The National Association for the Defense of the Right to Conscientious Objection is deploring new data this week that indicates that 9 out every 10 babies diagnosed with Down’s syndrome are aborted by their parents in Spain.

General coordinator of the Association, Jose Antonio Diez, said that in 94.5% of the cases that a prenatal diagnosis indicates the presence of Down’s syndrome, the baby is aborted.

He said such diagnoses are often used to "eliminate children with more or less serious defects. The doctor is not free to offer alternatives," and for this reason many parents are now conscientiously objecting to prenatal diagnosis that is not intended for medical treatment, Diez said.

In this particular case, a pregnant petitioner when found during routine diagnosis in her 24th week that her unborn child was suffering from a congenital heart block, resorted to go for abortions. But, doctors denied as it was against the law. However, a paediatrician said, the baby would need the placement of a peacemaker immediately after being born.

Normally a peacemaker has four to five years of life. This way, the child would have to go for five peacemaker replacement surgeries throughout life. Doctors also said that even surgery is not the guarantee of a normal life. They also expressed fear of a possible intra-uterine death of the foetus and if survives, continuous ailment would also compromise the life of the child.

The pregnant mother and petitioner in her plea said that she "does not want to have a compromised quality of life for her own child and can not afford the expensive treatment, which may or may not give results."

According to new statistics released today from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), premature babies - babies born too soon and too small - accounted for a growing proportion of infant deaths. When linked with previous studies that have shown that abortion increases a woman's chance of having a baby prematurely, the conclusion is that women who have had abortions are more likely to bear children who die as infants or suffer from severe health issues.[...]

The findings of the NCHS help identify abortion as a leading cause of infant mortality, with former studies having revealed that women who have had abortions in the past are much more likely to give birth prematurely.

An article appearing in a 2007 Journal of Reproductive Medicine concluded that nearly 32 percent of "very preterm" U.S. births, that is, before 32 weeks gestation, are due to the mother having had a prior abortion.

"I felt that the abortion was like being raped again," says Cooley. "Only this time, it was much worse because I had consented to the assault."

Cooley is the author of "Into the Light: Rape, Abortion and the Truth that Set Me Free" (Pleasant Word, 2007), which provides an intimate look at the trauma associated with abortion - even in the case of rape. "At the time of my abortion I believed that I didn't have another choice. It's devastating to believe you have to choose between your life and the life of your child - and then live with the aftermath of that decision."

The first to legalize abortion in our country were the Nazis in March of 1943. They wanted to eliminate Poles with abortion. Then the Communists arrived, and they began their dictatorship with the promulgation of the abortion law of April 27, 1956.

For many Poles, especially young people, these events should trigger reflection and the realization that abortion was legalized, imposed and practiced in Poland by their enemies: the Nazis and the Communists.

In this context, the books, pamphlets and booklets on abortion, distributed in churches, schools and streets, have had a profound impact on Polish society.

After a hearing today in the Fresno County Superior Court, the family of patient Janet Rivera was reinstated as her conservator to manage Ms. Rivera's healthcare. Ms. Rivera's cousin sought conservatorship so that Janet's care can be administered in a life-affirming manner. The Court ruled that Ms. Rivera's cousin, Suzanne Emrich, temporarily replaces the public guardian who made the decision a few weeks ago to deprive Ms. Rivera of food and water.

Last week, after having been dehydrated and not fed for 8 days, Attorney Brian Chavez-Ochoa intervened on behalf of Ms. Rivera and because of Chavez-Ochoa's efforts the Court ordered that her foods and fluids be restored.

"We claimed that between five and ten thousand women a year died of botched abortions," he said. "The actual figure was closer to 200 to 300 and we also claimed that there were a million illegal abortions a year in the United States and the actual figure was close to 200,000. So, we were guilty of massive deception."

"I mean as a founding member and chairman of the medical committee, I accepted the figures which came from a biostatistician named Christopher Teetsy and he and his wife passed along these figures to us at NARAL. We were in no position to validate them or not, so we accepted them in the interests of higher standards, or at least higher objectives," he explained.

"We have just one thing to say to Tiller today and that is, 'See you in court!'" said Operation Rescue president Troy Newman. "Today's ruling by Judge [Clark] Owens vindicates our efforts to bring Tiller to justice. All along, we knew that it wasn't the law that was faulty, but it was Tiller's interpretation of the law that was faulty. This gives us a glimmer of hope that we could eventually see some shred of justice."

