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Pregnancy Center in Arizona Severely Burned in Apparent Arson Attack Whiteriver, AZ -- A pregnancy center in rural eastern Arizona that serves a predominantly native American population was severely burned in what appears to be an arson attack. The Living Hope Women's Center clinic has closed indefinitely as a result of a fire that gutted a portion of the building on December 20. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4688.html

An ancient stone image of King Herod and a modern digital image of President Obama; if only the resemblance ended there. During his violent rise to power, Herod enjoyed the backing of the Roman Empire, returning favor for favor; as an aspiring legislator, Obama enjoyed the backing of the abortion industry, voting repeatedly to legalize infanticide. The Roman army brought Herod to Jerusalem, where they installed him as client-king; leftwing interests brought Obama to Washington, first as senator, then president. Fearing loss of his throne, King Herod ordered his soldiers to slaughter Bethlehem's children; fearing loss of his base,...

It is alarming to realize the nonchalance on the part of many concerning abortion. But it is not new. A popular newsmagazine quoted one medical opinion: "Abortion is finding its place as a perfectly acceptable and valid health measure. We no longer think of it as a crime."

This audio clip is from one of my recent shows, in which a caller wanted (I think) to publicly put me on the spot over why I "de-friended" him on my Facebook page. As you'll hear, the reason was because of something he said to some of the women there about their having had an abortion. The problem was that he branded such women as "murderers" because 1) abortion is murder and 2) they had aborted one or more of their children. His logic is correct, at least in a sense, because abortion is murder. But the way he put...

Are you Pro-Choice (defined as being in favor of killing babies prior to birth)? Are you Pro-Life (defined as being opposed to the killing of unborn babies)? Are you undecided? Does it matter with the new health care bill? It does if you do not want to pay for it with your tax dollars. You see, this is not about the moral and ethical issues of abortion, it is about the fiscal responsibility of health care.

In some of the rooms in the hospice unit at Franklin Hospital, in Valley Stream on Long Island, the patients were sleeping because their organs were shutting down, the natural process of death by disease. But at least one patient had been rendered unconscious by strong drugs. The patient, Leo Oltzik, an 88-year-old man with dementia, congestive heart failure and kidney problems, was brought from home by his wife and son, who were distressed to see him agitated, jumping out of bed and ripping off his clothes. Now he was sleeping soundly with his mouth wide open. “Obviously, he’s much...

LifeNews.com Note: Maria Vitale is an opinion columnist for LifeNews.com. She is the Public Relations Director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and Vitale has written and reported for various broadcast and print media outlets, including National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and AP Radio. It's gotten to the point where I have to turn my head away when I hear the opening bars of music. The haunting melody is the soundtrack for a tear-jerker of a commercial for the Humane Society. Images after images of abused pets appear on the screen. As the joyful owner of a tabby, I find portrait...

Jerusalem, Israel (LifeNews.com) -- The top two Jewish rabbis in Israel sent a letter on Monday to their colleagues denouncing abortion. They said that abortion kills thousands of Israeli babies a year and delays the coming of the Messiah and they promised to do more to promote pro-life and pregnancy help efforts. Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar sent a letter yesterday to all of the state-employed Jewish rabbis saying they would "strengthen" the efforts of the pro-life council in the rabbinate to help reduce abortions.The letter says "the vast majority of abortions are unnecessary and Halacha severely prohibits...

Lincoln, NE (LifeNews.com) -- Until his recent sellout on abortion funding, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson was a darling of the pro-life movement as the lone consistent pro-life Democrat in the Senate. Now, a new poll shows him losing massive support and he would lose by a lopsided margin in his 2012 bid for re-election. A new Rasmussen Reports survey shows Nelson struggling after becoming the 60th and deciding vote for the Senate's pro-abortion health care bill. Should pro-life Republican Governor Dave Heineman challenge Nelson for his Senate seat, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows he would get 61% of...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The rift between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Catholic Church will likely grow thanks to new comments the abortion advocate made. Pelosi said in a new interview that the "free will" of women wanting abortions outweighs pro-life Catholic teachings. Newsweek's Eleanor Clift conducted a year-end interview with Pelosi. The conversation turned to the topic of abortion and health care and Pelosi blasted the Catholic bishops for their opposition to the pro-abortion bill. She tells Clift it was frustrating that Catholic bishops "were not willing to accept what we know to be a fact" -- that...

