Current Events

Abortion foes drive point home

July 26, 2001 - A daily convoy of trucks on Los Angeles and Orange County freeways, with billboards showing bloody fetus remains, is impacting up to 400,000 people per day with their graphic message.

The campaign, now in its fifth week, has provoked angry calls and obscene gestures, as well as a handful of freeway near-misses and howls of protest from abortion-rights activists.

But a spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol said the commuter crusade appears to be legal, and local law enforcement lets convoys pass with little notice.

Source: Orange County Register (Story no longer online)

Support for Legal Abortion Wobbles

July 2, 2001 - Current studies show that forty-three percent of Americans say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Support for legal abortion is now lower than it has been since 1995.

Fifty percent of those who oppose abortion cite religious views as their primary reason.

Source: ABC News

Why abortion is still illegal

May 18, 2001 - by Joseph Farah

Wade vs. Roe notwithsanding, the author believes that abortion is still unconstitutional because the Preamble specifically includes that the protections of the Constitution apply, not only to the founders, but also to their posterity!

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Source: WorldNetDaily

House passes bill criminalizing harm to fetus

Apr. 27, 2001 - By a vote of 252-172, The House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday that would allow a second charge to be filed if the pregnant woman attacked sustains an injured fetus, or if the pregnancy is terminated because of the assault.

The bill does not mention abortion, but those opposed to the bill said it was an effort on the part of Republicans to undermine the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion on demand.

The bill must now be considered by the Senate. A nearly identical bill was passed in the House during its last session, but the Senate never took it up, and then-President Clinton, had threatened to veto it.

President Bush praises this legislation.

"America's children represent our greatest hope for the future," he said in a statement. "I commend the House for its bipartisan passing of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which will make it a separate felony to harm an unborn child in the course of committing any one of 68 federal offenses. This legislation affirms our commitment to a culture of life, which welcomes and protects children."

Source: CNN

Free speech protects anti-abortion site

Mar. 30, 2001 - According to a federal appeals court in San Francisco, The Nuremberg Files, a website that was accused of being a hit list for abortion doctors, had the right to publish the names and addresses of abortion doctors under the Constitutional protections of free speech.

The court's decision came after a notorious American anti-abortion activist was arrested in France. James Kopp, 46, is charged with killing Dr Barnett Slepian, in 1998.

Source: BBC

Bush To Reinstate Ban On Federal Abortion Funding

Jan. 23, 2001 - President Bush used the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the Roe Vs. Wade decision to make his first policy decision. He reinstated the policy from the Reagan era banning government payment for abortions through overseas family-planning programs. He said:

"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,"

President Clinton had reversed Reagan's policy on his second day in office.

Source: Maranatha Journal (Story no longer online)

Pupils as young as eleven to be given morning-after pill

Jan. 8, 2001 - In Great Britain, the morning-after pill will be available over the counter in drug stores later this month. In certain schools, girls will be able to obtain them from school nurses without their parents' permission.

Parents will be informed if the pill is available at the school, but because of confidentiality rules, will not be told if their daughter receives it.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

See: Moral Issues and the Presidential Campaign - 2000

Preemie survives against all odds

Nov. 16, 2000 - An Israeli baby, Orr Iluz, who born prematurely 10 months ago has been released from the hospital. She weighed only 300 grams at birth.

The only similar case Kohelet can recall occured years ago in the US, where an infant was born at the weight of 280 grams.

Source: Jerusalem Post (Story no longer online)

US approves abortion pill

Sept. 29, 2000 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of the RU-486 abortion pill, which its supporters say could transform abortions in the country by making them more accessible and more private.

The RU-486 pill, first used in France, has already been used by millions of women in 13 other countries and could be available in the US within a month.

Source: Ananova

Babies 'develop memories while in the womb'

Sept. 29, 2000 - Dutch scientists, studying 25 foetuses, used vibroacoustic stimuli to determine that babies in the womb have both long and short term memory!

Source: Ananova (Story no longer online)

Babies may feel pain of abortion

Aug. 28, 2000 - In London, Professor Vivette Glover, who is in favor of abortions, is calling for all terminations between 17 and 24 weeks to be performed under anaesthetic. She says it is likely that the unborn child feels pain after the 16th week of pregnancy.

