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Law

“Opting Out”: States Take Charge on Taxpayer Funding for Abortion PDF
by Margaret Datiles, J.D., Associate Fellow   

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In January, the Senate voted against H.R. 2 (repealing Obama’s health care law) and then in April voted down two resolutions that would have prohibited taxpayer funding for abortion – one blocking taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood and another prohibiting funds for abortion under the health care law. In the wake of these Senate votes, state legislatures are taking control over abortion funding in their own states by enacting “opt-out” legislation and other similar laws.

As recent polls have shown, over 70% of Americans oppose taxpayer funding for abortion and abortion coverage.  The failure of Congress to pass laws that reflect the views and values of the American people has prompted state legislatures to pass their own laws prohibiting taxpayer funding for abortion.

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06/02/2011
 
Culture of Life Foundation Legislative Update PDF
by Magaret Datiles, J.D., Associate Fellow   

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On April 14th, by a 241-185 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure to de-fund Planned Parenthood under Obama’s new health care law.  The bill was subsequently defeated in the U.S. Senate by a 42-58 vote later the same day.  Similar to the House bill that would have fully repealed ObamaCare, the defeat of this bill in the Senate was easily predicted and expected.  Although the defeat of the bill de-funding Planned Parenthood may seem to be a pro-life loss, it plays a significant role in the long-term success of pro-life efforts on the legislative level.

The U.S. Senate and House votes on the de-funding bill exposed which senators and representatives favor taxpayer funding for abortion.  This information will be crucial to American voters during the upcoming Senate races.        

The debate surrounding the funding of Planned Parenthood under ObamaCare also fueled the release of recent polling data which show that the majority of Americans oppose taxpayer funding for abortions.  Pro-life America is now equipped with the information it needs to vote for truly pro-life senators in the next round of elections.

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04/19/2011
 
Hard Cases for Defenders of Abortion PDF
by William E. May, Ph.D. Senior Fellow   

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There are several “hard cases” that advocates of abortion find difficult to justify. In the recent, The Ethics of Abortion: Women’s Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice (New York/London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, Routledge Annals of Bioethics, 2011), author Christopher Kaczor identifies these contradictions of reason as 8 “hard cases.”  The first two cases he treats, 1. murder of pregnant women, and 2. sex selection abortion, I will consider for this essay and elaborate with material of my own.

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04/12/2011
 
Health Care Update: Courts and Congress Tackle ObamaCare PDF
by Margaret Datiles, J.D., Associate Fellow   

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Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2, a measure to repeal Obama’s health care law.  Entitled, “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act,” the measure was passed by a 245-189 vote, with unanimous GOP approval.  Today, the House will consider H.R. 2’s companion bill, H.R. 9, which will instruct four House committees to draft new legislation to replace the health care law.  As part of the GOP’s campaign promise to “repeal and replace” ObamaCare, H.R. 9 charges the appropriate House committees with drafting a new health care law that will prohibit denial of coverage for preexisting conditions, reduce medical malpractice suits,  and “prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions and provide conscience protections for health care providers.” 

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01/20/2011
 
Better Off Dead: The Ethical Thicket of Wrongful Life, Wrongful Birth and Related Legal Issues PDF
by Margaret Datiles, Associate Fellow in Law   

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Introduction

On October 13, a judge in Northern Ireland’s High Court dismissed claims brought by two children seeking damages from the IVF clinic that used mislabeled sperm to inseminate their mother’s eggs, resulting in the children having darker skin than their legal parents.  The parents had desired sperm from a “white” donor to be used in the insemination.  The children attempted to bring forth a “wrongful life” cause of action based on the color of their skin.

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11/02/2010
 
What Can Conservatives Expect from the GOP’s 2010 “Pledge to America”? PDF
by Margaret Datiles, Esq., Associate Fellow in Law   
maggie_datiles.jpgOn September 23, House Republican leaders released their “Pledge to America,” a broad set of policy proposals and goals covering five basic areas: jobs, government spending, health care, congressional reform and national security.  The ambitious GOP agenda notably vows to “repeal and replace Obamacare.”  Specifically, it declares: “We will permanently end taxpayer funding of abortion and codify the Hyde Amendment.”  It also states that Republicans “pledge to honor families [and] traditional marriage.”
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10/12/2010
 
A Legal Review of Sherley v. Sebelius and Obama’s Embryonic Stem Cell Research Policy PDF
by Margaret Datiles, Esq.   

