the Senate. The new House bill would ban the procedure two weeks earlier.
Representative Dawn Pettengill, a Republican who supports the bill, was surprised to hear the new bill was tougher than the previous version.
"I believe that life begins at conception, so to me, I say, 'Great!'" Pettengill said. "I'm glad that is true."
The proposed ban would allow abortions after the 18th week of pregnancy only if the mother's life were at risk.
House Republicans established rules that prevented debate of the measure before the vote was taken.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Democrat, called the debate-free vote "disgusting."
Elizabeth Nash, policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research group, said she was "really surprised" by the bill.
"This is an unbelievable attack on women's rights," Nash said. "This just shows how far they're willing to go."
The bill faces a dim future in the Democratic-controlled Iowa Senate. Democrats there have passed a proposal that sets up a new state permit process which prevents a Nebraska doctor from following through on his plans to open a late-term abortion clinic in the city of Council Bluffs. But such a clinic would be able to open in other Iowa cities.
(Reporting by Kay Henderson; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Greg McCune)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/us-abortion-states-iowa-idUSTRE7576YF20110608?irpc=932

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Ideology can't be left to the anti-abortionists (a look from the other side)




 
 Zohra Moosa

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/07/anti-abortionists-ideology-abortion-rights

There was a great turn-out last night at the pro-choice meeting that Jess McCabe and Sunny Hundal organised.
The discussion was wide-ranging, with some excellent speaking from Diane Abbott MP, Abortion Rights and Education for Choice. One of the topics I raised and I'd like to explore further is the ethical – and political – case for women's access to abortion.
There was a strong current in the room advocating taking a scientific, public health approach to abortion rights. They recommended making informed, fact-based interventions to the debates on abstinence education, for example. And some people highlighted how effective this can be, especially where anti-abortion lobbyists are making spurious "pseudo-scientific" claims and considering how the mainstream majority already believes in women's right to choose.
However, some people also made a lot of the fact that anti-abortion lobbyists are operating from a position of ideology, rather than science. While this may be true, I don't agree that ideology, per se, is a bad thing. Feminism is an ideology. I kind of like it. Moreover science can be marshalled in defence of all kinds of ideologies – including ones I don't agree with.
Science is a tool, and it is not apolitical. Scientists can be political actors, with agendas. The idea that science is the opposite of ideology is not borne out by how science is produced, how evidence is gathered, what conclusions we come to through "facts". Enter climate change debates!
Meanwhile, I do not want to lose the ethical, political, and also ideological at times, case for abortion rights and reproductive justice. Women have the right to own and control what happens to their bodies. These rights are enshrined in laws and human rights principles that the UK has signed up to. And all women are entitled to them.
For example, regardless of whether "life" is viable at 20 weeks or not (it's not), women should still be able to legally, safely, affordably access abortion. We should also be able to access abortions after 24 weeks. And we really should be able to access abortions regardless of where in the UK we are located – the restrictions in Northern Ireland are unacceptable. Full stop.
Certainly I understand the benefits of pragmatism and advocating "evidence-based policymaking", as well as why we should equip ourselves and others, including our politicians, with the facts on abortion as we move into this next phase of pro-choice campaigning. Myth-busting and real stories from women who've actually had abortions are essential to resist anti-women movements and illustrate how appropriate a pro-choice position is for a fair and humane society.
But let's also remember that our work is political: our rights to our bodies is a contested ideological terrain. Let's not be so keen to leave this arena lest we suddenly find ourselves out of the conversation altogether.

Report: Louisiana Considering Bill That Would Overrule Roe v. Wade

By Doug Mataconis, Outside the Beltway
Louisiana's Republican-controlled legislature now has a bill before that would, effectively, challenge the entirety of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade:
The Louisiana state legislature is considering a bill that would make performing an abortion a criminal offense, including in cases of rape and incest, and that would force a woman to pay out of pocket for an abortion that is necessary to save her life.
State Rep. John LaBruzzo (R), who introduced the bill, told lawmakers in a committee hearing last month that he fully intends for the bill to make its way up through the federal courts and challenge Roe v. Wade - the 1973 Supreme Court decision that barred states from outlawing abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/abortion/2011/06/07/report-louisiana-considering-bill-would-overrule-roe-v-wade#ixzz1OblQ28qt

