President Obama reaches out to Planned Parenthood supporters

On March 27, Planned Parenthood Action Fund released the video below on YouTube. It's a message from President Barack Obama to supporters of Planned Parenthood. In the video, President Obama describes his strong support for America's leading abortion provider and discusses how he would have rather had the government shut down than agree to defund Planned Parenthood.

One way President Obama promotes Planned Parenthood by discussing women whose breast cancer is caught by a mammogram as if Planned Parenthood does mammograms. In reality, Planned Parenthood doesn't provide mammograms.

And while Planned Parenthood is America's leading abortion provider, providing more than 300,000 abortions in 2010, President Obama never uses the word "abortion" in the video.

MORE INFORMATION ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD ABORTION AGENDA

Michigan Senate passes parental consent amendment

The Michigan Senate voted 28-10 today to approve an update to our law requiring minors to get parental consent before an abortion. Minors are allowed to get judicial waivers to avoid telling their parents but the process is being abused by minors who "judge shop" in a different county after already being denied a waiver by another judge. The process is also abused by some judges who have become "rubber stamps" for judicial waivers.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS LEGISLATION

Do parental consent laws endanger minors?

At the web site of Public Discourse, Teresa Collett, Professor of Law at University of St. Thomas School of Law, takes apart the arguments of those opposed to laws which require parental consent or notification before an abortion.

A subcommittee of the House of Representatives recently heard testimony about the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA). CIANA is legislation designed to prevent minors from crossing state lines to avoid following their state's parental involvement laws. Abortionists in states without parental involvement laws will often advertise in states with parental involvement laws.

The New York Times editorial disputed this claim, criticizing CIANA on the basis that teens "have reason to fear a violent reaction" and will "resort to unsafe alternatives."

These objections are repeatedly voiced by abortion activists. Yet they ignore published studies, many of them by the Guttmacher Institute, a research institute founded by Planned Parenthood, demonstrating that less than half of pregnant teens tell their parents of their pregnancy and very few experience ill effects from the disclosure.

According to a national study conducted by researchers associated with Guttmacher, disappointment is the most common response of parents who learn that their teen daughter is pregnant, and almost no parent responds with violence. Teens reported an increase in parental stress as the most common consequence of disclosing their pregnancy. Less than half of one percent of the teens reported that they were "beaten."

The claim that minors will resort to unsafe alternatives is equally bogus. A 2007 study of self-induced medical abortions reported no cases involving children or adolescents. Similarly, notwithstanding the fact that parental involvement laws have been on the books in various states for over thirty years, there has been no case in which it has been established that a minor was injured as the result of obtaining an illegal or self-induced abortion in an attempt to avoid parental involvement.

FULL STORY

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT LAWS

Planned Parenthood plans to open new clinic in Ferndale

A recent article in the Detroit Free Press describes Planned Parenthood's plan to open a new clinic in Ferndale, Michigan. According to the article, Planned Parenthood won't provide abortions at this clinic. However, all Planned Parenthood clinics which don't provide abortion refer women for abortions at other clinics.

Planned Parenthood also has plans to open an abortion clinic which in Auburn Hills but a court battle is being fought over that clinic.

The new clinic, Planned Parenthood's first in Oakland County, will open April 2 and start seeing patients April 4. It's located at 23338 Woodward Ave., the old PrimeCare building.

At the Ferndale City Council meeting Monday, clinic officials introduced themselves and gave a short presentation about their decision to build in Ferndale. Rather than wait on the outcome of a yearlong legal battle to open their clinic in Auburn Hills, Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan CEO Lori Lamerand said they chose Ferndale because it was at the center of where they saw the most need in Oakland and Wayne Counties.

FULL STORY

INFORMATION ABOUT PLANNED PARENTHOOD'S ABORTION AGENDA

Michigan teens remember 182 classmates lost to abortion

A group of high school seniors in Mecosta and Osceola counties have created a video and plan to have a memorial in May for the 182 children who should have graduated with them this year but were lost to abortion.

Check out their website for the video and more information about their project.

Michigan legislators push U-M to follow the law, report embryonic stem cell information

When Michigan legislators finalized the budget, they included legislation which requires Michigan's universities to supply the legislature with basic information and numbers related to their human embryonic stem cell research including the number of human embryos and human stem-cell lines received in the current fiscal year, the number of human embryos used for research and the number of human embryos held in storage, the number of human embryonic stem-cell lines created and the number of research projects under way.

