Dionne Scott with the Center for Reproductive Rights says Oklahoma County District Judge Twyla Mason Gray on Thursday denied a motion by the state of Oklahoma to set aside the restraining order, which she issued on Oct. 21.

The law, set to go into effect on Sunday, would have required doctors to report personal information about women who have abortions to the state Health Department and post the information on a public Web site.

The center and two Oklahomans filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction, alleging the law violates a constitutional requirement that legislative measures deal only with one subject.

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) "has been working very hard to get commitments, and we have been working with him to get commitments from pro-life Democrats that will oppose the rule if he is not allowed to offer his amendment or his language is not included," Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America, told CNSNews.com.

"So at last count, we have ... commitments from about 43 members who said they would support Stupak and basically bring down the health care bill unless his amendment is offered," Day said.

She said Stupak's amendment would "apply to the Hyde language to health care, which is consistent with long-standing public policy for over 30 years that no federal funding was used for abortion."

Children of God for Life announced today that Neocutis, a bio-pharmaceutical company focused on dermatology and skin care, is using aborted fetal cell lines to produce several of their anti-aging skin creams.

For years Children of God for Life has been a watchdog on pharmaceutical companies using aborted fetal cell lines in medical products and they have received thousands of inquiries from the public on the use of aborted fetal material in cosmetics.

However, the group says that this is the first time they have encountered any company bold enough to put the information right on their own website and product literature.

"It is absolutely deplorable that Neocutis would resort to exploiting the remains of a deliberately slaughtered baby for nothing other than pure vanity and financial gain," stated Executive Director Debi Vinnedge. "There is simply no moral justification for this."

The Secretary shall award a grant to a nationally recognized, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that meets the requirements described in clause (ii) to establish and operate a national teen pregnancy prevention resource center (in this subparagraph referred to as the 'Resource Center') to carry out the purpose and activities described in clause (iii). (emphasis added)

The organization has demonstrated experience working with and providing assistance to a broad range of individuals and entities to reduce teen pregnancy. The organization is research-based and has comprehensive knowledge and data about teen pregnancy prevention strategies.

Rep. Frank J. Corte, Jr., R-San Antonio, has formally requested a ruling from the Texas Attorney General, suggesting that clinics that hand out abortion pills should be as tightly regulated as any abortion clinic in Texas.

In his letter to the Attorney General, Representative Corte calls the Texas Department of State Health Services to task for stating that clinics that hand out the abortion pills do not necessarily fall under the tougher guidelines of a full-fledged abortion clinic.

Local pro-life activists say that they recognized the escort at the ACU Health Center as Sr. Donna Quinn, a nun outspokenly in favor of legalized abortion, after seeing her photo in a Chicago Tribune article.

"I've called her sister several times, and she never responded," local pro-lifer John Bray told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN). "But it's her."

Amy Keane, a pro-life witness for 11 years, says Quinn has acted as escort for "six years, at least." Keane described one incident in which Quinn began shouting at the pro-lifers as they spoke to a woman about to enter the abortion facility.

"[Quinn] was so angry, and burst out very loudly so everyone could hear: 'Look at these men, telling these women what to do with their bodies!'" said Keane. "She was so angry, that it really took all of us aback." Keane says that the group was peaceful, and that the men present were not among those engaging the woman.

"For those of us who are Catholic, to have a member of a religious order so blatantly - it is so disheartening. It really is," said Keane. "She's participating actively in abortion. That is what is so disturbing for us."

A new report from researchers in Portugal and at Wayne State University documents use of adult stem cells to treat spinal-cord injury patients, none of whom had use of their legs prior to treatment. Dr. David Prentice with Family Research Council summarizes the positive results from the treatments.

"Out of the 20 patients that they treated, 13 of those patients showed significant improvement -- things like being able to walk with the aid of braces or using a walker with no braces, [and] recovering feeling, different sensation, and movement below the old injury sight," he shares.

Prentice believes that with additional treatment there could be even more improvement. The patients who were treated suffered the spinal-cord injuries 18 months to 15 years ago.

Abortion killed at least 203,991 blacks in the 36 states and two cities (New York City and the District of Columbia) that reported abortions by race in 2005, according to the CDC. During that same year, according to the CDC, a total of 198,385 blacks nationwide died from heart disease, cancer, strokes, accidents, diabetes, homicide, and chronic lower respiratory diseases combined. These were the seven leading causes of death for black Americans that year.

