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SAN FRANCISCO -- An Arizona anti-abortion group has a constitutional right to obtain specialty license plates with the message "Choose Life," a federal appeals court ruled today. The state's License Plate Commission violated the Arizona Life Coalition's freedom of speech when it turned down the "Choose Life" plates after approving less-controversial specialty plates for other nonprofit organizations, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Those groups included associations of police and firefighters and the Wildlife Conservation Council. The ruling is one of a series of court actions in similar disputes around the nation. Most courts have...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorSeptember 6, 2007Little Rock, AR (LifeNews.com) -- Motorists across the state of Arkansas have turned their vehicles into funds to help women find alternatives to abortion. As in dozens of other states, residents can purchase Choose Life license plates featuring a crayon drawing of a boy and girl that help support pregnancy centers and adoption programs.With so many plates sold, Arkansas Right to Life has raised thousands of dollars and the group's director, Rose Mimms, recently present a donation to Catholic Adoption Services from the proceeds the plates have generated.Mimms presented CAS adoption director Antje Harris, with...

Woman gives birth to healthy son after defying doctors who told her to abort 'disabled' babyLast updated at 16:03pm on 23rd July 2007A couple were advised by medical experts to abort their unborn child amid fears he would be severely disabled - but he was born perfectly healthy. Heather O'Connor and Jamie Bramley went through months of turmoil after being told that scans suggested part of the baby's brain could be missing. But Jake, their first baby, arrived weighing a healthy 7lb 9oz - and with no defects. Consultants at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester had recommended Heather should...

Janeen Daniels was on her way into a Chicago clinic for an abortion when a couple approached and suggested she had other options. She accompanied them to a "crisis pregnancy center," where she was given a referral for an ultrasound exam of her uterus and the promise of help if she decided to carry her pregnancy to term. "Once I saw the ultrasound pictures -- he was 10 weeks old, moving already -- I decided to keep him," said Daniels, 29. The child, Steven, is now 3, and Daniels can't imagine life without him. To her the pregnancy center was...

U.S. District Judge David Coar ruled Friday that (IL) Secretary of State Jesse White’s office violated the First Amendment when it refused to make license plates saying “Choose Life.” *** UPDATE *** The Choose Life IL people told me they’ll be posting a press release relatively soon on their website. It appears that just about everybody is in DC for the march today. Jesse White spokesman Dave Druker: “We’re studying the opinion. We’re going to ask the Attorney general to appeal it… We don’t think we have the authority without legislative approval to create the license plates.” From the opinion:...

County clerks in Knox and surrounding counties are prepared for customers who want to purchase the controversial "Choose Life" license plate. Knox County Clerk Mike Padgett said he already has 200 plates on hand that have been ordered by drivers to publicize their opposition to abortion. That helped meet the 1,000-order threshold necessary statewide before a specialty plate will be produced. Padgett expects another 200 plates to come in by Friday. The plate in Knox County costs $24 for the state registration, $36 for the local wheel tax and $35 for the special plate, totaling $95. It's another $35 for...

HIALEA, November 2, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two Co-owners of a Miami-area abortion facility called Ginecologia may be charged with second-degree murder for killing a baby girl born alive in a recovery room. Co-owners Belkis Gonzalez and Siomara Senises are being investigated after Miami-Dade County police found the badly decomposed body of a baby girl at the facility. A search warrant reported that there was “probable cause” to pursue a second degree murder investigation.A woman identified by Operation Rescue in their October 23 report as Ms. Betty Rojas informed police that a child had been killed by “a doctor” by drowning...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Abortion rights supporters dropped a lawsuit challenging the state's sale of "Choose Life" license plates because the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Tennessee to continue selling similar plates. The American Civil Liberties Union had argued on behalf of the National Abortion Rights Action League in Ohio that the specialty plates, which bear the slogans "adoption builds a family" and "Choose Life," were unconstitutional because the state did not offer an opposing plate for abortion rights supporters to buy. In June, the Supreme Court agreed with a decision to allow the Tennessee plates by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court...

Wichita, KS – Operation Rescue has announced that it has purchased the building that housed Central Women’s Services, an abortion mill located at located at 3013 E. Central in Wichita, Kansas. The building will be renovated and serve as Operation Rescue’s headquarters, and will feature a memorial to the pre-born. Quick action closes mill Operation Rescue learned in late April that Central Women’s Services had not been able to pay its rent in months, and that the property was for sale. OR acted quickly to make an offer on the building through a third party, and specifically requested that the...

