by Steven Ertelt | Columbia, SC | LifeNews.com | 3/19/14 2:40 PM

The South Carolina state House has passed a bill, on an 84-29 vote, that would ban abortions after 20 weeks based on scientific evidence showing unborn children feel pain. Currently the state allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy unless the life of the mother is at risk.

A National Right to Life Committee poll found that 64 percent of Americans, and 70 percent of women, support a ban on post-fetal pain abortion. The same poll also found that American women, by an overwhelming majority of 62-27 percent, would be more likely to vote for lawmakers who support this bill.

Sponsoring Rep. Wendy Nanney says she’s not concerned that a federal court has ruled a similar bill in Arizona as unconstitutional. Supporters say a more conservative federal court would handle a lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s proposed law. They hope it eventually ends up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The science behind the concept of fetal pain is fully established and Dr. Steven Zielinski, an internal medicine physician from Oregon, is one of the leading researchers into it. He first published reports in the 1980s to validate research showing evidence for it.

He has testified before Congress that an unborn child could feel pain at “eight-and-a-half weeks and possibly earlier” and that a baby before birth “under the right circumstances, is capable of crying.”

He and his colleagues Dr. Vincent J. Collins and Thomas J. Marzen  were the top researchers to point to fetal pain decades ago. Collins, before his death, was Professor of Anesthesiology at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois and author of Principles of Anesthesiology, one of the leading medical texts on the control of pain.

“The functioning neurological structures necessary to suffer pain are developed early in a child’s development in the womb,” they wrote.

“Functioning neurological structures necessary for pain sensation are in place as early as 8 weeks, but certainly by 13 1/2 weeks of gestation. Sensory nerves, including nociceptors, reach the skin of the fetus before the 9th week of gestation. The first detectable brain activity occurs in the thalamus between the 8th and 10th weeks. The movement of electrical impulses through the neural fibers and spinal column takes place between 8 and 9 weeks gestation. By 13 1/2 weeks, the entire sensory nervous system functions as a whole in all parts of the body,” they continued.

With Zielinski and his colleagues the first to provide the scientific basis for the concept of fetal pain, Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand of the University of Arkansas Medical Center has provided further research to substantiate their work.

“The neural pathways are present for pain to be experienced quite early by unborn babies,” explains Steven Calvin, M.D., perinatologist, chair of the Program in Human Rights Medicine, University of Minnesota, where he teaches obstetrics.

by Shawn Carney | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 3/17/14 9:54 AM

St. Patrick’s Day should start with good news – and today we have plenty! So far during this campaign, we are aware of …… 142 babies who, through your prayers and the Lord’s mercy, have been saved from abortion.

Praise God!

Here are more stories of lives permanently changed on the sidewalks outside the abortion centers.

We’ve heard much good news from Tempe.

When prayer volunteers asked two young women if they wanted to talk, their answer was, “Yes. We heard you say you offer free ultrasounds.” Lisa in Tempe said the girls had become frustrated, as Planned Parenthood was running three hours behind schedule.

After the one who was considering abortion received information and a gift bag, she told Lisa she was going to keep her baby, “and went to one of our local pregnancy centers for genuine help.”

A mother and daughter pulled up to a volunteer holding a sign that said, “Pregnant? We can help.” As the mother got out of the car, the volunteer offered pro-life resources. She held out her hand, took the information without a word, got back in the car and drove away.

Two groups of women who were both there with friends scheduled for abortions came over and talked about options for their friends. They received literature and called their friends inside to talk to them. Both women left without having an abortion.

Lisa said, “Your continued prayers and witness will bring Christ to those who have become lost because of ‘choice.’”

In Cedar Rapids, a woman showed up early for her appointment at Planned Parenthood. “She was not pregnant,” Jim said, “and was going there for some other type of appointment.”

She told volunteers that she had come about a year ago, planning to have an abortion. But the sight of the people praying made her decide against it. She now has a 4-month-old daughter and is very happy.

“Although we suspect there were many other saves in the past,” Jim said, “this was the first confirmed one in Cedar Rapids. It makes us feel like the cold weather we had last spring was well worth it!”

Rita tells us there were two babies saved in Boston on one day. “Sidewalk counsellors were joined by a large group of people praying and singing hymns,” she said, “and many were holding 40 Days for Life signs.”

Volunteers rejoiced when a woman came out of Planned Parenthood and said, “Your prayers have been answered. I’m not going to do it.” And then it happened again!