A total of 49 jurisdictions reported their abortion numbers for 2005 to the CDC. These included all 50 states--except California, Louisiana, and New Hampshire--and New York City and the District of Columbia. Of these 49 jurisdiction, only 36 states plus New York City and the District of Columbia reported the number of abortions by race.

Of these 36 states, Georgia reported the largest number of abortions--18,325--among African Americans. Idaho and Montana reported the fewest, 16 and 17 respectively.

Among the large states not reporting abortions by race--and thus where the number of blacks killed by abortions is not included in the national total of 203,991--are California, Florida, Illinois and the rest of New York state outside of New York City.

According to the CDC, the total of 203,991 blacks killed by abortion in 2005 also does not include those aborted by "private physicians' procedures."

An expert from the Regional Cancer Center (Erie, Pennsylvania), Dr. Carmen Ligia-Pisc, is either lying or uninformed about 53 years of research supporting an abortion-breast cancer (ABC) link, says the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer. The group challenged her to a debate.

Ligia-Pisc told Jeremy Beecher from WJET that childbearing reduces breast cancer risk, but then contradicted herself by concluding, "...there is no correlation between the abortion and the risk of breast cancer."

"If childbearing reduces risk, then the woman who has a baby has a lower risk than the one who has an abortion," said Karen Malec, president of the Coalition. "Even an expert witness for the abortion industry admitted that during testimony in a Florida lawsuit in 1999.

"A Turkish study in 2009 said most studies report risk increases for women who have abortions. [3] Most have only compared the risk of having an abortion with the risk of not having had that pregnancy, instead of comparing the effect of having an abortion with the effect of having a full term pregnancy. By only considering the former (the independent link between abortion and breast cancer) and by not counting the latter - the risk-reducing effect of childbearing - it's easier for researchers to underestimate the risk and conceal the link from women."

"We challenge Ligia-Pisc to a debate. We've challenged five others, including Susan G. Komen for the Cure, but they've all ducked our call for a normal scientific debate.

Several organizations in America are upset that part of the donations going to Susan G. Komen for the Cure goes to Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest aborton-provider. Marie Hahnenberg with American Life League offers more information.

"Susan G. Komen affiliates donated $711,485 to Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country during April '05 to March 2006," she points out. "And the very fact that Susan G. Komen would give money to Planned Parenthood does not make any sense since Planned Parenthood is not only the largest abortion chain in America, but the connection between breast cancer and abortion is very clear."

Studies have shown the connection between breast cancer and abortion, especially with a first-time pregnancy. And while Komen has stated the money it donates is not for abortion services, Hahnenberg says it does pay for other services -- ultimately freeing up the money for abortion.

It makes little to no sense for Komen "to give money to an organization that exploits children, that exploits women, and covers up rape." Hahnenberg concludes that "Planned Parenthood does not help women."

One of the proposals would prohibit state and local governments from providing funds to medical facilities for some research and services, including abortion and certain types of stem-cell research.

The other would define the term "person" to include all human beings from the beginning of biological development and grant such persons constitutional rights. Advocates and opponents of the initiative say the change would ban abortion.

Both initiatives would change the state constitution. To get them on the ballot for a statewide popular vote, supporters must gather signatures from at least 8 percent of voters in six of the nine Congressional districts — about 150,000 signatures.

A coalition of pro-life groups, accompanied by several House Republicans outside the U.S. Capitol, delivered a petition signed by 137,000 Americans Wednesday voicing disapproval with current health care reform legislation.

The petitions sent a strong message that "the American people cherish the sanctity of life… the American people don't want federal money used to violate their morals," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind.

Pro-life groups argue the current health care legislation grinding its way through Congress will allow taxpayer dollars to be used to fund abortions. Specifically, they point to a provision in the House Energy and Commerce Committee bill that provides government subsidies to pay for premiums for private insurance policies that include elective abortion coverage. This subsidy, which is supposed to help with insurance costs, will have the unintended consequence of funding abortions, they say.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., says that is unacceptable.

"It's not health care and it should be excluded from the bill," he said.

Reps. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., and Bart Stupak, D-Pa., are trying to get Congress to attach an amendment to the current health care legislation that would prohibit public funding for abortion procedures.

Information released Tuesday accuses Royce Mitchell, 36, of taking his adopted sister, Tiffany, to a Charlotte abortion center.

The incident occurred in July and the documents say Wright was refused an abortion because her pregnancy was too far along at the time.

The police information also indicates Mitchell wanted to take Wright to an abortion center in Atlanta that does abortions later in pregnancy, but she refused to go.

