Sanctity of Life

Kansas City Star: "Commissioners objected to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, an abortion provider, being the lead organization in the federal grant . . . "

R. J. Snell writing at Public Discourse: "Contraception is already so normalized in our society that its use is presumed for both married and unmarried alike; in fact, so normalized is contraception that its use is thought not only responsible but even obligatory. Contraception is thought of as something like shampoo or deodorant, a 'necessity' that one picks up at the drug store when occasion arises or supplies are low. If we follow Aristotle in defining choice as deliberative desire—that is, that one chooses after deliberating on the means of action to some desired end—we might even say that many people do not even choose to use contraception but rather use it as an inherited and unexamined cultural norm. While Dr. Trussell is certainly correct that new devices and technologies can be invented or promoted that reduce or eliminate the need to think and to remember to take a pill, we’ve already reached the point of being thoughtless and forgetful when it comes to birth control."

The Gainesville Sun: "Women and their partners in the United States are increasingly using male condoms when they have premarital sex for the first time, which may explain why teenage birth rates have declined in recent decades, according to a new government survey of contraceptive methods. The proportion of women who used some form of contraceptive the first time they had premarital sex rose to 84 percent in the survey compared with 55 percent before 1985. Most of the increase came from the growing use of a male condom, used by 72 percent of women at first intercourse compared with 34 percent before 1985 . . . The numbers come from the [National Survey of Family Growth], which is conducted every six to seven years by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The most recent survey was carried out from 2006 to 2008, and its [results were released] for the first time Wednesday."

LifeSiteNews: "Voters in Oklahoma will be given a chance in November to decide whether they want to reject the core of the recently-enacted national health care reform, which includes taxpayer-funded abortion and requires individuals to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, thanks to a legislative action that bypassed the objections of pro-abortion Democrat Gov. Brad Henry."

LifeNews: "On Tuesday, the Ohio Senate Health, Human Services & Aging Committee heard final testimony on SB 243, the ban on human cloning and human-animal hybrids . . ."

"Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry issued his fourth of a pro-life bill in recent weeks . . . "

Christian Action League: "The Choose Life license plate: It’s about encouraging people to do the right thing; it’s about giving hope and help to hundreds facing unplanned pregnancies; it’s about free speech, a right guaranteed by our Constitution but denied by a handful of state legislators; and it’s about time the specialty plate became a reality in North Carolina . . . 'The state of North Carolina cannot treat the Choose Life message differently than it treats other messages that advocate for causes in a program that is open to all non-profit organizations. To do so is classic viewpoint discrimination, which is unquestionably unconstitutional,' Dorothy Yeung, an ADF-allied attorney from Durham, announced to the crowd."

Medical News Today: "Memos pertaining to abortion cases that Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan authored during her yearlong clerkship for former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall could become an issue during her confirmation hearings, the AP/Boston Globe reports. "

AP: "A national organization that opposes abortion says it will spend about $215,000 in the final days of the California Republican Senate primary to promote candidate Carly Fiorina . . . "

ADF attorney Casey Mattox and attorney Tom Shetelich of the Center for Pregnancy Concerns appeared on Libertarian Politics Talk Live with Andre Traversa to discuss a Maryland county's attack on Crisis Pregnancy Centers. | MP3 31:35 mins | ADF Media Information: County sued after passing bill penalizing Md. pro-life pregnancy resource centers

North Carolina Right to Life: "Pro-lifers from across the state, as far away as Charlotte and Asheville in the west to Wilmington in the east, converged on the Legislature today for the Rally for the Choose Life License Plate . . . Dorothy Yeung, the last speaker, read a statement from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) expressing their solidarity with the efforts to get a hearing for the Choose Life Plate. ADF indicated that they would 'evaluate the group's legal options in the event that the legislature continues to deny pro-life persons their right to free expression.'"

Washington Times: "A crisis pregnancy center in Silver Spring has become the second group in Maryland to sue a Washington-area government over laws that pro-lifers say are part of a national campaign to snuff out anti-abortion speech . . . The Alliance Defense Fund, which is part of the legal team involved in the Montgomery County lawsuit, said NARAL's investigations are part of a nationwide strategy by pro-choice groups to force crisis pregnancy centers nationwide to post signs so that women intending to get abortions will not unwittingly enter. 'The CPCs are taking away their clients,' spokesman [Matt Bowman] said."

LifeNews: "Louisiana lawmakers today moved a bill forward that would have the state become the next to opt out of at least some of the abortion funding in the health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law. Three states have turned their bills into law and three other states have passed them . . . "

"This case concerns the crime of neonaticide, which is the killing of a newborn child on the first day of life. This crime is practically unknown in the federal courts. Neonaticide is a crime relating to family and domestic concerns and, thus, federal courts do not generally deal with these crimes."

Gazette.net: "An anti-abortion pregnancy center has sued Montgomery County over a law requiring it to post information about the care it provides . . . Centro Tepeyac Women's Center in Silver Spring says the law is unconstitutional, said [Casey Mattox], the center's lead attorney. Mattox, with the Alliance Defense Fund, said the county law restricts freedom of speech."

AP: "Sixteen percent of U.S. married women say they use the pill. That compares to 29 percent in the United Kingdom and more than 40 percent in the Netherlands and France."

Thaddeus Mason Pope, Reuniting Human Rights and Bioethics to Address End-of-Life Medical Futility Disputes (May 24, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1615015 "The fields of bioethics and human rights should be reunited and harmonized. Each can benefit from the other. Human rights can supply a language and framework to articulate arguments mooted and invisible in bioethics vocabulary. Bioethics has, for too long, focused on a too-narrow range of high-technology issues affecting few people. Human rights’ focus on globalization and public health can be used to beneficially reorient bioethics to address broader issues. Similarly, bioethics can benefit human rights. While end-of-life issues have been thoroughly examined in the bioethics world, they have just started coming onto the human rights agenda. Human rights law can gain a rich vocabulary and conceptual toolkit from bioethics."

LifeSiteNews: "Two school officials have been suspended at a Norfolk, VA elementary school in connection with the distribution of 4-inch-long baby models accompanied by a card describing a child's growth in the womb . . . Oakwood spokeswoman Elizabeth Thiel Mather told the paper Thursday that the baby figurines were not authorized by the division as instructional materials."

ADF Attorney Matt Bowman appeared on The Jody Hice Show to discuss the recently-passed health care bill and its violations of the sanctity of life. | MP3 – 15:42 mins

WTSP: "Gov. Charlie Crist is still waiting for leaders of the Florida House to send him a controversial bill that would require women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound before the procedure." | HB-1143 | For more on the bill, see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/state-florida+topic-abortion+topic-legislation/