LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes for March 31, 2009

* Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information. Compiled by Steve Jalsevac HUMOR Brian Regan on Flying – videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9em-ZCddWk Brian Regan on going to the emergency room – videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9m2FLHlEwA LIFE ISSUES Another Mexican state approves reform blocking abortionhttps://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15523 Forced Speech: Pushing Against Conscientious Objection by Medical Practioners to Abortion in California https://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2009/03/forced-speech-pushing-against.html National Mass for Terri’s Day at Ave Mariahttps://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/mar/29/ave-maria-host-national-mass-recognition-terri-sch/ The push for euthanasia could be the death of us allhttps://www.montrealgazette.com/news/push+euthanasia+could+death/1443039/story.html Secretary of State Clinton expresses admiration for Margaret […]
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Thanks For Supporting a Vital Tool for the Culture of Life

Dear Readers, The results of our current fundraising campaign have been tallied to date and we wanted to tell you how thankful we are for your contributions.  Your generosity over the last few weeks has so far provided us with over $27,000 – money that is essential for the work we do on your behalf. If you have not donated yet, but believe our mission is an important one, pleasehelp in any way you can.  We are hoping to raise a total of at least $35,000 bynext week in the first phase of this year’s overall efforts to raise at […]
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Archbishop J. Michael Miller:  The Pro-life Movement to be Effective Cannot Abandon Legislative Meas

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski VANCOUVER, March 31, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a talk given to North Shore Pro-Life, the outspokenly orthodox and strongly pro-life and pro-family archbishop of Vancouver, The Most Reverend J. Michael Miller, said that the Canadian pro-life movement must continue to lobby the government for legislation to protect the right to life of the unborn. “The pro-life movement, therefore, if it is to be effective, cannot abandon its efforts to foster legislation which will curtail and eventually eliminate attacks on innocent human life,” the Archbishop said in the context of a talk given on the renewal of […]
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Priests for Life Canada Calls on Bishops to Act on D&P Abortion-Lobby Group Funding

March 31, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The following statement by Priests for Life Canada President Fr. Tom Lynch was released today and is being sent to Canadian bishops: THOSE TO WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN MUCH WILL BE DEMANDED Recently it has been revealed that Development and Peace, the social justice and development arm of the Conference of Canadian Catholic Bishops, has been partnering with a number of development and social action groups in foreign countries that have taken public stances and actions contrary to Catholic moral teaching. Specifically, it seems that several “development partners” of Development and Peace have been engaged […]
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Exclusive: President of US Bishops’ Conference: Notre Dame Obama Invite an “Extreme Embarassment”

By Kathleen Gilbert NOTRE DAME, Indiana, March 31, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, has said that the University of Notre Dame’s decision to host and honor President Obama at their commencement ceremony this year was an “extreme embarrassment” to Catholics. “Whatever else is clear, it is clear that Notre Dame didn’t understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation,” George told the crowd at a conference Saturday on the Vatican document Dignitatis Personae. The conference was hosted by the Chicago archdiocese’s Respect Life office and Office for Evangelization at the Marriott O’Hare […]
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Hundreds of Thousands March For Life In Spain

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski MADRID, March 31, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates filled the streets and plazas of cities throughout Spain on March 29 in protest against legislation proposed by the Spanish Socialist government to liberalize the country’s abortion laws. The country-wide demonstrations were organized by Spain’s pro-life associations Derecho a Vivir (Right to Life), Hazte Oír (Make Yourself Heard), Doctors for Life, and ProLife Madrid. The organizers estimated that 500,000 people took part in rallies in more than 80 cities across Spain, with AFP reporting an estimated 100,000 in Madrid alone. The protestors called on […]
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CA Medical Board Revokes Abortionist Nolan Jones’ License

LOS ANGELES, March 31, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The California Medical Board has revoked the medical license of abortionist Nolan Jones, effective on April 20, 2009. According to the order, Jones falsified the medical records of two non-abortion patients, and violated his probation on other charges. Jones has been disciplined at least four times by the California Medical Board for offenses ranging from botched abortions to negligence during childbirth that led to the death of a wanted baby. Community Hospital in San Bernardino terminated his hospital privileges in 1997. “This follows a national trend of abortionists being held accountable to the […]
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Three More Bishops, Rush Limbaugh Join Chorus of Condemnation for ND Scandal

By Kathleen Gilbert NOTRE DAME, Indiana, March 31, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Another archbishop and two more U.S. bishops have swelled the ranks of Catholics and conservatives who are expressing criticism of the University of Notre Dame’s invitation to President Obama to give the school’s commencement address and receive an honorary law degree May 17.  Conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh also slammed the move by Notre Dame during his show on Friday. Today the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) published a letter to the school by Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, who protested the “egregious decision” on the part […]
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Prestigious Medical Journal Attacks Pope on Condoms

By Hilary White March 31, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Lancet, one of the medical world’s most prestigious journals has accused Pope Benedict XVI of distorting scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine. Responding to the pope’s comments that the use of condoms exacerbates the problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa, the Lancet called the pope’s position, “outrageous and wildly inaccurate.” The editorial added, “By saying that condoms exacerbate the problem … the pope has publicly distorted scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine. Whether the pope’s error was due to ignorance or a deliberate attempt to manipulate science to support Catholic ideology is […]
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Uganda AIDS Prevention Success Being Undermined by Infuriated UN Condom-Pushers

Friday February 4, 2005 Uganda AIDS Prevention Success Being Undermined by Infuriated UN Condom-Pushers KAMPALA, February 4, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Dr. Edward C. Green, PhD, an AIDS prevention worker and senior research scientist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development says that the success of Uganda’s AIDS prevention program has so infuriated Western AIDS prevention groups, they are willing to destroy it rather than change their condoms-only approach. Writing in the January 31st edition of the Weekly Standard, Green says the Ugandan success, based as it is on sexual abstinence and marital fidelity, “directly challenges core values and attitudes […]
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“Development and Peace” Supporting Two Pro-Abortion Organizations in Haiti

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman HAITI, March 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P), is funding two pro-abortion groups in Haiti, LifeSiteNews has learned. The current discoveries bring the total number of confirmed pro-abortion groups funded by D&P to twelve, including five in Mexico, two in Brazil, three in Africa, and two in Haiti. In addition, the National Catholic Register has reported that a Bolivian group funded by D&P is also pro-abortion (see links to previous LifeSiteNews coverage following article).  Several groups funded by D&P also defend or promote the use of contraceptives, with one […]
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Pro-Abort Former D.C. Mayor Williams Withdraws Application to Catholic Knights of Malta

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) has learned that former D.C. mayor Anthony Williams recently withdrew his application to become a member of the prestigious Catholic order, the Knights of Malta.  LSN broke the story earlier this month that Williams was pursuing enrollment in the ancient and elite Catholic charitable order despite a record of clear opposition to legal protection for the unborn and for true marriage. In a recent letter to constituents posted by the Washington Times, the order’s president Noreen Falcone said that Williams “has advised the Board of Directors of the […]
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EDITORIAL: In the Face of Mounting Evidence, D&P Says: “Nothing Could be Farther from the Truth”

March 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Development and Peace (D&P) fiasco has spiraled out of control in ways we at LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) could not have envisioned.    Since LSN first broke the story that the Canadian bishops’ official development arm is funding pro-abortion groups in Mexico, there have been some who have accused LSN of pursuing a deliberate and malicious agenda to target D&P during their largest fundraising season. This, however, is not the case. About a month ago, in the lead-up to the Lenten fundraising season, LSN was asked by a notable reader if D&P had cleaned up its […]
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Bishops of India Condemn “Senseless” Media Criticism of Pope over Condom Statement

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski NEW DELHI, March 30, 2009 (LIfeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has condemned the recent deluge of media criticism of Pope Benedict XVI as “senseless” and “irresponsible,” and appealed for more respect for the Pope. The Indian Bishops’ statement comes in response to the widespread denigration of the Pope that followed the Holy Father’s recent statement during a press conference that condoms are not the solution to AIDS, and that, in fact, they “risk increasing the problem.” (See: World Leaders, Condom-Promoting Forces Attack Pope Over Condom AIDS Remarks, https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09031902.html) In a press statement, […]
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Commentary: Closing Ranks on Canon 915: Bishops Confirm that Sebelius Should Not Receive Communion

Commentary by Deal W. Hudson       Gov. Kathleen Sebelius received some good news last week when abortionist Dr. George Tiller was found not guilty of breaking state laws regulating late-term abortion. The relationship between Tiller and Sebelius would surely have played a role in her upcoming confirmation hearings had he been found guilty.  But Governor Sebelius got some bad news as well—something not noticed much in Catholic media or the secular press. The bishops of Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia, confirmed publicly they would uphold the declaration of her ordinary, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, stating that Governor Sebelius […]
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Newly Appointed Archbishop of New York on ND Scandal: “They Made a Big Mistake”

By Kathleen Gilbert NEW YORK, March 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The bishop recently appointed to head up the archdiocese of New York – one of the most influential positions in the U.S. Catholic Church – said in an interview yesterday that Notre Dame “made a big mistake” by inviting President Obama to receive an honorary degree and give the commencement address at the school on May 17. “They made a big mistake … in an issue that is very close to the heart of Catholic world view, namely, the protection of innocent life in the womb, [Obama] has unfortunately taken […]
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LifeSite Special Report – Report from the International Congress: “Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State”:

Tuesday April 20, 2004 Report from the International Congress: “Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State”: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas” By Alex Schadenberg, – April 2004 Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition https://www.epcc.ca/ March 17 – 20, 2004 the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations and the Pontifical Academy for Life hosted the International Congress on “Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas” in Rome at the Augustinianum University. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition sent Alex Schadenberg (myself) to represent the organization in order to receive the most up-to-date information concerning the scientific advances for people in vegetative state and […]
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Houston Cardinal Becomes Highest Ranking Official, 4th Bishop to Condemn Notre Dame Scandal

By Kathleen Gilbert March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – American Cardinal Daniel DiNardo has criticized the decision of the Catholic University of Notre Dame to honor President Barack Obama by inviting him to be this year’s commencement speaker and awarding him with an honorary doctorate. The Cardinal said that the “disappointing” invitation “requires charitable but vigorous critique.” The Cardinal’s remarks constitute the highest-ranking criticism yet from a member of the Catholic Church hierarchy against the University’s decision. So far three other American bishops have criticized the invitation, including the bishop of the diocese where Notre Dame is located, Bishop John D’Arcy. In […]
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Third And Fourth Canadian Bishops Say Development & Peace Funds to be Held Pending Investigation

By Kathleen Gilbert VANCOUVER, B.C., March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two more bishops have acknowledged that Lenten collection money slated for the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P) will be withheld until the organization proves it has not been funding pro-abortion groups. The statements come after a LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) investigative report, as well as several follow-up reports, provided evidence that D&P has been sending money to pro-abortion and pro-contraception groups in at least two Latin American countries, and in several countries in Africa. A statement from Archbishop J. Michael Miller of Vancouver states on the diocesan website that D&P will […]
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Commentary: Article by Vatican Official on Abortion for Brazilian 9-Year-Old Needs Prompt Clarificat

Commentary by Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President, Human Life International FRONT ROYAL, VA, March 27, 2009 (HLI) – It is no secret that pro-lifers over the years have been greatly burdened by the general lack of support by many of the members of our clergy on life issues, but until now, we have been able to rely on the various Vatican offices for a clear, consistent and correct defense of life. A statement made two weeks ago by an official of the Vatican about an abortion case in Brazil, however, has raised more than a few eyebrows, and is causing […]
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Secretary of State Clinton to Receive Planned Parenthood’s Highest Award Tonight

By John Jalsevac WASHINGTON, D.C., March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Today Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to receive the highest award given by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America – the Margaret Sanger Award, named for the organization’s founder, a noted eugenicist.  “The 2009 Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) Margaret Sanger Award, the organization’s highest honor, will be presented to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been a champion of women’s health and rights throughout her public service career,” says a Planned Parenthood press release about the event. The award will be presented at a […]
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Australian Seminaries Will Use Psychological Evaluation to Screen for Candidates with Homosexual Ten

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski MELBOURNE, March 27, 2009 (LifeSIteNews.com) – Archdiocese of Melbourne spokesman James O’Farrell told the Melbourne Herald Sun today that Corpus Christi Catholic seminary is instituting the recommendations of the Vatican to use psychological testing to screen for homosexual tendencies in men who are considering a vocation to the Catholic priesthood. The testing is used to not only identify men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies,” but also to identify men for whom the burden of celibacy is too great and will cause emotional disturbance even if they manage to keep their vows. In a 2008 Vatican document approved […]
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U.S. Dept. of State Announces $50 Million Contribution to UNFPA

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A spokesman for the U.S. Department of State earlier this week stated that this $50 million in federal funds this year will go to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).  While the UNFPA says its activity in China has mitigated the country’s coercive one-child policy, a recent on-the-ground investigation by the Population Research Institute (PRI) has confirmed the conclusion of a 2001 federal investigation that UNFPA is complicit in China’s coercive population control tactics. State Department Spokesman Robert Wood issued a statement Tuesday confirming that the State Department will fund […]
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Jury Declares Abortionist Tiller Not Guilty of Illegal Late-Term Abortions

By Kathleen Gilbert and John Jalsevac WICHITA, Kansas, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Kansas jury has declared late-term abortionist George Tiller not guilty on 19 counts of performing illegal late-term abortions. Tiller was accused of breaking a non-affiliation law that required an independent doctor to sign off on late-term abortions, verifying that the abortions are needed to save the life of the mother or avoid major bodily harm.  The prosecution alleged that Tiller’s close association with abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus, to whom Tiller regularly sent patients to receive the requisite second opinion, turned Tiller’s facility into a “one-stop shop” for […]
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Georgian Orthodox Patriarch Sparks Baby Boom with Promise to Personally Baptize Babies #3 and Up

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski TBILISI, Georgia, March 27, 2009 LifeSiteNews.com) – The head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, has come up with an astonishingly successful incentive to counteract the country’s plummeting birth rate. To encourage families to have more children the Patriarch has promised to personally baptize any baby born to parents who already have two or more children. The BBC reports that the results have been, in the words of the Georgian Orthodox Church, “a miracle,” with the country’s birth rate increasing by nearly 20% during 2008 – a rate roughly four times higher than the previous […]
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Pepsi Continues To Sponsor Homosexual Agenda: Boycott Continues

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The American Family Association (AFA) is calling for a boycott of soft drink giant PepsiCo over its support of pro-homosexual groups, in particular the homosexualist group known as Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). PFLAG has recently begun a campaign against an organization that helps ex-homosexuals to return to a normal lifestyle, called Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX). Donald E. Wildmon, founder and Chairman of the AFA, said in a press release that, “By issuing national press releases against PFOX, by organizing protests at ex-gay conferences, […]
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ND President’s Religious Superior Says Jenkins “Fulfilling Responsibilities” of President

By Kathleen Gilbert NOTRE DAME, Indiana, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Fr. David Tyson, C.S.C., Provencial of the University of Notre Dame and religious superior of ND president Fr. John Jenkins, today responded to questions about Jenkins’ decision to back the invitation of Obama to speak at Notre Dame, saying that Jenkins is “fulfilling his responsibilities” as president of Notre Dame.  Fr. Tyson is Fr. Jenkins’ superior in the Congregation of the Holy Cross, a Rome-based order of priests and brothers who answer directly to the Pope, rather than the local prelate. Fr. Jenkins has been at the center of […]
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Third Bishop Condemns Notre Dame Scandal: “It is Very Clear ND Does Not Live Up to Catholic Identity

By Kathleen Gilbert AUSTIN, Texas, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A third bishop has publicly condemned an invitation to President Barack Obama by the Catholic University of Notre Dame to receive an honorary law degree and offer the commencement address on May 17. In the latest issue of the Austin diocese’s “E-pistle,” Bishop Gregory Aymond states, regarding the scandal: “I, along with many other Catholics, express great disappointment and sadness that a Catholic university would honor someone who is pro-choice and who holds many values contrary to our Catholic belief. “In the midst of such a sad situation, as Catholics […]
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Where to Voice Concern about Obama’s Honorary Doctorate from Catholic U. of Notre Dame

NOTRE DAME, Indiana, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Following is a compilation of pertinent contact information for those wishing to voice opposition to the University of Notre Dame’s invitation to President Obama to offer the commencement address and receive an honorary law degree on May 17, 2009: To contact Notre Dame: University of Notre DameNotre Dame, Indiana 46556, USAphone: 574.631.5000email form: [email protected] Board of TrusteesThe Board has general power of governance at the University Mr. Richard C. Notebaert, Chairman of the BoardNotre Dame, Indiana 46556phone: 574.631.5000 list of all trustees: https://nd.edu/leadership/board-of-trustees/ Notre Dame Fellows(The Fellows are the “successors and associates […]
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UNFPA to Push Abortion at Population Commission