Police say Mitchell is a person of interest in the shooting but they have not charged him yet with any crime.

Members of Arizona State University's Students for Life group were at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today defending their right to express their views on campus.

In 2005, the group requested permission to display pro-life materials in several speech zones, but officials said they could only have one. The administration relented after receiving a letter from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). Then the school insisted the club purchase liability insurance, despite the fact there was no written policy forcing them to do so. ADF filed a lawsuit shortly after.

Heather Gebelin Hacker, litigation staff counsel for ADF, said pro-life students should not have a price tag placed on expression of their beliefs.

"It is unconstitutional to require any student group to 'purchase' their First Amendment right to free speech by requiring them to buy an insurance policy," she said. "We need a bright-line rule from the court on whether or not these policies are legal, because it does have implications for students at all universities."

Opinion Research Corporation surveyed 1,038 adult Americans for CNN on October 16-18.

The poll found 56 percent disapprove of Obama getting the award while just 42 percent say they think he should have received it.

Asked if "Obama has accomplished enough so far to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize," a large 67 percent of Americans say they don't think so compared with just 32 percent agree.

Yet, regardless of whether Obama should have received it or merited the prestigious award, some 70 percent of Americans said they're proud that an American president won it.

There are many opportunities to be a voice for the voiceless, and most of those opportunities require us to go to a public place. But, on the eve of All Saints Day, the public comes to us!

So, make a pro-life jack-o-lantern and send your photos to us. Be sure to include your name, age and address in the e-mail, and we'll post the best ones on our home page!

It doesn't have to be anything fancy. It could be as intricate as the design here or as simple as the word "Pro-Life." Whatever your skill level, be creative and tell the world about the personhood of preborn babies!

Victor Fierro, director of Latinos4Life, was outside the Planned Parenthood Mar Monte affiliate in Fresno, California when a woman passed by and shouted obscenities at him. She also called him a "fascist" who "hates women's rights."

According to audio of the off-camera incident posted on YouTube, one man chuckled in reply, saying "Thank you very much and God bless you."

Soon after, the woman returned. She cut Fierro's arm with an unknown object, drawing blood, before returning to her car and fleeing the scene. The attacker's face and license plate were captured on camera.

Asked by someone if these attacks happened often, a man replied, "That's the first time this year."

A police report was filed concerning the incident.

The student at Crossroads Middle School, in Lewisberry, was told Sept. 8 to turn his T-shirt inside out because it was a distraction. The white T-shirt had "abortion is not health care" written on it with what appears to be a black marker.

The child's father, William Boyer, of Fairview Township, filed a lawsuit in federal court Oct. 5, saying the T-shirt should be allowed because it's an issue of free speech. The Harrisburg-based Independence Law Center and Alliance Defense Fund, Christian law group, are representing Boyer and his son.

Today, the school district and lawyers for the child, who is identified only as E.B. in the lawsuit, agreed to a temporary compromise while the sides work out a settlement.

The agreement allows the child to wear his shirt to school. He can also wear other religious or anti-abortion shirts, so long as they don't create a distraction, according to the settlement. The school still has the right to limit clothing that interferes with the school day.

Lawyers for the father and son called the temporary agreement a "victory."

The pro-life lawmakers who led the fight to stop the massive abortion funding in the Senate health care bills during committee consideration plan to reintroduce their amendments on the Senate floor. Members of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee rejected the pro-life amendments during the consideration of the Baucus and Kennedy health care bills. The amendments were defeated on largely partisan votes with most Democrats voting against them and most Republicans voting for them. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who is a member of both committees and saw his amendments go down in defeat, says he is bringing both of them back on the Senate floor. The first amendment would make sure that no taxpayer funds from the health care premiums Americans send to the federal government could be used to pay for abortions and the second would prohibit federal or state governments or health plans that receive federal subsidies "from discriminating against physicians or health facilities that do not offer abortion services." The first measure ensures the health care bill does not include taxpayer-financed abortion while the second provides conscience protections for medical professionals who do not want to be pressured to do abortions or make referrals for them. Sen. Jon Kyl, a pro-life Arizona Republican,is also expected to reintroduce his amendments to ensure that the final legislation does not include rationing.

The law, set to go into effect Nov. 3, requires physicians to notify the parent of a girl younger than 18 before performing an abortion. A provision of the law allows girls to bypass parental notification by going before a judge, who would then have 48 hours to rule on the petition.

Moreover, no notice is required in case of a medical emergency or if the girl declares in writing that she is a victim of sexual abuse.

