"Abortion was found to be related to an increased risk for a variety of mental health problems (panic attacks, panic disorder, agoraphobia, PTSD, bipolar disorder, major depression with and without hierarchy), and substance abuse disorders after statistical controls were instituted for a wide range of personal, situational, and demographic variables," they wrote.

"Calculation of population attributable risks indicated that abortion was implicated in between 4.3% and 16.6% of the incidence of these disorders," they concluded.

Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University, led the research team that conducted the study.

Together with Catherine Coyle of Edgewood College, researcher Martha Shuping and psychologist Dr. Vincent Rue, they published their results online today at the Journal of Psychiatric Research, a well-established and respected journal.

The researchers found women who had abortions, compared with those who didn't had a 120% risk for alcohol abuse, with or without dependence, a 145% increased risk of alcohol dependence, 79% increased risk of drug abuse with or without dependence and a 126% increase in the risk of drug dependence.

For mood disorders, the experience of an abortion increased risk of developing bipolar disorder by 167%, major depression without hierarchy by 45% and major depression with hierarchy by 48%.

For anxiety disorders, there was a 111% increased risk for panic disorders, 44% increased risk for panic attacks, 59% increased risk for PTSD, 95% increased risk for agoraphobia with or without panic disorder and a 93% increased risk for agoraphobia without panic disorder.

At the Planned Parenthood of Indiana, 'tis the season of giving health care and contraception. But it's a sentiment that opponents of abortion and artificial birth control say denigrates the holiday season.

The network of 35 clinics across the state announced it is offering holiday vouchers for basic health care services "or the recipient's choice of birth control method."

The organization decided to offer the vouchers because so many people are uninsured or are putting off health care because of prohibitive costs, said Betty Cockrum, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana. Nearly 800,000 Indiana residents don't have health insurance, she said.

Planned Parenthood's annual exams for women, which include Pap tests and breast exams, typically cost $58. The vouchers can be used for the exams, but also for insurance copays and for medication.

Opponents of abortion said Planned Parenthood was making a "mockery" of the holiday season.

"The tragedy is that almost 6,000 fewer children will be celebrating a first Christmas this year because they were aborted in Planned Parenthood's Indiana clinics," said Mike Fichter, president and CEO of Indiana Right to Life.[..]

"They deserve coal in their stocking, not money for lethal gift certificates," said Sister Diane Carollo, director of the Office for Pro-Life Ministry for the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

But Cockrum said the vouchers were about giving basic health care, and potentially lifesaving care.

The vouchers could be applied to the cost of an abortion. "I certainly don't think anyone would consider giving it for that purpose," spokeswoman Kate Shepherd said[..]

Indiana Health Commissioner Dr. Judy Monroe applauded the idea, calling it a "really a meaningful gift."

Four U.S. regions with significant abortion-vulnerable populations recently reported a decrease in abortions in response to the airing of VirtueMedia's educational pro-life ads, partnered with other effective pro-life efforts.

- Abortion rates have dropped nearly 20% in Arizona (2004 vs. 2007). Since 2005, VirtueMedia began to air pro-life television ads year-round, in collaboration with the Diocese of Phoenix.

- Abortion rates decreased 12% in Montgomery County, OH (Dayton) since 2006, when VirtueMedia ads began airing in partnership with Dayton Right to Life.

- Since opening a second office in Georgia and beginning to air crisis pregnancy ads in Atlanta in 2005, abortion rates have declined nearly 10% in metro Atlanta. In just one month, VirtueMedia ads in Atlanta generated 2,646 calls for help from abortion vulnerable women. In contrast, abortion rates have increased in other areas of Georgia, where pro-life TV ads did not air.

- In Charlotte, abortions have declined 15% in the past year, since VirtueMedia commercials began airing in collaboration with North Carolina Right to Life and local churches. Abortions increased in other counties in North Carolina, where VirtueMedia ads did not air.

"The reason we won't back down is simply because of our conviction in the pro-life message, and freedom of speech," said Leah Hallman, president of the University of Calgary Campus Pro-Life. "But the reason why I personally am going ahead with it is because if I do not do this, what will happen to the unborn?"

"Beyond the Dark Valley" was co-produced by The Justice Foundation and Fresh Air Media. Fresh Air Media produced Billy Graham's television programs and, most recently, the Saddleback Church Presidential Debate.