At a huge rally in the capital, Cardinal Antonio Rouco, the leader of Spain's Roman Catholics, told protesters the birth rate in Europe will be depleted unless Christian values are maintained.Catholics attended a huge open air mass beside Real Madrid's Bernabeu stadium.The mass marked the Feast of the Holy Family. But Catholic leaders from across Europe joined their local counterparts and members of the Spanish centre-Right opposition to castigate the socialist government's policies."Europe will be practically without children," warned Cardinal Rouco, 73, the conservative Archbishop of Madrid. "Who denies to defend a human being so innocent and weak, already conceived...

A death notice has been published in several Spanish daily newspapers for all the "innocent victims" of abortion, where lawmakers earlier this month approved a bill to liberalise the procedure. The notice bearing a black cross for the "boys and girls" who "died in Spain during 2009 victims of abortion" appeared in the obituary pages of right-wing newspapers ABC, El Mundo and La Razon. "Prayers, masses, sacrifices and charity works are requested for the eternal rest of their souls and for the salvation of those who, directly or indirectly, actively or passively, were responsible for these deaths," the notice added....

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama promised Americans in a speech to Congress that his version of a government-run health care bill would not contain abortion funding. Now his top spokesman confirms that Obama favors the Senate bill that funds abortions over the House bill that bans abortion funding.In a September nationally-televised speech to Congress, Obama sought to clear up projections from pro-life advocates that his health care plan would fund abortions."One more misunderstanding I want to clear up -- under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions," Obama claimed.Since his speech, the House...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Most of the focus on the Senate last week revolved around the pro-abortion government-run health care bill the chamber passed on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans and Democrats squabbled over a pro-abortion nominee President Barack Obama as put forward for a crucial legal position. Dawn Johnsen, a law professor at Indiana University who is a former legal counsel for the pro-abortion group NARAL, is Obama's selection to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.Her nomination has been delayed by Republicans who oppose her because she is strongly pro-abortion -- going as far as saying...

I was crossing the Jacques Cartier Bridge on my regular Saturday-morning run recently when I began to think about suicide. Not for myself, but because of the 10-foot high fences that line either side of the bridge. Each picket is bent into an n shape at the top so scaling is, effectively, impossible. It's a barrier that means business, which is why it was installed years ago to prevent people jumping into the St. Lawrence. Its message is blunt: "We don't want you even thinking about committing suicide here." As such, it stands as a metallic contradiction given that Quebec's...

... While the national health coverage debate has been roiled by questions of whether the government should be paying for end-of-life counseling, physicians [...], in consultations with patients or their families, are routinely making tough decisions about the best way to die. Among those choices is terminal sedation, a treatment that is already widely used, even as it vexes families and a profession whose paramount rule is to do no harm. Doctors who perform it say it is based on carefully thought-out ethical principles in which the goal is never to end someone’s life, but only to make the patient...

LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture. His most recent book is the Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World. This opinion column originally appeared in the Church Report.Terri Schiavo continues to prick our collective conscience, our sensitivity to the way she died -- deprived of all food and water, even the balm of ice chips for nearly two weeks -- as raw today as on the day she drew her last breath five years ago next March. Usually, the trauma remains...

A non-partisan, black, *CHRISTIAN* woman publicly repents for voting for Obama despite his pro-abortion record. She explains why she was deceived and reaffirms her committment to putting Christ first. Before race. Before politics.

Wednesday December 23, 2009 Top Ten Good News Stories of 2009 Compiled by John-Henry WestenDecemer 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The following are the top ten good news stories of 2009, ranked according to popularity.1) 12-Year-Old Stuns Pro-Choice Teacher and School with Pro-Life Presentation  12-year-old "Lia" of Toronto become a star at her school and on Youtube with her five-minute pro-life speech, crafted for a school competition. A video of her speech has been watched over 800,000 times on Youtube.2) List of Bishops Opposing the Notre Dame Invitation and Award to President Obama83 U.S. bishops spoke out against Notre Dame's...

When the Senate and House agree on a health care bill and if our tax money pays for ana portion directly or indirectly, I will revolt by not paying my personal taxes. I will prefer going to prison than have even one cent of my income pay for an abortion. I have been praying about this and other issues that affect my pro-life principles. If I call myself pro-life, then I must act on these principles in a way that will change my comfort level to the point of suffering. How many of us have fought with money and time...

Washington (CNSNews.com) – Six senators, including former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), when asked if it is morally right to take tax dollars from pro-life Americans to pay for health insurance plans that cover abortion, did not answer the question directly, but instead expressed their thoughts about the Senate health-care legislation. The Senate health-care bill at present mandates that the Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary make certain that at least one health-care plan in the government exchanges -- where people will use tax money to buy health insurance -- covers elective abortions. At the U.S. Capitol, CNSNews.com...