On Nov. 2, a Circuit Court judge is set to conduct a hearing on a temporary restraining order, said Lorie Chaiten of the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, the Hope Clinic for Women Ltd. and Dr. Allison Cowett, director of the University of Illinois at Chicago's Center for Reproductive Health.

In the complaint, the plaintiffs argue that the notification law would harm minors by preventing them from obtaining safe abortions or force them to carry their pregnancies to term.

"Others will be beaten or thrown out of their homes when their parents learn of their pregnancy and planned abortion," plaintiffs write in the complaint, referring to pregnant minors.

In the event the lawsuit isn't successful, the ACLU is training lawyers and guardians to shepherd the girls through the judicial bypass.

The results of this week's Ipsos-Apoyo poll of 1,000 people showed a majority of Peruvians siding with the Roman Catholic Church in its strong condemnation of the abortion bill Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani has dubbed a 'death penalty' the innocent.

The survey found 53 percent against the bill's provision allowing abortions in cases of rape, and 48 percent against the fetal deformity clause - those in favor of the measures polled 41 percent and 46 percent respectively.

The bill was approved last week in committee, making it ready for its full debate in Congress.

By a 58-to-38 percent margin, Peruvians supported the current 1924 abortion law that allows the termination of pregnancy only to save the life of the expectant mother, said the poll published in the El Comercio daily.

Sec. 28. (1) Every human person has a right to life, which is the paramount and most fundamental right guaranteed under the constitution and laws of this state.

(2) With respect to the fundamental and inalienable right to life, the word "person" applies to all human beings, irrespective of age, race, gender, health, function, condition of dependency, including physical or mental dependency, or method of reproduction, from the beginning of their biological development, including fertilization

Lisa Harris is an abortion practitioner and a assistant professor at the University of Michigan.

In a blog post titled "Second Trimester Abortion Provision: Breaking the Silence and Changing the Discourse," Harris reveals a terrible hypocrisy that pro-life advocates are calling a "cognitive dissonance."

"There was a leg and foot in my forceps, and a 'thump, thump' in my abdomen. Instantly, tears were streaming from my eyes," Harris notes of doing an abortion while pregnant.

She calls the experience of doing an abortion on an unborn child at 18 week gestation a "brutally visceral" experience given she is 18 weeks pregnant herself.

"Abortion is different from other surgical procedures," Harris admits, calling it "violent."

"Even when the fetus has no legal status, its moral status is reasonably the subject of much disagreement. It is disingenuous to argue that removing a fetus from a uterus is no different from removing a fibroid," she says.

She explains how she was "more interested than usual in seeing the fetal parts when I was done, since they would so closely resemble those of my own fetus."

"I went about doing the procedure as usual," she says in the blog post. "I used electrical suction to remove the amniotic fluid, picked up my forceps and began to remove the fetus in parts, as I always did. I felt lucky that this one was already in the breech position - it would make grasping small parts (legs and arms) a little easier."

Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Tarazona, Spain voiced his support this week for the October 17 March for Life in Madrid and warned that with the legalization of abortion, "a true ecological disaster" has been unleashed in Europe and will turn it into "a continent of death."

"This is a true ecological disaster, which affects the unborn child, the mother who has conceived him, the different people involved in the issue (the baby's father, the grandparents, health care workers, etc.) and all of society that will suffer from the negative impact of this ecological disaster," the bishop said in a pastoral letter.

He pointed out that since the legalization of abortion, "some 50 million children were not born, who would today be 50 million young people," which Europe needs desperately as the population "is prematurely aging and is dying of sadness and despair."

The legislative move stems from outrage that the teenage girl, whose identity is being withheld because of her age, was released from jail. She was seven months pregnant at the time of the attack.

The furor erupted after Judge Larry Steele ruled that while the teen's actions were "shocking and crude," they fit the state's definition for an abortion and, therefore, she "cannot be held criminally liable for her actions."

The Utah abortion statute says it is a crime to perform an abortion on a woman who is more than 20 weeks pregnant, but ensures that there would be no criminal penalties for a woman seeking an abortion.

The statute also defines an abortion as "any and all procedures" taken to kill a "live unborn child," and doesn't specify that it has to be done by a medical professional to qualify as an abortion under the law.

Some conservative state representatives argue that Steele misread the statute and that any woman who tries to perform an abortion without the help of a medical professional, much like this teen allegedly did, should be eligible for murder charges.

"The law says a woman can't be prosecuted for having an abortion, but I wouldn't declare this an attempted abortion. She tried to kill the unborn baby and to me, that is outright attempted murder," said State Rep. Paul Ray.