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I.    Introduction

In his August 24, 2010 order in Sherley v. Sebelius [1],  U.S. district court Judge Royce Lamberth declared that the Obama Administration’s new embryonic stem cell research policy is illegal because it violates the plain language and intent of the Dickey-Wicker Amendment.  For a short time, all federally-funded embryonic stem cell (ESCR) research was halted. 

With the Sherley v. Sebelius case pending, a possible appeal on the horizon, and congressmen introducing legislation to override Dickey before the November elections, the existence of a ban on the use of federal funds for destructive ESCR appears to hang upon a thread.  However, the solid legal reasoning behind Judge Lamberth’s preliminary injunction, the overall public opposition to taxpayer funded ESCR, and other factors may indicate the opposite. 

This article will discuss the district court’s interpretation of the Dickey-Wicker Amendment and other issues affecting the political landscape for ESCR research funding.  Let us begin with a brief summary of important dates and events relevant to the current legal situation:

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09/14/2010
 
Health Care Action Alert PDF
by E. Christian Brugger, Ph.D., Senior Fellow in Ethics   
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 Health Care Action Alert 

We have a pro-life statesman in Washington.

And he’s a Democrat.

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03/04/2010
 
HEALTH CARE ACTION ALERT PDF
by E. Christian Brugger, Ph.D., Senior Fellow in Ethics   

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Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill is Not Dead.

Three troubling facts you should know about:  

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02/19/2010
 
DEATH WITH STUPIDITY: THE TORTURED REASONING OF MONTANA’S HIGH COURT PDF
by E. Christian Brugger, Ph.D., Senior Fellow in Ethics   
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BAXTER, et al. v. STATE OF MONTANA
Justice WILLIAM LEAPHART
Filed December 31, 2009

In late December, Montana became the third state (behind Washington and Oregon) to permit physician assisted suicide to terminally ill patients.  The State Supreme Court in Baxter et al. v. State of Montana was considering an appeal of a ruling from a lower district court dated December 2008 finding in Montana’s Constitution a “right” of the terminally ill to kill themselves with the assistance of physicians (implying that the doctors assisting them were to be shielded from prosecution under the state’s homicide laws).  Interestingly, the court declined to rule on the question of the constitutionality of assisted suicide claiming to follow the judicial principle that courts should refrain from deciding cases at the level of the Constitution when an issue could be resolved by appeal to existing law.  Having said this, Montana’s Supreme Court ruled that existing Montana law permits doctors without fear of prosecution to prescribe medications to terminally ill patients who wish to kill themselves.
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01/25/2010
 
CULTURE OF LIFE HEALTH CARE LEGISLATIVE UPDATE PDF
by E. Christian Brugger, Ph.D., Senior Fellow in Ethics   

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By now the whole world (and several worlds beyond) has heard the news that because of the upset election in Massachusetts yesterday, the Senate Democrats have lost their supermajority.  This is indeed extraordinary news, especially for critics of universal health care.

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01/20/2010
 
CONGRESSIONAL HEALTH CARE UPDATE PDF
by E. Christian Brugger, Ph.D., Senior Fellow of Ethics   

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STATUS QUESTIONIS
As you know, the U.S. Senate on December 24 passed its version of universal health care (H.R. 3590: the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”).  Unfortunately, the bill passed with a robust abortion mandate at its center.  Defenders of the unborn had put their political hopes in ‘pro-life’ Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who was threatening to oppose the bill unless Senate leadership included a Stupak-like amendment excluding all federal abortion funding.  Under pressure from the White House and Senate leadership, Nelson broke at the eleventh hour and vowed his support for the bill as amended by Harry Reid’s “Manager’s Amendment.”  The bill passed in a perfect party line vote without a single Republican supporting it.

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01/05/2010
 
When is civil disobedience against abortion laws legitimate? PDF
by E. Christian Brugger, Ph.D., Senior Fellow in Ethics   
christian_new.jpgSpeaking about laws that legalize abortion, Pope John Paul II states flatly in Evangelium Vitae that “there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection” (no. 73, emphasis in text).  It is clear from the context in the encyclical that “oppose them by conscientious objection” refers to laws that require one wrongfully to cooperate in doing evil.  In such a case one has a “clear obligation” to refuse, even when one’s refusal threatens considerable sacrifice.  For example, doctors, nurses, and medical students have an obligation to refuse to participate in performing abortions or abortion training.  When following a human law means violating God’s law, we are not only justified but have a duty to refuse to follow the law—as St. Peter proclaims before the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
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08/31/2009
 
HEALTH CARE PROPOSALS PENDING BEFORE CONGRESS: PDF
by Helen Alvaré, J.D. and E. Christian Brugger, Ph.D.   