"Abortion would be a sacrament if women were in charge. Abortion should be a sacrament even today. I suspect that for many women today, and for their spouses, lovers, families and communities, abortion is celebrated as such, an occasion of deep and serious and sacred meaning."

The women claim the restrictive nature of Irish law on abortion jeopardised their health and their wellbeing. Their complaint centres around four articles in the European Convention on Human Rights, including protection from "inhuman or degrading treatment" and freedom from discrimination.

The identity of the three women – known as A, B and C – will remain confidential as it proceeds through the court.

Colorado for Equal Rights has announced the support of over 70 physicians and pharmacists, including neonatologists, family physicians, ob/gyns, pediatricians, and other physicians nationwide. These physicians have stated that they concur with the statement, "A 'person' includes any human from the time of fertilization." A list of these physicians is available at www.personhood2008.com.

"We are honored to have received these endorsements from such respected physicians," stated Kristi Burton, amendment sponsor. "Science clearly proves that life begins at the time of fertilization. We are secure in the fact that we have science and reason on our side, and we are pleased to have the medical community supporting our efforts."

Brian Christopher Canaday, a 22-year-old McKinney resident, has received two charges for assaulting his pregnant girlfriend and killing her unborn child.

In May, Canaday allegedly choked 22-year-old Stephanie Mohammad during the assault and she blacked out.

After the attack, Mohammad went to her parents home, where she had a miscarriage. After going to Centennial Medical Center of Frisco, doctors said her unborn baby had died.

Mohammad was about 10 weeks pregnant at the time of the attack and Texas law allows prosecutors to bring charges for anyone who assaults a pregnant woman and kills or injures her unborn child.

"This will elevate neonatal care to a completely new level - which really should be more sophisticated, better care - and would hopefully be associated with better outcomes for the infants," said Andrew James, a staff physician at the hospital.

He said the software, unveiled yesterday, could help clinicians do a better job of identifying life-threatening infections, which can be detected up to 24 hours before onset by observing changes in physiological data.

"Premature babies are at very high risk for infection and the signs of infection are really quite subtle until the infection is well established," Dr. James said.

"So if we can use this new technology to recognize changes and intervene with antibiotics much earlier than we currently do, we'll prevent these babies from getting as sick as they do."

Rivera lost her right to food and water on July 14 when a court-appointed guardian removed her feeding tube despite her family's wishes.

The 46-year-old had a heart attack on February 2006 and she never regained consciousness. She has been on life support for two years.

Fresno County Probate Judge Debra Kazanjian, in a Wednesday hearing, called the case "truly a life-and-death situation" and ruled for Rivera's family, which is fighting to save her life.

Rivera's brother, Michael Dancoff, told the Fresno Bee newspaper he was excited to hear about the ruling.

"I'm happy they're giving her a second chance," he said. "I'm happy we'll get to prove she's not on her deathbed."

He says he believes Rivera, whom doctors diagnosed as being in a so-called persistent vegetative state, is still conscious.

"She looked at me and her eyes were open," he said. "She wasn't dying. She wanted to live."

Students for Life said it is a registered campus organization. And like other groups, it believes it should be entitled to a portion of student fees.

The group said it sought $4,000 from Wayne State's Student Council for snacks, T-shirts, fliers and publicity, but the request was rejected. A smaller budget also was turned down.

A lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Detroit said the initial request was rejected because of "spiritual and religious" references. But the anti-abortion group said it doesn't have a specific religious affiliation.

Ohio is one of 36 states that requires parental notification or consent before a girl younger than 18 can abort her preborn baby. Most of those states allow judges to bypass parents if they feel the girl could face abuse.

Kim Browne, a judge in Franklin County, said she has never denied a request.

"I don't think I'm playing God at all," Browne told The Columbus Dispatch. "That is their choice. That's the decision they are going to have to live with."

The legislation, called the "Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2007," would create a new agency called the Commission on Population (POPCOM) which would "encourage" families to have only two children, and promote the use of a variety of abortifacient drugs, including the IUD and the pill.

POPCOM would also require all public and private health care providers to provide surgical sterilization, and would institute "mandatory age-appropriate reproductive health education" starting in fifth grade and running through the fourth year of high school.