Tennessee motorists soon will be able to choose a "Choose Life" license plate, following the United States Supreme Court's refusal Monday to hear an appeal of the plate's legality. The high court's decision ends a three-year legal battle over the specialty plates in which a federal judge in Tennessee first ruled the state could not issue them before a federal appeals court overturned that ruling and said Tennessee could. State legislators overwhelmingly passed a bill creating the "Choose Life" plate in 2003. It became law without Gov. Phil Bredesen's signature. "Clearly we are grateful for the court's announcement this morning,"...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider appeals from abortion rights groups wanting to block states from issuing car license plates bearing the message "Choose Life." About a dozen states allow drivers to pay extra for the specialty car tags to show the car owners opposition to abortion. Justices said they would not look at tag laws in Louisiana and Tennessee. Abortion opponents contend they have a free-speech right to broadcast their own views on their car tags. Proposals to offer car owners an alternative "Choose Choice" plate failed in both state Legislatures. A federal judge ruled that...

After nearly five years of dealing with all the terrible and often absurd abuses of free speech in higher education, I am a hard person to shock, but hats off to professor Sally Jacobsen of Northern Kentucky University (NKU) for showing me the most perverted inversion of the concept of free speech I have seen in a long time. Jacobsen, a professor at NKU, invited students in one of her classes to “to express their freedom-of-speech rights to destroy [an anti-abortion] display if they wished to.” The anti-abortion display had been erected by an NKU student group with permission from...

Some business leaders have boldly taken the lead in promoting the cause of pro-life license plates. After Choose Life license plates were approved in Florida in August 2000, businessman Dennis Brown decided to place a Choose Life plate on each of the 55 vehicles owned by his company, AAA Electrical Contractors, Inc. Brown said, “I am the type of guy who sends out Christmas cards, not Season's Greetings.” Brown says the plates have not cost him business—instead, they've increased it: “I decided if I lost business over the plate, it was probably business I didn't need, but my business has...

NASHVILLE — The American Civil Liberties Union will likely appeal a recent ruling by a federal appeals court, which allows Tennessee to offer anti-abortion license plates bearing the message "Choose Life." A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati earlier this month overturned a lower-court ruling that said the tag illegally promoted only one side of the abortion debate. The ACLU and other plaintiffs have until Friday to file an appeal for a hearing before the 6th Circuit, according to Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee. They would have another week to...

  Controversial license plate. The constitutionality of "Choose Life" license plates could be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court after yesterday's ruling in favor of the anti-abortion inscription. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati ruled a Tennessee law allowing the plates does not violate the Constitution. The challenge to the law was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee. "Pro-life speech is not second class speech," said Gary McCaleb, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which backed the state in the case. "The Tennessee Legislature has the constitutional right...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee can sell license plates that say ``Choose Life,'' even though it doesn't offer one with an abortion rights message, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee had sued over the specialty license plate approved by the Legislature in 2003 and won a ruling against the tag from a lower court that said it illegally promoted only one side of the abortion debate. ``Although this exercise of government one-sidedness with respect to a very contentious political issue may be ill-advised, we are unable to conclude that the Tennessee statute contravenes the...

NEW YORK, Mar. 8 /Christian Wire Service/ -- In a stunning decision released on March 7th, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s second attempt to ban the phrase "Choose Life" from a pro-adoption specialty plate in New York State. The Attorney General’s first defeat occurred in January, 2005, when a federal judge ruled that The Children First Foundation (CFF) had sufficiently alleged constitutional violations involving freedom of speech and equal protection under the law. The August 2005 trial date was postponed when the state appealed the federal court ruling to the Second Circuit Court of...

The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld the state's 24-hour waiting period for abortions, a decision that turns the focus of the legal battle to federal court. The unanimous ruling Tuesday by Missouri's highest court focused on whether the 2003 law ran contrary to the state constitution. The judges rejected arguments that it was overly vague and deprived people of liberty and privacy rights. "It's a victory for the women of Missouri who find themselves in a crisis pregnancy but need the information and time to consider what's best for them," said Patty Skain, executive director of Missouri Right to Life....