By Samantha Singson NEW YORK, NY, March 27, 2009 (C-FAM) – As the United Nations (UN) gears up to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+15), UN agencies like the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and abortion advocates such as the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) are pushing “sexual and reproductive health and rights,” with a particular focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The recent CRR publication “Using the Millennium Development Goals to Realize Women’s Reproductive Rights” cites the ICPD as the guide for its work and identifies the MDGs as an access […]
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Abortion Push Expected as UN Marks Anniversary of Cairo Conference

 By Katharina Rothweiler NEW YORK, NY, March 27, 2009 (C-FAM) – The Commission on Population and Development (CPD) will meet next week at the United Nations (UN) to mark the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (CPD), a landmark gathering held in Cairo, Egypt in 1994 that resulted in pro-life and pro-family nations pushing back population controllers who sought to advance a global right to abortion. Abortion is again expected to be a contentious topic as the CPD meets on “The Contribution of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development to […]
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UK Bishop Warns TV Commercials for Abortionists will “Result in Deaths of Many” Unborn Children

By Hilary White LANCASTER, UK, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A proposal by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to allow abortionists to advertise on television comes straight “from the heart of the abortion industry,” the Catholic bishop of Lancaster has said. In a statement issued March 26, Bishop Patrick O’Donohue called the proposed changes “deeply damaging” and warned that they would “result in the deaths of many more preborn children and cause untold harm to women” and threaten “yet another hammer-blow to the sanctity of human life in this country.” The proposal comes as statistics continue to show rises […]
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Fifteen Year-Old Dies after Marie Stopes Abortion

By Hilary White LEEDS, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A UK coroner has criticised abortionists at one of the U.K.‘s largest abortion providers after a fifteen year-old girl died from complications following an abortion. Roger Whittaker, the coroner for West Yorkshire, has charged that staffers at a Marie Stopes International abortion facility in Leeds were negligent in having failed to provide antibiotics to Alesha Thomas and that the facility could face prosecution. Thomas died on July 11, 2007 from a heart attack after contracting toxic shock syndrome, a bacterial infection. She had been fifteen weeks pregnant at the time of […]
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Canadian Catholic “Development and Peace” Funding Two Abortion Advocacy Groups in Brazil

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman and Steve Jalsevac BRAZIL, March 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P), which is the Canadian bishops’ international aid organization, is funding two pro-abortion groups in Brazil, LifeSiteNews has learned. However, despite the mounting evidence, D&P is continuing to deny that there is any problem with its funding of the various groups noted in the LSN reports on this issue. The first group, the Rural Women’s Movement (Movimento de Mulheres Camponesas), openly opposes efforts to enforce Brazil’s laws against abortion, and suggests that abortion is a “right.” “To criminalize women who […]
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Commentary on March 26 News

Okay, we’re in overdrive. Excellent news from the Bishop of Phoenix who has in the strongestterms called on the University of Notre Dame (yes we know it’s French)to halt the award and pulpit to President Obama. And just when you’d thought you’d heard it all, the UK is consideringallowing television commercials for abortionists; and a US bioethicistis calling for an abortion ‘pride’ movement similar to ‘gay pride’. More and more evidence is presented showing that Development and  Peace, the official development arm of the Canadian Bishops, is funding pro-abortion social justice and development groups all over Latin America and Friday […]
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HLI President and ND Alum Fr. Euteneuer Condemns Obama Invite

By Kathleen Gilbert FRONT ROYAL, Virginia, March 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Fr. Tom Euteneuer, President of Human Life International and University of Notre Dame alumnus, has condemned Notre Dame’s invitation to President Obama to give the commencement address and receive an honorary law degree May 17. “It appears that President Obama will soon receive a great honor from an institution that used to represent the best in Catholic scholarship and culture,” said Fr. Euteneuer.  He continued: “The nation’s president who has done more damage in 60 days to the cause of life than President Clinton did in 8 years, the […]
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Pro-Abortion/Contraception Groups in Africa Receiving Development and Peace Funding

By John Jalsevac March 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – LifeSiteNews.com has learned that a number of African groups that receive funds from the official development arm of the Canadian bishops, Development and Peace (D&P), advocate for abortion and contraception. One of the groups is actively involved in the distribution of condoms in Africa. The African groups featured in this report are in addition to the five Mexican groups that receive D&P funding that LSN recently reported were also involved in abortion advocacy (See: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09031210.html). Another report revealed that D&P funds were being donated to “one of the most militant, radical and active” pro-abortion […]
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Development and Peace Nor Bishops Conference Will Respond to Funding of Pro-Abortion Group in Bolivi

By John-Henry Westen OTTAWA, March 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Development & Peace, the development arm of the Canadian bishops conference, is refusing to answer questions regarding allegations that it is funding a pro-abortion group in Bolivia.  An independent investigation by the US National Catholic Register discovered that D&P was funding a Bolivian group described by the nation’s most prominent pro-life attorney as “one of the most militant, radical and active” of the pro-abortion organizations that lobbied the Bolivian government in 2004-2005 to pass a law legalizing abortion in the predominantly Catholic South American country. Although a D&P spokesman did speak with LifeSiteNews.com about […]
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Bishop: Development & Peace Funds Will be Diverted if Allegations of Pro-Abortion Support are Verifi

By John-Henry Westen PETERBOROUGH, ON, March 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Peterborough Bishop Nicola De Angelis has issued a new letter to all pastors and parishioners in the diocese noting that the Development and Peace Lenten collection will go ahead as scheduled this weekend.  However, he notes that “money will not be sent on to Development and Peace until the investigation is complete and allegations are found to have no substance.” The investigations refer to LifeSiteNews.com stories which have provided evidence that D&P, the official development arm of the Canadian bishops conference, is funding groups that advocate for abortion.  The original […]
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New Hampshire House OKs Same-Sex “Marriage” Bill

By Kathleen Gilbert CONCORD, New Hampshire, March 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New Hampshire’s House of Representatives today voted 186-179 to approve a bill that would make it the third state, after Connecticut and Massachusetts, to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples. The first attempt to pass the bill fell one vote short. However, opponents were unable to kill the bill and another vote followed shortly after, at which point it passed.  On Wednesday, the House killed legislation aiming to definitively protect the true definition of marriage. The Associated Press reports that the future of the bill in the Senate is […]
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Tiller Update 3: Closing Arguments Scheduled for Early Friday after Tiller Admits Alleged Illegal As

By Kathleen Gilbert WICHITA, Kansas, March 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Today closing arguments were scheduled for Friday morning after accused late-term abortionist George Tiller’s dramatic testimony wrapped up Wednesday. Tiller stands accused of 19 counts of breaking a Kansas law that requires an independent doctor to sign off on a late-term abortion, verifying that the procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother, or avoid major bodily harm.  The state alleges that abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus, to whom Tiller normally referred patients for the required second opinion, maintained a close financial and legal relationship with Tiller that made […]
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Bishop Olmsted: Notre Dame’s Obama Honor “Public Act of Disobedience to U.S. Bishops”

By Kathleen Gilbert PHOENIX, Arizona, March 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Bishop Thomas Olmsted has written a letter to University of Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins condemning the invitation to President Obama to offer the school’s commencement address and receive an honorary law degree on May 17. Olmsted’s letter follows a statement earlier this week by Notre Dame’s own Bishop John D’Arcy, in which the bishop criticized the decision and announced his intent to boycott the ceremony.  American Papist blogger Thomas Peters broke the news of the letter from Bishop Olmsted, dated yesterday, in which Olmsted told Jenkins he was […]
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Campaign Life Coalition Launches Pro-Life Petition Drive in Lead up to Landmark 40th Anniversary Mar

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski TORONTO, March 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canada’s National Pro-Life organization, Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), has launched a petition campaign calling for legal protection of human life from the moment of conception to natural death, in the lead-up to this year’s annual March for Life in Ottawa (To download the petition: https://campaignlifecoalition.com/images/OSM09petition.pdf). Signed petitions will be forwarded to pro-life politicians who will formally present all the petitions collected to the House of Commons before the 2009 National March for Life on May 14th, which marks the 40th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in Canada. May 14, […]
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Taking on Goliath: 20-Year-Old Lila Rose Squares up against Planned Parenthood

By Deal W. Hudson     March 26, 2009 (InsideCatholic.om) – If you think the pro-life movement has run out of energy and new ideas, you should meet Lila Rose. You may not know her name, but you very likely have seen the media coverage of her various sting operations at Planned Parenthood clinics around the country.  Rose is 20 years old, but she is already entering her fourth year of covert operation, as it were, exposing the underhanded—and, in some cases, potentially illegal—practices at abortion clinics run by Planned Parenthood. She has already made appearances on The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity’s […]
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Abortion Industry Needs “Pride” Movement: Brown University Bioethicist and Author

By Hilary White March 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The abortion industry needs a “pride” movement, similar to that of the immensely successful homosexualist movement, a prominent US bioethicist says. Jacob M. Appel, an author, professor at Brown University and graduate of Harvard Law, wrote on the website “Opposing Views,” that “the moment is ripe – more than ripe – for an Abortion Pride Movement.” Appel says that “one is bombarded” in the “conservative” press with stories of women who overcome obstacles to bring to term “fetuses” with severe disabilities. “The implication,” he wrote, “is that while bearing a child when […]
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British TV Could Carry Advertisements for Abortionists

By Hilary White and John Jalsevac LONDON, March 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While Britain’s abortion rate continues to climb, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has announced a proposal to change the rules to allow abortionists to advertise on television. Restrictions on condom advertisements would also be eased if the proposal is approved, allowing the ads to air at any time of day, instead of only after 9:00pm. The changes in the rules are being billed as a way to help combat soaring teenage pregnancy rates. The ASA is starting a twelve-week public consultation into the proposal today, closing on June […]
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Full Text of Bishop Olmsted’s Letter to Notre Dame President Fr. Jenkins

Dear Fr. Jenkins, I am saddened and heavy of heart about your decision to invite President Obama to speak at Notre Dame University and even to receive an honorary degree. It is a public act of disobedience to the Bishops of the United States.  Our USCCB June 2004 Statement “Catholics in Political Life” states: “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.  They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”  No one could not know of the public stands and actions […]
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Tiller Trial Update 2: Tiller Takes the Stand after Alleged Partner Neuhaus Declared Hostile Witness

By Kathleen Gilbert WICHITA, Kansas, March 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Kansas late-term abortionist George Tiller spoke in his own defense today, after abortionist and alleged associate Ann Kristin Neuhaus was declared a hostile witness part way through her testimony Tuesday, reports witnesses at the historic trial that began Monday. George Tiller stands on trial for 19 counts of breaking a Kansas late-term abortion law that requires an independent doctor to give a second opinion as to whether a late-term abortion candidate requires the procedure to save the life of, or avoid major injury to the mother.  The prosecution alleges that […]
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Peterborough Bishop to All Pastors: Development and Peace Funding in Jeopardy

By John-Henry Westen  PETERBOROUGH, ON, March 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Peterborough Bishop Nicola De Angelis has issued a letter to all pastors and parishioners in the diocese calling for a detailed investigation into the LifeSiteNews.com revelations that Development & Peace (D&P) has funded groups involved or implicated  in abortion advocacy in Mexico.(see https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009_docs/BishopDP.pdf) “Development & Peace has not as yet received its funding from us for 2009,” said the Bishop.  “Be assured I will not allow any money raised in the Diocese of Peterborough to be used for pro-abortion activities or organizations.” The Archbishop of Toronto Thomas Collins took a similar stand […]
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Pro-Life Organizations Form Coalition to Stop ‘Illinois FOCA’

CHICAGO, March 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-life and pro-family organizations from across the country have assembled a coalition to fight HB-2354, the Illinois Reproductive Health and Access Act. The coalition calls the bill Illinois’ version of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), and has launched a Web site, www.StopIllinoisFOCA.com, to give citizens who oppose the bill a place to connect with each other and receive updates. “This ‘Illinois FOCA’ takes away the most basic restrictions on abortion that even a majority of pro- choice advocates support,” said Eric Scheidler, communications director of the Pro-Life Action League, one of the organizations […]
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EU Sexual Orientation Regulation Law Moves Forward to Parliament

By Hilary White ROME, March 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Christian lobbyists in the UK are calling a pending EU directive that would introduce a policy similar to Britain’s Sexual Orientation Regulations to all member states, a “threat to religious freedom.” Pro-family activists fear that the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected grounds for discrimination may leave European Christians and others vulnerable to legal actions. The proposed directive aims to outlaw discrimination in the provision of goods and services and may also outlaw ‘harassment.’ Critics have also said that the directive would mean that countries which legally recognise same-sex civil […]
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Vermont Gov. Will Veto Same-Sex “Marriage” Bill Passed in Senate

By Kathleen Gilbert MONTPELIER, Vermont, March 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas said today that he would veto a bill the Senate passed Monday that would open the legal definition of marriage to include same-sex couples, reports the Associated Press (AP). Douglas had indicated earlier that he thought the state’s civil unions for same-sex couples were enough, and that he was against same-sex “marriage.”  The Democratic-dominated Vermont Senate voted 26-4 Monday in favor of the bill, S. 115, which would redefine marriage as “the legally recognized union of two people.”  The House is now considering similar legislation. The […]
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WSJ Columnist and Notre Dame Alumnus Decries ND Response to Obama Scandal as “Moral Incoherence”

By Kathleen Gilbert NEW YORK, March 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – William McGurn, former chief editorial writer with The Wall Street Journal and now the newspaper’s regular “Main Street” columnist, decried in a recent column the “moral incoherence” of the University of Notre Dame’s invitation to host President Obama as commencement speaker on May 17. “In the end, the result is moral incoherence,” wrote McGurn yesterday, commenting on the invite.  “It is an incoherence in which abortion-rights advocates have the most to gain, because it demoralizes those who support the cause of life while removing fears of even the slightest social […]
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What Does a One-Time Donation to LifeSiteNews Pay For?

March 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – To help LifeSiteNews readers understand why we need your financial support and the importance of every donation (no matter how large or small) we present the following list: A donation of: $15 would pay for 1 hour’s work for one of our professional staff writers. $25 would pay for 1 hour’s work for one of our programmingmarketing staff. $50 would pay for one month’s high speed internet service for one of our full-time staff. $130 would pay for one month Blackberry phone and email services for our Editor-in-chief. $450 would pay for a basic digital […]
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White House Responds to ND Obama Scandal by Praising Spirit of “Healthy Disagreement”

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The White House responded this afternoon to the protests that erupted following news that the University of Notre Dame had invited President Obama to offer the commencement address and receive an honorary law degree this year. The late Friday announcement has sparked a wave of opposition from leading Catholics, particularly Notre Dame alumni.  An online petition launched by the Cardinal Newman Society immediately after the announcement has gathered 130,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon. (To sign the petition, go to: https://www.notredamescandal.com) “Notre Dame is one of the first universities President […]
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Notre Dame Student Groups Denounce University for Obama Invite

By John Jalsevac NOTRE DAME, IN, 25 March 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Nearly a dozen student groups at the University of Notre Dame issued a statement today repudiating the University’s selection of President Barack Obama to deliver its 2009 Commencement Address. Signatories of the statement include The Irish Rover Student Newspaper, Notre Dame Law School Right to Life, Notre Dame Law St Thomas More Society and others. The statement criticizes the president’s position on abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and other life issues, and chastises University administration for apparently looking over what they termed “fundamental moral principles.” Citing Catholic teaching on […]
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Congressmen Blast Obama Nomination of Radical Pro-Abort to Head Justice Dept. Legal Counsel

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Conservative U.S. lawmakers today heavily criticized President Obama’s nomination of Dawn Johnsen earlier this year to head the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, especially in light of her years as a radical and controversial pro-abortion activist. A constitutional law professor at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Johnsen served for five years as the legal director of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) – now known as NARAL Pro-Choice America – one of the most powerful pro-abortion lobby groups in the country. Johnsen also served […]
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Trial, Appeal Dates Set for Linda Gibbons

By Tony Gosgnach TORONTO, March 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Trial and appeal dates have been set for pro-life demonstrator Linda Gibbons following her most recent arrest outside a downtown Toronto abortion site. Her trial on charges of disobeying a court order and mischief to property is to be held on Wednesday, April 29 at 10 a.m. in Room 504 of the Ontario Court of Justice at College Park, Yonge and College Streets in Toronto. There will also be an appeal heard, at the behest of the Crown, of the quashing of a previous charge of disobeying a court order that […]
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THE HORRIBLE TRUTH OF GAY/STRAIGHT ALLIANCE CLUBS

Tuesday May 2, 2000 THE HORRIBLE TRUTH OF GAY/STRAIGHT ALLIANCE CLUBS BOSTON, MA, May 2 (LSN.ca) – The introduction of Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) clubs into Western Canada last month was met with contention from pro-family parents but the full implications of the clubs were hardly known until now. GSA clubs are the latest inroad being used by the radical fringe of the homosexual activist community to condition children via the school system. A report in the Massachusetts News yesterday detailed a devastating state conference to promote GSA’s to which children as young as 12 were invited to be ‘educated’ about […]
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Editorial: Development and Peace Has Issued a False Statement to All of Canada’s Bishops