The National Pro-Life Religious Council (NPRC) has named Tony Perkins to receive the group's annual Pro-Life Recognition Award. The honor is reserved for leaders who make significant differences in the effort to restore protection to unborn children. Perkins is president of Family Research Council.

Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, president of NPRC, offers high praise for the former Louisiana state lawmaker. "Tony has an incredible record of uniting Christians of all denominations in legislative efforts that protect the rights of unborn children," states Pavone. "We are particularly grateful for the pioneering way he has inspired and empowered pastors to join in this cause."

The honor will be presented to Perkins at the annual National Memorial for the Preborn in Washington, DC, on January 22, 2010, the anniversary of the historic Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion in America.

I can imagine a nation where every woman has the right to choose, where kids aren't brainwashed with sweets about human sexuality, and where cupcakes don't fall into the wrong hands.

Cupcake girls like me, local cupcake event mastermind Ariel Waldman (organizer of worldwide phenomenon Cupcake Camp), and fellow sex writer Rachel Kramer Bussel (seen in the NYT for her insanely popular cupcake blog), we've got a big problem with this, see? We're sex-positive, all-inclusive and pro-choice. And if someone's not careful, they're gonna end up in a set of cement cupcake liners at the bottom of the Bay, if you know what I mean.

Waldman, who spends her cupcake energy bringing people together using the BarCamp model, has a bit more rational reaction than mine -- but she's no less offended by an organization battering up kids to fight against a woman's right to choose. She tells me, "I clicked on 'Need Cupcake Ideas?' and not only is the first picture of a cupcake with the words 'Thou Shall Not Murder' on it, but they say 'Ideas for high school kids: Bring the cupcakes to your homeroom or to your lunch table and hand them out. Then explain that for every two people in the room there is one person who was not allowed to have a birthday.'"

Despite what people may not want to admit, cupcakes seem to be yet again about sex. When I was first interviewed on Bussel's cupcake blog, I explained why they're so adorably sexy, make a perfect date treat and can be a powerful aphrodisiac. Pretty much the opposite of what CFL wants to bake and serve. There's just no way a hot little cake that melts in your mouth and is like foreplay to bake, is going to act as an anaphrodisiac, nor anything like a contraceptive. And a cupcake with "Abortion kills" written on it in red frosting, hot out of the oven (seen on CFL's Web site) might only work as a contraceptive -- if you hold it between your knees.[..]

Ariel Waldman concurs, saying, "Cupcakes are something you give to cheer someone up after an abortion. Cupcakes are a wonderful symbol for positive focus and I think part of being positive is about affirmation of diversity, not exclusion. It is so disturbing that they are wanting to use youth to promote negativity and recruit others; this is why Cupcakes For Life is abusing cupcakes as a symbol. They're using cupcakes with a dumbed down line of argument that is so negative. So, instead of using cupcakes to encourage happy conversation, they're just using it to push negative messages about murder."

Necie Franklin of Flowood, Mississippi, told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that Dr. Kenny Robbins of River Oaks Hospital refused to treat daughter Jessa Mackenzie after she was born suddenly in May, because she was three days shy of 23 weeks gestation - at which point he would have considered treating her at the hospital's Level II neonatal intensive care unit.

Franklin said that Jessa gasped for breath twice while in her arms, but was told by nurses that it was "just a reaction" - leading her to believe the child had died. Only after Jessa had been taken away, says Franklin, did she learn that the child still had a heartbeat.

Franklin, who says she has lost a child to a premature birth before, said it "shocked" her when Robbins said he would not help Jessa breathe.

"I looked at him and said, so you're telling me you're not going to do anything for my daughter?" said Franklin. She says Robbins "simply flat out refused."

"He actually told me this - This is what stuck in my mind most of all for days afterwards - was that I would be torturing my child to do something, because she was so little," the mother recalled. "She weighed just over a pound - which there are children who weigh less than that, that actually make it."

"They took so long to bring her back to me that she had already passed away by the time they had brought her back to me," said Franklin. "I don't know how many times after she left my sight that she gasped for breath. And they didn't even put a respirator on her to make her a little more comfortable."

She says Jessa's heart beat for about an hour and a half before she died.

"Life is a right from its conception... any attempt to justify the elimination of children about to be born into illness or disability brings to light our difficulty in accepting sick people," the Peruvian Bishops Conference (CEP) said in a statement.

Spearheaded by Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, the church has openly lobbied lawmakers to drop proposed legislation to legalize elective abortion for rape cases or when the fetus is deformed.[..]