ETHICAL QUESTIONS A CATHOLIC SHOULD ASK

Dear Friends of a Culture of Life,

alvare_h.jpgWe think that significant moral questions are raised by the universal health debate and would like to christian_new.jpgformulate several for you.  Our purpose is not to draw a one-size-fits-all conclusion about the merits of all current health care bills.  These raise complex questions and there are reasons to support and/or oppose various pieces of different bills. 

The Catholic Church has affirmed for some time a right to a minimum of decent, humane and accessible health care.[1]  This does not imply that a nationalized health care system is a good idea, nor its establishment a fundamental right.  But it does imply that Catholics should work for some kind of improvement or reform in the current system on behalf of those who cannot afford adequate care.

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08/17/2009
 
Exploiting Children and Undermining Parental Rights: U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child PDF
by Rebecca Mastee, Legal Extern, Americans United for Life   
aul_logo.jpgConsider Elizabeth, a twelve year old girl living in Pennsylvania, a state which has enacted a number of common-sense and protective regulations on abortion.  With parental consent and other requirements within her state, one would believe that Elizabeth is protected from the dangers inherent in abortion.  However, if the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is ratified, under international law, these protections would be imperiled.  Elizabeth’s parents would no longer be able to protect her.  They would not be permitted to inculcate her with their moral and religious beliefs regarding sexuality; instead, she would be encouraged to make her own “choice” after being exposed to mass media, popular culture, and instructional programs allegedly designed to promote her social and moral well-being.  If she were to consider an abortion, her parents would not be entitled to receive any information about it because to do so would violate her “right to privacy.”  Moreover, unfettered and direct access to contraception -- without the “inconvenience” of involving her parents -- would also be her “right.”
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03/19/2009
 
Stripping Health Care Providers of Conscience Protection: A Bad Move Based on a Made-Up “Right" PDF
by Helen Alvaré, J.D., Senior Fellow in Law   
alvare_h.jpgThe Obama administration has decided to roll back a rule issued by the Department of Health and Human Services during the Bush administration that provided enforceable conscience protection for health care providers and institutions who do not wish to become involved with abortion.  Shortly before he left the White House, President Bush facilitated the issuing of these regulations by his Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”). They became effective during January 2009. The first draft  of these regulations were issued by HHS for public comment in August of 2008, and elicited a reflection  from Culture of Life Fellow Dr. Christian Brugger. He wrote at that time that abortion activists focused their public opposition to these regulations upon the possibility that they could  empower health care providers to refuse to dispense “emergency contraception” (EC) given some evidence that EC might act as an abortifacient in some instances.
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03/13/2009
 
Montana: Paving the Road to “Dignity” with Death PDF
by Mailee R. Smith, Staff Counsel, Americans United for Life   
mailee_smith.jpgIn a breath-taking example of legislating by court order, a Montana district judge has set Montana on the fast track to killing its own citizens.  In her December 2008 order, Judge Dorothy McCarter ruled that persons in Montana have a right to die, and a right to assistance in dying.

Suicide advocates are claiming that Montana is now the third state in the nation to allow physician-assisted suicide.  But that is not entirely correct.  It would be more accurate to state that Montana is potentially the first state in the nation to allow active euthanasia.
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02/12/2009
 
Abortion as a World View, not “Just Another Issue” PDF
by Helen Alvaré, J.D., Senior Fellow in Law   
alvare_h.jpgWe know what President Obama has already done respecting abortion. On his 4th day in office, he signed an executive order restoring federal funds to groups overseas who provide abortion alongside “family planning” methods like contraception. (You will hear some correctly refer to this as his “reversing the Mexico City policy,” named after the 1984 Mexico City conference during which the Reagan administration first announced a freeze on U.S. funding of overseas abortion providers).
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01/29/2009
 
Reflections on the 36th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade: There Is Hope for the Pro-Life Movement PDF
by J. Margaret Datiles, Staff Counsel, Americans United for Life   
maggie.jpgOn January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision that condemned millions of unborn children and their mothers and ensured that the public debate over abortion would continue and coarsen. This decision also swept away the long-established and publicly-supported abortion laws of every single state in the nation, disregarding the wishes of the fifty state legislatures and the people they represent. The devastating blow of Roe v. Wade to American law and society can never be understated.
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01/15/2009
 
On the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights PDF
by Denise M. Burke and Mailee R. Smith, Americans United For Life   
aul_logo.jpg “[R]ecognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”  Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1)
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12/11/2008
 
On the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Are We Truly Seeking to Prote PDF
by Denise M. Burke And Mailee R. Smith   
On December 10, 1948, in the immediate aftermath of the horror and carnage of World War II, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a document affirming the dignity and rights of all human beings.  What has been described by some as a “Magna Carta for all humanity” has been translated into more than 200 languages and remains one of the best known and most often cited human rights documents in the world.
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12/11/2008
 
2008 State Ballot Initiatives: Pro-Life Losses Demonstrate the Importance of Incremental Legislation PDF
by J. Margaret Datiles, Staff Counsel, Americans United for Life   
maggie.headshot.short_color.jpgOn November 4, 2008, the pro-life movement suffered losses on five state ballot initiatives. Yet there is much we can learn from the three pro-life ballot initiatives defeated (in California, Colorado, and South Dakota) and the two anti-life ballot initiatives passed (in Michigan and Washington). 