Free Speech? Man Buys Billboard Saying His Ex Had Abortion Against His Will

A New Mexico man's decision to lash out with a billboard ad saying his ex-girlfriend had an abortion against his wishes has touched off a legal debate over free speech and privacy rights.
The sign on Alamogordo's main thoroughfare shows 35-year-old Greg Fultz holding the outline of an infant. The text reads, "This Would Have Been A Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child!"
Fultz's ex-girlfriend has taken him to court for harassment and violation of privacy. A domestic court official has recommended the billboard be removed.
But Fultz's attorney argues the order violates his client's free speech rights.
"As distasteful and offensive as the sign may be to some, for over 200 years in this country the First Amendment protects distasteful and offensive speech," Todd Holmes said.
The woman's friends say she had a miscarriage, not an abortion, according to a report in the Albuquerque Journal.
Holmes disputes that, saying his case is based on the accuracy of his client's statement.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Planned Parenthood Showdown Looms

INDIANAPOLIS -- "A looming showdown over Indiana's new law that cuts funding for the Planned Parenthood organization may test how far Republican-led states are willing to go to push anti-abortion agendas."

Read the rest here.... http://www.theindychannel.com/health/28137157/detail.html

Komen for the Cure Donated $730K to Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz in 2009

"He confirmed 20 of Komen’s 122 affiliates have made donations to Planned Parenthood and, last year, those contributions totaled $731,303"

Read the rest here.... http://www.lifenews.com/2010/10/12/nat-6765/

Senator files abortion pill bill

From the AP

AUSTIN, Texas—Conservative Sen. Dan Patrick has reintroduced a bill to restrict the use of abortion-inducing medications to be considered during the special session.
Gov. Rick Perry called a special legislative session beginning Tuesday to tackle budget issues and congressional redistricting. The governor gets to decide what issues are considered in a special session and he did not name abortion as one of them. Unless he puts it on the agenda, the bill will certainly fail.
Nevertheless, Patrick filed the bill which requires doctors to administer any abortion-inducing drug strictly according to federal guidelines. The prescribing doctor must also have a signed contract with another specialist doctor to treat any emergencies as well as adhere to strict reporting and follow-up requirements.
Doctors who do not comply face disciplinary action.

Russia's church, lawmakers want to limit abortion

By MANSUR MIROVALEV Associated Press

MOSCOW—Russia's Orthodox Church teamed with Conservative parliamentarians Monday to push legislation that would radically restrict abortions in a nation struggling to cope with one of the world's lowest birthrates.
The legislation would ban free abortions at government-run clinics and prohibit the sale of the morning-after pill without a prescription, said Yelena Mizulina, who heads a parliamentary committee on families, women and children.
She added that abortion for a married woman would also require the permission of her spouse, while teenage girls would need their parents' consent. If the legislation is passed, a week's waiting period would also be introduced so women could consider their decision to terminate their pregnancy, Mizulina said.
During the time of the Soviet Union, abortion laws were liberal, and unrestricted termination of pregnancy became virtually the only method of family planning. Sex education was frowned upon.
Russia's abortion rates are still among the world's highest, contributing to a fertility rate of only 1.4 children per woman—far below the 2.1 needed to maintain the existing population. The rate has become a serious concern for Russia as it fights to stem a steep population decline
Mizulina said she wants to see public debate on abortions before the bill is submitted to parliament, an apparent attempt to build support after similar legislation stalled last year.
A bill proposed in late 2010 called for the criminal prosecution of doctors who end late-term pregnancies, but it faced government opposition and was never put up for a vote.
The effort to restrict abortions has strong backing from the Russian Orthodox Church, which has sought a more muscular role in society in recent years. It counts more than 100 million Russians in a population of 143 million as its congregation, although polls show that only about 5 percent of Russians are observant.
"I hope that very soon we will live in a Russia without abortions," church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin said at Monday's presentation.
According to a United Nations survey in 2004, Russia had the world's highest abortion rate: 53.7 per 100 women.
Figures from the Russian Health Ministry suggest the rate may have declined in recent years, though it remains high: In 2009, there were 74 abortions for every 100 births in Russia, a significant drop in comparison with 169 abortions per 100 births in 2000.
The total number of abortions recorded by the Health Ministry in 2009 reached nearly 1.3 million.
Mizulina claims that the official statistics do not include pregnancies terminated at private clinics, or those stopped by morning-after pills, and the true number might be closer to 6 million.
She also proposed that the law be changed to allow women to leave unwanted children at orphanages anonymously without risking criminal prosecution for child abandonment.
It was unclear how much support the anti-abortion measures would receive in parliament.
Natalya Karpovich, a lawmaker with the dominant pro-Kremlin party United Russia, who is expecting her fifth child, said she supported stricter regulation of abortions. But she said banning the procedure in Russia was unrealistic and would only lead to more children whose parents were unwilling or unable to care for them.