The University of Michigan decided not to comply with this simple request and instead of submitting this simple set of numbers, produced 50-60 pages of press releases and news articles. This has led to a response from some of Michigan's legislators.

A battle is heating up between a Republican-led state House panel and the University of Michigan over whether U-M must disclose its number of embryonic stem-cell lines.....

This time, Republicans on the subcommittee are upset with what they call U-M's "thumbing of their nose" at requests for information about embryonic stem cells. Several lawmakers said that if they don't get the information -- required under language passed in last year's budget -- they'll look at docking U-M's state aid.....

The subcommittee is demanding to know the number of embryonic stem-cell lines and four related numbers at U-M. In a private meeting earlier this year, the chairman of the subcommittee told U-M officials they could lose state funding if they don't give those details.

U-M didn't give legislators the numbers, and now several committee members say they want to dock some of its state aid for flaunting the Legislature.

FULL STORY

Review of prolife movie October Baby in Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Free Press has a review of the prolife film "October Baby" by Bill Goodykoontz of the Gannett News Service.

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, so the saying goes.

The makers of "October Baby" wisely took that saying to heart. There are few issues more bitterly divisive than abortion, and "October Baby" is a faith-based movie that resides staunchly in the pro-life camp. Yet directors Andrew and Jon Erwin, who also contributed to the story, rarely let their film get didactic.....

Then the bombshell drops. Jacob has looked at Hannah's diaries and learned that she has had suicidal thoughts. With the help of the family doctor, he explains to his daughter that she was adopted -- and that she's the survivor of an attempted abortion. Hannah immediately feels betrayed, angry and confused. Her friend Jason (Jason Burkey) is planning a spring-break road trip with friends and invites Hannah along for the ride. She accepts, hoping to find her birth mother on the trip.

FULL STORY

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OCTOBER BABY

New Michigan abortion graph with 2010 statistics

We've produced a new graph which shows the number of abortions performed in Michigan from 1987 through 2010.

This graph is available in PDF format and can be printed out and distributed freely.

ABORTION GRAPH

Update from the Capitol Teleseminar Tomorrow

On Tuesday, March 20, Right to Life of Michigan will have a special "lunchtime" Teleseminar featuring Right to Life of Michigan Legislative Director Ed Rivet.

Please join Ed for lunch via your computer or phone! Ed will be giving an Update from the Capitol.

The update will cover:

• pending prolife legislation which has an impact on your life

• highlights from the Abortion Clinic Abuse Report which has sent shock-waves through Lansing

You do not want to miss this opportunity to hear from Ed. Please join us on Tuesday, March 20, at 12:30 p.m. and forward this message with the Teleseminar details to your prolife friends so that we can all have an informative lunch together!

Title: Update from the Capitol

Time: Tuesday, March 20, at 12:30 p.m.

Phone number: (616) 712-3139
PIN Code: 662744#

To attend, visit:
http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventID=27618348

Detroit Free Press covers testimony about lack of abortion clinic oversight

On Thursday, Right to Life of Michigan Legislative Director Ed Rivet testified before a state Senate subcommittee.

Only four of 32 surgical abortion facilities in the state are currently licensed, Right to Life's legislative director Ed Rivet told the subcommittee. That lack of oversight results in widespread unsanitary conditions and serial violations of reporting requirements, Rivet said.

In at least two instances in the last 10 years, the death of Michigan patients from abortion complications were not reported to the state, according to Right to Life, the state's leading anti-abortion lobby.

"When complaints are filed ... problems go uninvestigated," Rivet said, adding that some of the clinics "should have been shut down a long time ago."

FULL STORY

National Right to Life Discusses Obamacare Scheme to Fund Abortion Insurance

National Right to Life News Today website provides new information on a Health and Human Services rule related to how Obamacare will be implemented.

Under the rule, a health plan that covers all abortions may participate in an exchange unless a state enacts a law that explicitly prohibits such coverage (known as an "opt out" law). If a health plan covers abortion, the rule forbids the plan from calling attention to that fact in any of its advertising or explanatory materials. The disclosure of abortion coverage can be provided "only as part of the summary of benefits and coverage explanation, at the time of enrollment." This provision seems designed for no other purpose than to ensure that many people who would not deliberately sign up for abortion-covering plans will do so inadvertently, because of the federally enforced gag rule.