Specifically, these losses demonstrate that legislative efforts at the state level must remain at the forefront of the cause for life during the coming Obama administration. With dangerous legislation like the Freedom of Choice Act—a radical bill Obama has promised to sign—looming, pro-life forces continue to enact laws protecting women and the unborn from the negative impact of abortion and take immediate action to counter the increased efforts by abortion advocates to enshrine abortion-on-demand into American law. We have learned that our greatest successes—as demonstrated in South Dakota—have come not through ballot initiatives, but through such state legislative action.
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11/12/2008
 
Law and Language Part II PDF
by Junior Fellow, Jacinta Latawiec   
junior_fellow_jacinta.jpgBy creating a distinction between an “embryo” and a “preembryo” and declaring the “preembryo” to be neither “person nor property” the Tennessee Supreme Court, in Davis v Davis, distorted the image of the human embryo.  Although the distinction seems slight, separating the first fourteen days of life from the rest of development through a change in terminology is more than a technicality.  It signified a radical step away from a personalist understanding of the embryo. Personalism argues that the embryo is human life, sacred at every stage, and deserving of protection from abuse or manipulation.  In 1992 the Davis v Davis case opened the door to such manipulation through the power of legal terminology.  The 1998 New York Supreme Court Case Kass v Kass followed in this path.  By using the deceptive terminology set forth in Davis v Davis, the court again failed to acknowledge the central issue, the question of legal rights for “frozen embryos.”  The meaning of the embryo must be recovered from the obscurity that the language of the court has veiled it in.  Furthermore, as Josef Pieper reminds us, the manipulation or warping language is a deliberate misuse of power.(1)
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10/15/2008
 
Healthcare Rights of Conscience: A Hotbed of Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Action in 2008 PDF
by Mailee R. Smith, Staff Counsel, Americans United for Life   
aul_logo.jpg Most state legislative sessions have ended for 2008, and the results in the area of rights of conscience are fairly depressing.  A disturbing 60 percent of all conscience-related bills considered this year were compulsion bills.  In other words, these were not bills aimed at protecting the conscientious and moral beliefs of healthcare providers; instead, these were bills aimed at forcing pharmacists and other healthcare providers to provide drugs and treatments contrary to their moral beliefs.
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10/02/2008
 
Assisted Suicide on the Ballot in WA - Key Facts About Initiative 1000 PDF
by Coalition Against Assisted Suicide   

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Initiative 1000 in Washington State would legalize assisted suicide, permitting a doctor to give a lethal overdose to a
patient if the doctor feels that the patient is likely to die within six months.

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09/22/2008
 
An Ominous Sampling of International Efforts to Force Abortion on Reluctant Nations PDF
by Ioana Ardelean, Americans United for Life   
un-mex.jpgIn a blind and ideologically-driven quest to impose abortion-on-demand on a reluctant nation, the Supreme Court of Mexico blatantly ignored the country’s Constitution when it recently upheld a law permitting abortion-on-demand during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The Mexican Constitution clearly states that human life must be defended “from conception until its natural end”, but the Supreme Court succumbed to pressures from international pro-abortion groups including the Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood who have been aggressively pushing for abortion-on-demand in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
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09/04/2008
 
The Freedom of Choice Act: Imposing and Unregulated Abortion on Americans PDF
by Denise M. Burke, AUL Vice-President and Legal Director   

 
denise_m_burke.jpg“[T]he first thing I will do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.”
Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama
July 17, 2007, Address to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund

Just over a year ago, the public debate over abortion was irrevocably altered.  In the landmark Gonzales v. Carhart decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal ban on partial-birth abortion and, more importantly, abdicated, at least in part, its role as the “National Abortion Control Board.”

