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An advocate group sued the state of Oklahoma over legislation that prohibits a woman from getting an abortion unless she undergoes an ultrasound first. The Center for Reproductive Rights claims in the lawsuit filed Thursday in Oklahoma County District Court that the requirement intrudes privacy and endangers health and assaults dignity. The law effective as of Nov. 1 would make Oklahoma the fourth state in the country that requires that an ultrasound be performed prior to an abortion so that the woman can have a chance of viewing the fetus. The other states are Alabama Louisiana and Mississippi. The Oklahoma...

Think being the next president would be a brutal job? Imagine being a transplant surgeon. You can't tell the parents of a dying kid when to pull the plug, but you have to be there, ready, the minute he expires. You have to wait until he's dead, but not so long that his organs become useless. You can give him drugs to keep his organs healthy, but you mustn't technically revive him. And you can't remove and restart his heart until it's been declared kaput. Pick up a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, and you'll see...

No sooner had the video gone up of popular Hispanic actor Eduardo Verástegui denouncing presidential candidate Barack Obama on abortion than YouTube officials took it down. The video sharing site removed the full version of the video, which showed graphic images of abortions. It did, however, leave an edited version in place that contains the Bella actor urging Latinos to vote against Obama without the footage of babies who have died from abortions. The Verástegui video has already caught fire across the Internet with more than 8,000 people viewing it in only two days. It features the former Mexican pop...

Now more than ever we need this powerful prayer tool of the 40 days of prayer and fasting. To sign up and commit see http://www.40daysofprayerandfasting.org/default.asp or do what you can. Last year great inroads in the fight against the culture of death were made. This is supernatural warfare here! Much is at stake in this election year. This prayer and sacrifice effort begins on September 24th. Please be a part. Ave Maria!

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part of a special series of stories focusing on the election that Baptist Press will run between now and Nov. 4. Stories will run on Wednesdays and Fridays. WASHINGTON (BP)--For years, pro-lifers have set their sights on changing the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping that a conservative judicial lineup would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. But what if the Supreme Court someday overturns Roe, and abortion nevertheless remains legal? That's the goal behind the Freedom of Choice Act, a bill in the House and Senate that would ensure abortion remains legal...

Krista Flint, executive director of the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, said, "Many of the country's medical professionals only give messages of fear to parents who learn their baby will be born with the genetic condition." "It's very dark," she said in the Globe and Mail report. "They hear a lot about the medical conditions that are sometimes associated with Down syndrome. They hear about the burden . . . it places on children and a marriage." "They hear about things like shortened life expectancy. They hear a lot about the challenges of a life with Down syndrome. That's why Mrs....

You need to come to the office so we can talk about it." With those words, Alaska governor Sarah Palin knew that her fifth child would be somehow different from her previous four. Steeling herself, the 44-year-old asked to be told over the phone that day in December, when she was four months along. The diagnosis? Down syndrome. I've never had problems with my other pregnancies, so I was shocked. It took a while to open up the book that the doctor gave me about children with Down syndrome, and a while to log on to the website and start...

On today's 45th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, Dr. Alveda King - a pastoral associate for Priests For Life and niece of the late civil rights leader - released this statement: "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man of God, a man of great compassion, and a man of non-violence, once said, 'The Negro cannot win as long as he is willing to sacrifice the lives of his children for comfort and safety.' I know in my heart that if Uncle Martin were alive today, he would join with me in the greatest...

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — When John McCain and Barack Obama appear on the same stage today, they will vividly demonstrate the reach that has made the Rev. Rick Warren among the most significant evangelists of his generation. He's a megastar who leads the nation's fourth-largest church and reaches thousands of ministers through the Internet and crusades against poverty and AIDS. That globe-trotting work and his successful book — "The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?" — puts him at the vanguard of a movement that inspires young, socially conscious Christians. But his willingness to soft-pedal political issues...

Americans have never expected our public servants to be perfect. In fact on many levels it can sometimes be comforting to know they are not. Foibles, mistakes, faux pas all remind us that while they are called upon to lead us through times of tremendous challenge, that at the end of the day they are one of us. They are not from some line of tyrannical despot royalty allowed absolute power. Realizing this however also causes us to understand that while they may make mistakes certain qualities are particularly more helpful, attractive, and necessary when vetting the nation's leadership. Honesty,...