The Justice Foundation seeks to educate viewers concerning the devastating effects of abortion, and to let those viewers who have experienced the pain of abortion know of hope and healing available through the National Helpline for Abortion Recovery. By working in conjunction with the National Helpline, "Beyond the Dark Valley" also offers help for women who are in unplanned pregnancies by referring them to pregnancy care centers in their area.

This program will be airing on the National Religious Broadcaster's Channel on Direct TV, channel 378. "Beyond the Dark Valley" will air on Tuesday, November 25, and the following week on December 2. Air times are 7:30 p.m. Eastern, 6:30 p.m. Central, 5:30 p.m. Mountain and 4:30 p.m. Pacific standard time.

Twelve years after his patient, Sharon Hamptlon of Barstow, bled to death in a car on her way home from A Lady's Choice Women's Medical Center in Moreno Valley, where Dr. Bruce Steir had perforated her uterus during the abortion of a 20-week-old unborn baby, the disgraced doctor remains unrepentant. He says his prosecution for second-degree murder was politically motivated.

"Although my professional life had been filled with exciting and remarkable adventures, my experiences as a doctor terminated as the result of the tragic death of a patient," writes Steir in Jailhouse Journal of an OB/GYN, which he says he wrote while serving 114 days of a 180-day sentence in the Riverside County Jail. "This was followed by the collaboration between the anti-abortion network, the Medical Board of California and the District Attorney's Office in Riverside County. Their combined efforts enabled them to transform a civil lawsuit of malpractice into a criminal case with the charge of homicide."

Figures from a national Down's syndrome register show that the proportion of newborn children with Down's rose by around 15% between 2000 and 2006.[..]

The Down's Syndrome Association, in conjunction with the BBC, conducted a survey of 1,000 of its members to find out why so many were choosing to have Down's children despite the availability of pre-natal screening.

The findings show that while religious or pro-life beliefs counted in about a third of cases, many parents felt that life and society had improved for people affected by Down's.

Others said their decision was influenced by the fact that they knew people with Down's or other disabilities.

Tall, thin and smartly dressed, Lesley was five months away from starting her third year of medical school, when she would finally begin caring for patients and touring the medical specialties in search of the right one for her. Obstetrics and gynecology was Lesley's No. 1 choice, and in theory, it was a perfect fit. It offered her the chance to form relationships with women and teens, to be their counselor and their surgeon, to provide preventive care and family planning. And it coincided with her politics.

She had joined Medical Students for Choice, an abortion education group with chapters on 135 U.S. campuses, as soon as she arrived at Maryland. The nation's abortion doctors were graying, and unless a new generation took their place, the right to abortion might be rendered meaningless. Lesley imagined herself being part of that new generation. But would her support for abortion translate into action?

"I won't know until I'm faced with doing it, but I think I would absolutely be able to provide [abortions]," she said. "It's walk the walk, instead of talk the talk. I want my actions to be consistent with my words." [...]

There isn't anything nice about abortion, Lesley said, but she does not equate it with murder. "I think it's a necessary evil, no, unpleasant service, we have to provide for the sake of" women's lives and health. But she wouldn't call herself passionate or driven to provide abortions. "I don't have a gut drive. It's more like an intellectual drive {lcub}hellip{rcub} A woman's control over her body is representative of her freedom. I feel the obligation to make sure that service is available and not stigmatized."

Anne Arthur, a grief counselor, told the parliament she has never fully recovered from having bullied her daughter into killing her unborn child. "I drove my daughter to the abortion clinic like a lamb to the slaughterhouse, against her will," Arthur told her audience.

"I pressed my views on her and convinced her that she would be unable to care for the child while studying and an abortion would be the best thing to do, offering her no other solution or help ... While my 12-week-old grand-daughter was ripped apart from my daughter's womb, I knew with brutal clarity that I had made the greatest mistake of my life," said Arthur.

"We're saddened to learn Gonzaga University, a Catholic school, has refused to accept 'We Know Better Now,' our pro-life advertising supplement for 'The Gonzaga Bulletin,'" said Joe Langfeld, Deputy Director for Human Life Alliance. "As a non-profit organization dedicated to educating students on the humanity of the pre-born child and gruesome realities of abortion we use college newspapers to reach 19-24 year-olds who are the number one age group of abortion participants."