March 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a three page letter which, according to Development and Peace, was sent to every Canadian Bishop, the official international development arm of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has claimed falsely that of its Mexican partners which LifeSiteNews.com found to be pro-abortion, “none of these organizations are involved in any activity related to abortion.”  Since we at LSN assume good will on the part of D&P, we believe they were misled about the activities of the pro-abortion groups in Mexico which they fund, some of which are indeed involved in direct abortion advocacy. The […]
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Despite Trespassing Charges Calgary Pro-Life Students to Again Erect Display on Campus

CALGARY, AB, March 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Despite having been charged with trespassing on their own campus, tomorrow pro-life students are again setting up their controversial display on the University of Calgary campus, as they have been doing since 2006. Members of Campus Pro life (CPL) are bringing the display, known as the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), to campus at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday March 25, 2009.  GAP is a peaceful, educational display which utilizes 4×8-foot signs to show the reality of abortion to the public, drawing comparisons between it and other genocides. “Rather than fulfilling its mission of being […]
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Tiller Trial Update: Abortionist Offers “Conflicting” Statements on Tiller Relationship

By Kathleen Gilbert TOPEKA, Kansas, March 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The opening day of the long-awaited trial against Kansas’ notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller yesterday saw witness Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus give what have been described by witnesses as “conflicting” statements. Tiller’s defense team also submitted multiple failed motions to dismiss, according to initial trial reports. Tiller, who has tapped Neuhaus for the required second opinion for his late-term abortions since 1999, stands accused of maintaining an illegally close legal and financial relationship with Neuhaus. The alleged relationship contravenes late-term abortion law that requires an independent doctor to offer a […]
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Petition against Obama’s Notre Dame Honor Skyrockets Past 103,000 Signatures in Four Days

By Kathleen Gilbert MANASSAS, Virginia, March 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As of Tuesday night, over 103,000 signatures have poured into an online petition launched this past Friday by the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS). The petition opposes Notre Dame’s honoring President Obama with an invitation to offer the commencement address and receive an honorary law degree on May 17.  CNS introduced the petition on a new website dedicated to the scandal, https://www.notredamescandal.com, almost immediately after the White House and Notre Dame’s website simultaneously broke the news on Friday afternoon that Obama had accepted the invitation.  Since then, the petition has gathered […]
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Arizona Attorney General to Investigate Sexual Abuse Cover Up at Planned Parenthood Clinics

PHOENIX, March 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation into Planned Parenthood, after the student-led nonprofit Live Action released videos with undercover footage from three Planned Parenthood of Arizona facilities. The footage shows employees at two Planned Parenthood facilities in Phoenix, AZ and one in Tucson, AZ disregarding mandatory reporting laws for sexual abuse, and offering secret abortions to sexually abused minors. (The videos can be viewed at www.LiveAction.org.) Live Action has sent complete footage from all three facilities to County Attorneys in Pima and Maricopa and to the Arizona Attorney General for use in […]
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43 Percent of French Catholics Want Pope to “Step Down”

By Hilary White ROME, March 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pair of polls released in France show that increasing numbers of French people want Pope Benedict to “step down.” According to Catholic commentators, the polls come at a time of unprecedented hostility in the media to the Pope’s reiteration of Catholic sexual morality. According to a poll published in France’s Le Journal du Dimanche weekly, 43 percent of French Catholics want Pope Benedict XVI to resign or retire. The poll was divided into “practising” and “non-practising” Catholics, with 47 percent of the latter, and only about a third of the […]
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Rep. Barney Frank Refers to Justice Scalia as “That Homophobe”

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an interview with 365 Gay released Monday, Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank conjectured that true marriage would likely remain enshrined in U.S. law because of the influence of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, whom Frank referred to as “that homophobe.” Rep. Frank, who is openly homosexual, was discussing a decision last month by a 9th Circuit Court judge that declared the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional and granted health benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees in spite of the law.  While the ruling was essentially administrative […]
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National Right to Life Calls on Notre Dame to Rescind Obama Invitation

WASHINGTON, March 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Monday, the National Right to Life Committee, the nation’s largest pro-life organization, called upon University of Notre Dame president Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., to rescind the University’s invitation to Barack Obama to speak at Notre Dame’s commencement May 17. “Notre Dame’s invitation to the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history is a betrayal of the University’s mission and an affront to all who believe in the sanctity and dignity of human life,” said Anthony J. Lauinger, National Right to Life Vice-President, who is also the father of seven Notre Dame alumni and […]
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Commentary on March 23 News – More on Development and Peace; Obama and Notre Dame

Dear Readers, The invitation to President Barack Obama from Notre Dame is an extremely serious situation. It is not just about Catholics, but it could have a big impact in helping the abortion president increase his hold on “the Catholic vote.” That is what got him elected in the first place. Thankfully, many Catholics and others are responding and taking appropriate action against this travesty or, shall we call it, extreme foolishness. Obama has made it very plain where he stands on issues of crucial concern to faithful Catholics and other authentic Christians – he is way over on the […]
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USCCB Calls on Obama Administration to Retain Health Services Regulation on Conscience Protection

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Obama Administration has a constitutional duty to enforce laws protecting religious freedom and the right of conscience, according to comments by Anthony Picarello and Michael Moses of the Office of General Counsel of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The comments were filed with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) March 23 in response to the proposed rescinding of an HHS regulation protecting the conscience rights of health care professionals. Picarello and Moses cited the numerous laws enacted by Congress over thirty-five years—including the Church Amendment, the Coats-Snowe […]
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U.K. Embryo Authority Warns IVF Children Have 30% Higher Risk of Genetic Abnormality

By Hilary White LONDON, March 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The British government’s embryo research authority has warned potential parents that children conceived artificially through in vitro fertilization have a thirty percent higher risk of genetic abnormalities. Reports of higher levels of birth defects among IVF children have been making headlines since at least 2003, but the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has only this week issued a warning on the matter. The HFEA said that parents should be told of the risks associated with IVF, but emphasized that not all the risks are fully understood and more research is […]
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Commentary: The Pope’s Comments on Condoms are Empirically Sound

Commentary by Matthew Hanley March 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On March 17, a reporter asked Pope Benedict XVI, while en route to Cameroon, to defend the Church’s promotion of monogamy and opposition to condoms in the fight against AIDS, especially since such positions are “frequently considered unrealistic and ineffective.” He responded in part by saying that “the scourge cannot be resolved by distributing condoms; quite the contrary, we risk worsening the problem.” This prompted a fresh, if predictable, round of scorn from the western press. France went so far as to say his statements represent a threat to public health. […]
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Alberta Considers Making Parents’ Control over Education a “Human Right”

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski EDMONTON, Alberta, March 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Alberta government will consider changes to its human rights law to give parents more control over what their children will be taught in school, according to a Calgary Sun report. “Though there is some coverage of this issue under existing rules governing schools, the decision of parents would now be recognized as a fundamental human right,” the report explained. “Parents would be given the opportunity to opt their kids out of instruction surrounding human sexuality, sexual orientation and other lessons counter to a family’s religious convictions.” Though Lindsay […]
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Pope Benedict Decries “Bitter Irony” of Abortion as Human Right in Angola

By Hilary White ANGOLA, March 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an address to the civil authorities of Angola on the last day of his trip to Africa, Pope Benedict XVI noted the “bitter irony” that, in the light of the “the crushing yoke of discrimination that women and girls so often endure,” including “unspeakable” sexual violence, abortion should be presented as a solution by international “human rights” groups.  “How bitter the irony of those who promote abortion as a form of ‘maternal’ healthcare!” the pope said. “How disconcerting the claim that the termination of life is a matter of reproductive […]
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Notre Dame President: School “Honored” by Obama’s Acceptance to Speak and Receive Honorary Degree

By Kathleen Gilbert NOTRE DAME, Indiana, March 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an interview with Notre Dame’s “Observer” newspaper, Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins has responded to a deluge of criticism from Catholics and pro-lifers for the school’s commencement invitation to President Barack Obama. Both the White House and the Notre Dame website announced late Friday afternoon that Obama had agreed to offer the commencement address and receive an honorary law degree at the school on May 17. Jenkins said he does not “foresee circumstances” that would cause Notre Dame to rescind the invitation.  Over the weekend, thousands of […]
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African American Pastor Sent to Jail for Offering Abortion Alternatives on Public Sidewalk

OAKLAND, CA, March 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Friday the Rev. Walter Hoye of Berkeley, California, was ordered to serve 30 days in county jail by Judge Stuart Hing of the Alameda Superior Court. Rev. Hoye had been found guilty on January 15, 2009, of unlawfully approaching two persons entering an abortion facility in Oakland. Judge Hing had also ordered him to stay one hundred yards away from the abortion facility for three years. However, Rev. Hoye refused this term of probation and would not agree to a stay-away order. Therefore, the judge denied the defense motion to stay the sentence […]
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Commentary: Notre Dame’s President at a Crossroads over Obama Fiasco

Commentary by Deal Hudson March 23, 2009 (InsideCatholic.com) – For the past few years, the buzz about Rev. John I. Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame since 2005, has been very positive. In spite of his refusal to ban The Vagina Monologues from the campus, Father Jenkins was viewed as strengthening the Catholic identity of the nation’s most beloved Catholic institution.  But with one bold stroke, Father Jenkins has radically altered the perception of his leadership. His decision to honor President Barack Obama at Notre Dame’s commencement this year has been met with stunned disbelief among Catholics across the nation. […]
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Catholic U. of San Francisco Nixes Abortion Referrals

By Kathleen Gilbert SAN FRANCISCO, California, March 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Jesuit-run University of San Francisco (USF) has ceased referring abortion-seeking students to the local Planned Parenthood, and instead will send them to life-supporting pregnancy centers, reports Our Sunday Visitor (OSV). A University spokesman told OSV that the school has adapted its protocol to comply with the Catholic Church’s teaching on life.  The school will now send students to First Resort, a crisis pregnancy center; the Gabriel Project, a pregnancy support organization run by the USF’s St. Ignatius Parish; and Catholic Charities counseling services. The new directive for the […]
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Indiana Bishop to Boycott GOP Chairman Steele at Right to Life Banquet over “Pro-Choice” Remarks

By Kathleen Gilbert EVANSVILLE, Indiana, March 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Indiana bishop plans to boycott the country’s largest Right to Life banquet because Michael Steele, the GOP chairman under fire for seemingly “pro-choice” remarks, is scheduled to give the keynote address. A Washington Times report Sunday revealed that Bishop Gerald Andrew Gettelfinger of Evansville says he will not attend the local Vanderburgh County Right to Life (VCRL) Banquet, featuring Gov. Sarah Palin as a scheduled guest appearance, because of remarks made by Steele that left some constituents unsure of his fidelity to the pro-life movement. In an interview with […]
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UK Parents Told by Court Their Baby Must Be Allowed to Die

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski BRITAIN, March 23, 2009 (LIfeSiteNews.com) – A seriously ill baby, known only as OT, died on Saturday in the U.K. after his parents lost a legal bid to keep him alive. The nine-month-old boy suffered from mitochondrial disease, a rare metabolic disorder which resulted in brain damage and respiratory failure. Two Court of Appeal judges refused the couple permission to challenge a decision by Mrs. Justice Parker of the High Court, made after a 10-day hearing, which gave the hospital treating the boy the right to stop the medical treatment that was keeping him alive. His […]
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Japanese Breakthrough Prompts Germany to Increase Adult Stem Cell Funding

Thursday November 29, 2007 Japanese Breakthrough Prompts Germany to Increase Adult Stem Cell Funding By Hilary White BERLIN, November 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The German health ministry announced that it will increase its funding for ethical adult stem cell research, building on its previous dedication to the protection of embryonic human life. The ministry announced November 24 that it will double the current allocation of five million euros (US $7.4 million) to just under 10 million euros, Annette Schavan told the weekly Focus magazine in an interview. “From now on we are going to double the annual funding total for […]
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Commentary on March 20 LifeSiteNews – What a day!

Dear Readers, What a day! And we’re not even finished yet. On only a few other occasions have we had to publish this many reports on one day. The rest will have to wait till Monday (We presume you don’t at all mind that). We urge you to take time over the weekend to read as much as you can. Many of them are crucial.  The “most pro-abortion President in US history” is to receive an honorary degree and give a commencement address at one of the most prestigious Catholic colleges in the country unless you take action to stop […]
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International Pro-Abortion Group Conspired With Hospital to Kill Unborn Twins in Famous Brazilian Ca

Part One of a Three Part Series By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, Latin America Correspondent RECIFE, BRAZIL, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An international pro-abortion organization conspired with pro-abortion hospital staff to bring about the now famous abortion on a nine-year-old Brazilian girl, according to witnesses. LifeSiteNews has also learned that, contrary to the claims repeated in Brazil’s mainstream media, the hospital where she was originally admitted has publicly acknowledged that her life was not in danger at the time the abortion was performed. The abortion, which drew international media attention when the local archbishop excommunicated the participants, was carried out […]
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LifeSiteNews Postcard Campaign Update

March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Since we launched our special postcard campaign on March 11 we have been too swamped with major news developments to send the usual fundraising campaign messages and updates. The last 11 days of news developments have been astonishing. As well, never have we been under such assault for simply reporting the truth – thoroughly researched and professionally and objectively written. We are only two weeks away from Easter, but also unfortunately miles away from reaching our goal of sending 5,000 cards to Cecile Richards and Henry Morgentaler. With less than 400 donations, LifeSiteNews still needs […]
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African Pro-Life Leader: Media Misses True Story of Historic Papal Visit

YAOUNDE, Cameroon, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI had not yet touched down in Africa before his trip was defined by the Western media’s distortion of a statement he made regarding condoms and the spread of HIV/AIDS. George Wirnkar, Director of Outreach for Human Life International’s (HLI) Francophone Africa Region, expressed shock over the furor in the Western media, when the Holy Father’s reception in Africa has been so positive. “I saw over 2,000 people that stayed in heavy rain singing and praying as the Holy Father presided over vespers in the Basilica of Our Lady Queen of […]
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European Union Pressures Serbia to Adopt “Gender Identity” Legislation

By Katharina Rothweiler, Piero A. Tozzi, J.D. NEW YORK, NY, March 20, 2009 (C-FAM ) – Serbia’s legislature has just passed a law providing for “freedom of expression of sexual orientation and gender identity” under pressure from the European Union (EU) and non-governmental organizations advocating homosexual rights. Passage of the legislation is understood to be a precondition for further Serbian reintegration with Europe, including the right to participate in an EU-wide visa waiver program allowing Serbs to travel freely among EU member states. Proponents claim that the law, which also contains an array of human rights protections for minority groups […]
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Canadian Bishops Conference Responds to LifeSiteNews.com Exposé on Development and Peace

By John-Henry Westen March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a letter to the Catholics of Canada concerning their official international development organization, the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.  The letter comes in the wake of a LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) investigative report providing evidence that the organization has funded organizations in Mexico which advocate for the legalization of abortion. Since LSN’s original report providing the evidence of the funding of the pro-abortion groups, to the tune of $170,000 last year alone, various follow-up stories have been published. The links to those may be found at […]
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UNFPA to Receive $50 Million in US Funding: Report

Commentary by Austin Ruse WASHINGTON, DC, March 20, 2009 (C-FAM) – Though not confirmed, pro-abortion groups are reporting that the United States (US) State Department has released $50 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), money that had been withheld for eight years by the Bush Administration because of UNFPA complicity in China’s forced abortion program. This week the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) praised President Barak Obama for the release of the funds and for living up to campaign promises. Even if CRR is wrong, it is only for the moment. What is certain is that UNFPA will […]
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LSN Editor Speaks on Openness to Life, Warns Against Using NFP with a Contraceptive Mentality

By John Jalsevac (To book an LSN staff member to speak at your event, e-mail [email protected], or call 1-888-678-6008) TORONTO, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – LifeSiteNews.com co-founder and Editor-in-Chief John-Henry Westen spoke at a four day Catholic retreat that concluded this past Tuesday.  Among many other topics, Westen addressed the need for openness to life, describing how even Natural Family Planning is only to be used for grave reasons. “Just as many outside the Church have witnessed the abuses of the process of annulment and derisively referred to it as ‘Catholic divorce’, so too if we use NFP with a contraceptive mentality, people […]
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Florida Woman Admits to Forcing Daughter to Abort, Dumping Grandchild in Trash

By Kathleen Gilbert MIRAMAR, Florida, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A South Florida woman has been arrested and charged for allegedly forcing her daughter to abort her unborn child via premature labor, and throwing her grandchild, who may have been born alive, in the garbage. Florida’s WFOR CBS 4 reports that 39-year-old Tonuya Rainey admitted to police that she illegally gave abortion-inducing medication to her 16-year-old daughter because Rainey did not want the child.  The teenager told police that her mother had her take the pills before Rainey left for the evening to attend a nightclub.  The teenager says she […]
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Vermont Committee Approves Same-Sex “Marriage” Bill