West Chester, Aug 17, 2008 / 12:28 pm (CNA).- Saturday night, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain responded to questions from Dr. Rick Warren, author of “A Purpose Driven Life,” and pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Following the two hour event, evangelical leaders from across the United States gathered to discuss their reactions to the presumptive presidential candidates’ responses. During the forum, Dr. Warren first posted questions to Sen. Obama covering the topics such as his personal values, abortion, marriage, education, stem cell research, and his vision for the United States; before asking Sen. McCain the same...

Lots of groups were there. LA Answer, the peace group, was aggressive and loud. The Obama supporters were subdued. AARP was there, as was a large group of Ron Paul Supporters. There was a large anti abortion group. Every one of the Pro - McCain supporters agreed that the border needs to be secured. Law Enforcement was great, horse patrol was there. A Few of the LA Answer Peace advocates had to be detained for pushing and shoving. Mc Cain was much more on point than Obama, who seemed to be vague and rambling.

The two senators have agreed to attend a forum the evening of Aug. 16 at the Saddleback Church south of Los Angeles — the church is so large it has four locations — where each candidate will spend an hour answering questions from the pastor, Rick Warren. The broad subjects, the church says, are compassion and leadership. The participants stress that this will not be a debate; the campaigns flipped a coin, and Obama will go first.

Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama will speak Aug. 16 at Saddleback Church in what is expected to be the only joint campaign event for the candidates before the national conventions. The Lake Forest megachurch’s pastor, Rick Warren, will moderate the joint appearance, which will take place on the eve of the two national party conventions. After a brief appearance together, the two candidates will separately spend an hour talking with Warren.

A court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by the family of a comatose 75-year-old woman to let her die. Kim’s children said their mother, who survives on life support, had the right to die with dignity so she would not have to continue living a meaningless life and asked for permission to remove the respirator and discontinue injections and feeding. But the Seoul Western District Court said that stopping treatment conflicted with the principle of the absolute value of life, and there was no way to confirm Kim’s own will. The court ruled that even family members do not...

An English teenager died from complications two weeks after taking two abortion pills, her mother told an inquest into her death this week.Manon Jones, 18, described by her mother as a devout Christian teen, opted to terminate her pregnancy at six weeks because she feared the pregnancy would cause conflict within her "Muslim" boyfriend's family, the Daily Mail reported Friday. The teen took the first dose of medication to terminate the pregnancy on June 10, 2005, and the second two days later. On June 15, Jones felt light-headed and experienced heavy bleeding so her boyfriend took her to Southmead...

MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH 131,000 Coloradans endorse 'personhood' plan Ballot initiative would extend constitution's protections to pre-born Posted: May 13, 2008 9:41 pm Eastern © 2008 WorldNetDaily Kristi Burton, spokeswoman for Colorado for Equal Rights, and her mother announcing more than 131,000 Coloradans want a personhood amendment on the 2008 election ballot More than 131,000 Coloradans have endorsed a plan to put an initiative on the fall 2008 election ballot that would allow voters to extend the U.S. Constitution's protections to those who haven't been born yet, something supporters say the U.S. founders intended all along. In a campaign...

It has been thirty five years since that infamous U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade. With the stroke of a judicial pen, unelected Justices consigned an entire class of persons, children in the first home of the whole human race (their mothers womb), to the status of property. Like millions, I have prayed, marched and worked tirelessly to overturn this horrid decision and end the killing. As a human rights lawyer I went to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend pro-life protestors. I still try to join the thousands annually who travel to Washington, D.C. to pray and...

You just knew it was coming: At the request of the Swiss government, an ethics panel has weighed in on the "dignity" of plants and opined that the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. This is no hoax. The concept of what could be called "plant rights" is being seriously debated. A few years ago the Swiss added to their national constitution a provision requiring "account to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals, plants and other organisms." No one knew exactly what it meant, so they asked the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology...

Greetings. To those of you who know me, you'll know I've written extensively on the subject of abortion. Should the Unborn be Considered Human? and Abortion Proposal: A Need for Education were my final papers for English 101 and English 102. They both served as the base for my final project in Computer Science 101, where the final grade depended heavily on one's ability to design a website. The instructors said to base your website's final project on a term paper, or any subject of term paper length. My previous two papers on abortion immediately leapt to mind. However, my...