When asked to run the advertising supplement, officials from "The Gonzaga Bulletin" rejected the inserts stating, "There are articles in the insertion that cast a negative light on various organizations or individuals. While these statements may be true, we simply cannot insert them in our paper per our advertising policies."

The U of C is again attempting to censor student members of the campus pro-life club by threatening them with arrest and sanctions for non-academic misconduct (including the possibility of suspension and expulsion) if they do not comply with an order to turn Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) displays inward. GAP is a graphic exhibit which includes photographs of unborn babies who have been aborted.

U of C lawyer Paul Beke addressed a letter to pro-life club members which said, "The university has the right to control what people do on its private property," and stated that the university wants the display set up so "passersby could avoid the displays if they were to wish."

University officials have also told the Calgary Police that the GAP display poses a threat of violence.

An editorial in the Calgary Herald yesterday, however, said that "the only violence here is that being done to the principles of free speech."

.. last month, Sarasota County in Florida dropped the annual $25,000 it had allocated to Planned Parenthood of Southwest & Central Florida for the last 10 years.

With the economy stumbling and tax revenues falling, Commissioner Paul Mercier said the county needs to focus on groups that truly need help.

"It's not political," Mercier told the Herald Tribune. "They don't need the money."

The Family Research Council, represented by the Alliance Defense Fund pro-life law firm, filed papers supporting the ban with the court.

In September, the court granted FRC permission to come to the aid of Ireland officials as they defend their laws prohibiting abortions.

The European Court of Human Rights will hold a hearing likely in early 2009 on a case involving three women who traveled to Britain to obtain abortions.

With the election of Barack Obama, we now have a face to put on the abortion plague and a link to the leader of the abortion industry, Planned Parenthood. Despite our efforts, in reality, the time to make this connection was clouded by the notoriety of the first black president and a failing economy. The result is: people still don't know who Barack Obama is and many are now looking deeper into the president elect's life and associations. The truth is: knowing his defeat would only minimize this exposure to America, God has now set it up for a global impact of astronomical proportions.

After earning several honors and awards during an extensive career in the U.S. Navy, retired Rear Admiral Al Kelln can soon add a new accomplishment to his list: opening a pregnancy counseling center.

To many, it seemed an unusual choice for the man who has worked in several positions in Naval headquarters, founded the Naval Submarine League and provided his submarine and intelligence expertise to Washington, D.C., clients.

"I really don't like anyone telling me 'no' or 'it can't be done,'" he said. "There isn't anything that can't be done if you pray and believe."

Rev. Joseph F. Martino, bishop of the diocese of Scranton, Pa., the city lifelong Catholic Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) claims as his hometown and the place that inspired his values, has condemned the vice president-elect for his pro-abortion position.

"I cannot have a vice president-elect coming to Scranton to say he's learned his values there when those values are utterly against the teachings of the Catholic Church," Martino said at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore this week.[..]

"I will not tolerate any politician who claims to be a faithful Catholic who is not genuinely pro-life," Martino said. "No Catholic politician who supports the culture of death should approach Holy Communion. I will be truly vigilant on this point."

"Father Newman's statements do not adequately reflect the Catholic Church's teachings. Any comments or statements to the contrary are repudiated," said Msgr. Martin Laughlin, administrator of the Charleston Diocese, which is currently without a bishop.

Catholic dioceses in the U.S. have issued various rulings on whether Catholics who support abortion can receive communion.

"The Church hasn't said as a body what this individual priest has said, namely that anybody who has voted for Barack Obama shouldn't go to communion," said Father Jonathan Morris, a Catholic priest and FOX News contributor.

"If anybody voted for Barack Obama because he is pro-abortion, that would certainly be an objective moral wrong," he said. "There are a lot of discretionary areas in politics on which two good Catholics could differ, but the respect for life is not one of these."

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.

"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."

Two pro-life volunteers participating in a round the clock prayer vigil were sickened last week, after being exposed to fumes from an oily substance that had been spilled across the driveway at George Tiller’s late-term abortion clinic, Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita.