By Kathleen Gilbert MONTPELIER, Vermont, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Following a week of hearings, Vermont’s senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to introduce a bill legalizing same-sex “marriage” to the state legislature. The committee voted 5-0 on Friday to support S.115, which would redefine marriage as “the legally recognized union of two people.” Vermonters both supporting and opposing the bill scrambled to attend the last days of the emotionally charged debate, and at least 1,000 people converged on the Statehouse Wednesday evening to discuss the bill.  Republican Gov. Jim Douglas has said he opposes the bill, but did not divulge […]
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Operation Rescue Leader to Pro-Lifers: Ask Gov. Sebelius to Sign Anti-Abortion Law

By Kathleen Gilbert TOPEKA, Kansas, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The leaders of Operation Rescue are calling on pro-lifers to urge Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, the pro-abortion Health and Human Services (HHS) nominee, to support pro-life legislation Kansas legislators passed Tuesday. The bill would require abortion providers to allow women access to ultrasound imagery of their unborn child before undergoing an abortion. Pro-lifers are hoping that the governor may support the bill in order to soften her pro-abortion image and secure an easier Senate confirmation.  “Sebelius is between a rock and a hard place on this bill,” said Cheryl Sullenger, Operation […]
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Convicted Murderer Robert Latimer’s Day Parole Extended

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Robert Latimer, the Saskatchewan farmer given a life sentence for murdering his severely-disabled teenage daughter in 1993, has had his day parole extended by the National Parole Board. In a decision made March 12 and released yesterday, the board said Latimer has positive support, is continuing to pursue vocational training and has handled well the stress of a family member’s recent medical difficulties. “Based on a review of your correctional file … the board has concluded that were your day parole to be continued, your risk to reoffend would not […]
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“Mr. Bean” Star Urges House of Lords to Protect Free Speech Clause in “Anti-Homophobia” Law

By Kathleen Gilbert LONDON, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Comedian Rowan Atkinson, best known for his role as “Mr. Bean,” has urged the British House of Lords to ignore a bid to remove a clause protecting free speech in the UK’s “anti-homophobia” law. The Blackadder and Mr. Bean actor told the Lords meeting Tuesday: “Do I think that I would risk prosecution because of jokes or drama about sexual orientation with which I might be involved if we don’t have the free speech clause?  “Not really – but I dread something almost as bad – a culture of censoriousness, a questioning, negative […]
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Catholic Notre Dame University to Give Obama Honorary Degree on May 17, Against USCCB Policy

By Kathleen Gilbert NOTRE DAME, Indiana, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – White House Secretary Robert Gibbs stated today that President Obama will give the commencement address at Notre Dame University this year.  The school confirmed the announcement, stating on its website that Obama will also receive an honorary doctor of laws degree at the University’s 164th University Commencement Ceremony at 2 p.m. May 17 in the Joyce Center on campus. In 2004, the United States of Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved a policy statement called “Catholics in Political Life,” which says, with reference to pro-abortion politicians, “They should not […]
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German Churchmen Oppose Pope on Condoms

By Hilary White ROME, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – German churchmen are backpedalling away from Pope Benedict’s assertion that condoms are likely to make the problem of AIDS worse. Hamburg Catholic bishop Hans-Jochen Jaschke has written an article saying that the Pope is wrong to oppose the use of condoms to halt the spread of AIDS in Africa. “The church is not in a dark anti-condom-corner from which they want to intimidate people,” Jaschke wrote in the weekly newspaper, Die Zeit. While Pope Benedict’s opposition to using condoms for AIDS prevention in Africa has garnered the thanks of local African […]
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A Tale of Two Stories

Column by John Jalsevac, Assistant Editor March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This past Tuesday we ran two extraordinary stories – albeit extraordinary for very disparate reasons – that I gleefully stacked one on top of the other on the homepage. The intended effect was that the two should, by their very oppositeness, come into conflict and that the bad be revealed in the fullness of its badness, and the good in the fullness of its goodness; and I believe the tactic was successful. The first had to do with a mother of six children who, at the same time that […]
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Harvard AIDS Expert Says Pope is Correct on Condom Distribution Making AIDS Worse

By John-Henry Westen March 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, has said that the evidence confirms that the Pope is correct in his assessment that condom distribution exacerbates the problem of AIDS.  “The pope is correct,” Green told National Review Online Wednesday, “or put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the pope’s comments.”  “There is,” Green added, “a consistent association shown by our best studies, including the U.S.-funded ‘Demographic Health Surveys,’ between greater availability and use of condoms and higher […]
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Bishop Martino Won’t Meet with Misericordia without Proof of Sound Catholic Sexual Teaching

By Kathleen Gilbert SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, March 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After Misericordia University provoked a reprimand from Scranton’s Bishop Martino by inviting a homosexualist speaker to speak on campus, the bishop has said he will not meet with the school until they disclose a record of the school’s moral teaching on sexuality, as Martino had requested. A diocesan press release yesterday stated that the bishop would not heed Misericordia’s request for a meeting “until they comply with his request for a public release of specific information on how the institution teaches Catholic morality regarding sexuality and homosexuality, and how it […]
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B.C. Pro-Life Heroine Selected as Finalist for Community Civic Award

KELOWNA, BC, March 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Julie Wambeke, an 89-year-old long-time Kelowna resident and pro-life warrior, has been selected as a finalist for the City of Kelowna Woman of the Year Civic Award. The award is given yearly to “a woman in recognition of her overall outstanding contributions to the well-being of the City of Kelowna.” Such contributions need to be strictly on a volunteer basis in order to qualify for the award.  Julie was nominated for her decades of volunteer work in establishing several charitable organizations and raising money for others. However, it was her unwavering dedication to […]
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Bishop Morlino Sacks Dissident Feminist Pastoral Associate, Elicits Rage from Liberal Community

By Kathleen Gilbert MADISON, Wisconsin, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Bishop Morlino, who has come under fire in the past for proclaiming Catholic Church teaching on life and family, is again facing the ire of liberal Catholics.  This time, the Madison bishop is facing protests for sacking a pastoral associate who advocates dissident liberation and feminist theology. Ruth Kolpack, who has served as pastoral associate at St. Thomas parish since 1995, was dismissed by the bishop on Thursday after she refused to recant a 2003 Master’s degree thesis extolling the use of female pronouns in describing God, and questioning obedience […]
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Commentary on March 18 News – So Many Stories of Great Significance

Dear readers, There are so many stories of great significance for Wednesday, I don’t know where to begin. Let’s start with the good news.  The Archbishop of Toronto is taking decisive action on the allegations that the development arm of the Canadian Bishops Conference is financially supporting pro-abortion groups.  He has ordered a detailed investigation and has let it be known their funding from his archdiocese is in jeopardy. On the same subject, the National Catholic Register has done an independent investigation and found Development and Peace funding other pro-abortion groups in Latin America. The story of the excommunication of […]
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Development and Peace Also Supporting Pro-Abortion Group in Bolivia: National Catholic Register

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman BOLIVIA, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP) is funding at least one pro-abortion organization in Bolivia, according to an article published yesterday by the National Catholic Register. The group, known as the Center for Promotion and Integral Health (Centro de Promocion y Salud Integral, or CEPROSI) is one of the “the most militant, radical, and active” organizations pushing to legalize abortion in the country, according to Bolivian pro-life attorney Susana Inch Sainz, as quoted by the Register. Sainz reportedly told the newspaper that CEPROSI was involved in the […]
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Vatican Prelates Disagree Publicly over Excommunication of Brazilian Doctors Who Aborted Twins of 9-

By Hilary White, Rome Correspondent and John-Henry Westen   ROME, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The automatic excommunication of doctors involved in the abortion of the twins of a nine-year-old rape victim in Brazil has created a largely unprecedented public scuffle between Vatican prelates. The excommunication was announced by Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of the archdiocese of the city of Recife where the girl lived and backed by the Vatican’s Prefect for the Congregation of Bishops Cardinal Battista Re. (see coverage: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09030903.html )  However, in what came as a shock to the pro-life and Catholic world, Archbishop Salvatore (Rino) Fisichella, […]
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Mother Rejected Advice to Terminate Pregnancy Given by Priest at Centre of ‘Early Induction’ Scandal

By John-Henry Westen  TORONTO, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – About six months ago an urgent case came to the attention of pro-life leaders in Canada, involving a pregnant Catholic woman whose unborn baby was diagnosed with serious health problems and who was seeking help.  She said she was receiving conflicting advice from Catholic authorities on whether or not she should go for an early induction, which would have caused the death of her child.    Gillian DeSouza told LifeSiteNews.com she received advice through her priest, from Fr. Michael Prieur, the chief ethicist of the London, Ontario diocese, to go ahead and terminate […]
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Toronto Archbishop: Development and Peace Won’t Get Funds if They Support Pro-Abortion Groups

By John-Henry Westen TORONTO, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins has taken the investigative report, published by LifeSiteNews.com exposing Development and Peace funding of pro-abortion groups in Latin America, very seriously.  In a message sent to all pastors of the Archdiocese yesterday, Archbishop Collins called for the “serious allegations” about Development and Peace to be “investigated in detail,” noting that that funding of the organization was in jeopardy.   Last week LSN issued a report exposing the fact that the official international development organization of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is funding pro-abortion groups in Mexico. The […]
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University of Victoria Pro-Life Student Club Once Again Denied Funding

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski VICTORIA, British Columbia, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – University of Victoria pro-life students, who had been fighting for fair treatment from their student union since October 2008, and were finally granted club status and funding by a vote of the Clubs Council on February 10th, have again been denied the right to be treated equally to other groups on campus. The University of Victoria (UVic) student newspaper, The Martlet, reports that the pro-life student club, Youth Protecting Youth (YPY), “was denied club money again by the UVic Students’ Society, despite Clubs Council voting in favor of […]
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EU to Eliminate “Mrs.” and “Miss” in Favor of “Gender Neutral” Language

By Hilary White BRUSSELS, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Officials of the European Union have issued a booklet for EU Parliamentary staff, saying that the use of “Miss” and “Mrs” for women, as well as such terms as “statesman” and “fireman,” are to be banned on the grounds that they are “sexist.” Any honorifics that distinguish between a married and an unmarried woman in any language are to be banned as well, including “Madame” and “Mademoiselle,” “Frau” and “Fraulein,” “Senora” and “Senorita.” Instead, staff are asked not to use any form of honorific and merely to address women by their names. […]
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Obama Administration to Sign UN Declaration to “Decriminalize Homosexuality”

By Hilary White WASHINGTON, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Obama Administration has confirmed that it will endorse a statement that will call for the global “decriminalization of homosexuality.” The State Department today endorsed the statement originating from France, saying that it did so out of concern over for “violence and human rights abuses against gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual individuals” and “the criminalization of sexual orientation in many countries.” The statement in question, which former president George W. Bush refused to sign, has been heavily criticised by pro-family groups as a significant step towards the worldwide outlawing of religious opposition […]
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Kansas Legislators Pass Abortion Bill, Now Hangs on Sebelius Approval

By Kathleen Gilbert TOPEKA, Kansas, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A bill restricting abortion that Kansas senators approved Tuesday 32-6, now falls in the hands of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a pro-abortion “champion” who has consistently vetoed bills restricting abortion in the past.  As the new and highly controversial Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) nominee, Sebelius’ decision on the bill may have broad consequences. Pro-lifers are hoping that the governor, whom Obama nominated as the next HHS secretary earlier this month, may break with her solid pro-abortion record and support the bill with an aim to soften her extreme pro-abortion reputation and […]
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Fourth Video Released Showing Two More Planned Parenthoods Hiding Rape of 15-Year-Old

By Kathleen Gilbert PHOENIX, Arizona, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two more Planned Parenthood abortion facilities in Phoenix, AZ, have been caught on tape illegally covering up statutory rape, which they are legally obligated to report. The new video is the fourth in a series of interstate sting operations dubbed “the Mona Lisa Project” by Live Action Media, a group of college students who are working to expose a pattern of illicit behavior by the abortion giant.  The video and audio footage of the latest installment show more Planned Parenthood employees neglecting to report statutory rape, as required by law. […]
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Commentary on March 17 LifeSiteNews Reports

Dear Readers, Yet another heroic mother gives witness to the sacredness of the lives of unborn children. If only our secular and religious leaders had anything near the same understanding, they too would be heroic and do what needs to be done to save our anti-life culture from its current self destructive path, regardless of the cost to themselves. The Quebec story is bizarre as parents sue a hospital for not allowing their handicapped child to be starved to death. Why did they not just give up the child into protective custody as the hospital suggested? There will always be […]
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Letters to the Editor For March 17, 2009

Re: Commentary on March 11 Newshttps://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09031114.html Dear Mr. Westen: In your March 11 commentary you say that you are encouraged by Bishop Olmsted of Phoenix for not cowering to political correctness. For the last ten years I’ve dropped the uses of “politically correct” when referring to our Church leaders. They have indeed become politically secularized but there’s still just enough religious identity that I now refer to them (only as a body since there are exceptions) as being religiously correct. Years of political correctness (censorship of language that may offend political sensibilities) by the secular press infected Catholic religious leaders, […]
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U.S. Lawmakers Fight to Remove Law, Signed by Obama, against Federal Funding for Embryo Research

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While President Obama’s executive order last week abolished former President George Bush’s order forbidding taxpayer funds from being used for embryo-destructive research, the move did not address current U.S. law that bans federal funds from being used for the creation and destruction of embryos. Anti-life legislators are now working to repeal the pro-life law as the next logical step to completely free up funds for embryonic stem-cell research. Just two days after signing the embryonic stem cell research executive order, Obama signed the annual omnibus appropriations bill, which since 1995 has included […]
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Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Alaska Law Gave Gov. Palin a Choice between Two Pro-Abort Judges

By Kathleen Gilbert ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While Gov. Sarah Palin has recently been portrayed as betraying her conservative constituency by appointing a pro-choice judge to the Alaska Supreme Court, the pro-life group that spearheaded opposition to the move says that, while they are troubled by the pick, the governor was given little room to maneuver by the judicial appointment system in Alaska law. The Alaska Judicial Council, an independent citizen’s commission that evaluates judicial appointments, presented the governor with judges Eric Smith and Morgan Christen as possible picks for the Supreme Court appointment, both of whom […]
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Neonatologist Says Brazilian Nine-Year-Old Could Have Safely Brought Child to Term

March 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The horrific case of a nine-year-old Brazilian girl who was repeatedly raped by her step-father, and who subsequently became pregnant with twins has made headlines around the world in recent days. The case created widespread controversy after the girl had an abortion, an act that was condemned by the Catholic Church in the country due to the fact that doctors had originally refused to perform an abortion, stating that the girl’s life was not in danger. The doctors who later performed the abortion, however, claimed that the girl’s life was indeed in danger, a claim that […]
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Head of USCCB Meets with Obama: Also Releases Video Saying Decision on Conscience Protection a Move

By John Jalsevac March 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On the same day that Cardinal Francis George released a video expressing, on the behalf of all American bishops, his deep concern about the Obama administration’s decision to rescind conscience protection regulations put in place by the Bush administration, he has met with President Obama at the White House. News of the private, half-hour meeting between the two was only released late this afternoon. The meeting was not included in President Obama’s daily schedule. The statements from the White House and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) give few details about […]
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Vermont Begins Hearings on Same-Sex “Marriage” Bill

By Kathleen Gilbert MONTPELIER, March 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Hundreds of Vermonters attended the first day of legislative hearings yesterday addressing a bill that would make Vermont the third state to recognize same-sex “marriage.” Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee listened to dozens of testimonies in the first of a string of hearings throughout this week concerning S.115, which would redefine marriage as “the legally recognized union of two people.”  In 2000, Vermont was the first state to approve civil unions for same-sex couples, a fiercely debated move that divided the state. Over a dozen lawmakers that favored civil unions […]
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Courageous Mother Delays Chemotherapy Treatment for Cancer, Saves Lives of Twins

By Hilary White LIVERPOOL, March 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While some doctors routinely offer abortion in the case of women who are pregnant and facing cancer treatments, one British housewife has demonstrated that it is not always necessary to make such a difficult situation into a death sentence for the unborn child. Rachel Crossland, a British housewife and mother of six who had been diagnosed with cancer, refused chemotherapy and radiation treatment when she was informed she was 13 weeks pregnant with twins. The Daily Mail reports that Mrs. Crossland was about to undergo surgery for a malignant tumour on […]
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Couple Sues Quebec Hospital for Not Dehydrating Disabled Infant Daughter to Death

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski MONTREAL, March 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Quebec couple have launched a $3.5-million lawsuit against Montreal Children’s Hospital for allegedly putting their infant daughter back on artificial food and hydration without their approval. Marie-Eve Laurendeau gave birth to Phebe Mantha at LaSalle Hospital in November 2007. After a difficult delivery Phebe was transferred to Montreal Children’s Hospital in serious condition and put on life support. According to the lawsuit Laurendeau and Phebe’s father, Stephane Mantha, were told by doctors that their daughter had little chance for survival and advised them to take her off respiratory support […]
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Mexican Pro-Life Leader Confirms: Groups Funded by Development and Peace are Pro-Abortion