Rather than tell women abortion kills children and has numerous risks, Planned Parenthood closed its doors.

The state law, which the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld last week, required abortion practitioners to inform every woman that she is terminating the life of a human being.

It requires giving her information about the mental health complications such as a high risk of depression and suicide and physical problems like hemorrhage infection, premature births of subsequent pregnancies, and infertility.

The woman considering the abortion receives a chance to sign in writing that she received the information and abortion practitioners who don't comply face losing their medical license, two years in prison and a possible medical malpractice lawsuit.

Whether the closing is temporary or permanent remains to be seen.

"When Planned Parenthood brings in over a billion dollars in revenues, pays no taxes, and sits at the end of the year fat and happy with $115 million in the bank and brazenly works to go after affluent women rather than helping out poor women, as their original mission statement said, I agree with the executive director of Illinois Planned Parenthood, who said 'Planned Parenthood wants to be the LensCrafters of family planning,'" said Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota). "In other words," she notes, "they want to be the big-box retailer."[..]

She states that, as a former tax lawyer, it has become clear to her that Planned Parenthood no longer fits the mold of a 501(c)3 non-profit and should be paying taxes.

Baby boy Johnson was found unresponsive in the back seat of a vehicle at 708 W. 103rd St., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. The baby was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:20 a.m.

An autopsy Sunday revealed the boy died from asphyxia, the medical examiner's office said. His death has been ruled a homicide.

Police responded to the 103rd Street address about 5:15 a.m. when they found that a mother had apparently given herself an abortion, according to a Calumet Area police sergeant.

According to an incident report from the Kansas Coalition for Life (KCFL) the 16-year-old girl was two months pregnant. Her mother brought her to the Women's Health Care Services clinic in Wichita for the abortion at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

The KCFL says that Dillon, the reported father of the baby, arrived at the clinic in his own vehicle in the early afternoon. He reportedly told Jennifer McCoy, who was a KCFL pro-life counselor at the site, that his parents were willing to raise or adopt the baby and do whatever they could to help the teenage parents. Dillon claimed that he planned to marry his girlfriend when they graduated from high school and that his parents were supportive of the idea.

According to Dillon, only the girl's mother wanted her to have the abortion and had threatened to disown the girl if she did not have one.

Jennifer McCoy sent Dillon into the abortion clinic to talk to the girl and to tell her that if she said she did not want the abortion, KCFL could call police to intervene on her behalf.

Thirty minutes after Dillon entered the clinic he, his girlfriend, and his girlfriend's mother came to the gate and left the parking lot in their cars. According to KCFL the girl was crying, but her mother did not stop at the gate.

Dillon, also crying, stopped at the gate and told KCFL that he was just minutes too late. The baby was already dead when he was allowed to talk to his girlfriend. He asked KCFL to dedicate one of the on-site crosses to his baby as a memorial.

"The instant I heard my baby's helpless body hit the garbage can, I KNEW! I had just killed my own flesh and blood, an innocent life. I was panic-stricken, the nurse callously told me to 'calm down, in a few days all would be back to normal,'" she says.

"Normal? No one forewarned me of the repercussions of an abortion. It was a simple procedure of removing 'tissue,' so why the pain, the sudden emptiness? I awoke night after night to the sound of screams, they were mine!"

On Saturday, July 12 I had the joy of baptizing three babies, chosen by God from all eternity to live. A cause of particular joy and celebration was that two of these babies were rescued from abortion. Their mothers had gone to an abortion mill in Allentown, PA, but sidewalk counselors intervened and helped them to find the strength to say "No" to abortion and "Yes" to life.

The Church was filled with pro-life advocates, including the sidewalk counselors who intervened, and all were immersed in the joy of the victory of life. Once this ceremony was scheduled, I announced it nationally, not only so that as many people as possible could come, but also so that the whole pro-life movement could be encouraged by this celebration of victory.

Yadira, one of the mothers who turned away from abortion had already gone into the facility. But a few moments later she found the strength to come out, because she looked at an image on a brochure that one of the sidewalk counselors gave her. That image showed an aborted child. It revealed the reality of what abortion does to a baby, and Yadira knew she could not do that to her baby.

"The more I learn about these rules by the Bush administration, the more appalled I am and the more determined I am to stop them," Clinton said.