One of the pro-lifers, Jennifer McCoy, was treated for four hours at a local hospital emergency room suffering from vomiting, diarrhea, and swelling of the face and eyes. Another woman, Brandi Lozier, was with McCoy praying outside the abortion clinic in the early morning hours of Sunday, November 2, 2008, as part of the 40 Days For Life event. She suffered similar symptoms, but was not hospitalized.

After numerous tests, doctors told McCoy that her symptoms were the result of exposure to a foreign substance, and were not related to any viral or bacterial infection.

Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the bishops' Committee on Divine Worship, introduced the document Nov. 10, the first day of the USCCB fall general assembly in Baltimore.

He said the blessing, which had been approved both by his committee and by the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, "was prepared to support the parents awaiting the birth of their child, to encourage in the parish prayers for and recognition of the precious gift of the child in the womb, and to foster respect for human life within society."[..]

The blessing includes intercessions "for our government and civic leaders that they may perform their duties with justice and compassion while respecting the gift of human life" and "for a safe and healthy pregnancy for all expectant mothers and for a safe delivery for their children."

The Spanish daily 'La Razon' has published an article on the pro-life conversion of a former "champion of abortion." Stojan Adasevic, who performed 48,000 abortions, sometimes up to 35 per day, is now the most important pro-life leader in Serbia, after 26 years as the most renowned abortion doctor in the country.

"The medical textbooks of the Communist regime said abortion was simply the removal of a blob of tissue," the newspaper reported. "Ultrasounds allowing the fetus to be seen did not arrive until the 80s, but they did not change his opinion. Nevertheless, he began to have nightmares."

In describing his conversion, Adasevic "dreamed about a beautiful field full of children and young people who were playing and laughing, from 4 to 24 years of age, but who ran away from him in fear. A man dressed in a black and white habit stared at him in silence. The dream was repeated each night and he would wake up in a cold sweat. One night he asked the man in black and white who he was. 'My name is Thomas Aquinas,' the man in his dream responded. Adasevic, educated in communist schools, had never heard of the Dominican genius saint. He didn't recognize the name"

"Why don't you ask me who these children are?" St. Thomas asked Adasevic in his dream.

"They are the ones you killed with your abortions," St. Thomas told him.

"Adasevic awoke in amazement and decided not to perform any more abortions," the article stated.

As she drove with her brother to get an abortion on Holy Saturday, Jaden's mother asked God to send her a sign if she should not go through with it. When she saw the prayer group and spoke with those at the driveway, she knew that this was her intervention. She is so grateful to all who were there.

"Once again, Planned Parenthood and the mainstream media have combined to defeat a common sense proposal to enable parents to protect their daughters," the statement said.

"Their victory did not come easily or cheaply. The opposition outspent us over 11 to 1," the statement added, claiming opponents had spent more than $8 million on "deceptive ads and other campaign tactics."

The Yes on 4 campaign named as its opponents Planned Parenthood, the California Nurses Association, the California Medical Association, the National Organization of Women, the ACLU, and the California Democratic Party.

The text passed the Senate with 17 of 30 votes, and will be forwarded to the president for his signature or veto in the coming hours, according to a leading senator and physician, Monica Xavier.

Approved last week by the lower House of Deputies, the bill would allow a woman to "decide to end her pregnancy in the first 12 weeks of gestation," because of economic, family or age hardship.

In addition, abortion would be legal for health, deformation or risk to the mother's life.

Xavier called the move a "milestone" and a "big step forward" for women in Uruguay, where every form of abortion has been illegal for 70 years.

The Roman Catholic church voiced "deep discomfort" with the bill and said anyone who participated directly in stopping a pregnancy would be excommunicated.

"It is news to regret, and for that all we can hope for is for President Vazquez to do what he said he would," Luis del Castillo, secretary the Bishops' Conference in Uruguay, told AFP.

The president, also a doctor by profession, has said he will veto the measure, which would require a three-fifths majority in Congress to override.

Alveda King told LifeNews.com on Tuesday that the civil rights struggle for unborn children continues and noted that abortion adversely affects the black community.

"The election of an African American president sends a powerful and historic message that what was previously unthinkable can become reality," King said.

"The battle for equal rights has reached a major milestone, but Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream of full equality remains just a dream as long as unborn children continue to be treated no better than property," she added

The identical bills, one submitted to the Texas House, as HB 36, and one to the Senate, as SB 182, were introduced by Rep. Frank Corte Jr., R-San Antonio, and Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, respectively. They outline the changes in procedures doctors would have to go through when a woman opts to abort her child.