By Mathew Cullinan Hoffman MEXICO CITY, March 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Director of Mexico’s National Pro-Life Committee has confirmed to LifeSiteNews (LSN) that he is personally aware that at least three of the groups funded by the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP) in Mexico are pro-abortion (see LifeSiteNews coverage at https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09031210.html). In a telephone interview, Jorge Serrano told LSN that he is aware that “The All Rights for Everyone Network is a abortion advocacy group, CENCOS [National Center for Social Communication] is also pro-abortion, and [the Center for] Human Rights Augustin Pro is also abortionist.” Although some of […]
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Commentary :  Storm within Catholic Church in Canada over CCODP LifeSiteNews Report

By Steve Jalsevac March 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Our report last Thursday on the Canadian bishops' Development and Peace organization funding groups involved in pro-abortion advocacy has caused a storm within the church in Canada. We have received a flood of emails about the report (too many for us to respond to) and have corresponded with a number of bishops about it. Let's make a few things clear about this. First, we have not advocated that, because of this situation, readers withhold their contributions to Share Life, Share Lent and other campaigns now underway in Canadian dioceses. We merely reported the […]
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Oklahoma House Votes Overwhelmingly to Outlaw Embryonic Stem Cell Research

By Kathleen Gilbert OKLAHOMA CITY, March 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Oklahoma House of Representatives Thursday voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill that would make it illegal to conduct research that would harm or kill an unborn child, including embryonic stem-cell research. The House also voted to invest in adult stem cell research. House Bill 1326 passed in an 82-6 vote before being sent to the state Senate. “For me personally, this is the single-most important issue we deal with as legislators: protecting the right to life,” said Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, the bill’s sponsor. “The idea that […]
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Catholic and International Pro-Life Groups Ask Canadian Bishops to Halt Funding to Latin American Pr

By John-Henry Westen OTTAWA, March 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Catholic International pro-life groups have reacted with dismay to evidence that the official development arm of the Canadian Conference of Bishops is funding pro-abortion groups in Latin America. Human Life International (HLI), the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (CFAM) and the Latin American Alliance for the Family (ALAFA), are all urging the Bishops of Canada to cease funding the groups which, among their various activities, also advocate for abortion. A LifeSiteNews.com investigative report that found that the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP) has channeled hundreds of thousands of […]
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Life Saved in Rockford because of Grotesque Display in Abortion Facility Window

By Kathleen Gilbert ROCKFORD, Illinois, March 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Grotesque “decorations” in the windows of a notorious Rockford abortion facility, featuring rubber chickens hanging from nooses, led to a life saved, after two young men, disgusted by the display, convinced their pregnant companion to leave the building. The incident took place last Friday at the Northern Illinois Women’s Center in Rockford IL, where two men had brought a 17-year-old female friend for an abortion.  Kevin Rilott, a pro-life veteran at the notorious Rockford mill, reports that the young men came out of the building and began conversing with pro-life […]
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Homosexual Who Abandoned Wife Given Custody of Children with Gay Lover – Wife Pays Child Support

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman CHILE, March 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A judge has provoked outrage in Chile by awarding custody of two children to their homosexual father, after he left his wife to live with his male lover.  In addition, the judge has ordered the abandoned wife to make child support payments to the husband. According to Chilean media accounts, the woman (referred to anonymously as “A.G.L.”) was deprived of custody of her two children, 10 and 17, when she failed to appear at a single custody hearing. Her husband, “C.P.W.,” had previously abandoned her to live with his homosexual […]
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Alberta Considers Denying Physician Conscience Rights

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski CALGARY, Alberta, March 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSA) is in the process of revising its Standards of Practice code and may be considering implementing a policy which would force physicians to refer patients for abortion, even if they believe this to be morally wrong. The proposed changes are being debated this week and follow in the footsteps of similar code of conduct changes which were proposed but later rejected in Ontario last fall by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO). The controversial policy was abandoned by […]
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Bishop Martino Breaks Media Silence, Speaks on Right to Life

By John Jalsevac SCRANTON, PA, March 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – For weeks now Bishop Martino has been making headlines in the news on what sometimes seems to be a daily basis, as he has defended the teachings of the Catholic Church on some of the most controversial issues of the day, including abortion and homosexuality. However, whether writing to Sen. Bob Casey (a member of Martino’s diocese) asking the senator to revoke his vote against reinstating the Mexico City Policy, or demanding that Misericordia University cancel an appearance by a homosexualist speaker, the bishop has generally shied away from media […]
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Abortionist Tiller Goes to Trial: Long Anticipated Case Begins with Jury Selection Today

By Kathleen Gilbert TOPEKA, Kansas, March 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After a long string of efforts on the part of Kansas abortionist George Tiller’s attorneys to stifle the case met with failure, the highly anticipated criminal trial against the abortionist began today with jury selection. The infamous abortionist faces 19 charges of breaking a state late-term abortion law that requires an unaffiliated, second doctor to confirm that a woman needs a late-term abortion for serious health reasons.  Tiller allegedly maintained a close financial and legal relationship with fellow abortionist Ann Kristen Neuhaus, who gave consent to Tiller’s numerous late-term abortions. […]
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Two More Undercover Videos of Planned Parenthood Rape Cover-Ups Set for Release

By Kathleen Gilbert ARIZONA, March 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two more videos exposing illegal cover-ups of sexual abuse by Planned Parenthood employees are due for release tomorrow by Live Action Media, a pro-life student group that has received national attention by exposing the illegal practices of the abortion giant.  Earlier Live Action videos were the inspiration behind a California county board of supervisors’ recent decision to de-fund Planned Parenthood. The videos will be the fourth and fifth installments of the Mona Lisa Project, a series of undercover video exposés revealing Planned Parenthood staff covering up statutory rape and circumventing state […]
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Six Calgary Pro-Life Students Plead “Not Guilty” to Charge of Trespassing

CALGARY, AB, March 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The six University of Calgary students who were charged by the university with trespassing on their own campus after they participated in a pro-life event last year, were scheduled to appear in court this morning where they intended to enter a “not guilty” plea. Last November, CPL exhibited a graphic abortion display on campus, the sixth time that the group had done so. While at several past exhibits the university acknowledged the students’ rights to express themselves, last year U of C administration told the students they had to change how they exhibited their […]
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Commentary on March 13 LifeSiteNews Reports

Dear readers, The Obama Administration’s pro-abortion agenda seems never ending and with hints of vacancies on the Supreme Court, more damage is likely. With Michael Steele and John McCain demonstrating great weakness it makes one wonder what the outcome of the election would have been had there been a strong conservative at the helm. The story on the funding of abortion advocacy groups by the development arm of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has had many reactions off the record for now.  Watch for more on that Monday. The story of the Vatican-backed excommunications of those involved in the […]
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Responses to LifeSiteNews Morgentaler Card Campaign

Unfortunately, our new donation system for US and international supporters and the PayPal procedure do not allow those participants in the postcard campaign to add a comment. We have been fortunate however, to be able to receive comments from the Canadian Morgentaler campaign participants. See some of those below. We encourage comments from participants in the Cecile Richards campaign to be sent separately to [email protected]. COMMENTS FROM CANADIANS: Carolyne P. – Mississauga, OntarioComment: Great Idea!!! Wish I could give more….I’m unemployed.  All the best and God Bless!!! Amount: $10.00 Fergus S. – Burnaby, British ColumbiaComment: “Our family is praying for […]
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LifeSiteNews Aims to Send 5,000 Pro-Life Postcards to Planned Parenthood, Henry Morgentaler by Easte

March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This Lent LifeSiteNews.com has set a goal to flood the largest and most profitable abortion providers in the US and Canada with personalized cards asking them to stop killing unborn children, and telling them that women deserve better than abortion.  From now until Easter Sunday, for every person who donates to LifeSiteNews.com in the name of Planned Parenthood president, Cecile Richards (U.S.) or abortionist Henry Morgentaler (Canada), LSN will mail a personalized card to either Richards or Morgentaler telling them that the donation was made in their name. The card will also ask them to […]
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Tiller Abortion Patient Transported to Hospital, “No Lights, No Sirens”

WICHITA, KS, March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Just four days before jury selection begins in late-term abortionist George R. Tiller’s criminal trial, a woman was transported to the emergency room by ambulance from Tiller’s abortion clinic, Women’s Health Care Services. An ambulance left Tiller’s abortion facility mid-afternoon yesterday, and transported a woman to Wesley Medical Center with no lights or sirens running. The patient was rushed into the emergency room with her head covered, leaving witnesses to wonder if she was alive or dead. Tiller followed the ambulance to Wesley Medical Center and was dropped off by unlicensed “nurse” Cathy […]
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Study: Women Who Use Birth Control Pill 1.5 Times More Likely to Develop Bowel Disease

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski LONDON, UK, March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A study on the role of oral contraceptives in the cause of inflammatory bowel disease, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, found that women who use the pill are one and a half times more likely to develop Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) than women who have not used oral contraceptives. The research by doctors at the Gastroenterology Unit of St. Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College, and the Department of Surgery of St. Mark’s Hospital, London, reported that a total of 75,815 patients were involved in the […]
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NC Judge Orders Mom to Send Homeschoolers to Public School for Exposure to “Real World”

By Kathleen Gilbert RALEIGH, North Carolina, March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A North Carolina district judge has ordered a homeschooling mom to send her three children to public school, saying that although they are “thriving” with higher-than-average marks, they lack exposure to the “real world.” As part of divorce proceedings between North Raleigh residents Thomas and Venessa Mills, last Friday Wake District Court Judge Ned Mangum told Mrs. Mills that it would be in the “best interests” of her children, ages 10, 11, and 12, to attend public school next fall.  The children have been homeschooled according to a Christian-based […]
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Latin American Post-Abortion Group Asks Obama Not to Fund Abortionist Organizations in their Countri

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman SANTIAGO, March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Latin American Post-Abortion Attention Network (APAL), based in Santiago, Chile, has written a letter to US President Barack Obama, asking him not to fund pro-abortion organizations in Latin America “Mr. President Barack Obama, our Latin American countries believe in the self-determination of peoples, a basic principle of international law, and we believe in absolute respect for life, as the foundation of all human rights,” writes APAL President Elizabeth Bunster. “For that reason, we appeal to (your) good sense not to interfere through the delivery of resources to groups identified […]
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Two French Bishops Condemn Excommunications in Brazil as Lacking “Compassion”

By Hilary White March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two French bishops have condemned the excommunications of a Brazilian mother and doctors who procured an abortion for her nine year-old daughter. The bishops of the dioceses of Gap in southeastern France and Nanterre, near Paris, have blasted Archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho of the archdiocese of Olinda and Recife for “adding to the pain” of the “tragedy.” In an open letter, published on the Nanterre diocese website, Bishop Gérard Antoine Daucourt wrote that although he is “strongly opposed” to abortion, in his announcement of the excommunication Archbishop Cardoso had “caused suffering and […]
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Porn Lawyer Ogden Confirmed for Deputy Justice Spot, McCain among Yes Votes

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. Senate yesterday confirmed David Ogden as the next deputy attorney general, ignoring a flood of protest against Ogden’s extensive record in defending pornography.  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) joined the senators in voting in favor of Ogden, despite having been chief sponsor of the Children’s Internet Protection Act, an act designed to keep porn off public library computers that Ogden opposed. In 2003, Ogden wrote a brief on behalf of fifteen library directors objecting to the Protection Act, claiming that, “By demanding that libraries be censors and devote resources […]
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New Study Finds Harmful Effects on Children When Parents Live Common-Law

OTTAWA, March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new study by Dr. Frank Jones, Research Fellow at the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada (IMFC) has found that marriage benefits children in ways that parents living together in a common-law relationship does not, and that children from common-law homes are more likely to engage in risky behavior. (See: https://www.imfcanada.org/Default.aspx?cat=0) Using data from Statistics Canada’s National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, the study examined children of married and cohabiting parents at ages six to eleven and again, eight years later, at ages fourteen to nineteen, measuring responses to forty questions about […]
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RNC Chair Steele Sparks Outrage with “Pro-Choice” Comments

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Republican National Committee’s (RNC) new chairman, Michael Steele, has drawn heavy criticism from Republicans and pro-lifers for recent statements that appeared to downplay the GOP’s strongly pro-life and pro-family platform and promote a “pro-choice” position. Steele made the remarks in an interview with GQ magazine, in which he was asked to elaborate on his belief in the “power of life” as well as the “power of choice.”  Steele told the magazine, “The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother […]
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Top Vatican Official Slams Choice of Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services

SAN DIEGO, CA, March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The head of the Roman Catholic Church’s highest office overseeing Church law has slammed the nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), calling the nomination “the source of greatest embarrassment” to the Catholic Church. In an interview with Thomas J. McKenna, president of Catholic Action for Faith and Family, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, strongly supported the means by which the Governor has been disciplined by her bishop because of her public support for abortion. Kansas Archbishop Joseph Naumann has been strongly […]
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EU’s European Christian Party Weakens Pro-Life and Pro-Family Positions

By Susan Yoshihara and Katharina Rothweiler NEW YORK, NY, March 13, 2009 (C-FAM) – The European Parliament’s largest umbrella group backed away from some of its strong pro-life and pro-family positions in a new draft position statement for the 2009 European elections. In a position statement released in January entitled “Draft EPP Election Document 2009,” the European People’s Party (EPP) removed some bedrock principles supporting traditional marriage and human life found in their 2004 position statement. The EPP is the largest group in the European Parliament, with 288 members from 74 coalition parties, primarily Christian Democrat Members of the European […]
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At UN Obama Reps Push for “Sexual and Reproductive Health”

By Samantha Singson NEW YORK, NY, March 13, 2009 (C-FAM) – The annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meeting continues at the United Nations (UN) this week and delegates have begun the arduous task of negotiating the “outcome document” – a non-binding agreement on HIV/AIDS and care-giving that is the focus of this year’s session.  While the meetings have been closed to non-government organizations (NGOs), the United States (US) delegation has openly stated that “sexual and reproductive health and rights” would be a priority issue for the Obama administration. At a briefing hosted by the United States, a […]
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College Buckles Under Public Pressure, Lifts Campus Ban On Pro-Life Students Who Videotaped Planned

CLAREMONT, March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pomona College banned two pro-life students from campus last week after they videotaped the question-and-answer session during a Planned Parenthood representative’s talk and asked the representative tough questions about recent Planned Parenthood scandals. However, Pomona rescinded its ban this week after facing strong opposition from students, faculty, and alumni. The pro-life students, David Daleiden, 20, and Kyle Kinneberg, 21, are members of the youth-led right-to-life advocacy group Live Action. Daleiden and Kinneberg both attend Claremont McKenna College, part of the Claremont College Consortium together with Pomona and three other undergraduate institutions. A hand-delivered letter […]
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LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes for March 12, 2009

* Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information. ** Popular American Papist Blog Promotes LifeSiteNews’ New “Planned Parenthood” Fundraising Campaignhttps://www.americanpapist.com/2009/03/send-planned-parenthood-president.html LIFE ISSUES Video: Bill Clinton Repeatedly Claims Embryos Not  “Fertilized”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ-W6dvIqmU&eurl=https://www.americanpapist.com/blog.html North Dakota abortion ban could have national implicationshttps://minnesotaindependent.com/28855/north-dakota-abortion-ban-could-have-national-implications Some states push back against stem cell researchhttps://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090311/ap_on_re_us/stem_cell_states Biotech: What to Expect – First Thingshttps://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6492 Boston Catholic Hospital Stonewalls On Abortion“It staggers the imagination that anyone can seriously believe the assertions by the Archdiocese of Boston about Caritas and abortion. The […]
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Commentary on March 12 LifeSiteNews Reports

Dear readers, Using aborted babies’ organs for transplants, “FOCA” in Illinois, and Obama’s fudging on human cloning are very concerning developments. Much of the error in all these things is simply erroneous views of science.  In a CNN interview former President Clinton demonstrated his ignorance of the science underpinning reproduction as he referred repeatedly to embryos as not being ‘fertilized,’ when of course fertilization occurs between egg and sperm resulting in an embryo. See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ-W6dvIqmU But for a breath of fresh air read the report on 40 Days for Life. Some of you asked about our email […]
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University Police Officer Sues over Suspension for Refusing to Arrest Christian Protesters

By Kathleen Gilbert KUTZTOWN, Pennsylvania, March 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Kutztown University police officer who was suspended when he refused to arrest a Christian group proselytizing on campus is now suing University administration officials. Police Cpl. Steven Armbruster says he was unjustly relieved of duties during the 2007 incident for failing to obey a direct order that he says would have violated the free speech rights of the group, known as Repent America.  Repent America, which preaches against abortion and homosexuality, came onto the public campus on April 18, 2007 during Kutztown’s “day of silence” for homosexual hate crimes […]
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“Killing Girls” Documentary A Bleak Examination of Russia’s Abortion Epidemic