LifeNews.com Note: Shawn Carney is the campaign director for the 40 Days for Life pro-life prayer campaign against abortion.

hying away from social issues is not a winning strategy for Republicans, whose rhetoric on those subjects has at times alienated voters and cost the GOP elections, party leaders are telling anti-abortion activists.

Instead, Republicans have got to figure out how to talk about abortion and gay marriage without ditching their values or scaring away voters, the officials told a confab Wednesday organized by the Susan B. Anthony List.

"So many voices in the party are saying, 'Shut up and sit down,'" said Gary Bauer, a conservative who ran for president in 2000. "They think the party needs to ignore that issue and spend time on really popular economic ideas."

They're just wrong, he and other conservatives argued. Winning votes is possible.

Black and Hispanic voters side with social conservatives on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. Republicans, however, are doing a poor job reaching out to those reliably Democratic blocs, he said.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said victories that sacrifice principles aren't worth winning, but a little compassion goes a long way.

Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., said some of her male colleagues need a lesson on how to talk about abortion rights without scaring away voters.

And Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., said candidates cannot hope the issue never comes up.

The political debate over abortion shows no signs of ending more than 40 years after the Supreme Court legalized the procedure in the case of Roe v. Wade. Young people today are somewhat more conservative on abortion than middle-aged Americans, but the nation is split on the deeply personal issue.

Therein lies potential and peril for Republican contenders.

"They're getting more votes (among black and Hispanic voters) than we are. That's how Obama beat us twice," Graham said.

Nationally, Obama carried 93 percent of black voters and 71 percent of the Hispanic vote, according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks. But they also show uneasiness with liberal social positions in polling.

"The more we think about the baby, the better off we're going to be," Graham said. "We're going to win this argument, but it's going to take some time."

Wagner said campaigning is a minefield for candidates who aren't prepared to discuss their goals.

"We have to be so very careful," said Wagner, a former Republican National Committee leader and ambassador during President George W. Bush's tenure. "If you talk about the child, the humanity, the life, you message much better."

And Black said Republicans shouldn't try to dodge the issues: "They can go there, but they have to go there in a way that's compassionate."

Such calls for muted language on abortion ran counter to some of the other rhetoric offered from other party leaders through the daylong conference.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a tea party favorite, noted that backers of abortion rights have chanted "Hail, Satan" to silence their enemies. "Arm-in-arm, chanting 'Hail, Satan,' embracing the right to take the life of a late-term child," Cruz said of supporters of abortion rights.

He was referencing protests in Austin, Texas, last year over an abortion bill. While anti-abortion activists were giving speeches and singing "Amazing Grace," others tried to drown them out with chants.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said those who support abortion rights favor a "culture of death" and engage in "savagery."

Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a Kansas Supreme Court decision suspending his law license. His supporters argue he is the victim of "political persecution" for his investigations into abortion clinics in his state.

Kline's petition to the U.S. Supreme Court alleges that the state high court unfairly applied ethics rules because he was targeted for his political views and actions regarding abortion.

Kline was suspended from being able to practice law in Kansas in October based upon incidents that happened beginning in 2003, when he was attorney general for the state. Kline began investigating two abortion clinics in the state for possible abortion law violations and not reporting pregnancies of underage girls. That investigation began a long legal battle to obtain the records of the two clinics. The battle was still going when Kline lost his 2006 re-election contest. A successor would later drop all charges against the clinics.

"The request to the U.S. Supreme Court is loaded with support from other state courts and legal commentators. It asks the Court to rein in unforeseeable 'gotcha' ethics violations, which are especially relevant to lawyers dealing with politically contentious legal proceedings and invite political 'witch hunts,'" Tom Condit, lead attorney for Kline, said in a released statement.

Kline's petition is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether the Kansas attorney ethics rules are written so vaguely that they can be used to punish political opponents.

The last time the U.S. Supreme Court took up that issue was in 1991 in the case of Gentile vs. State Bar of Nevada. In that case, the court ruled that a Nevada ethics rule violated the First Amendment because it was so imprecise that it could be selectively enforced to punish opponents.

Life Legal Defense Foundation is supporting Kline in the case. Dana Cody, president and executive director of LLDF, argued that Kline is being politically persecuted.

"Phill Kline's ethics case has always carried a strong flavor of political persecution, a perception validated by how many of his so-called 'violations' arose from factual and legal novelties," she said.

Kline is currently an assistant professor of law at Liberty University.

Branford High School administrators have blocked Students for Life of Branford from handing out information during lunch time, even though other student groups are allowed to do so.

The school's principal, Lee Panagoulias, and other school administrators told the six person pro-life club they were not allowed to have models of a fetus at their display table, could not hand out literature or invite others to join, and were only allowed to set up their display after school, according to Students for Life of America.