Should the government really be telling businesses what products they can stock on their shelves? That‘s debatable, but it is happening. Wal-Mart was ordered this week by the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy to carry the morning after pill. It‘s an emergency contraceptive and a commercial one. The directive came after three women, backed by abortion rights groups, sued Wal-Mart to carry the pill in its Massachusetts stores. Dr. Rebecca Guy is one of those women. Dr. Guy, along with her attorney Mr. Sam Perkins, joined Tucker Carlson to discuss the case. CARLSON: Doctor, why should government be telling businesses what...

A Local Family Facing A Life Or Death Decision For A Toddler Feb. 9 The power of prayer and the race against time. The family of a local toddler who nearly drowned is fighting a new battle, one that may require a life or death decision. Life hangs in the balance for two-year-old Brett Shively. Family and friends turn to a higher power for support. They have set up a website http://web.mac.com/brettjr/iWeb/Pray%20for%20Brett%20Jr/Welcome.html dedicated to the toddler and the power of prayer. His family makes a passionate plea for people to pray like they've never prayed before. The doctor told them,...

The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision made by the Supreme Court was arguably the worst abuse of judicial power ever committed in this country. No other Supreme Court decision has caused so much death, nor caused so many people to become so callous about the taking of innocent life. Roe v. Wade was a severe blow to the moral fiber of America... which is why Liberals must fight so fiercely to protect it from Americans, even after all these years. Abortion is THE issue in any political ring, despite Democrat protests that they don't have a litmus test for candidates...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- Doctors say new tests are needed on a severely beaten 11-year-old girl, who officials said was responding to medical stimuli and breathing on her own a day after Massachusetts' highest court ruled the state had the authority to remove her from life support. Denise Monteiro, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Social Services, which has custody of Haleigh Poutre, said doctors will perform more tests "to see what the movements mean." She would not say how Haleigh was responding or to what tests. The girl has been in a coma for four months and thought...

The state of New York is attempting to stifle a lawsuit seeking to make “Choose Life” license plates available. Although the lawsuit cites the free speech protection of the first amendment, New York Assistant Solicitor General Jennifer Grace Miller told the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals that the statement “Choose Life” could lead to road rage. Judge Dennis Jacobs agreed, suggesting that allowing the phrase could open the door to messages from extremist groups. “If you win, then white supremacist organizations and the Ku Klux Klan can have license plates,” said Judge Jacobs. “There'd be a lot of road rage...

JACKSON, Miss. - A Christian adoption agency that receives money from “Choose Life” license plate fees said it does not place children with Roman Catholic couples because their religion conflicts with the agency’s “Statement of Faith.” Bethany Christian Services stated the policy in a letter to a Jackson couple this month, and another Mississippi couple said they were rejected for the same reason last year. “It has been our understanding that Catholicism does not agree with our Statement of Faith,” Bethany’s state director Karen Stewart wrote. “Our practice to not accept applications from Catholics was an effort to be good...

I just heard on WABC radio news that the candidates that President Bush is considering as U.S. Supreme Court nominees are John Roberts, J. Michael Luttig and possibly Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. Alberto Gonzeles is not pro-life, which worries me.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas Medical tests today showed that cancer has returned to a 12-year-old girl whose parents were in court to fight radiation treatment because they believed her illness was in remission. The new tests were revealed by state attorneys during a hearing that was supposed to determine whether treatment for Katie Wernecke was necessary in the days leading up to a custody hearing next Wednesday. Texas Child Protective Services removed the girl and her siblings from the home of Michele and Edward Wernecke last week after doctors said discontinued treatment could be life-threatening. Katie was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease...

PALMDALE - While "Everybody Loves Raymond" character Debra Barone will live on in television reruns, a generous gift from actress Patricia Heaton will live on in the lives of babies born to Antelope Valley women who were considering having abortions. Heaton, who has won two Emmy awards for her role in the hit sitcom, was honored Tuesday for donating a $25,000 high-tech ultrasound machine to the AV Pregnancy Counseling Center, which was renamed Women's Clinic of the Antelope Valley. Ultrasound machines offer pregnant women a detailed view of their unborn children, even at only a couple of months along, and...

CLEVELAND -- A lawsuit was filed Wednesday challenging Ohio's offer of license plates with the anti-abortion message "Choose Life." The American Civil Liberties Union sued in Cleveland federal court to block the license plate sales due to begin next month. < snip >

Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley. It was a strange coincidence that Terri Schiavo’s ordeal took place during Holy Week. What she went through, and the nation’s reaction to it, taught us a sobering lesson about suffering and redemption. The things that ordinary, sensible Americans were saying about Terri’s case were shocking and upsetting. “Let the poor woman die” was one of them. But Terri was not dying before her food and water were taken away. She simply needed to eat and drink, just like the rest of us. Then there were the various media...