The CEP said life should not be terminated for any reason, neither for rape nor to save the life of the expectant mother.

The notion that "the mother's life is worth more than her child's is arbitrary and false," it said.

"Since we've done away with the death penalty in Peru for even the worst criminals, how can we accept the death penalty for an embryo that hasn't even had the time to commit a mistake and cannot even defend itself?"

Late one evening in 1956 after watching the movie "The Ten Commandments" in a theater, a 22-year-old woman walked home alone in the dark – but she would not make it to the house before eight young men would brutally beat and rape her in the streets.

The woman, Ann, recalled the horrifying sexual assault in a video about her experience in St. Louis, Mo.

"I walked home which was about eight blocks, and when I got close to home there was a used car lot, and there were eight men in there," she said. "They grabbed me and attacked me. And I made it home after they attacked me and beat me up and did a few other things."

Already shaken by the traumatic sexual assault, Ann made a shocking discovery when she went to stay with her parents in Jackson, Miss.

"At that time, I didn't know I was pregnant," she said. "Three months later, I found out I was, and my parents didn't want me to have the baby, let alone keep it."

Her mother insisted that she have an abortion. But Ann adamantly refused.

"I didn't believe in destroying her, so I had her," Ann said in the video. "And they forced me to give her up."

Now that little baby, Juda Myers, is grown and shares her inspirational story of life.

"She knew I was a human," Myers told WND. "She said she couldn't kill a kitten or a puppy, much less a human baby."

Trevor Dal Broi, who runs East Griffith Pharmacy in New South Wales, is now handing out a leaflet to women with prescriptions for the contraceptive pill, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The leaflets say he accepts the teachings of the Catholic Church on artificial contraception and that he has a moral objection to dispensing them.

Dal Broi, who is married with four children, did not explain his decision to the press. He has also banned the sale of emergency contraception pills.

A judge has released a 17-year-old Vernal girl from jail after ruling she did not commit a crime when she allegedly paid a man to beat her in an attempt to miscarry her seven-month-old fetus.

The release, which came after the girl's mother obtained a second opinion on her daughter's no contest plea, has incensed some lawmakers who argue the ruling skirts laws governing legal abortions in Utah.

"The judge is absolutely stretching," said Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman. "There's no way the judge believes the Utah Legislature left open this loophole. I guarantee it will be closed this next session."

Eighth District Juvenile Court Judge Larry Steele sided with attorney Rich King, who argued under Utah law and around the country women are not held criminally liable for soliciting an abortion.

"Women may use any procedure or method of terminating pregnancy, by abortion or by miscarriage, and they cannot be charged with a crime," King said.

Judge Steele called the girl's actions "shocking and crude" in a four-page ruling Thursday, but said her actions "fit the definition for an abortion. As such, she cannot be held criminally liable for her actions pursuant to the Utah abortion statutes."

Prosecutors had argued the girl's failed attempt was not a legal abortion, which in Utah can only be performed before the fetus is able to survive outside the womb by a physician licensed to perform abortions in a medical facility. But Steele said a law protecting women who seek abortions from prosecution does not include the word "medical" when referring to procedures used to abort a fetus.

"The Legislature clearly understood the difference and intended the difference," Steele wrote.

In response to school officials telling his middle-school son to remove his pro-life T-shirt, a Pennsylvania father is challenging the school's rules in court.

William Boyer filed suit in U.S. District Court with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).

According to court documents, school officials at Crossroads Middle School in Lewisberry objected to his son's shirt that read, "Abortion is not Healthcare." He wore it to school on Sept. 8, the day President Obama gave his televised address to students.

In the filing, Boyer called it "draconian censorship" of his son's religious and political speech.

The videotaped presentation, entitled 'Echoes of the Holocaust', was given by the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform's Jose Ruba and hosted by McGill University's Choose Life club. The talk aimed to draw a parallel between past genocidal atrocities and abortion. The entire ordeal is now available on YouTube.

As Ruba began to speak, a woman in the audience stood up and told him that he was not welcome. A group then began banging on desks and shouting, "Please go! Please go!"

After Ruba explained to the protesters that he would like to hear their side of the debate, one of them shot back, "It's not a debate!" Another told Ruba to "f**k off!" and another said, "We don't need hate speech at our university."

Ruba began displaying images on the screen, prompting the mob to take over the front of the room and block them. Smiling and laughing as they prevented Ruba from speaking, they made noise in a variety of ways, such as singing children's songs and telling jokes. At one point, they even sang 'Happy Birthday' to abortion, in English and French.