By Kathleen Gilbert March 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A graphic documentary touted by its creator as “neither pro-life nor pro-choice” that depicts in intimate detail the disturbing reality of Russia’s abortion culture has been released. “Killing Girls,” so named because all the women filmed eventually learned they carried baby girls, is a documentary seven years in the making that discusses the history of abortion in Russia and follows the induced abortions of several young Russian girls.  Only one girl in the documentary chooses to keep her daughter. The film is set in the Center for Family Planning and Reproduction in […]
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Illinois “FOCA” Moves to House Floor – Would Eliminate All Abortion Restrictions in State

By Kathleen Gilbert SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, March 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Illinois bill enshrining abortion as a “right” and introducing explicit sex education was approved by the Illinois House Human Services Committee yesterday in a 5-2 vote. HB 2354, proposed by state House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, states that the government shall not “deny or interfere with an individual’s right” to abortion and contraception. The bill would nullify or prevent all common-sense legal restrictions on abortion, including health and safety regulations for abortion facilities, informed consent, and parental notification laws. Dubbed “Illinois’ FOCA (Freedom of Choice Act)” by […]
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Use Aborted Children to Make up Shortfall of Transplant Organs: Oxford Stem Cell Expert

By Hilary White LONDON, March 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Oxford University stem cell expert has urged the use of aborted children in organ transplants as a solution to the shortage of available organs. Sir Richard Gardner has called for a feasibility study on the possibility of obtaining organs from the bodies of aborted babies. He said, “It is probably a more realistic technique in dealing with the shortage of kidney donors than others.” The Daily Mail reports that pro-life and Christian groups have called the proposal “morally abhorrent,” and said it will result in abortions being timed to suit […]
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Scottish Government Proposes Homosexual Fostering but Refuses to Publish Same-Sex Adoption Report

By Hilary White EDINBURGH, March 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The government of Scotland plans to allow homosexual partners to foster children, but will not make public a report on the practise of allowing them to adopt children. Homosexual adoption was legalised in 2006. The Christian Institute reports that although Scottish ministers launched an investigation last month into the results of the homosexual adoption law, the government will not release the report, saying it is only intended for use “in house.” The Christian Institute’s Mike Judge said, “We all deserve to know the outcome and the fact it is not being published […]
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Pope Expresses Sadness at Attacks over Lifting of Traditionalist Excommunications

By Hilary White and John Jalsevac ROME, March 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a letter issued today, Pope Benedict expresses his sadness at the recent spate of criticism that has come in the wake of the lifting of the excommunications of four “traditionalist” bishops, and calls for unity within the Church. (To read the complete text of the letter, see: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09031201.html) Addressed to the Catholic bishops of the world, the pope’s letter notes that the reaction to the decision to try to reconcile with the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), was “more heated than any we have seen for […]
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Toronto 40 Days for Life Hits Half-Way Point – Participants Say Public Response “Surprising”

By Jenna Murphy TORONTO, March 11, 2009, (LifeSiteNews.com) – This coming Sunday marks the celebration of the 40 Days for Life Midpoint Mass with His Grace Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, at St Charles Borromeo Church at 3pm in Toronto. Since its sub-zero debut on February 25th, the Toronto campaign has turned out hundreds of hardy pro-lifers from all over the city. So far, several local parishes as well as university student groups have committed to filling in the 24-hour blocks, many of them braving piercing cold and high wind to stand in solidarity with the unborn whose lives are […]
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Benedict XVI Letter Concerning the Remission of the Excommunication of the Four Bishops Consecrated

 Dear Brothers in the Episcopal Ministry! The remission of the excommunication of the four Bishops consecrated in 1988 by Archbishop Lefebvre without a mandate of the Holy See has for many reasons caused, both within and beyond the Catholic Church, a discussion more heated than any we have seen for a long time. Many Bishops felt perplexed by an event which came about unexpectedly and was difficult to view positively in the light of the issues and tasks facing the Church today. Even though many Bishops and members of the faithful were disposed in principle to take a positive view […]
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Commentary on March 11 News

Dear readers, What great encouragement today from Bishop Olmsted of Phoenix, who does not cower to political correctness.  He offers the best one-liner summary of Obama’s move to publicly fund embryonic stem cell research: “We U.S. taxpayers will now be forced to pay, whether we wish to or not, for the killing of our youngest brothers and sisters on the dubious hypothesis that their murders might, in the future, benefit others.” LifeSiteNews.com is used by leaders in the pro-life movement, by activists, journalists, students for research projects, and also used heavily by bloggers.  Thomas Peters one of the most prominent […]
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Letters to the Editor March 11, 2009

RE: Choice and Personhood Dear Editor, I’ll tell you what is self-righteous bigotry, hypocrisy, and downright arrogance. Science can tell us that a fossilized dinosaur lived 65 million years ago and can name it by genus and specie and yet we have a hard time understanding that a human embryo is a human being within a nine month period. Science and law tell us that eagle eggs and eagle embryos are eagles, so much so, that we made a law to make sure they don’t go extinct. Science tells us that you don’t get eagles from chicken embryos or chicken eggs. There is […]
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LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes for March 11, 2009

Compiled by Steve Jalsevac * Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information. LIFE ISSUES Silent No More Gathering on National “Abortionist Appreciation Day”https://www.momsintheright.com/2009/03/silent-no-more-gathering-on-national.html NYT Inadvertently Confirms IBD’s Logic in Denouncing Obama’s Embryonic Stem Cell Decisionhttps://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2009/03/10/nyt-inadvertently-confirms-ibd-s-denunciation-obama-s-embryonic-stem-cel Idaho Futile Care Bill: Doctors Can Unilaterally Decide to Push People into the Gravehttps://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2009/03/idaho-futile-care-bill-doctors-can.html Duty to Die in Idaho! Legislature Close to Passing Futile Care Bill https://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2009/03/duty-to-die-in-idaho-legislature-close.html “We have a problem with financing Planned Parenthood” – Orange County supervisor wants board to terminate contracts […]
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Orange County Supervisors Terminate Planned Parenthood Funding

By Kathleen Gilbert ORANGE COUNTY, California, March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – All five members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to cancel a health education contract with the local Planned Parenthood, cutting about $300,000 from the group. Each supervisor cited an objection to abortion as the motive behind the vote.  Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading provider of abortions. “Not to generalize, but when you contact a law firm that specializes in bankruptcies, they most likely will advise you to file for bankruptcy,” Supervisor John Moorlach wrote in an email to constituents. “If you go to Planned […]
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California Initiative Proposes Abolishing All Marriage from Law

By Kathleen Gilbert SACRAMENTO, March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – California same-sex “marriage” supporters are collecting signatures to support a ballot initiative that would remove civil marriage from California law entirely, as well as the provision codifying marriage as between a man and a woman. The “Domestic Partnership Initiative” proposes to categorize all unions simply as “domestic partnerships,” while retaining all the rights of marriage for heterosexual couples, and extending them to homosexual couples.  According to the initiative’s summary, “Legally speaking, ‘Marriage’ itself would become a social ceremony, recognized by only non-governmental institutions.” State Attorney General Jerry Brown submitted the official […]
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Connecticut’s Same-Sex “Marriage” Bill Would Deny Conscience Rights

By Kathleen Gilbert HARTFORD, Connecticut, March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Connecticut legislators are considering a bill that would codify the state Supreme Court’s decision recognizing same-sex “marriage.”  But pro-family advocates are warning that the current form of the bill opens the way to homosexualist curriculum in schools, affirmative-action style legislation based on sexual orientation, and penalties for those who refuse to facilitate same-sex “marriages.” Senate bill 899 implements “the guarantee of equal protection under the Constitution of the state for same-sex couples,” as introduced by four Supreme Court judges in October.  One part of the new legislation repeals Sec. 46a-81r […]
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Commentary: It’s the Little Things – An Insider’s View of a 40 Days for Life Campaign

Commentary by James Compton, Kalispell Montana 40 Days for Life Campaign (Editor’s Note: In Kalispell Montana it has been 1 degree fahrenheit, plus wind chill, for the past two days and nights and yet the 24 hour vigil in front of Planned Parenthood has continued, as it has since Ash Wednesday.) KALISPELL, MT, March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A woman sticks her head out the window and waves, yelling “Thank you!” at the top of her voice as she drives by.  A trucker waves and honks several times as he rumbles down the highway. A young woman notices us as […]
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Commentary: Obama’s Murderous Executive Order – What Should Science Trump?

Commentary by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Monday, March 9, President Obama signed an executive order that provides federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. This means that American taxpayers will now be paying for the killing of human beings at a very early stage in their lives (as embryos), so that scientific research can make use of them for experiments that may or may not yield positive results. We U.S. taxpayers will now be forced to pay, whether we wish to or not, for the killing of our youngest brothers and sisters on the […]
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Bishop: “President Obama is forcing all American taxpayers to pay for this homicidal research”

By John-Henry Westen PHOENIX, March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Bishop of Phoenix in Arizona has written a straight-talking column responding to President Barack Obama’s executive order providing federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.  “This means that American taxpayers will now be paying for the killing of human beings at a very early stage in their lives (as embryos), so that scientific research can make use of them for experiments that may or may not yield positive results,” writes Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted in his diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Sun. Unwilling to sugar-coat the reality with polite euphemisms, Bishop […]
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Lawsuit Filed after College Students Threatened with Expulsion for ‘Discriminatory’ Pro-Life Message

SPOKANE, WA, March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom filed a lawsuit Monday against Community Colleges of Spokane and Spokane Falls Community College officials for allegedly violating the constitutional rights of pro-life students.  Earlier this year SFCC officials threatened Beth Sheeran and members of a Christian student group with disciplinary measures, including expulsion, if they chose to hold a pro-life event on campus to share information with other students because the message was “discriminatory” and did not include a pro-abortion viewpoint. SFCC Director of Student Funded Programs Heather McKenzie rejected Sheeran’s request […]
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Former Operation Rescue Leader to Vatican: Remove Cowardly US Bishops

By Hilary White, Rome correspondent ROME, March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Vatican must remove key members of the US Catholic episcopate and replace them with men who will speak and act courageously and with urgency to stop abortion, a prominent American pro-life advocate has told Catholic leadership at the Vatican. Randall Terry, a former leader of Operation Rescue, came to Rome last week with a delegation of US pro-life advocates to ask prominent Vatican prelates to end the “scandal” of some American Catholic bishops refusing to act on behalf of unborn children by replacing them. Terry told LifeSiteNews.com in […]
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Pint-Sized Pundit Brings CPAC to its Feet with Exhortation to Return to “Principled Conservatism”

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The latest sensation in American conservatism has just arrived – in an unlikely package. 14-year-old child actor and political prodigy Jonathan Krohn of Duluth, Minnesota, burst onto the political scene last month during the CPAC convention in Washington.  In a brief speech extolling conservatism and it core values, the articulate and electrifying young speaker brought his audience to its feet, and the video quickly made the rounds on the Internet.  Since then he has appeared on Fox News, CNN, and countless radio shows. (To see the Youtube video of Krohn’s […]
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Bioethics Expert Advises Caution for Pro-life Endorsement of iPS Stem Cell Breakthrough

By Hilary White MARCH 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new method of creating embryonic-like stem cells from ordinary skin cells is being lauded as the solution to the embryo research problem, but one prominent bioethicist has cautioned that there may still be unseen ethical problems and is urging caution. Two teams of researchers, in Britain and Canada, have devised what they say is a safer technique for reprogramming adult cells so that they become “pluripotent” stem cells – those that can be changed into most of the tissue types of the human body. Published in the latest edition of the journal […]
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Vatican Newspaper Article Says Catholics Should Receive Communion Kneeling and on the Tongue

Wednesday January 9, 2008 Vatican Newspaper Article Says Catholics Should Receive Communion Kneeling and on the Tongue Editorial by John-Henry Westen Although it may seem a little strange, there is a definite battle being waged within the Catholic Church. It is the same “culture war” being waged by secular moderns against those who uphold traditional morality, it is pro-life vs. pro-choice. But within the Catholic Church the same battle is fought along liturgical lines, and the publication in the Vatican newspaper of an article calling for Catholics to receive Holy Communion kneeling and on the tongue is telling. “If some […]
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Inspirational Short Videos Clips

Amazing Story: Life without arms… A young, armless girl even pilots a planehttps://www.4marks.com/videos/details.html?video_id=1056 Taking Chance – an inspiring Movie Trailerhttps://www.4marks.com/videos/details.html?video_id=1038 One Pair of Hands – an inspirational Christian video for our timeshttps://www.4marks.com/videos/details.html?video_id=1054
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Obama Also Rescinds Bush-Era Executive Order Pushing for More Ethical Stem Cell Research

By John Jalsevac WASHINGTON, D.C., March 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Besides removing all restrictions on using taxpayer funds for embryo-destructive research yesterday, President Obama also formally rescinded a Bush-era executive order pushing for more research into the most promising and ethical forms of stem cell research. The executive order signed yesterday by Obama specifically rescinded Executive Order 13435 of June 20, 2007. Executive Order 13435 pushed the Secretary of Health and Human Services to “conduct and support research” on stem cells that “may result in improved understanding of or treatments for diseases and other adverse health conditions, but are derived […]
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Mexican Politician: Sex Education Necessary to Defeat the “Restrictive Moral Conditioning” of Childr

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman MEXICO CITY, March 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Mexico City assemblywoman says that that sex education programs are necessary to “defeat” the “restrictive moral conditioning” of students. Rebeca Parada, a Deputy in the Legislative Assembly of Mexico City, made her comments before a group of sex educators at the “Sex with Education Forum,” organized by the Assembly held last week in the nation’s Federal District. “The absence of specific, permanent programs for divulging information on sexuality, constitutes the principle obstacle preventing us from continuing to advance,” Parada told the group. “We should defeat, with the participation of […]
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Conn. Bill Proposing to Restructure Catholic Church Temporarily Tabled, Bishops Still Call for Rally

By Kathleen Gilbert HARTFORD, Connecticut, March 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Following widespread outrage from the Catholic community, a Connecticut bill seeking unprecedented regulation of the Catholic Church has been tabled for the duration of this legislative session, which lasts until July.  However, Connecticut bishops are still calling for a Wednesday rally in Hartford to oppose the bill, as it has not been definitively struck down.   Judiciary committee co-chairs Rep. Michael P. Lawlor and Sen. Andrew McDonald stated today in a press release that discussion on S.B. 1098 would be postponed until the Attorney General examined the constitutionality of the bill’s […]
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U.K. Pro-Life Activist Jailed for 12 Weeks for Sending Pictures of Aborted Babies to Company

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski KINGS LYNN, UK, March 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-life campaigner Edward (Ted) Atkinson was sentenced to jail for 12 weeks last Wednesday after he sent graphic images of aborted and disfigured babies to a bed company in Wales, Lynn News has reported. This is not the first time that Atkinson has been criminally charged for sending such materials through the mail. On  May 4, 2006 he was convicted at Swaffham Magistrates Court, Norfolk under the “Malicious Communications Act” for sending pro-life material through the post to Mrs. Ruth May, Chief Executive of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings […]
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Catholic Knights of Malta Likely to Reject Pro-Abort Former D.C. Mayor

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After concerned LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) readers contacted the Knights of Malta, sources within the Knights have confirmed they will likely reject the knighthood application of former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams. Williams is on record as being a staunch advocate for abortion and same-sex “marriage.” Sources say Williams is “unlikely” to be accepted into the Order of the Knights of Malta, a highly prestigious Catholic order, “unless of course he completely repudiates formally” his statements on life and family issues. LSN reported last week that Williams was undergoing formation in the prestigious […]
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Christian and Muslim Parents Facing Possible Criminal Charges for Opting Out of LGBT History Month

By Hilary White LONDON, March 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – UK parents could face criminal charges for having removed their children from programs held at George Tomlinson Primary School promoting the homosexual lifestyle. Waltham Forest council has announced it will prosecute parents of about 30 children who did not attend a week’s worth of lessons coinciding with “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) History Month.” A spokesman for the council said, “At George Tomlinson, parents were invited to meet with teachers and governors several weeks ago to discuss what work would be taking place throughout the national LGBT History Month, and […]
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LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes for March 9, 2009

* Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information. LIFE ISSUES Pennsylvania Drug Court Lends Woman Money for Abortionhttps://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=44380 Final Exit Network defendants said that hospice is just assisted suicide in slow motion. This is dangerous demagoguery that could convince people not to seek the benefits that hospice can provide. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization has now issued a press release rebutting the baseless charge.https://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2009/03/hospice-organization-reacts-to-fen.html Pushing to Experiment on Alzheimer’s Patients https://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2009/03/pushing-to-experiment-on-alzheimers.html State senator says “Regents of the University […]
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Editorial – Of Course Vatican Would Back Excommunication For Abortion of Twins of Nine-Year-Old Rape