"This is a gratuitous, unnecessary insult to the women of the United States of America. These rules pose a dire threat to women's health, to health-care providers, and to uninsured and low-income Americans seeking care. It is a disgrace, but unfortunately it is not a surprise."[...]

"It is an end run around the rights of women to make choices about our own health and we are not going to stand for it," said Clinton. "We will not put up with this radical ideological agenda to turn the clock back on women's rights."

A preliminary hearing to determine whether the case would go to trial had been scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Johnson County District Court. But Judge Stephen Tatum delayed it, as he did in May.

The clinic, Comprehensive Health of Overland Park, faces 107 charges, including 23 felonies. District Attorney Phill Kline alleges it falsified documents and performed illegal late-term abortions. The clinic denies the allegations and says Kline's case is motivated by his anti-abortion views.

Kline and Pedro Irigonegaray, a Topeka attorney representing the clinic, said Friday that they had agreed to seek the delay. But each gave different reasons.

Kline said both parties agreed on a delay because the Kansas Supreme Court hasn't ruled on a dispute between him and Planned Parenthood over medical records from patients' files. The high court continues to prevent Kline from calling as a witness a Shawnee County judge who has those records.

But Irigonegaray said the issue is a request Kline filed with the Kansas Court of Appeals to overturn one of Tatum's pretrial orders. That order prevented Kline from obtaining abortion reports from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Ann Downer, 44, gave the drugs to a woman who had only gone into the clinic for an initial consultation following a mix-up over patient names.

She had not decided to have a termination when Downer gave her a dose of Misoprostol at the Calthorpe Clinic in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Downer failed to check the patient's personal details to verify her identity before she administered the drug. [..]

When staff realised what had happened the distraught woman, referred to as Patient A in the hearing, was called back to the clinic "in pain".

Doctors subsequently advised her to undergo a surgical abortion.

In his address to the hundreds of thousands of youth who welcomed him at Barangaroo, Sydney Harbour today, Pope Benedict XVI issued one of the strongest challenges he has yet made to work for the right to life of unborn children.

"How can it be that the most wondrous and sacred human space - the womb - has become a place of unutterable violence?" he said.

On June 26, the Assembly drafted the section on civil rights leaving the door open to legalized abortion by eliminating the phrase "from conception" and enshrining controversial reproductive and sexual rights as civil rights.

In response, more than three thousand people marched on July 9, demanding that the Constitution protect life from the moment of conception and that the controversial phrases on reproductive and sexual rights be eliminated.

The protestors said Catholics would vote "no" when the final draft is submitted to a popular referendum if the text is not modified.

In the backstreets of one of Argentina's largest villas, a large urban slum on the outskirts of Cordoba city, Sophia Gonzalez*, twists her hands nervously as she describes her desperate search for an abortion.

With five young children and her husband gone, she says prostitution is the only way she can afford to buy food for her family. When a violent encounter with a client left her pregnant for the sixth time, she says she had no choice.

"I don't believe in abortion but I was terrified," she says. "I knew there was no way I could get food for this baby, I was all on my own and I was doing what I was doing for the sake of the children I had already. I couldn't see a way out."

With a loan of $50 pesos (£8) she went to a man in the neighbourhood who knew "about these kind of things". He used a plastic catheter and a knitting needle. She didn't have the extra $250 (£40) pesos for anaesthetic.

"When he was putting the needle in the pain was so bad I thought I was going to die," she says. "Afterwards I was bleeding but I didn't want to go to the hospital because I'd heard they lock you up if you've had an abortion, but my friends made me. I think they saved my life."

Despite all this, Sophia says she was lucky. Her cousin went to the same man for an abortion a month later and a resulting infection put her into a coma for two weeks.

"Girls from my neighbourhood die from abortions all the time," she says. "But when there is no alternative, what choice for you have?"

A written decision will be issued before a July 29 status conference with attorneys in the case against Dr. George Tiller, Sedgwick County District Judge Clark Owens said. He did not indicate how he would rule.

Day Gardner, president of the National Black Pro-Life Union and one of the leaders protesting at this week's NAACP convention in Cincinnati, said, "the biggest struggle for civil rights today is for the civil rights of the unborn child."