Once a person is enrolled in an abortion-covering plan, he or she will be required to pay a defined monthly charge for the abortion coverage, dubbed the "abortion surcharge" by critics. This abortion surcharge is not optional — every enrollee in the plan must pay it, including families that have moral objections to abortion and/or that contain no females of reproductive age.

Some media stories have reported that the "abortion surcharge" will be $1 per month, but in fact, the law and rule say something quite different — they say that the surcharge must not be "less than one dollar per enrollee, per month." The surcharge could be a good deal more than $1, depending on how many abortions are paid for and how much they cost.

FULL STORY

Senate subcommittee will hear testimony on abortion clinic abuses report

The Right to Life of Michigan Abortion Abuses and State Regulator Agency Failure report has prompted the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Licensing & Regulatory Affairs to schedule a hearing. Right to Life of Michigan Legislative Director Ed Rivet will testify on Thursday, March 15, regarding the documented abuses at Michigan abortion clinics.

The 52-page report notes that most of Michigan's abortion clinics are not in compliance with dozens of state laws or regulations. The report also cites a vital need for oversight and enforcement on the part of Michigan agencies charged with holding health providers and facilities to account.

There is a history of abortion clinic abuses including:

• violation of bio-hazard waste disposal and medical record privacy laws

• negligent operative and post-operative practices that have resulted in patient injury and death

• refusal to release medical records for patient use and patient follow-up care

• failure to report abortion complications to the state

• violation of state controlled substance regulations for drug storage and administration

• failure to ensure sterile, sanitary surgical equipment and sterile operative environment

• violation of informed consent for abortion law

• performance of abortions past the point of viability without documentation of maternal health reason

MORE INFORMATION

Right to Life of Michigan hails passage of bills protecting women

Right to Life of Michigan applauds the passage of legislation in the Michigan House of Representatives designed to prevent women from being coerced to have an abortion against their will. Passing with strong, bi-partisan votes of 72-37, the 5-bill package represents the most comprehensive abortion anti-coercion policy in the country.

The lead bill in the package, the Coercive Abortion Prevention Act (HB 4799), creates criminal penalties for actions or threats of violence, financial pressure, withdrawing housing support or employment discrimination. Other bills in the package require that abortion clinics screen for coercion and domestic violence, and then provide appropriate referrals to facilitate an escape from the abusive situation. All abortion clinics also must post a sign informing women of their rights under this law.

Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing thanked legislators for their leadership in protecting vulnerable women. "We are grateful House representatives have stepped forward to offer women support and legal backing against this terrible form of coercion. No woman deserves to be forced into aborting her unborn child," Listing said.

As many as 64 percent of women who have abortions report feeling pressured. This pressure often rises to the level of coercion, as housing, university athletic scholarships, and other financial support are used as leverage to force women to have abortions. Further studies reveal that in an alarming number of cases, coercion escalates into physical violence.

House approval of the bills caps 6 years of work to enact this protection for pregnant women and a favorable reception of the bills is expected in the Michigan Senate.

Legislative Day 2012

Legislative Day is March 27
Make plans to attend

Take advantage of an opportunity to connect with like-minded prolife people and attend the Right to Life of Michigan Legislative Day on Tuesday, March 27, at the Radisson Hotel in Lansing.

Legislative Day is an exciting day filled with information about current prolife legislation and lobby training you can put into action during a full-service luncheon with your legislator.

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: Melissa Ohden

More than 54 million children have lost their lives to abortion in the United States since 1973. Many know the sad reality of this statistic, but most do not know that sometimes children survive failed abortions.

Melissa Ohden has a powerful story. She survived a failed saline infusion abortion in 1977 and has thrived. With a master's degree in social work, she shares the prolife message with a very unique prospective.

Melissa was formerly a college outreach speaker with Feminists for Life, traveling to college campuses to share her story while advocating for rights of the unborn.