If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? (James 2:15-16) When you sit down for dinner tonight and enjoy a nice meal with your family, please remember that Terri Schiavo, though hanging onto life by a thread, is still starving to death. Please remember that, at this precise moment, her body hungers terribly, and she is suffering from gross dehydration. Remember that she...

Posted: March 29, 2005 11:44 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com The Florida state constitution declares unequivocally that in the state of Florida "the supreme executive power shall be vested in a governor … ." The word supreme means highest in authority. There can be no executive authority in the state of Florida higher than the governor. No state law can create an executive authority higher than highest in the Florida constitution. Therefore no court order based upon such a law can constitutionally create such an authority. If the governor tells the local police in Pinellas County to step aside, they...

There are good people on both sides of the Terri Schiavo tragedy, but chances are that if you affirm Judeo-Christian values, you have opposed pulling the feeding tube from the severely brain damaged woman's body. Why? Because if there is anything that Judeo-Christian values stand for, it is choosing life and rejecting death. As the Torah puts it, "I have put before you today life and death, and you shall choose life." Even believing Jews and Christians are not fully aware of how much the rejection of death-oriented Egypt underlies the values and practices of the Torah, the first five...

On Wednesday of last week, my friend and I just couldn’t stand it any more. The frustration, the anger, the sorrow overwhelmed us to point that we needed to do something. We had called the POTUS, the Governor, the Florida Senators and DCF numerous times. The responses to those calls ranged from “we’re doing everything we can.”…to…interrupting our message with a rude, disinterested “thank you for calling”. There was no place we would rather be on Good Friday that supporting Terri’s fight and Terri’s family. We took Friday off of work, loaded up the truck Thursday night and drove from...

DAY 1: FR_Addict and husband After driving 11 hours, we arrived about 12:30am on Thursday morning. We were able to park very close to the vigil. Perhaps 30 people were there. We went around and met some of the people there. The police told us to move behind the barricade, which we did. It felt surreal to be there after all this time. I decided to talk to the police to find out what they were thinking, so half-joking and half-serious; I asked why don’t you guys go on a “sick out”. One of the police said they couldn’t. I...

Please join us for prayer and protest at 44th Street in Times Square on Monday, March 28, at 5:30 p.m.Bring a sign and bring a friend.This rally is bigger than Free Republic. I have already received the e-mail from several non-FR people.Thank you.

My position on the Schiavo matter has vascilated back and forth over the past few days as I've agonized over the matter.Should she be given a chance at life? If so, what kind of life are we talking about? Is there a chance at rehabilitation? Is Michael Schiavo an evil S.O.B., or is he simply a heart-broken man?Conversely, is she truly in a vegetative state? A virtual zombie with eyes open, and nothing inside? Are her parents and family in denial about her pain and suffering? Are the evangelicals coming to her aid getting so worked up that they are...

Pinellas Park police Lt. Kevin Riley, standing upper right, prepares to arrest members of the Keys family as they were attempting to bring Terri Schiavo water Wednesday morning, March 23, 2005 outside the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla. The Keys family, of Burnet, Tex., kneeling, from left, Josie, 14, Gabriel, 10, Chris, the children's father, and Cameron 12, were all taken into custody. Galen Keys, upper left, the children's mother looks on, but was not arrested.The mother insists it was the children's idea: "I am proud of them," said the boys' mother Geilen Keys from Texas, who was not...

Honey, I never thought I'd be writing to tell you my final wishes if I'm ever in a persistent vegetative state. I can imagine what that feels like because I watch Tom DeLay on television every day, hawking his phony right-to-life politics as if they were the word of God. But we both know that clutching at every last breath in this world negates a much deeper spiritual belief. I believe that God is merciful enough and great enough to remember those who served him well and to resurrect them after death. Not to a life in heaven where we'd...

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Most Common Questions and Answers If Terri hasn't recovered after all these years of therapy, why not let go?Terri hasn't had meaningful therapy since 1991, but many credible physicians say she can benefit from it.Why can't Terri just divorce?Terri's husband/guardian speaks for her. She cannot divorce without his permissionDoes Terri have an advanced directive or any wishes about her healthcare?Terri never signed any directive or living will and there is no evidence that she foresaw her present situation.Why do Terri's family fight to keep her alive? Shouldn't they let her husband decide?Terri's husband has started another family and probably has...