In a recent interview in the Sunday "NYTimes" magazine, Eleanor Clift, says, re: Terri Schiavo, that her parents and supporters "did not want to accept that she could not be rehabilitated. They found enough people to fool them into thinking she could." This, of course, is completely wrong! Forget "rehabilitation." What Terri's parents and her supporters tried to stop was the MURDER of Terri Schiavo. Alas, they failed -- with no help from people like Eleanor Clift.

"6.7 million abortions in the UK since 1967 Happy with that? Neither are we!" Very worthwhile site to visit for abortion stats in the UK. It also contains a searchable database of every MP in the country and their record on the issue.

“Death has replaced sex as the taboo subject of our times,” said one of the world’s richest men and leading philanthropists, George Soros, when he launched the Project Death in America fund at Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons in 1994. It promotes euthanasia or assisted suicide, and has been succeeded by the Open Society Institute’s International Palliative Care Initiative . Soros’s mother committed suicide, as a member of the Hemlock Society . His father died a lingering death from cancer, and Soros was “disappointed” at the way the old man clung miserably to life.

Roe v. Wade Goes Global by: Jeremy Hempel, February 01, 2008 There is a trend visible in the international community as the right to abortion slowly becomes international law, a report issued last fall by the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (CFHRI) shows. This all started in 1996 when a conference of agencies, treaty bodies, and organizations was held in Glen Cove, New York, according to Rights By Stealth: The Role of UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies in the Campaign for an International Right to Abortion. The official name for this meeting was the “Roundtable of Human Rights Treaty...

Even with their candidate out of the race, Fred Thompson’s supporters can make a big impact in Florida. They should do so by supporting Rudy Giuliani. More than any other candidate, Rudy matches Thompson’s conservative credentials in the three most important areas: he offers a conservative economic policy, an explicit promise to nominate only “strict constructionist” judges, and a strong dedication to national security. On the economy, social issues, and defense, a Giuliani presidency will take the nation in a clearly conservative direction—and he can actually beat Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in November. With a win—or a strong showing—in...

Tribute video for Congressman Duncan Hunter, who ended his candidacy for president today.

Mike Huckabee is now out stumping for votes using various versions of the question, "If you can't be honest before the election, can we trust you to be honest after the election?" It's a good question and standard, so let's apply it to Huckabee. From Mike Huckabee's official website we read, "I support and have always supported passage of a constitutional amendment to protect the right to life. My convictions regarding the sanctity of life have always been clear and consistent, without equivocation or wavering." (emphasis added) Sounds strong and convincing. But there's one problem, it's not true. Huckabee has...

Today the Supreme Court will consider a petition to hear a case raising profound issues regarding the right of individuals to make their own health-care decisions. The case is Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs v. von Eschenbach. The suit claims that FDA violates the due process rights of terminally-ill patients, who have exhausted all approved options and are unable to enter a clinical trial, by prohibiting access to promising investigational drugs. Consider the plight of such patients. They search for clinical trials of new drugs that might extend their lives. Nearly all are ineligible. Of the few...

Columbia, SC (LifeNews.com) -- National Right to Life is putting its money where its mouth is for Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson in South Carolina. The pro-life group has mailed a postcard touting Thompson’s record to thousands of residents in the third primary battleground state and one where Thompson needs a strong showing. The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) endorsed Thompson back in November saying he has a strong pro-life voting record and stance on both abortion and bioethics issues. The mailing, sent by the group's political action committee, features a picture of an infant baby and says, “This...

"We're proud to endorse Senator Thompson for president because he has a long track record of supporting pro-life principles," stated Steven Ertelt, President of Right to Life of Wyoming. "Senator Thompson had a 100% pro-life voting record during his tenure in Congress. Today, he supports overturning the Roe v Wade decision which allowed for unlimited abortions, he opposes euthanasia, and he opposes forcing taxpayers to fund scientific research that requires the destruction of human life." Right to Life of Wyoming (RTLW) is the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee which has endorsed Senator Thompson for President, along...