Most significantly, the bills would force doctors to perform an ultrasound on the woman and display the image of her fetus to her, explaining the size of the embryo or fetus and outlining the presence of any internal organs. The doctor would also have to play the fetus’s heartbeat for the woman.

Before the abortion, a doctor would have to provide the woman written documents that outlined alternatives to an abortion, including information about places to get free ultrasounds, information on child support payments and a list of adoption agencies. The bill specifically says the information cannot include any agencies that provide abortion services.

One woman shared: "I would like to thank you for listening to my story. I thought and at times felt like I was the only one who was going through this." Another wrote, "I'm 24, confused and alone... I felt like I was the only one suffering until I found this website on the train."

Another woman remarked: "I don't feel like what I did was wrong... but it wasn't always like this." She carried her secret for two years and didn't seek help. She experienced depression and difficulty in school until she told friends about her abortion. "They were going to be my support group... I finally felt like I could get over the abortion and move on with my life," she writes.

Family members shared experiences as well. One person shared the loss of two siblings because of abortion: "It hurt me deeply to know that I had a brother and/or sister who was taken from me... My mother spent many years grieving and healing."

"There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we'll see the president do that," John Podesta, head of Obama's transition team, said when he appeared on "Fox News Sunday."

One of those executive orders is the Mexico City Policy, or as critics call it, the "global gag act", a U.S. policy first put into place at an August 1984 Conference on Population in Mexico City by President Ronald Reagan.

The Reagan policy required all non-governmental agencies, or NGOs, that received population aid dollars from the United States to agree to not perform or actively promote abortions.[..]

Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, told CNSNews.com that Obama has backed the pro-abortion agenda throughout his political career.

"And when he's in the oval office he will nullify (the Mexico City Policy), and the result will be hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars going to organizations in developing countries that promote abortion," Johnson said.

Parents say the Northside Women's Clinic violated state parental notification laws and gave their 16-year-old daughter an abortion without their knowledge or permission.

The girl's parents claim the clinic circumvented the law by a misleading statement on its Web site, and performed the abortion with a parent notification note from the boyfriend's mother.

According to the complaint in Fulton County Superior Court, the boyfriend's mom saw on the clinic Web site the statement: "unmarried patients under the age of 18 are required by Georgia State law to have a parent notification note on the day of surgery."

The boyfriend's mom wrote the note and took the girl to the clinic for the abortion, the complaint states.

But the girl's parents say that Georgia law requires a parent or guardian to be notified 24 hours before the abortion. They say they did not know about the abortion until after it was performed, and did not even know their daughter was pregnant.

The dispute involves Motl Brody of Brooklyn, who was diagnosed with a severe form of brain cancer. The boy has been under the care of the Northwest Washington hospital for about six months. His tumor grew progressively worse, and doctors there pronounced him dead Tuesday night after tests showed no signs of brain activity.

His parents, Eluzer and Miriam Brody, are trying to prevent the hospital from taking him off life support because they say their faith does not define death as cessation of brain function alone. The parents, Orthodox Jews, have retained a lawyer who says that the boy's circulatory and respiratory systems are functioning, although with mechanical and other assistance.

"Under Jewish law and their faith, there is no such thing as brain death," said the parents' attorney, Jeffrey Zuckerman. "Their religious beliefs are entitled to respect."

The hospital has taken the dispute to D.C. Superior Court. In filings, the hospital extended its sympathy to the family but said the boy should no longer be on its equipment, saying that "scarce resources are being used for the preservation of a deceased body."

Under D.C. law, doctors can declare patients dead if there is no brain activity. The hospital wants a court order, over the parents' objections, that affirms its plan to disconnect the boy from a ventilator and to discontinue intravenous medications that keep his heart beating.

But Zuckerman says that doing so would infringe upon religious freedom.

Chicago Cardinal Francis George said "we must all rejoice" that an African-American will be in the White House for the first time in a country that "once enshrined slavery" in law.

But he said the nation still violates what he called universal human rights by keeping abortion legal. "The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice," George said.

