Posts Tagged ‘abortion’
August 26th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
A survey of British physicians shows that non-religious doctors were more likely to recommend treatments hastening the death of patients nearing the end of life. Doctors who were “very” or “extremely” non-religious were almost twice as likely as strongly religious doctors to initiate treatment that would be expected to shorten life, the report found.
In further analyses, physicians who reported being very or extremely non-religious reported higher rates of using continuous deep sedation, making a decision involving some intention to hasten the end of life, and supporting the legalization of euthanasia compared with those who held strong religious beliefs.
Non-religious physicians also were more likely to report having discussions about treatments that were expected to shorten life.
“This is similar to the finding from a U.S. study, which found more religious doctors to be less likely to feel they should disclose information about procedures to which they objected on moral grounds (birth control for adolescents, abortion and ‘terminal sedation’ in dying),” Seale wrote.
Tags: abortion, end-of-life, euthanasia, Health Care, medicine, physicians
Posted in Sanctity of Life, Science & Bioethics | No Comments »
August 25th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a legal opinion Monday that the state can hold abortion providers to hospital-type standards. Cuccinelli’s opinion would allow the state’s Board of Health to write new regulations requiring that doctors who perform abortions at the clinics hold hospital privileges, counselors have professional training and buildings undergo structural changes. The opinion does not force the board to act, and any new regulations are unlikely anytime soon. Eleven members of the 15-member board were appointed by previous Governor Tim Kaine (D), with four vacancies that current Governor Bob McDonnell (R) can fill.
Cuccinelli, a Catholic, has quickly earned a reputation for hitting tough issues head-on. In seven months in office, Cuccinelli has sued the federal government over the health care mandate, ruled that law enforcement can question immigration status, and investigated a former University of Virginia professor for allegedly manipulating data about climate change to obtain research grants.
Tags: abortion, abortion providers, climate change, Health Care, Health Care Reform, immigration, Ken Cuccinelli, pro-life, Virginia
Posted in Government & Law, Sanctity of Life | 2 Comments »
August 12th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Linda McMahon, the winner of Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary election in Connecticut, is best known as the CEO of her family’s professional wrestling enterprise, World Wrestling Entertainment. The WWE has long attracted criticism from Christians and social conservatives for its peddling of bawdy and violent shows for “entertainment.” But now, McMahon is receiving the support of some of those Christians and social conservatives.
WORLD Magazine reports:
Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., speaking with Fox’s Greta van Susteren Tuesday night, complimented McMahon. “She is one tough businesswoman, and she is no-nonsense, and I really respect her,” he said. “Obviously, she’s in a business that is entertainment, and edgy entertainment, but she’s the business side of that relationship. Her husband, Vince, was the showman side of the business, and she’ll be a very serious candidate. I think she’ll be an excellent candidate. She fits Connecticut very, very well.”
Businesswoman McMahon has also been in the ring — participating in the cheesy and sometimes more debasing wrestlings acts. One broadcast depicts Linda McMahon fake-kicking a man in the groin in the wrestling ring while her husband Vince and daughter stand by cheering. “My wife, Linda McMahon!” he proclaims, holding her arm up in victory, as the man pretends to writhe on the floor. In another match she pretends to slap her grown daughter Stephanie to the ground.
In campaign ads McMahon describes World Wrestling Entertainment as a vehicle of job creation. The head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. John Cornyn, called WWE a “successful international corporation” in a committee memo hailing her nomination.
But should Christians support a candidate known for promoting “edgy entertainment” just because she made a successful business out of it? Does it make a difference that, though she is pro-choice, her opponent is more so?
Politics and party victories should not be the primary focus for Christians. Politics are a means to affect lawmaking, and lawmaking is a way for us to love our neighbors as ourselves. But does it benefit our neighbors when we reward people who draw our culture further away from biblical principles of morality?