As we reported on the blog yesterday, a group calling itself American Right to Life Action, is running TV ads against Mitt Romney here in Iowa on the Fox News Channel. In Tuftonboro, N.H., Romney said about the ad, from ABC News' Matt Stuart, "I don't know who that is. I'd be interested to know who is really behind that group. I'm very proud that the Massachusetts Citizens for Life, which is the premier right-to-life group in Massachusetts, awarded me their leadership award. My record in being pro-life is very clear as the governor of Massachusetts and my guess is...

FRED THOMPSON'S disappointed fans have something to cheer about at last. After sinking to single digits in the polls, the former "Law & Order" actor is making a comeback. Over the past month, Thompson has walked away from several very strong performances in GOP debates. In the latest one, he held command over the entire field and won the day by refusing to play "hand shows" on stage at the direction of the moderator. "I said, 'Nope,' and everybody pulled their hand down and looked around," Thompson later recalled. "I just said to my buddies up there, 'How are you...

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MC LEAN, Va., Dec. 20 /Standard Newswire/ -- Today Fred Thompson received the endorsement of the Virginia Society for Human Life, the oldest right to life organization in the country and the state's affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee. This represents the ninth state right to life organization that has followed the lead of the National Right to Life Committee in endorsing Senator Thompson for President. "Fred Thompson is a stellar candidate for President of the United States," said VSHL President Brenda Fastabend. "Fred Thompson's one hundred percent pro-life voting record compiled during his eight years of service...

North Carolina Right to Life PAC joins South Carolina Citizens for Life (SCCL), its sister affiliate in South Carolina, in endorsing former Senator Fred Thompson for President of the United States of America. “By endorsing Fred Thompson for President, North Carolina Right to Life PAC wants all North Carolinians to know Senator Thompson’s long-standing pro-life record, his unwavering commitment to protecting unborn children from abortion, and our belief in his ability to win,” stated Barbara Holt, PAC President. “As President, Fred Thompson will be a strong advocate for life at all stages.” Fred Thompson amassed a 100% pro-life voting record...

"Paulo Melo, 29, has been in a coma at the Royal Darwin Hospital for two weeks, after severing his spinal cord in a car crash." - read more below: doctor requested, family objected, court granted

A Minnesota anti-abortion organization has endorsed former Senator and TV star Fred Thompson for president. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life says the Republican earned the endorsement with his consistent opposition to abortion. The group says he opposed using tax dollars to pay for abortion and certain kinds of stem cell research. The National Right to Life Committee announced its endorsement for Thompson about a month ago.

Today Senator Fred Thompson received the endorsement of the California ProLife Council. "There are so many pro-life candidates in the race," said Lawrence Lehr, PAC Chairman. "But Fred Thompson is clearly the one, consistently pro-life candidate with the ability to win in November. It is important that pro-life voters rally around a candidate that can make a difference." The California ProLife Council is the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee. CPLC is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian grassroots organization dedicated to the cessation of the perceived need for abortion, euthanasia and infanticide. California ProLife Council believes this goal...

Vermont Right to Life is the latest statewide pro-life organization to back Fred Thompson's bid for the Republican nomination for president. Their endorsement follows on the heels of those from state pro-life groups in West Virginia, New York, Wyoming, and Wisconsin. In a statement sent to LifeNews.com, Sharon Toborg, treasurer of the Vermont Right to Life Political Committee, says the endorsement reflects Thompson's consistent pro-life views and his ability to win the nomination and general election. “It is great that so many candidates in the Republican Primary are pro-life and have been strong friends of the pro-life effort," she said....

Opening a new front in their assault on abortion, activists in half a dozen states are preparing ballot referendums that would grant "personhood" and constitutional rights to embryos from the moment of conception. The drive is under way in Colorado, where activists have begun gathering signatures for an initiative, and Georgia, where the Legislature will take up the issue when it reconvenes in January. Abortion opponents in Montana, Oregon, Mississippi and Michigan are among those considering similar measures. The new strategy takes an idea that has been central to the pro-life movement - that human life begins when an egg...

State Sen. Eric Johnson was among the first prominent Georgians to jump on the Fred Thompson for President bandwagon. The Savannah Republican helped persuade dozens of state lawmakers to endorse the former Tennessee senator earlier this year. But he remained relatively quiet after Thompson officially entered the GOP race this summer. Until last week, that is. That was when Thompson slipped to fifth place in one national poll after doing only a little better in other recent ones. Earlier, he'd led in one national poll and stayed near the front of the pack in others. Against that backdrop, Johnson weighed...