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08/08/2008
 
Law and Language- a Relationship in Jeopardy, Part I PDF
by Junior Fellow, Jacinta Latawiec   
junior_fellow_jacinta.jpgAlthough I grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, I have found that my educational experience has led me all over the map. I am currently attending the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts as a political science major and I have been lucky enough to spend time studying on both their Merrimack and Rome campuses. As I look forward to completing my final year in the Bachelor of Arts program at the College, I am very happy to have had the opportunity to spend my summer as a Junior Fellow at the Culture of Life Foundation. My experience in Washington DC this summer has enabled me to meet new people and face exciting new challenges. My major project has led me to examine the abuse of language in embryonic disposition cases in the United States.
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07/17/2008
 
Reigning in the Culture of Death: The Continued Fight Against Physician-Assisted Suicide in the US PDF
by Maggie Datiles, Esq., Staff Attorney, Americans United for Life   
us_supreme_court.jpgIt has been nearly fourteen years since the Oregon Death with Dignity Act was approved by a narrow margin in November 1994. This year, state bills and ballot initiatives attempting to legalize and create a state constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have been introduced, and challenges against state criminal homicide laws prohibiting assisted suicide have been filed. Despite national and international data and studies demonstrating the dangers that assisted suicide poses to the sick, disabled and elderly, assisted suicide proponents continue to press forward with efforts to spread the practice beyond the borders of Oregon. The medical community has come out against the PAS, but advocates have ignored its advice and recommendations. Meanwhile, disability groups and civil rights organizations consistently oppose the spread of assisted suicide. Although physician-assisted suicide is currently allowed only in the state of Oregon, legalization of the practice has emerged as an area of renewed interest.
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07/10/2008
 
The Battlefield Broadens: The Mexican Roe v. Wade PDF
by Mailee R. Smith, Esq. Staff Attorney, Americans United For Life   
mailee_smith.jpgIn the last several years, the “usual suspects” in the pro-abortion movement have been infesting other nations with their pro-choice rhetoric.  One need only peruse the first page of the Center for Reproductive Rights’ website to see headlines such as “Center for Reproductive Rights Denounces Chilean Constitutional Tribunal’s Decision to Ban Distribution of ‘Morning-After Pill’ in Public Facilities” and “Filipino Women and Men Sue Manila Mayor for Ban on Contraception.”(1)  It is clear that the battle lines are now being drawn in countries far from our U.S. Supreme Court’s jurisdiction.  Thus, it is becoming all the more important for the pro-life movement to shift to a more global focus, and support our pro-life brothers and sisters in other nations as they wage a war which has been litigated in this country for 35 years.  We have much to offer from our wins and our losses.
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06/05/2008
 
Contemporary Threats To Healthcare Freedom of Conscience (1) PDF
by Denise M. Burke   

Denise M. Burke is the Vice President & Legal Director, Americans United for Life

denise_m_burke.jpgOver the last few decades, abortion advocates and others have launched a concerted campaign to force hospitals, healthcare institutions, health insurers, and individual healthcare providers to provide, refer for, or pay for elective abortions, abortifacient drugs, contraceptives, assisted reproductive procedures such as in vitro fertilization, and sterilizations.  Their determined effort to eviscerate the concept of individual conscience and the freedom to follow one’s religious, moral or ethical beliefs from the medical profession has resulted in the following:

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05/16/2008
 
UN 'Rights' Get It All Wrong PDF
by Joe Capizzi, Ph.D.   
The failure of the 20th century rights revolution is well illustrated in our failure to protect the most vulnerable — the unborn.
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04/18/2006
 
Catholic Democrats Issue Letter Defending Pro-Abortion Stance PDF
by Mark Adams   

Apparently responding to Catholic bishops who spoke out in 2004 about the obligations of Catholics in public life to oppose legal abortion, 55 Catholic Democratic members of Congress have released a "Statement of Principles." Though the letter attempts to declare the signatories strong support for the dignity of life the document refuses to call for outlawing abortion and instead declares that "we acknowledge and accept the tension that comes with being in disagreement with the Church in some areas."

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03/01/2006
 
High Court to Hear Challenge to Federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban PDF
by Mark Adams   
The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will hear a case on the constitutionality of a federal law prohibiting partial birth abortion. The high court will likely have to decide whether or not to uphold a previous decision that struck down a Nebraska ban on partial birth abortion because the law did not contain an exception for the health of the mother.
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02/26/2006
 
State Legislative Taskforce Provides Roadmap for Overturning Roe PDF
by Culture of Life   
A new report from a South Dakota legislative taskforce may provide a roadmap for challenging and overturning Roe v. Wade. The taskforce's report enumerates six assumptions of fact made by the Supreme Court in their 1973 decision and concludes that "it is clear that the most essential assumptions made by the Roe Court are incorrect . . ."
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01/25/2006