Daleiden charges dropped
The San Francisco Superior Court dropped 14 of 15 charges against pro-life investigative journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt. In a huge pro-life victory, the court ruled that counts 1-14 were legally insufficient. Daleiden and Merritt’s undercover videos exposed Planned Parenthood for selling aborted body parts such as fetal brains and livers. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who filed the charges, is a long-time abortion advocate with financial connections to Planned Parenthood.
Merritt’s attorney responded to the ruling saying, “The complaint by the California Attorney General is unprecedented and frankly will threaten every journalist who provides valuable information to the public. No other citizen journalist or organization has ever been charged with a crime for undercover recordings.” These charges were the second set filed. The first were filed by pro-abortion prosecutors in Houston. The courts’ decisions lend credence to the fact that abortion advocates and their friends in politics are filing charges for political rather than substantive reasons. [www.lifenews.org/2017/06/21/
40 Days for Life saves more babies
In the most recent campaign, from March 1 through April 9, a reported 437 unborn babies were saved from abortion. 40 Days for Life is the largest internationally coordinated pro-life mobilization in history. Launched in 2007, the campaign involves a 40-day, non-stop, around-the-clock peaceful prayer vigil outside abortion clinics. Since it began ten years ago, more than 13,000 babies have been saved, 143 abortion workers have quit their jobs, and 83 abortion clinics have been closed. Campaigns have taken place in 675 cities in 40 countries. The next campaign is scheduled for September 27 through November 5. For more information, go to www.40daysforlife.com.
Trump overturns Obama rule funding Planned Parenthood
On April 13, 2017, President Trump signed a bill overturning a rule put into place by President Obama that prevented states from defunding the abortion giant Planned Parenthood. The rule, from the Department of Health and Human Services, kept states from blocking Title X funding to abortion businesses. States now have the option to spend Title X money on comprehensive health care clinics that better serve women and girls.
After the House passed the measure, the Senate voted 50-50 for the bill and pro-life Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote to approve the measure. The effort was led by Representative Diane Black and Senator Jodi Ernst. The two women observed, “With a pro-life president in the White House and pro-life majorities in the House and Senate, we will continue to work together this year to undo the damage done by the Obama administration.” Jim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League, said, “The passage of this law and its signing by the president demonstrate a real changing of the guard in D.C. We look forward to many more victories for the babies.”
As expected, Planned Parenthood had no choice but to spin the bill as an attack on women by preventing them from accessing health care. The disingenuous spin ignores the fact that Planned Parenthood predominantly does abortion, does not do mammograms, and rarely provides prenatal care for women. [www.lifenews.com/2017/04/13/
Nurse Opposes euthanasia
When Canadian nurse Mary Jean Martin was told that she must either assist patients who wanted to kill themselves using the country’s new euthanasia law or resign, she quit her job. Martin, who became a nurse in the late 1980s to help the “vulnerable and the struggling,” asked, “Can you imagine being a nurse and being told that you have to help kill someone? That’s so against the philosophy of nursing and it’s so against the heart of the health care person.” Martin calls being forced to choose between her conscience and her job a “violation of my human rights.”
Led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada legalized euthanasia in June 2016. Two months ago, a new law (Bill 84) required that doctors and nurses must participate in euthanasia and assisted suicide. Martin lamented, “After 30 years as a nurse, these laws make me feel no longer proud of being either a health care professional in this country or a Canadian citizen.” Canadian bioethicists Udo Schuklenk and Julian Savulescu argued in the journal Bioethics (9-22-2016) that physicians who refuse to participate in abortion and euthanasia should drop out of the profession. Euthanasia Prevention Coalition executive director Alex Schadenberg points out that once people of conviction are gone from the health care industry, patients will be left with doctors and nurses who see no problem with pushing patients toward death as a solution to health care problems.
Euthanasia numbers rising
Euthanasia deaths, both in the U.S. and in other countries, are rising more than statistics show, and underreporting is readily acknowledged. California legalized euthanasia one year ago in June 2016. California numbers are difficult to ascertain because the law requires that death certificates from assisted suicide not list the lethal dose that caused the death, but the underlying prognosis. The pro-euthanasia group Compassion & Choices reports, “At least 504 terminally ill adults in California have received prescriptions for medical aid in dying based on inquiries to Compassion & Choices. However, the total number of prescriptions written statewide will be significantly higher since not every terminally ill Californian who wanted an aid in dying prescription contacted Compassion & Choices.”
Canada also legalized euthanasia about one year ago. Since then, there have been more than 1,324 reported assisted suicide deaths, however the actual number is higher because some provinces, including Quebec, British Columbia, and New Brunswick, were unable to provide up-to-date data.
In the Netherlands, reported assisted suicide deaths increased 10 percent, from 5,561 deaths in 2015 to 6,091 in 2016. Since 2006, there has been a 317 percent increase in euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands. A study published in the Lancet (July 2012) indicated that 23 percent of all assisted deaths went unreported. Numbers also increased in euthanasia deaths on people with dementia and for psychiatric reasons.
Numbers are also rising in Belgium. In 2015, there were 2,221 deaths, an increase over 1,924 deaths in 2014. Statistics show that in the Flanders region of the country, nearly half of the euthanasia deaths were not reported. In Belgium, euthanasia was extended to children in 2014, and is also approved for people with depression, dementia, and other psychiatric reasons.
Opponents of assisted suicide say that it sends a message that, for the ill, disabled, or elderly, life is not worth living. The government, rather than encouraging euthanasia, should be investing in better palliative care and improving the quality of life with better support for the elderly and people with disabilities. [www.lifenews.com/2017/06/08/
63,000 abortions per day in China
More unborn babies are killed in abortions in China every year than anywhere else in the world. Until now, 13 million abortions per year has been the number most cited in China. However, a U.S. State Department report titled “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015,” revealed, “An official news media outlet also reported at least an additional ten million chemically induced abortions were performed in nongovernment facilities.” China’s 23 million abortions per year means that 63 thousand abortions per day are performed in China. Each hour, 2,626 abortions occur, with 44 abortions every minute.
The report says coercive abortion methods have “markedly increased” in the last year. Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, says, “This report proves what advocates have been saying all along: coercion, forced abortion, and involuntary sterilization continue unabated through 2015. Coercion remains the core of China’s new policy.” Pro-life U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) explains, “By shining a light on what is happening in China we hope to move toward a world where every woman and girl is valued and deeply respected because of her intrinsic dignity, and where every child is welcomed regardless of his or her sex.” [www.