Gardner said she is hopeful the protest will show the NAACP how many black Americans have very strong feelings about this issue.

"Hopefully it will provide to members and those upper-level people in the organization that this is extremely important ... that Planned Parenthood needs to be defunded," she said.[..]

"It's very disappointing that the NAACP has not taken a leadership role in making this horrible practice a thing of the past," she said.

'I do wish that someone in those clinics had really sat down with me and talked it through properly,' says Angela, who is now undergoing counselling to help her cope with her past actions.

'The reason why I had so many abortions is that I didn't want to bring a child into the world unless my situation was perfect - but it never was.

'With each termination I felt it was my responsibility to get on with my own life and forget about it. After each one I just blanked out the emotions and never thought about it. I felt no remorse at all.'

Just imagine if this institution used its voice and resources to ensure that, beside all those Planned Parenthood clinics located in our minority neighborhoods, African-American women could find another kind of place. A place not unlike Good Counsel – where a scared young pregnant woman could carry her baby to term, complete her education, train for a new job, and be treated with the love and respect that a mother needs and deserves.

In other words, could not the NAACP work for a society where pregnant African-Americans had two doors open to them? Planned Parenthood's not going anywhere, so the first would still lead to America's largest abortion provider, a business that has already eliminated millions from America's population. But the other would lead to people whose business is of a vastly different order: welcoming these children into the world, and getting their moms the help they need to live lives of purpose and dignity.

Then again, that would give women a real choice.

The Bush administration wants to require all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control.

Under the draft of a proposed rule, hospitals, clinics, researchers and medical schools would have to sign "written certifications" as a prerequisite to getting money under any program run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Such certification would also be required of state and local governments, forbidden to discriminate, in areas like grant-making, against hospitals and other institutions that have policies against providing abortion.

The proposal, which circulated in the department on Monday, says the new requirement is needed to ensure that federal money does not "support morally coercive or discriminatory practices or policies in violation of federal law." The administration said Congress had passed a number of laws to ensure that doctors, hospitals and health plans would not be forced to perform abortions.

In the proposal, obtained by The New York Times, the administration says it could cut off federal aid to individuals or entities that discriminate against people who object to abortion on the basis of "religious beliefs or moral convictions."

Operation Rescue has learned that Burtram Odenheimer, MD, is one of the physicians currently providing the second signature for patients of abortionist George R. Tiller that is required before they may receive post-viability abortions.

Odenheimer, a neurologist who is board certified in psychiatry, secretly sees Tiller's late-term patients at his office at the Wichita Clinic, a non-abortion medical center at located at 3311 E. Murdock in Wichita.

Kansas law requires that an unaffiliated physician must concur with the abortionist that a post-viability abortion is necessary to prevent "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function" of the mother. Tiller currently uses the mental health loophole supposedly implied in the law as an excuse to abort late-term babies up until the day before birth.

Odenheimer has connections to Tiller. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor with the Kansas University School of Medicine, where Tiller has served as Clinical Instructor for over 25 years.

Odenheimer boasts of involvement with Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood and Tiller have been co-plaintiffs on numerous legal actions and share some attorneys, including Pedro Irigonegaray.

Operation Rescue believes that there may be other physicians associated with the Wichita Clinic, who are also providing signatures for Tiller's post-viability abortion patients.

"Odenheimer and others are working secretly with Tiller because they do not want the community to know that they are associated with his disreputable late-term abortion practice," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "However, the public has a right to know who is propping up Tiller's abortion business."

A woman has been forced to have an abortion after a lab-test blunder wrongly diagnosed her with drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The mistake meant the woman, who recently emigrated to New Zealand, had to undergo "very toxic" treatment requiring her to have a medically induced abortion. The termination of her pregnancy was later found to have been unnecessary.

Bradley Whaley, 26, was severely brain damaged by an overdose of drugs and was minimally conscious, according to media reports. He died July 2 after the Hospice of Florida Suncoast removed his food and hydration tube.

After Bradley's collapse, his mother said she and her husband did nothing but "work, sleep and spend time with Bradley". His family cared for him for three years but in the end they transferred Bradley to the Hospice of Florida Suncoast, the same hospice in which Terri Schiavo died after having her assisted nutrition and hydration tube removed.

Sue Whaley told the St. Petersburg Times that Bradley would "mouth" the word 'mama' and would kiss her if she leaned close enough.