The birth of her first child in 2008 prompted Melissa to found For Olivia's Sake, an organization which seeks to peacefully raise awareness of the inter-generational impact of abortion on men, women, children, families and communities. Painfully aware that Olivia would not have come into existence if the abortion would have succeeded in ending her life, Melissa felt driven to create this organization that would positively raise awareness of the ripple effect of abortion across generations.

Plan to join us to hear Melissa's struggle to face the reality of her life as an abortion survivor and, ultimately, becoming a voice for the unborn.

More Information & To Register

Infanticide: The logical conclusion to a pro-abortion argument

Two philosophers associated with universities in Australia caused an uproar after a paper they wrote was published in the Journal of Medical Ethics. The paper, “After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?” argues it should be legal for parents to kill their newborn children. In the abstract of the paper, Alberto Giubilini's and Francesca Minerva's argument is summarized:

“Abortion is largely accepted even for reasons that do not have anything to do with the fetus' health. By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue that what we call ‘after‑birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.”

In the paper, Giubilini and Minerva use an argument which is often employed by abortion advocates and take it to its logical conclusion. Since the science of embryology has conclusively proven human life begins at conception, abortion advocates frequently argue the unborn aren’t “persons” (and therefore it should be legal to kill them) because they lack some quality like being self-aware or being rational. However, abortion advocates rarely follow their premises to their ultimate conclusions. Since newborn children aren’t self-aware or rational either, the “personhood” argument which justifies the killing of the unborn would just as equally justify the killing of the newborn.

Now a prolife person sees this argument and discerns that if your premises lead you to horrible and terrifying conclusions, then it is likely your premises are wrong and abortion should not be accepted.

However, instead of being revolted by the logical conclusion (infanticide should be permissible) of their personhood argument, taking a step back and dismissing their argument as abhorrent, Giubilini and Minerva accept it with open arms. This is what happens when people abandon the belief in the sanctity of human life and accept the idea that certain properties make humans valuable. To Giubilini and Minerva, human life by itself has no value.

While we may recoil at Giubilini’s and Minerva’s frankness, at least they have the nerve to follow their premises to their logical conclusions. Too often, abortion advocates assert the unborn aren’t persons therefore killing them by abortion should be legal. They then fail to provide any reasoning for why a short journey down the birth canal makes the same child worthy of legal protection.

For more responses to arguments in favor of abortion and information about the infanticide reality, please visit Right to Life of Michigan’s web site at www.rtl.org.

Mother's Day and Father's Day Bulletin Inserts

You can now order Mother's Day and Father's Day Bulletin Inserts from Right to Life of Michigan.

LEARN MORE AND ORDER HERE

State rep. debunks false claims about ultrasounds

Rep. Karen MacBeth of the Rhode Island state legislature is the lead sponsor of a bill that would require abortionists to offer to show an ultrasound to a woman before an abortion. She debunks the claim from abortion supporters that ultrasounds rape women. We have similar legislation pending in Michigan; informed consent is important and saves women's lives. Below is part of Representative MacBeth's speech:

Requiring an ultrasound to take place before an abortion is performed makes sense since it ensures that the mother is actually pregnant, determines the age and size of the baby, and aids in determining the location of the unborn child for either the vacuum machine or a needle used to end its life, if in fact a surgical abortion is decided upon. And in many abortion procedures, ultrasounds are used during the surgical abortion to ensure that the abortionist doesn’t physically harm the mother while they dismember the unborn child.

In short, ultrasounds are already being performed as part of most abortion procedures. And in those cases, my bill simply requires the abortionist to display these ultrasound images so that the woman may view them.

FULL STORY

ACTION ITEM: Contact your Michigan Senator regarding religious, conscience rights

In response to a recent mandate by President Obama's Administration over conscience protection and religious freedom, Michigan prolife State Senator John Moolenaar has introduced Senate Bill 975, the Religious Liberty and Conscience Protection Act (RLCPA).

This comprehensive legislation would establish state-level protections for religious and conscience rights in three areas related to health care service:

1. No employer or individual would be forced to purchase a health care plan with objectionable services included.

2. A health facility can decline to perform any health care service it considers objectionable.

3. An individual health care provider (doctor, nurse, pharmacist, researcher, etc.) cannot be required to participate in an objectionable health care service.

The Senate Health Policy Committee will begin consideration of SB 975 with a hearing on Thursday, March 8.