Rep. Virginia Foxx Introduces Pro-Life Amendment


Alleged use of aborted fetal cells is alarming

When it comes to the abortion industry, there is no limit to the horrifying stories exposed daily. From the coerced, forced abortion on underage girls, sex trafficking-Planned Parenthood connection, the butcher shop horrors exposed in Philadelphia, to mention just a few.
Now we are learning that a company called Senomyx is using aborted fetal cells in research and development of artificial flavor enhancers for major food corporations: PepsiCo, Kraft Foods and Nestle, according to LifeSiteNews. Pro-life watchdog group Children of God for Life has joined other pro-life groups to target these food corporations by letting the public know about Senomyx. What they do not tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 — human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors.
These stories don't surprise me but make me want to fight more for the end of this century's holocaust on the unborn. There is no good that can come from what the pro-choicers advertise as "choice." Abortion is inherently evil. The results are devastating and ripple through countless generations affecting every family member and societal group in its path.
Take heart, America is starting to wake up. According to Gallup, 61 percent take the pro-life view that abortions should either be legal under no circumstances or legal only under a few circumstances. Many states are passing pro-life legislation: ultrasound bills, banning tax dollars for abortions and pressing forward with Personhood Petitions which refer to the presence of a particular set of characteristics that grant that individual certain rights such as the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The end- game of the pro-life movement is to see the day when no more babies die and no more women cry.

 From...
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com

Personhood Mississippi promotes Amendment 26

Facebook Pulls Unborn Baby's Page

Facebook Pulls Unborn Baby's Page
Apparently parents-to-be, Ellie and Matt Greene's idea to give their unborn child a Facebook page was too much for Facebook. Facebook's terms of service state users must be 13 years of age, but common sense would point out, an unborn fetus PROBABLY isn't really using the Social Network. Boy, those Facebook guys are sticklers to the rules!
Marriah's parents Ellie and Matt created the profile for their unborn child, as a means to announce the coming child, says
  • “Can’t wait to see you and hold you.”
  • “Beautiful girl, can’t wait to see you!”
The unborn baby has even taken to responding to folks:
  • “I cannot believe I am on CNN and all over the world!”
  • “IKEA is fun, mom is doing the shopping thing again. What is she going to get me now?”
Unborn baby Marriah had even filled out the interest section of her profile. (Something many of us grown-ups haven't found time to do yet.) Her interests included, swimming, Baby Bach and Lady Gaga.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/washingtons-pregnant-panda/2011/06/01/AGlX5iGH_gallery.html#photo=1

"The National Zoo is prepared for the possibility that giant panda Mei Xiang — who has been busy constructing a nest of bamboo and mulberry branches — is pregnant."


I saw this story and was thinking wouldn't be great if we saw the birth of every human baby like this....everyone so happy for the great event.

Nigerian 'baby farm' raided – 32 pregnant girls rescued

"Nigerian police have raided an alleged "baby farm" where teenage mothers were forced to give up their newborns for sale to human traffickers."


"The children are often put up for illegal adoption or, in some parts of the country, killed as part of witchcraft rituals because they are thought to make charms more powerful."

Read the rest here.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/jun/02/nigeria-baby-farm-raided-human-trafficking

Movement to establish 'personhood' of fetus gains ground in South, divides abortion opponents

BATON ROUGE, La. — Eager to prove their pro-life credentials in the increasingly Republican South, conservative lawmakers are pushing to define a fetus as a person from the moment of conception and spur a direct challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision.

By defining "personhood," legislatures in Louisiana and Alabama are effectively considering whether to ban abortion, even in rape or incest cases. In Mississippi, a personhood amendment to the state Constitution will appear on the November ballot.


Read the rest here....  http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/cf2f0475a23446cfa6aa4ad4b763a9f9/LA--Personhood/

MCI asked to check selective abortions

"Concerned at the skewed sex ratio as reflected in the latest Census report, the Centre has asked the Medical Council of India to take cognisance of the practice of illegal sex selection and sex selective abortion."

Read the rest here.... http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2076928.ece

Kansas governor jumps into altering state’s fiscal landscape

"Kansas soon will become one of the most difficult places in the country for a woman to obtain an abortion."