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay pledged Friday to hold Florida state judge George Greer in contempt of Congress for ignoring a congressional subpoena for Terri Schiavo's testimony, saying, "No little judge sitting in a state district court in Florida is going to usurp the authority of Congress." "The Congress will pursue this, if we have to hold him in contempt of Congress," DeLay told radio host Sean Hannity. Pressed on whether he intended to hold Judge Greer in contempt, the top Republican told Hannity: "Absolutely, absolutely." "We will do everything to enforce the power and authority of the Congress and...

"Basically we are going to fight tooth and nail to save Terri from starvation," Terry said. "Part of this has to do with who has the will to save her and who has the will to kill her and whose will is stronger."

WILL HILLARY CLINTON OK “CHOOSE LIFE” LICENSE PLATE?  The following letter was sent today to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton by Catholic League president William Donohue:   Hon. Hillary Rodham Clinton U.S. Senate 476 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510   Dear Senator Clinton:   Your remarks of January 24 on the subject of abortion are quite welcome.  In particular, I welcome your quest for a “common ground” and your strong support for programs that promote adoption.    In light of your position on this subject, I am requesting that you formally endorse the effort by the Children First Foundation...

Jackson, MS (LifeNews.com) -- Mississippi's “Choose Life" license plates could face a legal challenge, following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday. The High Court refused to consider whether states may offer license tags with pro-life messages. The ruling involved “Choose Life" license plates in South Carolina. Lower courts are divided about whether such plates restrict speech in a manner that is unconstitutional. The American Civil Liberties Union in Mississippi has not ruled out a challenge to a state law that authorized “Choose Life" license plates in 2002. “It is something that's on our radar," an ACLU executive told the Associated...

High Court Defers on 'Choose Life' Plates By HOPE YEN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court declined Monday to consider whether states may offer license plates with anti-abortion messages, leaving lower courts divided over whether the programs in a dozen states unconstitutionally restrict dissenting views. Without comment, justices let stand a lower court ruling that said South Carolina's license plates, which bear the slogan "Choose Life," violate the First Amendment because abortion rights supporters weren't given a similar forum to express their beliefs. The high court's move means that South Carolina will either have to eliminate the...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- South Carolina's Choose Life license plate is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. State officials are asking the high court to uphold the plates from a First Amendment challenge issued by abortion advocacy groups upset that the plates favor one side of the abortion issue. On Friday, the nation's top court is expected to consider whether to take on dozens of lawsuits, including an appeal of a ruling striking down the law that saved the life of Terri Schiavo. South Carolina officials hope their appeal of a decision overturning a bill authorizing the plates is one...

The Supreme Court declined to consider Monday whether South Carolina's anti-abortion license plates are unconstitutional, a free-speech question that could have resulted in the elimination of similar programs in a dozen states. Without comment, justices rejected a challenge to a lower court ruling that said the plates, which bear the slogan "Choose Life," violate the First Amendment because abortion rights supporters weren't given a similar forum to express their beliefs. Under the program begun in 2001, South Carolina drivers may pay a $70 fee to purchase the anti-abortion plates, with the revenue going toward local crisis pregnancy programs. Specialty plates...

HELENA (AP) _ A bill that would criminalize killing or injuring a fetus sparked a fierce debate over abortion at a legislative hearing Tuesday, despite assertions by its sponsor that it had nothing to do with terminating a pregnancy. Rep. Penny Morgan, R-Billings, said her bill was meant to address violence against pregnant women and get justice for the unborn children harmed or killed in the process, such as in the Laci Peterson case in California. ``This is a bigger problem than people have ever realized,'' she told the House Judiciary Committee. Opponents called her House Bill 231 a thinly...

Overheard at a local shopping mall: Jan: “Marsha! How are you girl? I haven’t seen you in ages.” Marsha: “Hey Jan, you’re looking great. How’ve you been?” Jan: “Just peachy. Hey, guess what? I’m going to have a fetus!"Marsha (excited): “That’s wonderful! Oh, I’m so happy for you. Now we both have parasites growing in us.”Jan: “Yeah, but you’re having twins. I’m so jealous.”Marsha: “Oh, I only have one now. Greg didn’t get his promotion so we decided to selectively reduce one of them.” Jan: “Aww...well, that’s a valid choice. I was hoping to have two fetuses because this one...