Tags: abortion, culture, John Cornyn, Linda McMahon, morality, politics, primary elections, professional wrestling, Republicans, Rick Santorum, Senate, WWE
Posted in Arts & Entertainment, Church & Religion, Government & Law, Media & Communications | 1 Comment »
August 4th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
The full Senate is expected to vote Thursday on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Kagan is expected to be easily confirmed, as five Republican senators have signaled that they will support her confirmation. Kagan came through her June confirmation hearings relatively unscathed as opponents were unable to find a long paper trail to pin her down with.
Conservatives have raised concerns about Kagan’s stance on abortion, homosexuality, and the military, as well as her lack of judicial experience. Political activist Dick Morris has also said that Kagan would be open to incorporating Sharia law into American jurisprudence.
Democrats hope to have the Kagan vote as a prominent victory heading into the Senate’s six-week recess beginning next week.
Tags: abortion, Elena Kagan, homosexuality, John Paul Stevens, military, partial birth abortion, Senate, Sharia law, Supreme Court
Posted in Government & Law, Marriage & Family, Military & Veterans, Sanctity of Life | 1 Comment »
July 27th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray that Congress will not pass a bill allowing abortions to be performed at military hospitals.
Buried inside the 854-page 2011 National Defense Authorization Act is the very short section 713, which strikes a subsection of the U.S. Code. Section 713 is titled “Restoration of Previous Policy Regarding Restrictions on Use of Department of Defense Medical Facilities,” making it eminently unclear what the section actually does.
The section of the U.S. Code that is stricken by Section 713 reads: “No medical treatment facility or other facility of the Department of Defense may be used to perform an abortion except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in a case in which the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.”
Section 713, which was inserted into the bill in committee by Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL), effectively makes it legal to perform abortions on U.S. military bases. LifeNews.com reports that Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) has introduced an amendment to remove Section 713, but the amendment is not thought likely to pass. Pro-life groups are urging lawmakers to vote against the bill in its current state.
Tags: abortion, Department of Defense, Roger Wicker, Roland Burris
Posted in Government & Law, Military & Veterans, Sanctity of Life | 2 Comments »
July 27th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray for mothers on Capitol Hill testifying to the good that Crisis Pregnancy Centers have done for them. Give thanks for CPCs and volunteers saving lives and encouraging young women facing unplanned pregnancies.
Terrie was pregnant and confused in the Fall of 2008. She was unemployed, and her boyfriend had kicked her out of his apartment. Opening the yellow pages to look for an abortion clinic, she noticed an ad for a crisis pregnancy center that offered help for pregnant women.
Now Terrie and other moms who opted to keep their babies are going to the Capitol to tell Congress how grateful they are for the help they received from pregnancy centers. Heartbeat International sponsors the “Babies Go to Congress” event, happening this week from Tuesday through Thursday. Heartbeat says that abortion advocates like NARAL Pro-Choice America are slandering pregnancy centers and lobbying for Congress to regulate them. “Babies Go to Congress” is an effort to show Congress the good that pregnancy centers are doing.
Tags: abortion, Babies Go to Congress, crisis pregnancy centers, Heartbeat International, pro-life
Posted in Church & Religion, Government & Law, Marriage & Family, Sanctity of Life | No Comments »
July 21st, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray that no federal funds, through the new health care law or otherwise, would be used to cover abortions.
Pro-life groups are putting new energy into a push for a permanent law to require that no federally-funded health insurance programs will cover abortions.
The renewed effort comes after a controversy last week when the National Right to Life Committee accused the Obama administration of sneaking funding for elective abortions into new federally funded high-risk pool programs in Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Maryland. The Department of Health and Human Services responded with a statement that it would enforce a policy restricting abortions to cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.
Pro-life groups see the administration’s statement as a victory (AP), but remain concerned that abortion advocates will try to sneak federal funding for abortions by in other areas where it is not prohibited by the new health care law.
Both pro-life and pro-choice groups say that President Obama’s Executive Order barring federal funding for abortions through the health care law is effectively meaningless. But pro-life Democrats who voted for the legislation, like Bart Stupak (D-MI), say the controversy proves that the Executive Order actually works. In its statement, HHS invoked the executive order as a reason that elective abortions could not be covered.