Source:Electronic Telegraph (Story no longer online)

Cardinal delivers anti-abortion prayer to Democrats

Aug. 15, 2000 - Cardinal Roger Mahony was invited to deliver the opening prayer for the Democratic Convention, and as should be expected, he asked God's protection for the unborn. This, of course, runs counter to the position of most of the delegates. He prayed:

"In you, oh God, we trust ... that you will keep us ever committed to protect the life and well-being of all people but especially unborn children, the sick and the elderly, those on skid row and those on death row,"

Source: Reuters (Story no longer online)

Abortion Issue is Hot Button Republican Plank

Aug. 3, 2000 - According to this article by David Snyder, the abortion plank of the campaign will not be debated at the convention, but activists are pushing for change in the future.

... a growing number of voices are arguing against the traditional GOP pro-life position. While those activists have agreed to keep quiet in Philadelphia, they are getting restless to flex their political muscle.

Source: CBN (Story no longer online)

Compassionate Alternatives to Abortion

November, 1999 - A call to action from Dr. Laura - Congressman Joseph R. Pitts and Congresswoman Mary Bono have introduced HR2901, and they need to hear from those who agree with his bill.

...the Women and Children's Resources Act (WCRA). This bill will establish an $85 million formula grant program to provide pregnant women assistance such as crisis pregnancy center services, maternity home stays, and adoption services.

This program funding is exclusively available to entities which offer alternative-to-abortion services. Contractors and subcontractors which receive funding under this bill cannot promote, refer, or counsel for abortion. Further, these entities must be physically and financially separate from any entity which promotes, refers, or counsels for abortion.

The bill is also sponsored by Senator Santorum.

Source: Dr. Laura (Story no longer online)

The California Family Communication and Parental Responsibility Act

Nov., 1999 - Visit this site to see what you can do to help bring this initiative to the ballot.

The initiative requires that, except in cases of medical emergency, no abortion may be performed on a pregnant unemancipated minor until the physician performing the abortion first notifies the girl's parent or guardian. In the event the pregnant minor does not want her parent or guardian notified, she may file a petition with the juvenile court requesting a waiver of notification, which may be granted after a finding of clear and convincing evidence that notification is not in the best interests of the girl. A doctor who performs an abortion in violation of the initiative language may be subject to civil penalties of up to $5,000.

(Story no longer online)

Senate Backs A Controversial Abortion Ban

Oct. 22, 1999 - The Senate passed another ban against "partial birth" abortions, but the final tally was two votes short of the two-thirds margin which will be needed when President Clinton vetoes the bill.

The Senate also approved a resolution backing the 1973 Roe V. Wade ruling on abortion. The vote was 51-47, a victory for abortion rights advocates, but Barbara Boxer, Senator from California thought it was too close for comfort.

Source: Excite (Story no longer online)

Arguing Abortion

Oct. 22, 1999 - by Alan Keyes

Keyes shows that people do not need to be evil to be in favor of abortion, but, like our Founding Fathers, who allowed slavery, they are blind to one important moral issue.

Source: WorldNetDaily (Story no longer online)

House Passes Unborn Victims Act

Oct. 1, 1999 - By a vote of 254-172, with 56 Democrats joining 198 Republicans, the House of Representatives has approved a bill making it illegal for an attacker to kill an unborn child. The bill does not, however, deny the mother the right to choice. Source: Maranatha Christian Journal (Story no longer online)

New definition for 'therapeutic' abortions?

Oct. 1, 1999 - It has been revealed that infants born with serious problems are often left untreated so that they die at a Chicago area hospital. They call it "therapeutic abortion" but it is apparently stepping over the line between abortion and infanticide. Source: WorldNetDaily (Story no longer online)

Judge Blocks Abortion Law

Sept. 17, 1999 - The Missouri legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill outlawing partial birth abortions, but U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright issued an order stopping its implementation for 10 days until a trial date will be set in a lawsuit to be brought by Planned Parenthood. Source: ABC News (Story no longer online)

New study claims abortion-crime link

Aug. 10, 1999 - A controversial study tries to link the rise of abortions in the 1970's with the decrease in crime in the 1990's. The theory is that most of the children not born because of abortions would have been unwanted and/or products of crime-prone environments.

