News

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 2, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The pro-life movement had victories in New Hampshire, New Jersey, Iowa, and South Dakota, while anti-family forces make a push in Michigan—which polls suggest may be hurting themselves more than it helps.

New Hampshire
The state legislature was able to override Governor John Lynch’s veto of the state’s partial birth abortion ban. Lynch claimed that there is already a federal regulation in place, rendering a state ban needless. State pro-lifers say the local ban is necessary to save lives.

New Jersey
As he did in 2010, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed a budget bill that would have given $7.5 million to “family planning’ organizations,” such as Planned Parenthood. The governor says this law and others were part of the “reckless spending” that set the state into a downward spiral before he became governor. Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who fought the governor’s money-saving action, accused Christie of making “sacrificial lambs of his budget priorities—he’s playing games with people’s lives.”

South Dakota
A judge has allowed part of South Dakota’s pro-life bill to go into effect while the rest is being adjudicated. A law that requires women to wait three days before having an abortion will remain blocked, but the state can now require doctors to determine if the abortion was coerced. The law was passed in 2011, but Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against the law, and parts of the act were temporarily blocked. U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier ordered that as of July 1 doctors would be required to assess abortion clients of their risk of psychological problems that would occur after the abortion and make sure they are not being coerced. The rest of the law still remains temporarily blocked.

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Michigan
A new poll of 600 voters in Michigan shows that 41 percent of independent voters are less likely to vote for President Obama since his outspoken support of homosexual “marriage.” The poll was conducted by Lambert, Edward & Associates and Denno Research. It also found that only 17 percent of voters supported President Obama’s endorsement of marriage redefinition.

Michigan’s state Department of Civil Rights is holding a series of hearings around the state before proposing that homosexuals be added to the state’s civil rights law. The Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act, if amended, would allow homosexuals to sue if they allege an employer fired them because of “homophobic” discrimination.

Iowa
Iowa Right to Life has been granted approval to have a state issued pro-life license plate—10 years after it began the approval process. It has been given one year to gather 500 applications and payments of $50. So far, they have received an estimated one-third of the 500 application they need and have until next spring to meet the minimum. Twenty-nine other states already have pro-life license plates. Jenifer Bowen, Iowa Right to Life executive director, said the license plate, which will feature a colorful picture of two cartoon children with the words “Choose Life,” will be “a sign, a gentle reminder” for someone in a “crisis moment.”

North Carolina
North Carolina will not pay surviving forced sterilization victims. A task force created by Democratic Governor Bev Purdue suggested each victim be given $50 000, but the new budget passed on June 21 without allocating these payments. North Carolina, along with 30 other states, forcibly sterilized disabled persons, poor people, and criminals in a eugenics campaign. The Tarheel State’s program lasted from 1929 to 1974.