Women in more than 70 countries, including Northern Ireland, have used the internet site Women on Web to buy the drugs for £55 a time.

Women on Web is available in five languages and offers the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol; it says a combination of the pills causes the non-surgical termination of a pregnancy and can be used up to the ninth week.

The website says it helps women "gain access to a safe abortion with pills in order to reduce the number of deaths due to unsafe abortions".

But a study in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology found that 11% of 400 customers went on to need a surgical procedure - either because the drugs had not completed the abortion or because of excessive bleeding.

Dr. William Harrison, notable for being Hillary Clinton's former OB-GYN as well as for performing over 20,000 abortions, has admitted in recent a e-mail exchange with a prominent Christian psychologist that abortion "cancels" a human soul.

"Anyone who has delivered as many babies as I have, and has seen hundreds of living and dead embryos and fetuses being spontaneously aborted as have I, knows exactly what we are doing when we provide an elective abortion for our patient. We are ending the life of an embryo or a fetus," Harrison wrote in an e-mail to Dr. Warren Throckmorton, associate professor of Psychology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania.

"Physicians who save wanted babies from being spontaneously aborted (and we can save a few now that God once seemed determined to abort), and we who cancel 'luckless human souls' are doing God’s work," he concluded.

The unidentified teenager says that, after her mother found out she was pregnant, she purchased some sort of pill and forced her daughter to take them.

The drugs, likely either the dangerous mifepristone abortion pill or misoprostol, which causes contractions and frequently induces birth, caused the teenager to give birth prematurely.

After giving birth to the baby in her home, the teen told police her mother took the baby and buried the child in the backyard of the family's house. The girl did not know whether the baby was dead or alive at the time.

Police Chief Robert Pruett says officials used cadaver dogs to search the area where the mother claims she buried the baby.

"The mother swears up and down the baby is buried here," he told the Houston Chronicle newspaper. "We don't know if she's telling the truth or not."

Police went to the family's home on Thursday and used cadaver dogs to search the area but will not disclose whether the body of the baby was found. Pruett would only say that the county medical examiner is looking into the evidence officials obtained.

Eluana Englaro, 36, may have her "life support", that is, her feeding tube, removed as early as today. It is believed, however, that this will be delayed until the end of a 60 day waiting period in which the state has a chance to appeal the decision.

The court ruled that it had been shown both that Englaro's coma was irreversible and that she had expressed her desire not to live if she were in a "persistent vegetative state". The Court of Appeal said the decision was "inevitable given the extraordinary duration of a state of permanent vegetation," and having established her "vision of life, irreconcilable with the total and irreversible loss of her mental faculties".[..]

Englaro, who was not on a respirator, has been in a coma since being in a car accident in 1992 and has lived with the assistance of a feeding tube since then. Her father, Beppino Englaro, has been petitioning courts to remove his daughter's assisted nutrition and hydration since 1999.

He told media today, "This is a victory for legal rights, at long last the end of the worst nightmare that any human being can experience. The judges made a courageous decision. Now, at last, we can set Eluana free."

But Catholic ethicists said the decision set a dangerous precedent. The Bioethics Committee of Rome's Catholic university hospital, said in a statement, "The interruption of food and drink will result in a slow death for Eluana Englaro, guilty only of being still alive."

"We must underline the gravity of this decision. It places in the hands of the guardian a power of life and death, undermining the principle that one must look after patients who are unable to think for themselves."

"Barack Obama knows his extreme record on abortion doesn't resonate with everyday American voters, so now he’s trying to soften his image," said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. "It won't work. From his active opposition to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act to his support for the radical Freedom of Choice Act, Barack Obama is anything but moderate on abortion. He's announced abortion on demand as is his top legislative priority. So it is not a surprise that Obama's actual voting record shows his commitment to abortion at any time, for any reason, funded by American taxpayers. He has staked out the minority position on an issue about which Americans care deeply."