State Rep. Bill Luetkenhaus, sponsor of the legislation, said he wasn’t surprised the judge had delayed enforcement. “Ultimately, the only court that really matters is the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said. “In time, whether it’s a federal court, a court of appeals, or ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court, their review will give the bill the validity we have said it has had all along.”

Source: CBN News (Story no longer online)

Can Quayle Manage the Elephantine Tent?

April 15, 1999 - Comments on Dan Quayle's morality and his stand against abortion. Source: Rightgrrl

Antiabortion Web Site's Activists Lose Suit

'Wanted' Doctors Win $107 Million Award

Feb. 3, 1999 - Damages were awarded by a federal jury in Oregon in this case which tests the boundaries between free speech and "threats or incitement to violence." The site uses "wanted" posters to list names, addresses, and other information about abortion doctors.

The Web site, called the Nuremberg Files (no longer available), does not explicitly threaten violence against abortion doctors. But the eight-member Portland jury agreed with the suing doctors that listing their names in a format resembling a "wanted" poster -- along with crossing off names of slain doctors such as Slepian -- amounted to a "hit list" that threatens violence and thus should not be protected by the First Amendment.

(Source: Washington Post / WorldNetDaily - Story no longer on line)

This is "Sanctity of Life" Sunday!

Jan. 24 will be celebrated in churches across the land as "Sanctity of Life" Sunday.

Jan 23, 1998 - Religion Today article.

Focus on the Family Calls for an End to Roe V. Wade...

...and the Culture of Death as We Approach the New Millenium

Jan 21, 1999 - According to Carrie Gordon, bioethics analyst for Focus on The Family,

Widespread abortion has brainwashed Americans into believing that human life is of little worth-particularly if it's inconvenient,. More than thirty-three million children later, we are seeing a culture steeped in death. People are regarded as disposable and that has led to euthanasia, assisted suicide and a rise in children killing children.

(Story no longer online)

Abortion ruling anniversary noted

This CNN article shows the opposite poles of activism on this 26th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision to allow abortions in the United States.

Thousands of Pro-life demonstrators rallied in Washington D.C. to hear Norma McCorvey, the original "Jane Roe," who has become a Christian and changed her mind about abortion, even joining Operation Rescue.

Hillary Rodam Clinton announced a $4.5 million White House plan to counter violence against clinics where abortions are performed.

Pregnant Woman Denied Constitutional Rights

(News Release) Federal Lawsuit Filed To Protect Free Speech Rights Of Pregnant Woman Cited For Merely Holding Sign

TUPELO, MS.–On Monday, November 23, 1998, the American Family Association Law Center filed suit in federal district court in Denver on behalf on Wendy Faustin against the City and County of Denver, Colorado. Mrs. Faustin was cited for simply holding a sign that said "Abortion Kills Children." The lawsuit alleges past and ongoing violations of Mrs. Faustin's constitutional rights of free speech, assembly, and religion.

For the past year, Mrs. Faustin, a resident of Lakewood, Colorado, had made it a practice to protest abortion one hour per month at the Perry Street overpass. Her protest consisted of holding a sign stating "Abortion Kills Children." Beginning in December, 1997, Mrs. Faustin has been confronted by Denver police each time she displayed the sign while standing on the Perry Street overpass. On at least four separate occasions, police officers demanded that Mrs. Faustin leave the area. On each of these occasions, Denver police gave Mrs. Faustin a different reason for their demand that she leave the area. Finally, on August 7, 1998, Mrs. Faustin was confronted by five different police officers and given a citation for illegally posting a sign. Mrs. Faustin was six months pregnant with her seventh child at the time. The charges were quickly dismissed by the city prosecutor.

(Story no longer on line)

Senate Fails To Override President's Veto Of Partial Birth Abortion

Sept. 18, 1998 - For the second time in two years, the Senate vote was three members short of the 2/3 majority needed to override the president's veto of a bill which would outlaw this abominable practice. (Source: Yahoo) (Story no longer online)

See: Family Research Council for ongoing information about this issue.