COLUMBIA, SC (AP) - The South Carolina affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee has endorsed Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson. South Carolina Citizens for Life on Wednesday praised the former Tennessee senator's voting record on abortion issues. In a news release, the group cited Thompson's vote against so-called partial-birth abortion and his stance for adult stem cell research but not embryonic stem cell research. Thompson has touted his anti-abortion voting record during his campaign. He has already been endorsed by the committee's national group.

I just got this via e-mail from Senate Pro-Tem Eric Johnson: Dear Friends; You know where Rudy stands on the issues even if you disagree. You can’t tell where Mitt stands. Most of the rest of the field are not key players. Only Mike Huckabee has made some moves – primarily because he is good on his feet in the debates. But there is only one true “Reagan conservative” – Fred Thompson. The others are NOT conservatives or say they are now, but their record says otherwise. Please join me in supporting the consistent conservative who can win. Giuliani is...

Hundreds of hospice providers across the country are facing the catastrophic financial consequence of what would otherwise seem a positive development: their patients are living longer than expected. Over the last eight years, the refusal of patients to die according to actuarial schedules has led the federal government to demand that hospices exceeding reimbursement limits repay hundreds of millions of dollars to Medicare. The charges are assessed retrospectively, so in most cases the money has long since been spent on salaries, medicine and supplies. After absorbing huge assessments for several years, often by borrowing at high rates, a number of...

Presidential Race: The war for the soul of the Republican Party was won in 1980 by Ronald Reagan. Presidential candidates who want to re-wage the conflict in 2008 will only weaken the GOP against the Democrats' nominee. In the aftermath of Vietnam, Watergate and a Jimmy Carter presidency that rendered America an economic and foreign policy basket case, Republicans discovered a tried-and-true recipe for electoral success. They would stand for three sets of principles: • Lowering high taxes and stemming the growth of government in order to revive the private economy, lower inflation and interest rates, and generate jobs. •...

ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. - Call it mother wit. But when doctors urged Lori Vance of Rogersville to abort her unborn child because most of the baby's brain was formed outside the skull, she just knew they were wrong. When they said her child would look hideous, resembling a cyclops, if she had a face at all, Vance just knew they were wrong. And when they said her body was like life-support, and the baby would die soon after birth, she just knew they were wrong. Vance was certain that her unborn child was formed by perfect hands, and she "was going...

Fred Thompson's campaign got some good news in the polls this week as a new survey shows him tied with Mitt Romney in the early primary battleground of South Carolina. A new survey released Friday also shows him almost in a tie with pro-abortion New York Sen. Hillary Clinton nationally. The Rasmussen poll, conducted on Tuesday, finds both Thompson and Romney at 21 percent in the southern state among likely primary voters. The bad news for Thompson is the poll shows a decline of four percent and Romney increasing his percentage, but it shows his campaign continuing its strategy of...

Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson said Wednesday the United States needs to increase military spending to better finance its troops and intelligence, calling national security the top obligation of a U.S. president. "There are a lot of people in need, there are a lot of things that need funding, there are a lot of government programs and so forth, but preserving the security and safety of the American people is the No. 1 obligation of any government and the No. 1 obligation of any people," he said during a stop at Café Diem in downtown Ames. Thompson portrayed himself as...

This Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted by telephone November 14-18, 2007, among a random sample of 400 Iowans likely to vote in the Republican caucus. The results have a five percentage point margin of sampling error. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by TNS of Horsham, Pa. *= less than 0.5 percent --snip-- 4. (FOR SCREENING PURPOSES) If the caucuses were being held today, would you attend the (Democratic Party caucus) or the (Republican Party caucus) in your precinct? Democratic caucus Republican caucus 11/18/07 0 100 7/31/07 0 100 5. If the Republican caucus were being held today, and the...

I believe I represent the average Republican voter, or at least a significant slice of the R base. My positions - in no particular order - are as follows: Immigration - Amnesty is a deal breaker. If they are here illegally and we come into contact with them, send them home. Iraq - We were winning, we are winning, and we will win. The various pitfalls and difficulties that we have had do not equal defeat. We need a President to stand firm, and to fire all the traitors(I am not using this word lightly) in the State Department and...