Security asked the protesters to be quiet or leave, but when the protesters refused, security backed off. They intervened occasionally as protesters stood on tables, grabbed at Ruba's written materials, or fiddled with equipment.

Sandy Springs police arrested Marietta-based abortion practitioner Daniel E. McBrayer, 58, after learning he assaulted a woman.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution indicated police conducted an investigation after a woman reported told police that McBrayer struck her.

After a traffic altercation, McBrayer reportedly left his vehicle and walked up to her car and struck her in the face.

Sandy Springs police Lt. Steve Rose told the newspaper that the woman, whose name was unreleased, was treated at a local hospital before heading home.

Rose indicated the abortion practitioner turned himself into police on Wednesday night and was booked on a simple battery charge at Doraville Jail. He was released after posting a $1,500 bond and awaits a date in court, which has not been set.

Four years ago, when she found that she was pregnant by her former boyfriend, Choi Hyong-sook considered abortion. But after she saw the little blip of her baby's heartbeat on ultrasound images, she could not go through with it.

As her pregnancy advanced, she confided in her elder brother. His reaction would sound familiar to unwed mothers in South Korea. She said he tried to drag her to an abortion clinic. Later, she said, he pressed her to give the child up for adoption.

"My brother said: 'How can you be so selfish? You can't do this to our parents,'" said Ms. Choi, 37, a hairdresser in Seoul. "But when the adoption agency took my baby away, I felt as if I had thrown him into the trash. It felt as if the earth had stopped turning. I persuaded them to let me reclaim my baby after five days."

Now, Ms. Choi and other women in her situation are trying to set up the country's first unwed mothers association to defend their right to raise their own children. It is a small but unusual first step in a society that ostracizes unmarried mothers to such an extent that Koreans often describe things as outrageous by comparing them to "an unmarried woman seeking an excuse to give birth."

The fledgling group of women - only 40 are involved so far - is striking at one of the great ironies of South Korea.

The ordinance, championed by Ald. Vi Daley (43rd), would create the protective zone within a 50-foot radius of the entrance to any hospital, medical clinic or health-care facility. Within that zone, no one could get closer than eight feet to pass along any materials, display signs, protest, educate or counsel another person without that person's consent.

The new Chicago ban carries a $500 fine for violations. It's patterned after an even-stricter Colorado law that has already passed muster with the U.S. Supreme Court. In Colorado, the radius is 100 feet.

Anti-abortion activists who attempt to counsel women on their way in to abortion clinics have denounced the new policy as a violation of their First Amendment rights.

"This is not about safety. It's about shutting down a means of protest," attorney Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center in Chicago told aldermen last week.

ACLJ attorneys are representing a whistleblower in the case, a former financial officer of Planned Parenthood. No action was taken so a private lawsuit was filed. ACLJ's Jay Sekulow explains the rationale behind his client's suit.

"A private claim is authorized under federal law precisely because politically powerful groups like Planned Parenthood are often not prosecuted, not brought to any kind of civil justice for their overbilling practices," he states.

"Here we're talking about tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money being misused by Planned Parenthood, and the government did not take any action on this," the attorney continues. "They acknowledged that there was, in fact, overbilling -- but took no action to recoup the money." And that, says Sekulow, is the purpose of the action currently on appeal.

A Planned Parenthood abortion patient was rushed to the hospital by ambulance on Saturday morning, October 3, 2009, according to eyewitnesses who photographed the incident.

This is the third reported emergency transport from a Southern California Planned Parenthood abortion clinic within the past three weeks. Two similar incidents occurred at the Planned Parenthood in Orange, California, on September 16 and 26.

According to pro-life sidewalk counselors, first a fire truck arrived at the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Riverside, California, followed by an ambulance with lights on and sirens blaring. Witnesses observed that a female patient was removed from the building on a gurney. She was loaded into the awaiting ambulance, which sped away without the use of lights or sirens.

The woman's condition is unknown.

The court left in place a federal appeals ruling that Illinois officials were within their rights in trying to keep viewpoints on abortion off Illinois license plates.

After gathering 25,000 signatures in support, the group pressed Secretary of State Jesse White to allow the creation of the anti-abortion-themed specialty license plate, following the lead of surrounding states with "Choose Life" plates.

"It's a bitter pill to swallow, I'll tell you that. It was a shock," said Jim Finnegan, president of Choose Life Illinois. "When you have people in Hammond, Ind., coming to work in Chicago driving with one of those plates on their car, and someone in Belleville coming out of Missouri with them on, it just looked like we had a chance to get this heard."[..]