By John-Henry Westen March 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Of course the Vatican would back an excommunication for those involved in the abortion of the twins of the nine-year-old rape victim. For the Church life is sacred. In addition to killing the unborn children, abortion hurts the women, and in this case, for the girl who undergoes the procedure, it has physical, psychological and spiritual consequences. The poor girl already went through the trauma of rape, now they put her through the trauma of abortion.  Abortion was much more dangerous to her health than birth. If a pregnant woman’s life is in […]
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Fewer Planned Parenthood Facilities in 2008, but More Focus on Abortion: Report

WASHINGTON, DC (06 March 2009) – A new report from American Life League shows that in the last two years 61 additional Planned Parenthood facilities began offering medical abortions. While Planned Parenthood closed clinics across the United States in 2008, more of the remaining Planned Parenthood facilities are offering medical abortions – abortions involving the administration of drugs specifically intended to kill the preborn child. Some common drugs used for medical abortions are Mifepristone (RU-486) and Methotrexate. “We’re encouraged to see an overall decline in the number of facilities and its affiliates,” said Marie Hahnenberg, a researcher for American Life […]
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Obama Unleashes Taxpayer Funds for Embryo-Destructive Research

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As promised, President Barack Obama today signed an executive order opening up the restrictions on taxpayer funding for embryo-destroying stem cell research (ESCr). Obama had toyed with the idea of opening ESCr funding though the legislative process before settling on the use of executive order. “In recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values,” said Obama.  “In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent. As a […]
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Letters to the Editor for March 9, 2009

Re: Ontario Bishop Says ‘Early Induction’ Policy at Catholic Hospital Under Vatican Reviewhttps://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09030511.html I would like to make two comments regarding this LSN article. Firstly, I would like to clarify a statement made by LSN. LSN has stated “Children with ‘lethal fetal anomalies’ are severely disabled, so severely that they will likely die within a few months, days or even hours of being born.” Children do not die because they are severely disabled. However, they can die because treatment and surgery that is provided to other children without disabilities is purposely withheld. It may be that some of these precious […]
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Planned Parenthood Targets Poland for Abortion with US Funds, Courtesy of Obama

By Tim Waggoner WARSAW, March 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF) has wasted little time in putting to use the millions of taxpayer dollars that have been made available to it by President Obama’s decision to rescind the Mexico City Policy, which forbade U.S. funds from going to organizations that promote or perform abortions overseas. In a letter advocating a series of Women’s Day marches in Poland which took place yesterday and which were advertised with the words “Come and Join Us Because … Poland is Ill,” the IPPF urged support for the pro-contraception, pro-abortion and […]
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Studies Find Contraception Makes Women Obese and Newborns Too Thin

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski OTTAWA, March 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – University of Ottawa researchers have found that women who conceive within a month of taking birth-control pills tend to have premature babies or babies with a low birth weight. At the same time, another study from the University of Texas has revealed that users of the contraceptive “shot” are significantly more likely than other women to become obese. Xi-Kuan Chen, an epidemiologist and senior analyst with the Canadian Institute for Health Information at the University of Ottawa said doctors should inform patients of the link between chemical contraceptives and low birth […]
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Conn. Legislature Moves to Regulate Catholic Church in Suspected “Payback” for Marriage Stance

By Kathleen Gilbert HARTFORD, Connecticut, March 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Connecticut Judiciary committee Thursday proposed a bill stripping Roman Catholic bishops of their authority to govern fiscal and administrative diocesan affairs – an unprecedented attempt to regulate the Catholic Church, that critics are calling “payback” for the Church’s efforts to prevent the legalization of same-sex “marriage” in the state. The explicit intent of S.B. 1098 is, “To revise the corporate governance provisions applicable to the Roman Catholic Church and provide for the investigation of the misappropriation of funds by religious corporations.” Referring specifically to structures of the Roman Catholic […]
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Intelligent Design Theory Shut Out of Vatican Evolution Conference: Discovery Institute

By Hilary White and John Jalsevac ROME, March 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Last week’s highly publicized Vatican-sponsored conference, “Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories,” organized to correspond with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, “shut out” discussion of Intelligent Design theory and biblical creationism, a prominent US research group has alleged. The President of the Discovery Institute (DI), Bruce Chapman, denounced the conference on the Institute’s official blog as a “parade of atheists, agnostics and theistic evolutionists whose common theme is that intelligent design is not science, not theology, nothing at all, really—merely a reactionary sociological phenomenon.” Organizers […]
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Commentary: So Much For the “Mythical” Freedom of Choice Act

Commentary by Deal W. Hudson       March 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Many Democrats are wise enough to have a healthy fear of FOCA, the Freedom of Choice Act. Those on the religious left who support President Barack Obama are particularly sensitive to the symbolic power of FOCA to undercut their messaging about “abortion reduction.” If FOCA were to cause much-beloved Catholic hospitals to begin shutting their doors, the political impact would be devastating.  Thus, it came as no surprise several weeks ago when some of Obama’s religious supporters began accusing pro-lifers—particularly Catholics—of using FOCA as a scare tactic when it had not […]
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Man Driving to Abortion Clinic Runs Over Pro-Lifer, then Persuaded by Victim’s Wife Not to Abort

By Kathleen Gilbert CHERRY HILL, New Jersey, March 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A lone sidewalk counselor at a Cherry Hill abortion center is suffering from serious injuries after a young man driving his pregnant wife to the abortion facility reportedly struck the counselor and ran him over.  But the victim’s wife says that the event probably saved a life, as she believes she was able to persuade the man afterwards not to have his unborn child killed. The incident took place Saturday morning at the South Jersey Women’s Center on Haddonfield Road.  George Krail was walking toward the clinic’s driveway to offer literature as a car […]
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BABY SEX-SELECTION HITS AMERICA

Thursday September 10, 1998 BABY SEX-SELECTION HITS AMERICA Another Rotten Fruit of In Vitro Fertilization FAIRFAX, VA, Sept 10 (LSN) – Researchers at the Genetics & IVF Institute in Fairfax, Virginia announced yesterday that they are marketing their newly developed method of sperm sifting in order to allowing customers to select the sex of their babies. Using genetic techniques developed in the breeding of animals, scientists with the help of a laser are able to differentiate between sperm carrying a Y chromosome (producing males) and those carrying X chromosomes (the Y chromosome posses about 2.8% less genetic material). The IVF […]
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Denver Archbishop: “Very Bad Period of Catechesis” in Church “Bearing Bad Fruit in Our Time”

Monday March 2, 2009 Denver Archbishop: “Very Bad Period of Catechesis” in Church “Bearing Bad Fruit in Our Time” EXCLUSIVE: LifeSiteNews interview with Archbishop Charles Chaput By Steve Jalsevac TORONTO, Canada, March 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – During a LifeSiteNews interview last week, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput stressed that “not nearly enough” US Catholic bishops have been speaking out strongly on the current state of the culture. He also noted that the poor instruction of Catholics over the past 40 years has to a large degree been responsible for many of today’s serious problems within US Catholicism, especially the lack of […]
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Public Comment on Removing Conscience Protections for Health Care Workers Starts Today

By John-Henry Westen WASHINGTON, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Obama’s proposal to rescind a policy that protects the conscience rights of health care workers has now been formally published in the Federal Register, thus opening the 30-day period available for public comment on the proposal.  Pro-life groups in the United States are urging concerned citizens to voice their concerns. The policy, one of the last acts of the Bush Administration, protects health care workers from being forced to perform and provide controversial services that conflict with their personal, moral and religious beliefs. Comments may be submitted by email at […]
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Editorial: Ontario ‘Lefty’ Conservative Leader John Tory Resigns after Losing By-Election

Editorial by John-Henry Westen TORONTO, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – With Ontario Progressive Conservative leader John Tory’s defeat in a by-election yesterday and subsequent resignation from the leadership of the party, its time that the party rethink its decision to have leaders in the mold of Tory, who lean so far left they’re completely out of touch with the Conservative base. Tory consciously brought to the leadership of the Ontario Conservatives an agenda to swing left – to be “progressive” as he suggested at the time.  (https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/mar/05030103.html) He is regarded even by the secular left media as a “moderate” – […]
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Obama to Sign Executive Order Monday Opening Public Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

By John-Henry Westen WASHINGTON, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Barack Obama plans to rescind the Bush policy limiting federal funding for embryo destructive research on Monday. The Bush policy had allowed federal funding for experiments on already existing lines of embryos, but forbade the funds from being used to create new embryos for experimentation.  According to news reports, a signing ceremony will take place on Monday at 11 am.  Details about the Executive Order are not available, but according to the Washington Post, “proponents expect Obama will simply lift the restriction without caveats and let the NIH work out the details.” Tony […]
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Cardinal Mahoney Rebukes Holocaust Denier, Remains Silent on Pro-Abortion Catholics

WASHINGTON, DC, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, announced March 3 that he is banning Bishop Richard Williamson from any Roman Catholic Church, school, or other facility in the archdiocese for denying certain facts about the Nazi Holocaust. Now, in response to Mahoney’s decisive acts, the American Life League is asking the Cardinal if his public ban of a Holocaust-denying bishop signals his willingness to take a similar position on pro-abortion advocates in his own archdiocese and parish.  “Since Cardinal Mahony is taking such a strong public position against the Nazi […]
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Guest Commentary: Brownback – Turncoat

Commentary by Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President, Human Life International March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – I am not a politician, I am a priest. So I would like to give my priestly perspective about the recent endorsement of Senator Sam Brownback for the candidacy of Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services: Senator Brownback’s cowardly betrayal of his Catholic faith is even more damaging than his political permission for this renegade to take office. The situation is atrocious. An extremist abortion hack (called the most pro-abortion governor in the nation by many), who falsely calls herself “Catholic,” is […]
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Bishop Martino Issues Reflection on True Meaning of “Diversity” and “Tolerance”

By Kathleen Gilbert SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Scranton’s Bishop Joseph Martino continued a streak of outspoken teaching on Catholic life and family values this week, as he issued a reflection on the real meaning of “diversity.” Bishop Martino issued the March 3 address in light of his recent injunction to Misericordia University to consider abolishing the “Diversity Institute” that invited a homosexualist speaker to the school last month.  The bishop noted that a great deal of student and community feedback objecting to Martino’s injunction praised the Institute’s work advancing harmony among different races and cultures. Such goals […]
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British Prime Minister Says Proposition 8 Homosexual “Marriage” Ban “Unacceptable”

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski LONDON, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Upon returning to England following a meeting with US President Barack Obama, British PM Gordon Brown has declared as “unacceptable” the passing of Proposition 8 in California, the constitutional amendment which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman. At a Downing Street reception yesterday, hosted by Brown for the homosexual community in honor of homosexual history month, which takes place each February in Britain, the PM said, “What I saw in America tells me what we have got to do. “This Proposition 8 in California, this attempt […]
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Destroying Human Embryos Not Only Unethical, but Unnecessary: Congressmen

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-Life members of the U.S. House of Representatives this week urged congressional leaders to abandon federal funding of embryo-destructive stem cell research in favor of ethical adult stem cell research. “We have moved beyond the ethical debate because we have something in hand that is the promise and the hope of regenerative medicine,” insisted Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) in a speech on the House floor Wednesday. Smith and nine other pro-life Members of Congress discussed the breakthroughs and advantages of stem cell therapies that do not require the destruction of […]
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Column: In Defense of Divine Providence

Column by John Jalsevac March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Abandonment to Divine Providence has, as a way of life, gone out of fashion. Of course, it was never particularly popular to begin with; but at least it was once considered “quaint,” or perhaps “idealistic,” while it is now popularly believed to be a sign of madness and cowardice – the refuge of weak and unimaginative minds who would rather throw up their hands and “trust” in something invisible, than apply their intelligence solving problems and diligently planning for the future. This past Sunday, Catholics heard the Gospel reading about Christ’s […]
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U.S. Feminist Nun Urges Liberal Religious Orders to Resist “Hostile” Vatican Visitation

By Hilary White ROME, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A self-proclaimed feminist religious sister has urged her fellows in the feminist Catholic movement to “non-violent” resistance against an upcoming Vatican-mandated visitation into the lives and works of American religious orders. Vatican visitors to the convent, wrote Sr. Sandra M. Schneiders, should be received “politely and kindly,” but not welcomed, honored or cooperated with. Sr. Schneiders, a member of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and a professor of New Testament studies and Christian spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California, wrote a thousand-word email, […]
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Tony Blair, Architect of Britain’s Anti-Christian Culture, Complains Christians Are Being Marginaliz

By Hilary White LONDON, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of Britain and leader of the ruling Labour Party for ten years, has decried in an interview the “ludicrous” recent decisions by which the religious expression of Christians is being suppressed in Britain. “I hope and believe that stories of people not being allowed to express their Christianity are exceptional or the result of individual ludicrous decisions. My view is that people should be proud of their Christianity and able to express it as they wish,” Blair told the Church of England Newspaper. He agreed […]
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At UN, Norway Rep Slams “those who claim to be pro-life and yet wish to abolish abortion”

By Samantha Singson NEW YORK, NY, March 6, 2009 (C-FAM) – This week at the United Nations (UN), thousands of activists, government officials and UN officials gathered in New York for the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). While the theme for the conference is, “The equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS,” several countries and non-government organizations (NGOs) have used the annual meeting as a soapbox to promote radical ideas on homosexual rights, abortion and sex education. Norway and Sweden partnered with the International Planned Parenthood Federation to host […]
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Commentary on March 5 LifeSiteNews

Dear readers, It is a joy for us to report that your actions on our story detailing the eugenic abortions at a Catholic hospital in Ontario have had a positive effect.  The Bishop has informed us that the policy on ‘early inductions’ for babies with lethal fetal anomaly is under review and he will not even necessarily wait for the response from Rome (which usually takes a long time) before taking action.  Please keep Bishop Fabbro in your prayers. Amnesty International is showing itself to be an organization to which we should avoid giving any support.  In addition to beginning […]
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Mexican Supreme Court Issues Decision Protecting Ability of States to Restrict Abortion

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman MEXICO CITY, March 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Mexican Supreme Court has announced a split decision on Mexico City’s abortion law which has the effect of allowing the states to continue to restrict abortion. The decision was issued in response to a suit brought by the Mexican government against the capital city’s abortion law passed in 2007, which permits abortion on demand during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and requires public hospitals to perform the deadly procedure.  The nation’s Human Rights commissioner argued that it violated the right to life enshrined in the Mexican Constitution, […]
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Senate Rejects Amendment Prohibiting Funding to Forced-Abortion-Tied UNFPA

By John Jalsevac WASHINGTON, D.C., March 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An amendment introduced by Sen. Roger Wicker to the omnibus spending bill earlier this week, seeking to prohibit the UNFPA from receiving U.S. funding, was defeated today in a 55-39 vote. Wicker’s amendment would have restored to its full force the Kemp-Kasten anti-coercion population control provision to the bill. First implemented in 1985, the Kemp-Kasten provision directs the government to ensure that no U.S. taxpayer dollars go to organizations that support or participate in the management of forced sterilization and forced abortion programs. Language was inserted into the current spending […]
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Stonehill College Upholds Catholic Identity: Stops Unauthorized Distribution of Condoms in Dorms

MANASSAS, VA, March 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The administration at Congregation of Holy Cross-founded Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., has removed boxes of free condoms placed in campus dormitories by student activists, according to a story in today’s Boston Globe. “Stonehill College should be commended for its swift and clear affirmation of the moral values that parents and students expect at a Catholic institution, said Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) President Patrick J. Reilly in response. CNS is dedicated to renewing and strengthening Catholic identity at America’s Catholic colleges and universities. “Chastity must always be a cornerstone of student life at any […]
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Archbishop Naumann: “Offensive” Sebelius Nomination “Makes our Job as Bishops More Challenging”

By Kathleen Gilbert KANSAS CITY, March 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City weighed in on the nomination of abortion “champion” Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a member of his flock, to head the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department.  In an interview Wednesday with Our Sunday Visitor (OSV), the archbishop said of the nomination: “From the Church’s point of view, it’s sad because it places another high-profile, pro-abortion Catholic into national leadership along with Vice President [Joe] Biden and Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and a raft of others that are in the Congress.”  He also said, “I personally find […]
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Cincinnati Archbishop Joins in Prayer at 40 Days for Life Vigil

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski DAYTON, Ohio, March 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr, who will replace Cincinnati’s Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk upon his retirement later this year, joined with 40 Days for Life vigil keepers in front of the Dayton Women’s Health Center abortion clinic yesterday to pray the Rosary. “God’s greatest gift is life and what God gives, only God has the right to take away,” the Archbishop said to about 200 people gathered at the abortion facility at 1401 E. Stroop Road. “We have to be concerned with all life, especially the most vulnerable among us. […]
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Amnesty International Urges California Supreme Court to Overturn Proposition 8

By Thaddeus Baklinski WASHINGTON, March 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Amnesty International is calling on the California Supreme Court to overturn California’s Proposition 8, the voter-passed amendment that enshrined the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman in the state constitution In anticipation of a case challenging the validity of Proposition 8 being heard this week in the California Supreme Court, Dalia Hashad, Amnesty International (AI) USA Policy Director issued a statement, outlining AI’s position in favor of homosexual “marriage” and demanding that the court ignore the referendum that passed the Proposition. “Amnesty International opposes discrimination in civil marriage. But this […]
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Parents Accuse Hospital of Killing Son to Harvest Organs