Barack Obama's actual record on Abortion:

* 0% rating with the National Right to Life Committee and 100% rating with NARAL Pro-Choice America

* Co-Sponsor of the "Freedom of Choice Act" (S.1173), legislation that would nullify nearly all state and federal limitations on abortion, including the federal ban on partial-birth abortion, parental notification laws and waiting periods. It would also allow for taxpayer funding of abortions. This would entail MORE permissive abortion laws than the current interpretation of Roe v Wade allows. Obama told members of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund at their conference, "Well, the first thing I'd do as president is, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing I'd do." (July 17, 2007)

* Voted against an amendment to allow states to provide health insurance for an unborn child through the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). (August 2, 2007, Roll Call No. 302)

* Opposed the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act as an Illinois State Senator. The legislation aimed to protect babies who survived abortions. Obama spoke against the bill, calling it an "unnecessary burden" for women and voted against it three times. Obama spoke against the bill and voted against it three times. President Bush signed a federal version of this legislation in 2002.

* Criticized Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court ruling upholding the federal ban on partial-birth abortion, saying, "I strongly disagree with today's Supreme Court ruling ... I am extremely concerned that this ruling will embolden state legislatures to enact further measures to restrict a woman’s right to choose, and that the conservative Supreme Court justices will look for other opportunities to erode Roe v. Wade, which is established federal law and a matter of equal rights for women."

* Endorsed by the two major abortion organizations: NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

"The Planned Parenthood Action Fund is proud to endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States," said Action Fund President Cecile Richards. "He is a passionate advocate for women's rights, and has a long and consistent record of standing up for women's health care.

“As president, he will improve access to quality health care for women, support and protect a woman's right to choose, support comprehensive sex education to keep our young people healthy and safe, and invest in prevention programs, including family planning services and breast cancer screenings."

WALLACE: What are your religious beliefs, Mrs. Sanger? Do you believe in God in the sense of a Divine Being -- who rewards or punishes people after death?

SANGER: Well, I have a different attitude about--the divine--I feel that we have divinity within us, and the more we express the good part of our lives, the more the divine within us expresses itself.I suppose I would call myself an Episcopalian by religion and there's a--many other, if you travel around the world you get quite a bit of the feeling of all--all religions--have so much alike in the divine part of our own being. And I suppose you just couldn't just put that into a book or you couldn't put it to a phrase or a sentence.

WALLACE: Do you believe in sin -- When I say believe I don't mean believe in committing sin do you believe there is such a thing as a sin?

SANGER: I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world--that have disease from their parents, that have no chance in the world to be a human being practically. Delinquents, prisoners, all sorts of things just marked when they're born. That to me is the greatest sin -- that people can -- can commit..

WALLACE: But sin in the ordinary sense that we regard it -- do you believe or do you not believe.

SANGER: What-what would they be?

WALLACE: Do you believe infidelity is a sin?

SANGER: Well, I'm not going to specify what I think is a sin. I stated what I think is the worst sin.

WALLACE: Yes, but then you asked me to say what--and I said what and ah--you refuse to answer me?

SANGER: I don't know about infidelity, that has many personalities to it--and what a person's own belief is--you can't, I couldn't generalize on any of those things as being sins.

WALLACE: Murder is a sin...

SANGER: Well, I naturally think murder, whether it's a sin or not, is a terrible act.

Monsignor Gerry Santos had just celebrated Mass at the Quiapo Church in Manila around 9 a.m. when he received a basket of fruits from an unknown donor.

"After the mass, pinauwi sa akin ng mother butler. I brought the fruits to my parents' home because it was our regular lunch and my parents' house helper showed it to me. It was inside a bottle of Cheez Wiz. Maybe it's four months old," Santos said in an interview Monday over the Church-run radio station, Radyo Veritas.

Santos said the aborted baby's hand and feet were already formed. He said a rosary was also placed inside the cheese spread bottle, which was hidden in a pile of apple and bananas.

He said his family wasn’t able to continue eating lunch after the shocking discovery. His parents were "very disturbed" and "traumatized" by the experience.

Despite a pending federal investigation, Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring said Monday that a 2003 law may not have been violated by a social worker at Catholic Charities of Richmond (CCR). State law allows for someone "in loco parentis" to stand in place of the grandparent or adult sibling as a substitute for a missing parent, he said. [..]

"It appears as if the young lady was going to have an abortion by some means," he said. "It appears they had to make a decision of trying to counsel against it or stand by and allow the girl to resort to other means, which probably would not have been safe or sanitary.