Other student clubs at the school are allowed to set up a display at lunch, hand out literature and invite others students to join their group.

Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal group, sent a letter to the school and the school district last week asking that they stop discriminating against the pro-life group. ADF asked for an answer to their request by March 12.

"I hope that the Branford Public School system will respect the students at Branford High School by not acting as a barrier to the student body's equal access to essential information regarding life," Sam Bailey-Loomis, president and founder of Branford High School Students for Life, said. "I am proud to be on the front lines alongside abortion abolitionists in high schools and colleges across the country to safeguard our rights, stand up for the pre-born, and make a lasting impact on our campuses."

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said she expects the school to become more supportive of the club with greater awareness that its policies amount to viewpoint discrimination.

"We cannot sit back while our pro-life students are denied their constitutional rights and bullied by their school administrators," she said. "At Branford High School, there is double standard for pro-life students, and we intend to expose this injustice and correct it. We commend Sam and the members of Branford High School Students for Life for their courage and willingness to step up and demand that their school respect their rights, and I am looking forward to witnessing another pro-life student victory."

Michael Krause, chairman of the local Board of Education, expressed support for the group.

"They shouldn't be discriminated against ..." he told the New Haven Register. "As long as all the procedures are being followed as to how we treat our clubs, they should be treated just like any other club."

The Branford High School incident follows other recent incidents of pro-life censorship at public schools.

At Wilson High School in Washington state, a pro-life group was not allowed to hand out flyers and hold an event, even though a gay rights group was allowed to do so. And a campus pro-life group at the University of Alabama had their display removed by administrators. A UA spokesperson later apologized to the group after receiving a letter from ADF.

Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 3/7/14 11:47 AM

The ever-decreasing number of abortion clinics continues its decline with the announcement of the closing of abortion clinics in Texas, Florida, and California.

Whole Women’s Health announced this week that its surgical abortion clinics in McAllen and Beaumont have permanently closed due to the new law passed last year that requires abortion facilities to meet minimum safety requirements, including hiring only abortionists that maintain local hospital privileges. The McAllen location had “temporarily” closed in January.

Operation Rescue had lodged complaints about the Whole Women’s Health clinics in McAllen, Beaumont, and Austin after discovering they were improperly dumping “identifiable” aborted baby remains a during an undercover investigation in 2011. This led the Austin and McAllen locations to be heavily fined.

In addition, the North Florida Women’s Health & Counseling Service in Tallahassee has announced in public notices that it will be closing permanently on March 31. That surgical abortion clinic has operated continuously since 1981.

Surgical abortion clinics are not the only ones closing. Planned Parenthood’s office in Sunnyvale, California, which offered only medication abortions (RU-486) shut down in January.

“We are on track to see another great year. Every time an abortion clinic closes, lives are saved because women have a greater opportunity to seek other means of coping with the challenges they face. This is great news for women and their babies,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue.

Also out of business for good is Lester Minto’s Reproductive Services in Harlington, Texas. Minto stopped abortions in November due to the new Texas law, but continued to see abortion patients who had taken abortion pills procured in Mexico or other locations. This week he announced onMSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show that he has closed his clinic permanently and is selling his building.

Minto’s clinic joins real estate market along with the former New Women All Women abortion building in Birmingham, Alabama, which was put up for sale this week.

So far in 2014, seven surgical abortion clinics in four states have announced closure with one abortion pill clinic closing. Those states are California, Florida, Texas, and Iowa.

One of those abortion clinics, the Family Planning Associates in Montclair, California, remains closed as of this writing, but has obtained a potential new location, but has yet to clear several legal hurdles before reopening.

This continues the trend of abortion clinic closures documented by Operation Rescue, which maintains the most accurate list of abortion clinics in the U.S. In 2013, a record 87 surgical abortion clinics and 6 abortion pill-only clinics closed.

The closures are attributed to new laws that are weeding out abortion clinics that cannot meet minimum standards. Also, an increase in pro-life sentiment and greater reporting of abortion abuses by pro-life groups have also contributed to the closures.

“Along with laws that are putting abortion quacks out of business, more and more women are simply rejecting abortion. When demand for services drops, businesses go under, and that is what we are now seeing in the abortion cartel,” said Newman. “This trend reflects a fundamental change, which we believe will ultimately lead to an end of abortion in this country.”

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 3/6/14 12:14 PM

A new CNN poll released today confirms what prior CNN polls and others have consistently shown in recent years — that a majority of Americans want all or most all abortions made illegal.