By Kathleen Gilbert PITTSBURGH, PA, March 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Ohio couple filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing doctors of removing a breathing tube from their 18-year-old son, who had suffered a brain injury while skiing, in order to harvest his organs. Michael and Teresa Jacobs of Bellevue, Ohio, parents of Gregory Jacobs, maintain that their son’s death was caused, not by his injury, but by doctors removing his breathing tube and administering unspecified medication in preparation for organ removal.  The charges were filed against Pittsburgh’s Hamot Medical Center doctors and a representative of the Center For Organ Recovery and […]
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Women and Men Who Regret Their Abortions to Join 40 Days for Life on March 10

WASHINGTON, DC, March 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On March 10 men and women who have had abortions and who now regret their choice will be joining 40 Days for Life campaigns across the country. Women who are involved with the Silent No More Awareness Campaign will carry signs that read, “I regret my abortion,” and men will hold signs saying, “I regret lost fatherhood.” “We are highly encouraged that the Silent No More Awareness Campaign is urging women and men who have found healing in the wake of abortion to stand witness in front of abortion facilities on March 10 […]
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God and Darwin Not at Odds: Vatican Conference

By Hilary White ROME, March 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A high-level Vatican prelate has denounced the idea that science and religious belief are opposed. While the Church does not necessarily oppose Darwin’s theory, he said, the assertions of popular atheists like Richard Dawkins that science proves the non-existence of God are “absurd.” William Cardinal Levada, the head of the Catholic Church’s highest doctrinal body, said, “Of course we think that’s absurd and not at all proven. But other than that, the Vatican has recognized that it doesn’t stand in the way of scientific realities.” Speaking Tuesday at a Vatican-sponsored conference […]
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Italian Doctor Claims to Have Cloned Three Children: No Proof Offered

By Hilary White ROME, March 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Claims by an Italian gynaecologist to have cloned three children are being met with scepticism and silence in the scientific community. Severino Antinori, notorious for his previous cloning-related claims and love of publicity, told Italian media this week, “I helped give birth to three children with the human cloning technique.” Antinori told Oggi weekly that the procedure involved the cloning technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. “It involved two boys and a girl who are nine years old today. They were born healthy and they are in excellent health now,” […]
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Commentary on March 4 LifeSiteNews Reports

Dear Readers,First, one of the most militantly pro-abortion Catholic U.S. governors is nominated for the highest health position in the United States government and now, one of the leading pro-life senators actually supports her nomination. Is this a bad dream? With Christians like these, who needs other enemies? Senator Brownback needs to hear from many, many Americans. As for Kansas Governor Kathleen Sibelius, remember the words of Archbishop Chaput in our interview with him – “It seems like there has been a very bad period of catechesis of people in the Church, not only catechesis of the laity, but also […]
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Catholic Knights of Malta to Honor Radical Anti-Life, Anti-Family Former DC Mayor Williams

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Former Washington, D.C. mayor Anthony Williams is currently undergoing formation in the order of the Knights of Malta, one of the Catholic Church’s oldest and most prestigious organizations, despite his record of supporting unlimited abortion and same-sex “marriage.” Williams was mayor of DC from January 1999 until January 2007.  During his 1998 mayoral election campaign, he responded to a Planned Parenthood questionnaire: “I support choice. The private decision about whether or not to terminate a pregnancy is best left to a woman, her physician, and any family and friends that […]
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Bishop Vasa: Parents Should Protest Fetal Vaccines From Aborted Babies

By Kathleen Gilbert BEND, Oregon, March 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Bishop Robert Vasa of the Diocese of Baker has warned that Catholic parents, when using vaccines cultivated from aborted fetal tissue, have a duty to voice their disagreement with a production method that exploits aborted children. In his column in the Catholic Sentinel today, Vasa acknowledged that the Catholic Church considers use of such vaccines morally permissible.  However, he said, “We also need to be aware that products of illicit scientific research, particularly that which involves the death of innocent children, are not entirely morally neutral.”  As such, consumers have […]
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More Research Links Abortion with Preterm Births in Subsequent Pregnancies

By Hilary White March 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A newly published meta-analysis (a study comprised of data from numerous other research studies) has shown a strong link between induced abortion and subsequent pre-term births. Published in the February edition of the prestigious Journal of Reproductive Medicine, the study reviewed international data from 21 studies from 1995 to 2007 on preterm births related to induced abortion and spontaneous miscarriage. It concluded that “induced and spontaneous abortion are associated with similarly increased instances of preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies.” The researchers found that prior induced abortions increased a woman’s odds of having […]
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Two Prominent Catholic Cardinals Defend Religious Action in Public Life

By Hilary White ROME, March 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two prominent Catholic cardinals have struck out at the secularist trend of excluding all religious belief from public life. The patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Scola, and Cardinal Camillo Ruini, a former president of the Italian Bishops Conference and the vicar for the diocese of Rome from 1991 to 2007, have warned Christians not to withdraw from active involvement in public life. Writing in an editorial published February 20, in Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference, Cardinal Scola wrote, “It seems to me that we often lose sight of […]
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UK Teacher’s Guidelines to “Promote Equality and Value Diversity” will Violate Religious Consciences

By Hilary White LONDON, March 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Christians and other religious groups say they are concerned about the implications of a new “Code of Conduct and Practice” for UK schools telling teachers that they must “promote equality and value diversity.” The draft guidelines from the UK’s General Teaching Council (GTC), the professional regulatory body for teachers, say that teachers must “act respectfully towards all children and young people, parents, carers and colleagues, regardless of their socio-economic background, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, religion or beliefs.” But to the requirement to “act respectfully” is added a clause requiring […]
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Abortion Worker Arrested, Jailed In Death Of Baby Born Alive During Botched Abortion

MIAMI, March 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Unlicensed abortion worker Belkis Gonzalez was arrested today and jailed on two felony counts related to the death of a baby born alive during a botched abortion in Hialeah, Florida, in 2006. According to the arrest warrant obtained by Operation Rescue, Gonzalez was charged with the unlicensed practice of a health care profession resulting in serious bodily injury, a second degree felony, and with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, a third degree felony. She faces a minimum penalty of a fine of $1,000 and a minimum mandatory period of incarceration of one year. […]
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Letters to the Editor for Tuesday, March 3, 2009

RE: Anglican Church of Canada Portrays Jesus as a Recovering Racisthttps://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022710.html Dear Editor, Your article about the Anglican Church of Canada devotional guide portraying Jesus as a racist is certainly troubling, and painful to read, but unfortunately it is not at all surprising.  The denomination known as the Anglican Church of Canada has long been moving away from any version of “mere” Christianity, to the heartbreak of many faithful Anglicans, both those who have stayed to fight inside the church, and those who have felt it necessary to leave. I am one of those persons who was raised as an Evangelical […]
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BC Teachers’ Conference Urges Teachers to Change Students’ Attitude to “Celebrate” LGBTQ Issues

Commentary by Ron Gray March 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Feb. 20 and 21, I attended the first “Social Justice conference” staged by the BC Teachers’ Federation at University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotford. It was an eye-opener! Although the stated purpose of the conference was to show teachers how to approach the Social Justice 12 curriculum adopted under BC’s Corren Settlement Agreement, an underlying purpose was clearly revealed by a graphic of a staircase, distributed by the BCTF in its information packages: the goal is to move students’ attitude towards LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning) people beyond […]
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Lawsuit Challenges Federal Defense of Marriage Act

By John Jalsevac March 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A lawsuit was filed yesterday with the federal District Court in Boston that seeks to declare portions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman, unconstitutional. The suit addresses the use of DOMA Section 3, which makes clear that spousal protections in Social Security, federal income tax, federal employees’ and retirees’ benefits, and in the issuance of passports are reserved for married couples only. The plaintiffs in the suit are eight homosexual couples who say they are “married” and three individuals […]
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Dozens of Lives Saved So Far in 40 Days for Life Spring Campaign

By Kathleen Gilbert ROCKFORD, IL, March 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-lifers across the country have been celebrating as reports continue to pour in of hearts changed and lives saved thanks to the prayerful intervention of 40 Days for Life campaigners. 40 Days for Life organizers report that at least 39 lives have been confirmed saved from abortion since the campaign began last Wednesday. 40 Days for Life has mobilized pro-life advocates in over 130 cities around the world to pray, fast, and keep vigil outside abortion facilities in an effort to raise awareness of the abortion holocaust.  The campaign this spring […]
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“Any” Person Can Be Listed as “Second Parent” for IVF Children: New UK Regulations

By John Jalsevac March 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Women who conceive a child through in vitro fertilization (IVF) or sperm donation can name “any” person as the second parent, as long as the person consents to the arrangement, and is not a close relation of the mother, according to new UK regulations. The new rules, put forward by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), blow wide open the doors on what it means to be a parent, making it possible for women to name friends and acquaintances, as well as their lesbian partners as a child’s “father” or second […]
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Small Increases in Priests and Seminarians Indicates Decline Overall in the Catholic Church

By Hilary White ROME, March 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Official statistics released this weekend by the Vatican on the numbers of adult converts, priests and seminarians, show that the small growth in some areas is not matching the needs of the Church. Despite several media reports highlighting a modest growth in critical statistics in the Church, the numbers actually reveal a backwards trend. Monsignor Ingacio Barreiro, head of the Rome office of Human Life International and an experienced UN diplomat, told LifeSiteNews.com that the numbers indicate not overall health and growth in the Catholic Church, but a steady decline that […]
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Family Advocates: Ask the Senate to Stop the Child Porn Lawyer from Becoming Dep. Attorney General

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Senate Judiciary Committee last week approved President Obama’s pick for deputy attorney general, David Ogden, despite a deluge of protest from Christian and pro-family advocates who object to Ogden’s extensive history defending child pornography and hardcore pornography giants. Sen. Arlen Specter, the committee’s top Republican, reportedly said on National Public Radio that he had never seen so much opposition from voters against a nominee. According to Specter 11,000 phone calls, letters and other contacts have poured in to the committee protesting the Ogden pick.  Nonetheless, Specter joined 13 other Democrats who […]
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Sex-Selection and Hair, Skin and Eye Color in High Demand from U.S. Artificial Reproduction Companies

Friday February 27, 2009 Sex-Selection and Hair, Skin and Eye Color in High Demand from U.S. Artificial Reproduction Companies By Hilary White LOS ANGELES, February 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Demand for sex-selection for in vitro fertilization is “rapidly growing” according to many private IVF facilities in the US. In a CNN report on sex-selection and other genetic screening tests at the Fertility Institutes IVF facility in California, a spokesman for the Center for Genetics and Society said that the widespread practice of sex-selective IVF could open the door to “a society where there are new kinds of inequality and new […]
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LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes for March 2, 2009

* Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information. Compiled by Steve Jalsevac LIFE ISSUES The Ethic of Control: Margaret Sanger, Eugenics, and Planned Parenthood by Angela Franz    https://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5480&Itemid=48 Palin stands in support of parental consent abortion billshttps://www.ktva.com/ci_11796088 Congress Passes Pro-Abortion Spending Bill – Democrats blocked an attempt by Rep. Chris Smith to offer an amendment to restore Kemp-Kasten.https://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000009483.cfm Activists Reveal Rigidity by Fighting Coerced Abortion Ban https://www.eppc.org/publications/pubID.3723/pub_detail.asp Pro-life amendments blocked from consideration on House floorhttps://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15201 New poll shows Californians […]
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Commentary on LifeSiteNews Reports for March 2, 2009

Dear Readers, The battle goes on as Obama has nominated one the most pro-abortion governors in the United States, Kathleen Sebelius, as Health Secretary.  While Sebelius claims to be Catholic, the scandal of her prominence is lessened greatly by the fact that her outspokenly pro-life and unafraid bishop has publicly told her not to receive Communion. If there were many more Archbishop Chaput’s, there would likely soon be far less of a need for a LifeSiteNews. Read our report today on the conversation we recently had with the Denver Archbishop. Some of what he says is indeed disturbing, but the […]
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Letter to the Editor for March 2, 2009

Re: LifeSiteNews Fully Stands by Original Report in Wake of National Post Whitewash of St. Joseph’s Hospital “Early Inductions”https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022402.html Fr. Prieur insisted that such procedures were not abortion. “Now it’s not called abortion. We’re not killing the baby. We’re bringing the baby out and allowing the baby to die. That’s a very important distinction,” Call it what one will, there is an important distinction to be made where the life of the mother is in imminent danger and where the chromosomal or structural anomaly of the child in utero poses no immediate risk to the mother whatsoever. Furthermore, during the […]
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Abortion Legalization Initiatives Die in Mexico’s State Legislatures

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman MEXICO CITY, March 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Plans by Mexican socialists to spread the legalization of abortion to Mexico’s 31 states have stalled even in states they control, according to the Mexico City newspaper El Universal. Following a successful initiative to legalize abortion on demand in the nation’s capital during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in 2007, members of Mexico’s Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) were hoping to do the same throughout the country. However, El Universal states that the initiative has died in three of the five states controlled by the PRD. “The […]
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Human Rights Advocates Angered at Clinton Dismissal of China’s Human-Rights Abuses

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Hillary Clinton, on her first trip to China as Secretary of State in February, angered human rights groups when she dismissed any discussion of the country’s human rights violations, instead focusing on issues such as the economy and global warming. “Successive administrations and Chinese governments have been poised back and forth on these [human rights] issues,” Clinton told reporters in South Korea Saturday, “and we have to continue to press them. But our pressing on those issues can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security […]
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Cherie Blair Says Catholic Church Sexist, Credits Personal Success to Contraception

By Hilary White and John Jalsevac LONDON, March 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Church “marginalizes” women and keeps them “virtually invisible” in its public face, says Cherie Blair. Speaking on a BBC television program, the wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair said that “ambivalence” towards women is a “fundamental weakness” of Christianity and of Catholicism in particular. The controversial remarks were made during the final installment of a documentary, Christianity, that was aired on BBC’s Channel 4 on Sunday night. During a section of the program that dealt with the Catholic Church’s teaching on contraception, Blair credited her use […]
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St. Mary’s University Pro-Life Students Demand Public Apology from School

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, March 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The acting president of the St. Mary’s Students for Life, Joseph Westin, has asked that the university apologize for allowing a group of pro-abortion protesters to disrupt and finally stop a university-approved pro-life presentation last month. The presentation was given by Jose Ruba, a founding member of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform. In February LifeSiteNews reported on the disruption of Ruba’s presentation by a group of abortion supporters who, less than a minute into his talk, entered the room and began shouting down the presentation. Campus security […]
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Pro-Life Leaders Respond to Obama’s Plan to Revoke Conscience Regulations

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Obama is facing heavy criticism from pro-life politicians and activists for setting to work dismantling the Bush era federal regulations that uphold doctors’ conscience rights. The Health and Human Services (HHS) Department Friday confirmed that the president has begun the process of repealing the regulations that had been passed by the Bush administration and that went into effect Jan. 20.  The regulations enforce pre-existing federal law that protects healthcare workers’ right to conscientiously refuse implementation of or involvement in abortions, including dispensation of the abortifacient morning-after pill. Representative Thaddeus McCotter […]
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Ontario Law Makes Reporting Child Porn Mandatory

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski TORONTO, March 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In the ongoing fight against the sexual exploitation of children, Ontario has enacted a new Child Pornography Reporting Act which makes it a criminal offense not to report suspected child pornography. The bill amends the Ontario Child and Family Services Act and will be brought into force by regulations outlined by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. The revised act’s definition of child porn now parallels that in the Criminal Code of Canada. Laurel Broten, a lawyer and MPP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore said the bill seeks to clear up any […]
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Personhood Amendment Passes Montana Senate

By John Jalsevac WASHINGTON, DC, March 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Montana’s Senate passed a constitutional personhood amendment (SB 406) which would recognize all human beings, including the unborn, as persons, in a 26-24 vote last week. The amendment, introduced by Senator Dan McGee, passed on its third reading on the Senate floor Thursday morning. SB406 is the first Personhood Amendment in U.S. history to pass a State Senate. “Senator Dan McGee … has shown what it truly means to be pro-life,” stated Keith Mason, of Personhood USA following the senate vote. “Senator McGee’s successful efforts on behalf of all human beings at […]
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MORE ALFRED KINSEY HORRORS EXPOSED

Tuesday August 11, 1998 MORE ALFRED KINSEY HORRORS EXPOSED LONDON, Aug 11 (LSN) – On Sunday the Electronic Telegraph reported on new evidence revealing that American sex researcher Alfred Kinsey based most of his findings on the accounts of a lone predatory pedophile. The diaries of the pedophile whose identity Kinsey concealed were exposed publicly for the first time yesterday on British television. Rex King, referred to by Kinsey as “Mr. Green” sexually abused at least 800 children and detailed his abuse in diaries which Kinsey used as “scientific research” supporting his theories on sexuality which sowed the seeds for […]
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