For over thirty years, your federal tax dollars have not been used to pay for abortions for indigent women except in very limited circumstances. Every year, as part of the appropriations process, the Hyde Amendment (named after the late right-to-life champion, Congressman Henry Hyde) is added to the HHS Appropriations bill. Through this process, your federal tax dollars are prohibited from being used for abortions.
Enter Obama and the new Congress who appear ready to do away with the Hyde amendment. Certainly, the passage of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) would force you to pay for abortions. But now that the Congress has entered the appropriations process, there will be a massive battle over this “slice” of FOCA — the Hyde amendment.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-North Carolina) have crafted a letter to Speaker Pelosi and our own Wisconsin Congressman, Dave Obey, urging them to preserve the Hyde amendment. They write, “As Congress begins its annual appropriations process, important pro-life provisions that have long been included in appropriations bills may be in jeopardy. We believe that failure to include all of the current policies with regard to the right to life will mark a radical departure from a policy many Americans support.”
Dozens of pro-life legislators are expected to join Jordan and Shuler. Please note that more than the Hyde amendment is at stake as there are over a dozen pro-life policies folded into appropriations bills. The Hyde amendment is the most important.
Planned Parenthood states that the Hyde amendment is responsible for an 18-38% reduction in abortions. National Right to Life estimates that at least one million unborn babies have been saved by the Hyde amendment.
What will Pelosi do? And Obey? And, will Obama interject his opinion that it’s time for the Hyde amendment to go? Talk about turning back the clock. Is this the “change” the American public really wants? I think not, but we will have to fight vigorously to keep Hyde.
A mammoth battle is taking place over whether the Madison Surgery Center should begin performing late-term abortions. Madison Surgery Center is an outpatient clinic operated jointly by UW Hospital and Clinics, Meriter Hospital, and the UW Medical Foundation.
Yesterday, Wisconsin Right to Life presented 9,000 petition signatures to officials at Meriter Hospital following a news conference. Other groups joined in this effort which amounted to over 21,000 petition signatures presented. And, petition signers continue to pour in. You can sign a petition here.
Wisconsin Right to Life has been invited to appear before the UW Hospital and Clinics Authority Board on Wednesday, February 4 to express our opinion about the proposed plan. The board is allowing one hour for public input. We are looking for medical professionals who use any of the sponsoring health organizations and patients who receive care there. Please contact us at 877-855-5007 if you are one of these individuals or know of someone. We need your help to shut this plan down.
Despite public perception, embryonic stem cells have not to date been put into a human body. Why not? Because they tend to form tumors. That will all change later this year when Geron Corporation, a California biotech company, begins an embryonic stem cell treatment trial in up to 10 patients with spinal cord injuries.
Here are some points about this trial from stem cell expert, Dr. David Prentice:
The trial is not a treatment but experiments with humans to test for safety.
Numerous animal studies have documented the tendency for these cells to form tumors.
Patients will have to be monitored for the rest of their lives for tumor formation.
Immunosuppressive drugs will be required as the patients are receiving cells with the DNA of a different person, the embryo.
Dr. Prentice also points out that adult stem cells are already working to improve patients with spinal cord injuries. There are no ethical or rejection problems using adult stem cells.
Obama’s ability to “spin” his message is alarming. He used the 36th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision to praise it, ignore the fact that under the Roe regime over 50 million unborn children have been violently killed, and in the same breath claim he is going to reduce the number of abortions. The sheer audacity is maddening.
And, how is he going to reduce the number of abortions? By lining the pockets of the nation’s largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood, which already has a billion dollar budget. How can intelligent people believe that a viable strategy to reduce the number of abortions is giving money to an organization that makes money by performing them?
Sadly, those who have gone over the moon for Obama keep buying the sell job.
On a day when hundreds of thousands of ardent and dedicated right-to-lifers descend on the nation’s capitol to commemorate the 51 million unborn children legally destroyed by abortion, Obama is expected to sign an Executive Order overturning the Mexico City Policy.Although this move was expected, couldn’t Obama’s timing have been a little more sensitive? What a slap in the face to those who have sacrificed their time and resources to travel to Washington to be witness to and protest the greatest human rights abuse of our times. How must all of the youth who may be attending their first March for Life feel?The Mexico City policy prohibits your tax dollars from being used to promote or perform abortions overseas. The impact of Obama’s Executive Order? Here’s how Doug Johnson, National Right to Life Legislative Director, put it: “One effect of Obama’s order will be to divert many millions of dollars away from groups that do not promote abortion, and into the hands of those organizations that are most militant in promoting abortion as a population-control method.” Groups like Planned Parenthood.We need to remind Obama supporters over and over that he seduced them into believing he sincerely wanted to reduce the number of abortions. Sadly, he failed to consult the millions of babies who will experience a violent abortion death from the first of his many, expected pro-abortion policies.Barbara Lyons
Everyone is urged to call Jim Woodward, President and CEO of Meriter Hospital, at 608-417-6000 IMMEDIATELY! Urge him to reject the late-term abortion plan for the Madison Surgery Center.