Doug Johnson, legislative director of National Right to Life, says the Executive Order only worked in this instance because the plan to fund abortions was exposed. “If they now do what they say they are going to do, that would be good,” Johnson said of the Obama administration. “But in our view they are doing it because the spotlight has been put on them and we blew the whistle.”
Tags: abortion, Barack Obama, Bart Stupak, Department of Health and Human Services, Doug Johnson, Health Care, Health Care Reform, National Right to Life Committee
Posted in Government & Law, Sanctity of Life | No Comments »
July 20th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan (Photo: Getty Images)
Pray for wisdom for all Senators and members of the Supreme Court to rightly understand and administer justice.
The Senate Judiciary Committe on Tuesday approved the nomination of Elena Kagan (CNN) to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. The 13-6 vote that sends Kagan’s nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote was along party lines except for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who said that even though he had “100 reasons” to oppose Kagan’s nomination, he believed Senators should honor presidential choices.
Democrats said Kagan is a solid legal thinker who would be a fair judge, but Republicans argued that she lacks sufficient legal experience, and that she is an ideological activist. Republicans emphasized Kagan’s involvement in denying campus access to military recruiters when she was dean of Harvard Law School, based on her negative view of the military’s policy barring homosexuals from openly serving. Pro-life groups have also cited Kagan’s role as a member of the Clinton administration in keeping partial-birth abortion legal.
The full Senate is expected to vote on Kagan’s nomination before its August recess.
Tags: abortion, Elena Kagan, Harvard Law School, homosexuality, Lindsey Graham, military, partial birth abortion, Senate Judiciary Committee, Supreme Court
Posted in Government & Law, Marriage & Family, Military & Veterans, Obama & Biden, Sanctity of Life | No Comments »
July 13th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Give thanks for leaders in the black community who are standing up for unborn life.
Pro-life advocates protesting at the 2009 NAACP convention. (Photo: LifeNews.com)
Black pro-life activists, led by Rev. Clenard Childress, are at the NAACP convention in Kansas City this week to protest the organization’s support for legalized abortion. Black pro-life group Life Education and Resource Network sponsored the protests at the NAACP convention, as it has in years past, to ask civil rights activists to support life and allow an open discussion on the issue of abortion in the black community. Childress told LifeNews.com, “When the most dangerous place for an African American is being in the womb of their African American mother it’s time for the most revered African American institution to bring this issue to the forefront of discussion.”
Tags: abortion, Clenard Childress, Life Education and Resource Network, NAACP
Posted in Sanctity of Life | No Comments »
June 28th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan (Photo: Getty Images)
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan will go before the Senate on Monday for the beginning of her confirmation hearings. Kagan is President Obama’s choice to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.
Kagan has served as the Solicitor General for the Obama administration, the dean of Harvard Law School, and an assistant counsel to former President Bill Clinton’s administration. Republicans cite concerns about Kagan’s lack of experience–she had never argued before the Supreme Court until her current post as Solicitor General–and her lack of many records to outline her judicial philosophy. Other concerns include her views on abortion, homosexuality, gun rights, and terrorist suspects.
Kagan has also faced criticism for her decision while dean of Harvard Law School not to allow military recruiters on campus because of the military’s policy barring openly homosexual service members. She made the decision when a federal appeals court struck down the Solomon Amendment, which allows the Pentagon to end universities’ federal aid if they do not allow military recruiters on campus. Harvard’s president worked the issue out to allow recruiters. The Supreme Court eventually upheld the Solomon Amendment.
C-SPAN will broadcast the hearings live on television and make them available online.
Tags: abortion, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Elena Kagan, gun rights, Harvard Law School, homosexuality, John Paul Stevens, Same-sex marriage, Supreme Court, terrorism
Posted in Government & Law, Marriage & Family, Military & Veterans, Obama & Biden, Sanctity of Life, Terrorism & Persecution | No Comments »