In his speech, George did not directly address the policies of President-elect Obama, who is Protestant, and Vice President-elect Biden, who is Roman Catholic. Both men support abortion rights and take other stands that differ from Catholic teaching.

However, in a later news conference, George, the conference president, said bishops' are preparing to lobby the Obama administration on any policies that diverge from Catholic teaching on marriage, abortion and other issues.

On Sunday, transition advisors to the President-elect have revealed a potential list of executive orders that Mr. Obama would reverse once he became President.

They include reversing a provision barring international organizations that receive American aid from counseling about the availability of abortions and reversing President Bush's ban of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.

• The August 6th video SFLA produced exposing Planned Parenthood's "Take Care Down There" website showing their explicit oral sex video and proving that the Oregon Planned Parenthood responsible for the website was government funded.

• The October 8th video SFLA produced exposing the Charlotte, North Carolina Planned Parenthood covering up statutory rape.

• Graphic sexual activity:
• Nudity
• Suggestive, but without nudity
• Shocking or disgusting content
• Promotes hatred or violence against a protected group
• Harmful dangerous acts

The legislation backed by city hall members allows an abortion only when the pregnancy presents a risk to the woman’s health or in cases of rape.

Article 1 to the state constitution was widely discussed at the state assembly on Oct. 21 where the majority vote came from the right-wing ruling party, PAN (National Action Party) and PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) and was passed in opposition to assemblymen from the leftist party, who argued that pregnant women are discriminated against, don’t have knowledge or access to contraceptive services and should have the right to choose.

During the city hall meeting, Karina Castillo Yanez, city attorney, presented a petition to have the city hall establish their opposition to the legalization of abortion seeking to ensure that the state of Sonora does not legalize abortion, as has been the case in states headed by the left-leaning party.

In order to enforce this reform, it requires a yes vote from the majority of the city governments, at least 37 of the 72 cities in Sonora.

Bridget has a secret shared by tens of thousands of women in Northern Ireland: She traveled to England for an abortion that would be illegal here.

"I couldn't tell my parents. I couldn't risk telling my co-workers. I told them all I was going to a friend's wedding. I had to act all happy-clappy when I came home," said Bridget, 25, sipping a cup of tea as she recalled her lonely trip four years ago to a Liverpool clinic.

Bridget works in a central Belfast bank. She spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because, if her secret came out, she would expect hostility from her Roman Catholic family and religiously strict workmates, Protestant and Catholic alike.

"I wish I could talk about it to my mother. I'd tell my sister — but she'd only tell Ma," she said with a sad laugh and a shake of her head. "Abortion has to be this dirty wee secret you carry inside you. You get on a plane or a boat, and live a lie."

• Voted to oppose Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that allows abortion for any reason.
• "I have stated time after time after time that Roe v. Wade was a bad decision, that I support... the rights of the unborn. I have fought for human rights and human dignity throughout my entire political career. To me it is an issue of human rights and human dignity."

• Co-sponsor of the "Freedom of Choice Act," (S.1173) which would make partial-birth abortion legal again, require taxpayer funding of abortion, and invalidate virtually all state and federal limitations on abortion, such as parental notification laws.
• "I have consistently advocated for reproductive choice and will make preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as President."

• Voted for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

• Did not vote for the Illinois Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act when it came before the Illinois State Senate.

• Voted for legislation that provides care and protection for babies who are born alive after an abortion.

• Voted four times against legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would have provided care and protection for babies who are born alive after an abortion.

• Voted in favor of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding of abortion through Medicaid.
• Voted consistently against federal funding of abortion.

• Voted against legislation in the Illinois State Senate that prohibited taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for abortion.
• His campaign has stated that he "does not support" the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding of abortion through Medicaid.

• Voted to support a bill that would have required an abortionist to notify at least one parent before performing an abortion on a minor girl from another state.

• Voted to block a bill that would have required an abortionist to notify at least one parent before performing an abortion on a minor girl from another state.

• Opposes abortion and believes unborn children should be protected. As Governor of Alaska, supported pro-life legislation.
• "...I am pro-life and have never wavered in my belief in the sanctity of every human life."

• Voted to endorse Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that allows abortion for any reason.
• "I strongly support Roe v. Wade....That's why I led the fight to defeat Bork. Thank God he is not in the Court or Roe v. Wade would be gone by now."