We’ve learned that Meriter Hospital officials will be meeting on January 28 to vote on the late-term abortion plan proposed for the Madison Surgery Center. UW Hospital and Clinics will meet on February 4 to discuss the plan.
It is sickening to read the comments from UW officials on the “need” to dismember babies at an outpatient facility which treats patients who come to be healed. Lynn Brunette, UW Hospital spokesperson, told the Badger Herald there is a “public-health responsibility to provide such procedures as part of a comprehensive program of family planning and reproductive health care that our community deserves.”
What do patients think? Here is one patient’s comments: “This is very disturbing to my family and me. We receive all of our medical care through the UW system. The building at 1 S. Park (Madison Surgery Center) that is being proposed for this abortion mill is the one I go to regularly for my cancer follow-ups and screenings. The thought of walking into that building if it becomes an abortuary makes my skin crawl!”
Let’s not let that happen. Please take the actions above IMMEDIATELY.
“The most basic duty of government is to protect the life of the innocent. My administration has been committed to building a culture of life by vigorously promoting adoption and parental notification laws, opposing Federal funding for abortions overseas, encouraging teen abstinence, and funding crisis pregnancy programs.
“In 2002, I was honored to sign into law the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act … I signed legislation in 2003 to ban the cruel practice of partial-birth abortion … “Also, I was proud to sign the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in 2004.
“History tells us that with a cause rooted in our deepest principles and appealing to the best instincts of our citizens, we will prevail.”
Poignant and deeply felt words by our President who will be sorely missed.
The nation’s leading pro-euthanasia group, Compassion and Choices, is projecting that Oregon will report a record-high 55 assisted suicide deaths for 2008. The previous high was 47 deaths in 2007. It is also apparent from Oregon reports that few, if any, patients are receiving a psychological evaluation or treatment for depression which would eliminate their desire for suicide. In 2007, there was not one single referral for evaluation.
This information is of critical importance to officials in Washington State as they draft regulations to implement the legalization of assisted suicide there. The Washington law will go into effect on March 5.
The Washington Coalition Against Assisted Suicide is building assisted suicide free zones, enlisting doctors and hospitals to pledge not to participate. Residents are on full alert to question their own medical care providers as to whether they will be involved in assisting suicides.
Proponents of assisted suicide are adamantly opposed to granting conscience rights to medical professionals and facilities. They cite the tired argument that a small town may only have a Catholic hospital, thereby depriving people in that community of the right to assisted suicide. Some Washington newspapers have swallowed this familiar old excuse.
In Wisconsin, we are preparing for Senator Risser to drag out his bill to legalize assisted suicide here. We are ready and waiting to defeat this attempt once again.
Since Obama said he would deliver the moon, his devoted followers are not shy about asking him for a slice of the cheese.
Planned Parenthood and its abortion cronies submitted a “secret” memo, published on the Obama transition website, asking for $4.6 billion to promote abortion and other activities. That would be per year.
Some of the goodies requested:
$120 million for taxpayer-funded abortions, including $65 million for UNFPA which is involved in China’s forced abortion program
$300-700 million increase in Title X family planning programs
$540 million increase in Medicaid-funded family planning services
Hundreds of millions more to promote PP’s programs which wind up being conduits to its own abortion clinics.
You and I will be forced to pay for these programs which are spinning out of control. And, PP will get richer and richer with more human lives sacrificed for this horrendous agenda.
Obama continues to fill his top positions with the most ardent pro-abortion advocates:
Obama may pick Jane Henney, the woman who oversaw approval of the abortion drug RU 486, as the head of the Food and Drug Administration.
Obama’s HHS head, Tom Daschle, recently appeared before a Senate committee where he attacked Bush’s policies on embryonic stem cell research and protecting conscience rights for medical professionals and facilities.
Pro-abortion Virginia Governor Tim Kaine was named chairman of the national Democratic party.
Leon Panetta, tapped to head the CIA, is pro-abortion, as is proposed deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel.
The top White House legal counsel will be former NARAL attorney, Dawn Johnsen and the attorney for Terri Schiavo’s husband will be the third-ranking Justice Department official.
At this point, it’s hard to keep track. Suffice it to say that when it comes to abortion or embryonic stem cell policy, not a single right-to-life voice will be heard.
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