Finnegan said his group intends to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision.

According to an investigative piece in the Topeka Capital Journal, 30-year old Tracy Keith was raped in prison by a prison instructor, Ted Gallardo, in October 2007.

She was eventually coerced into an abortion that she says still haunts her.

When she discovered she was pregnant, Keith’s reaction was to have the child but was told she was ineligible for an open adoption by a social worker working with the YWCA Battered Women’s Task Force.

Eventually, prison staff took her to the Planned Parenthood center in Overland Park, outside Kansas City, that has been accused by state officials of doing illegal abortions.

Keith claimed to the newspaper that there were hints that if she ended her pregnancy, the other inmates in a contraband racket Gallardo was running would not be prosecuted.

"Kansas corrections officials deny the prison applied abortion pressure on Keith, but it was a state vehicle driven by a corrections employee that ferried her to Johnson County’s Planned Parenthood for an abortion on December 19, 2007," Kansans for Life legislative director Kathy Ostrowski explained to LifeNews.com.

Gallardo was eventually arrested by Topeka police but spent only 4 days in jail and was sentenced to two years probation.

"Gallardo was desperate to destroy evidence of his crime," Ostrowski said about the incident. "He illegally smuggled morning-after pills inside the prison to Keith and had an inmate stomp on Keith's stomach in an effort to induce a spontaneous miscarriage."

"The story of Tracy Keith is heart-breaking. Lonely in prison, prohibited visits with her young son by her ex-husband and worrying about an empty bank account, she was an easy target for a calculating rapist, and inmate peer pressure to keep silent," Ostrowski explained.

"Keith apparently now suffers from post-abortion trauma and unrelenting, vivid memories," she said.

The Advance-Titan decided not to run the 12-page insert from the Human Life Alliance. The advertisement, called iCare, contains information about abortion, its side effects, contraception, the development of a pre-born child and adoption.

Virginia Zignego, a spokeswoman for Pro-Life Wisconsin, says the newspaper's decision to reject the advertisement demonstrates its bias and amounts to censorship.

The newspaper's faculty adviser, Vince Filak, says the paper's decision was fully discussed. He calls it the perfect Catch-22 because accepting the ad would have upset people too.

Zignego says UW campuses in Whitewater, Eau Claire, La Crosse and River Falls have run the insert or agreed to run it.

The Human Relations Committee of the Chicago City Council has voted unanimously in favor of the proposed ordinance, which would restrict the proximity of picketers outside any medical clinic. Joe Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League believes the Council is trying to take away pro-lifers' First Amendment rights to speak to people on the public sidewalk.

"They're talking about an eight-foot 'bubble zone' around each person coming to a medical facility, which means abortion clinic," he explains. "[And] they're trying to keep us 50 feet away from the entrance door to hospitals, medical clinics, healthcare facilities -- in other words, abortion clinics."[..]

Scheidler says the ordinance, which will come up for a vote before the Council as early as Wednesday, is obviously directed at stifling the constitutional rights of pro-lifers. If it passes, he says the Thomas More Society, which is based in the Windy City, is likely to file suit.

The apparent shift, which contradicts some other recent polls, appears in a poll by the Pew Research Center released on Thursday. A 2008 poll by Pew researchers had found that those in favor of keeping abortion legal outnumbered opponents, 54 percent to 40 percent. In the new Pew poll, the gap has narrowed: 47 percent of those surveyed said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and 45 percent said it should be illegal in all or most cases — a difference within the poll’s margin of sampling error.

The new survey did not find the reasons for the shift in opinion. But Pew researchers pointed out that the shift has occurred since the election of President Obama, a Democrat who supports abortion rights but has often spoken about the need to reduce the number of abortions.

Shalaine Bright is the proud mother of a baby boy, but it wasn’t long ago that the news that she was pregnant devastated her and her family. She had just graduated from college and started a promising career.

"My future seemed so bright," she said. "Then, suddenly, I found myself pregnant at 21."

Everyone around her, including her boyfriend and family members, encouraged her to have an abortion.

"Otherwise," Bright said, "My life would be over."

Bright said the support she got from the Pregnancy Centers of Central Virginia not only saved the life of her son, Gabriel, but changed her life as well.

"Motherhood has changed me," she told the group at Wednesday's event, many of whom had tears in their eyes midway through her remarks. "Something about it has just matured me in a way I can't even describe. It gave me a new perspective of life. It has made me unselfish."