"I would hate for any prosecution to be colored by all the politics surrounding the issue of abortion," he added. "Those who are pro-life, so to speak, are clamoring for prosecution. Those who are pro-choice insist the actions do not warrant prosecution. This could be a loud debate overshadowing a more important issue, which may have been the girl's health.

"A 16-year-old hell-bent on aborting a fetus is going to do it either way."

KCNewsWatch.com Editor Bob Gough said the Web site will monitor Star coverage of Kline and "set the media straight - the news they get wrong (and) the news they won't print."

Dr Downes, who is married to Greg, an Anglican vicar, refuses to sign abortion forms because of her Christian and pro-life views, she is happy to see patients considering a termination to discuss the options.

'I am carrying on as I have always done - offering women alternatives and helping them to think through the decision they are making,' she said.

'Doctors who say it is a woman's right to have an abortion and tick the box without looking at the other options and implications of having an abortion are not doing the patient any favours.'

In an interview this week with "Relevant," a Christian magazine, Obama said prohibitions on late-term abortions must contain "a strict, well defined exception for the health of the mother."

Obama then added: "Now, I don't think that 'mental distress' qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term."

Sen. Jim Merritt, a Republican, said he plans to introduce a bill that would amend the murder statute to include a preborn baby at any state of development.

"The expectation of a child is a remarkable feeling - to have that stolen from you is just tragic," he told The Associated Press.

County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi also is calling for longer prison sentences.

"This is not a reproductive-rights issue," Brizzi said. "This is protecting unborn children at conception."

In his statement entitled, "Right to a child or right of a child?" Archbishop Descubes said that while "the suffering of couples who cannot have a child should not be ignored," it is necessary to keep in mind that when considering this issue, "three kinds of maternity are mixed together and at the same time separate: that of the person who donates the ovum, that the one who receives it, and that of the one who carries it. This separation creates bonds of 'social intimacy’ until now unknown. It is different from adoption, which is a response to a situation that already exists."

He questioned the idea of a woman making herself an instrument for "carrying" someone else's baby and noted that during pregnancy a woman establishes a strong bond with the child in her womb as she realizes she has become the child's mother. "She is not a nest or an incubator. Numerous unconscious, affective and unique factors link the mother to her child and vice versa," the archbishop said.

He went on to note that modern society "thinks that science can control all suffering and always has the last word... By renting somebody else's womb are we not making the birth of a child the instrument for resolving the problem of sterility in an illusory way?"

The Portland city official in charge of the land deal and construction on Martin Luther King Boulevard and Beech Street says she will need to know the names by August to ensure competence, but for now would just as soon not know so that opponents of the building plan cannot find the contractors.

“I have not asked, because I have many people asking me and some of them take the names of the people involved in the project and make a lot of trouble,” says Sara King, who oversees urban renewal in the district for the Portland Development Commission.

The proposed Planned Parenthood facility angers residents who object to having abortions performed in the neighborhood. Many charge Planned Parenthood with a cynical business plan: locating in an African American area because African American women tend to have a higher abortion rate than other U.S. women.

Many Catholic leaders, including Father Nicolaus Marandu and Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers of Immaculate Heart Parish have said that Planned Parenthood would create a culture of promiscuity that would intensify problems in the neighborhood. Archbishop John Vlazny and Auxiliary Bishop Kenneth Steiner have spoken out against the expansion of Planned Parenthood.

Other factors have increased tension.

The proposed center, where surgical and chemical abortions will be performed, is adjacent to a Muslim house of prayer.

A total of 13,843 abortions were performed in Minnesota in 2007, the state Health Department reported this morning, a 1.57%t decrease over the previous year but a slight rise compared to the two previous years.

In 2006, the state reported 14,065 abortions. The totals were 13,365 in 2005 and 13,788 in 2006.

Twenty-two states have opted out of Title V abstinence-education funding, and Arizona and Iowa plan to decline their share of the $50 million at the start of the fiscal year, The Associated Press reported. Participation in the abstinence program is down 40 percent over two years.

Valerie Huber, president of the National Abstinence Education Association, said the nation's No. 1 abortion provider is to thank.

"This whole effort is being orchestrated by Planned Parenthood, (which has) a national campaign to convince governors to turn back Title V abstinence education funding," she said. "What they're doing is locating liberal governors who’ll say, 'We don't want these funds based on their ideological bent rather than on a message that would be in the best interest of the youth.'"