This bill will face serious push back from a variety of special interests. Your prolife voice is vital.

ACTION NEEDED: Contact your Michigan Senator with the following simple message:

"Vote YES on SB 975. Protect Religious Liberty and Conscience Rights."

FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR

President Obama's budget proposes to end support for embryo adoption

The Washington Times has a story on President Obama's plan to de-fund a small program which provides funds to organizations who promote the adoption of human embryos. The program was originally started in 2002 under President Bush. Congress will eventually decide if Obama's plan becomes law.

In a move that pro-lifers are calling more evidence of the Obama administration's "pro-abortion slant," the White House has sought to defund the Embryo Adoption Awareness Campaign in its fiscal 2013 budget.

The Department of Health and Human Services "is not requesting funds for this program" because "the Embryo Adoption program will be discontinued in FY2013," HHS officials said in a February funding report to Congress.

While some observers support this move as a way to free up funds for more urgent reproductive-health concerns, supporters of embryo adoption say this is the wrong time to abandon embryos that are sometimes called "snowflake babies."

........

Between 2004 and 2009 alone, about 1,900 infants were born from the adoption process in the U.S., said Dr. Reg Finger, director of the Embryo Donation Services Center, which also was created with federal grant funding.

FULL STORY

Abortion clinic abuses documented

Right to Life of Michigan, the state's largest prolife organization, on March 6, 2012, released a report documenting abortion clinic abuses. Most of Michigan's abortion clinics are not in compliance with dozens of state laws or regulations. The report also cites a vital need for oversight and enforcement on the part of Michigan agencies charged with holding health providers and facilities to account.

The final report culminated months of research and thousands of pages of documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act. The report demonstrates that many abortion clinics have operated without holding a proper license or were granted a state license without ever being inspected.

The review comes in the wake of a notorious abortion clinic scandal in Pennsylvania that revealed a similar pattern of legal noncompliance. The problems cited in the report highlight deficiencies like those that led Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette to file lawsuits in 2011 resulting in two illegally incorporated abortion clinics closing permanently.

Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing said, "Our report reveals that women's health and welfare are needlessly being put at risk. We have heard numerous stories about the deplorable conditions that persist in Michigan abortion clinics. This blatant disregard for women's safety due to a lack of proper government oversight must stop."

Listing also noted that the changes needed to correct the reported failures are already getting attention in Lansing.

"We have received favorable indications about how the Snyder Administration and the Legislature intend to respond to this unacceptable situation," Listing said. "New personnel and new policies are taking hold in the oversight agencies, and key legislators are looking closely at what additional resources might be needed. With our report exposing the offenses, and state officials stepping forward to reform governmental functions, we expect the worst of the abortion clinics to face closure."

The report is available for download on Right to Life of Michigan's web site, www.rtl.org. The direct link is: http://media.rtl.org/pdf/legislation/Abortion_Clinic_Abuses_March_2012.pdf

Senators Stabenow and Levin vote against religious liberty, conscience rights

Today, Michigan's U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin voted alongside 48 other Democratic senators and one Republican senator, to table the Blunt Amendment. The Blunt Amendment would amend Obama's health care law to prevent the imposition of regulatory mandates which violate the religious or moral convictions of those who purchase or provide health insurance, such as the recent decree that virtually all employers, including religiously affiliated hospitals and schools, must purchase health insurance plans that cover all government-approved methods of birth control.

However, this debate is not limited to the specific parameters of the birth control mandate. The exact same statutory authority could be used by the Administration to mandate that all health plans pay for elective abortion on demand.

FULL STORY

Philosophers argue for infanticide, call it "after-birth abortion"

Two philosophers who work in Australia have published an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics which argues it should be legal for parents to kill their newborn children.  The authors argue that infants have no more value than the unborn so it should be legal to kill infants just as it is legal to kill the unborn. They use the term "after-birth abortion" to describe infanticide. This shows what can happen when people abandon the belief that all human beings have the right to life. 

The article, entitled "After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?", was written by two of Prof Savulescu's former associates, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva.

They argued: "The moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus in the sense that both lack those properties that justify the attribution of a right to life to an individual."

Rather than being "actual persons", newborns were "potential persons". They explained: "Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a ‘person' in the sense of ‘subject of a moral right to life'.

FULL STORY