The CNN/ORC International survey also indicates that a majority opposes taxpayer money being used to pay for abortions.

According to the CNN survey, 20% say abortion should always be illegal and 38% say most abortions should be illegal — making it so 58 percent of Americans oppose all or virtually all abortions. Just 27% of Americans side with Planned Parenthood and President Barack Obama in saying abortions should always be legal. Another 13 percent say abortion should be legal in most cases, making it so only 40 percent of Americans generally favor legalized abortion in most instances.

CNN Polling Director Keating Holland pointed out additional results: “Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats to say that abortion should always be illegal. But only a minority of the rank-and-file members of both parties take an extreme position on the issue, with just 31% of Republicans calling for a complete ban on abortion and just 32% of Democrats saying that abortion should be legal in all circumstances.”

As CNN notes, “Most Americans have never favored using public funds for abortions for women who cannot afford them. According to the survey, 56% remain opposed, with only 39% favoring public funding for abortions.”

Americans United for Life told LifeNews, “Ending public funding of abortion is the most obvious common ground in America. This poll underscores the need to protect American taxpayers from coerced funding of abortion and life-ending drugs and devices. Given what we know about the dangerous, even deadly, impact of abortion on women and their unborn children, we must act to end the forced participation in taxpayer funding of Big Abortion.”

“Politically insulated and coddled by powerful, partisan friends and allies, the abortion lobby and its business interests have prospered on taxpayer funds and subsidies,” said Yoest. “Consider this, the nation’s largest abortion provider Planned Parenthood received more than $540 million in taxpayer monies, nearly half of its $1.2 billion in revenue. How many people realize that so many millions in taxpayer monies support the abortion industry leader? And how many people understand that coercive polices in Obamacare compel the support of a life-ending agenda, such as the HHS mandate?”

The new survey confirms past CNN polls also showing most Americans oppose all or most abortions.

A 2011 CNN national poll of Americans showed 62% of Americans want all or most abortions made illegal.  In April 2009, CNN showed Americans wanted to prohibit most or all abortions by a 64-34 percentage point margin. The margin was 63-36% in November 2008, 61%-37% in June 2008, 62-36% in October 2007, and 64-34 percent in September 2006.

Historically, the pro-life movement has shifted public opinion against abortion as CNN found a 55-41 percent pro-life split in May 2001, and a 56-41 percent split in February 1995.

The poll was conducted for CNN by ORC International from Jan. 31 through Feb. 2, with 1,010 adults nationwide questioned by telephone. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

by Steven Ertelt | London, England | LifeNews.com | 3/4/14 11:53 AM

Hazel Wiggins, 36, went to Hexham General Hospital after suffering from bleeding and doctors there told the 11-week-pregnant mother that her unborn baby had died. They recommended she take abortion drugs to “terminate” the pregnancy and expel the dead body of her unborn child.

Wiggins, however, refused the abortion suggestion and asked for another ultrasound scan of her unborn baby. That scan showed her baby was healthy and, in January, Baby Amelia was born. Amelia was born with complications, as her liver and bowel were outside her body. But, she is recovering following surgery to correct the problem and is reportedly rapidly improving in the hospital.

According to a London Daily Mail report, the hospital has apologized to Wiggins and changed it policy to ensure that all pregnant moms are given two scans of their baby when a problem with the child is suspected.

As the newspaper reports:

She said: ‘The midwife looked at my scan for 30 seconds and then said “I’m sorry, there is no heartbeat,” and turned the machine off.

‘I said “Are you sure? You didn’t look at my stomach for very long,” and she said, “Yes, I’m 100 per cent sure”.’ She added: ‘It is the most heart-breaking thing someone can say to you.

‘I went home and just got into bed and mourned the death of the baby. ‘I let friends and family know. I cried the whole day and night.’

Days later, Mrs Wiggins was back at the hospital to start the first of a series of abortion pills, but deep down she could not accept her baby was dead.

‘They kept saying that I needed to take the tablets and I said that I didn’t want to,’ she said.

‘I told them I wanted another scan. It went on for about 20 minutes.’

Eventually, she persuaded midwives to carry out another scan.

‘I was telling the lady who was scanning me about what had happened when she stopped and looked at me, shocked,” said Mrs Wiggins.

‘She said, “I have a baby here who is jumping all over the place, the baby is alive”.’

The medic then turned the screen to Mrs Wiggins, who is also mother to 10-year-old Dylan.

She said: ‘Amelia looked like she was saying to me “Mum, please don’t take the tablets, I’m alive”.’