A car crash victim who was believed to have been in a coma for the past 23 years has been conscious the whole time. Rom Houben was paralysed but could not let doctors know that he could hear every word they were saying, reports the Daily Mail. "I dreamed myself away," said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state. Doctors conducted a series of coma tests before concluding that his consciousness was "extinct". But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally. Mr Houben said: "All that...

She kept it secret for seven months and now she's finally speaking out. On Thursday, Governor Sarah Palin sat down to answer questions about the new addition to her family.

The Senate health care bill is dead on arrival in the House of Representatives unless major changes are made, including removal of special “carve outs” for Medicaid funding for certain states and inclusion of language barring taxpayer-funded health plans that cover abortions, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) told CNSNews.com on Tuesday. Faced with the possibility that House Democratic leaders and the White House will try to force the U.S. House to accept “as is” the health care bill that the Senate is poised to pass on Christmas Eve, the pro-life Democrat said the Senate bill differs too much from the version...

LifeNews.com Note: Sarah Palin is the former governor of Alaska and was the 2008 vice-presidential candidate. She is a pro-life stalwart and has won respect as the mother of a special needs child. Last weekend while you were preparing for the holidays with your family, Harry Reid’s Senate was making shady backroom deals to ram through the Democrat health care take-over. The Senate ended debate on this bill without even reading it.That and midnight-weekend votes seem to be standard operating procedures in D.C. No one is certain of what’s in the bill, but Senator Jim DeMint spotted one shocking revelation...

BASEL, Switzerland, December 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Swiss Federation of Service to Patients (Patientenstellen der Schweiz) has called for a ban on a particular type of contraceptive pill after it was linked to the death last month of a 17-year-old German girl who died in a Swiss hospital.The girl, who died at the University Hospital of Basel, was taking a pill that includes drospirenone, a synthetic progestin, which is a compound included in newer brands, such as Yaz, Yasmin, and Yasminelle.This has been the third grave incident reported in Switzerland this year involving such contraceptives.  In each case, the...

After Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced Saturday that he had decided to support the amended health bill that allows federal funding of abortion, he set to work defending the decision in terms more familiar on the lips of his liberal colleagues: emphasizing the need for a compromise, and highlighting the greater good of the health of millions of Americans. Yet Nelson left behind a still-reeling pro-life and conservative constituency questioning what could have prompted the sudden change in the senator - who days before seemed so placidly settled in his convictions against the bill, particularly regarding abortion. The tension leading...

As a kid, Corrina Gura was fascinated by babies. She remembers visiting the specimens of preserved human embryos and fetuses on display in the Prenatal Development exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry with her parents. When her aunt was pregnant, she asked if she could rest her hand on her aunt's belly. Those experiences years ago helped shape Gura's current belief that a baby's life begins at conception. "All it needs is a place to grow and food, and it will survive, which is what I need," said Gura, who lives in Skokie and works as a projects...

I received this question from a friend on Facebook: So, Jill, what happened with Nelson? You and other pro-life leaders were advising people to be "calm" and to thank him, and all indications now are that he prostituted his vote like so many others. How do you know who to trust? My friend was speaking about a blog post I wrote Dec. 11 encouraging pro-lifers to maintain support of Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. In that post I relayed an e-mail received from Democrats for Life's president, Kristen Day, assuring everyone Nelson was unwavering in his refusal to vote for any...

WH requested Stupak 'not say anything' on abortion, congressman says By Tony Romm - 12/23/09 02:36 PM ET Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said Tuesday the White House asked him to "hold off for a while and not say anything" about the abortion language in the Senate's healhtcare bill. The Obama administration reportedly asked the Michigan congressman to withhold judgement on the provision until "they [had] a chance to try to sell me the language," he explained -- a request Stupak later said he denied. "I don’t need to have a conference with the White House," Stupak told CNSnews.com. "I have...

If we adopt the compassion of time rather than that of cash, we are not trying to do the same thing as liberals, only a bit more cheaply. Instead, we must ask of every idea that calls itself compassionate, "Does it make great demands on men (and women) to give themselves to their brethren?" Are we offering not coerced silver, but our lives? If we talk of crisis pregnancies, are we actually willing to provide a home to a pregnant young woman? If we talk of abandoned children, are we actually willing to adopt a child? We need to ask...

Stupak: Obama Admin Bullying Me to Accept Abortion Funding in Health Care Washington, DC -- Congressman Bart Stupak, the pro-life Democrat who has been the consistent champion against abortion funding in the health care bill, says the Obama administration is trying to bully him. Stupak says in a new interview that he will not back down in the face of pressure from the White House. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5810.html

The Ronald Reagan U.C.L.A. Medical Center, one of the nation’s most highly regarded academic hospitals, has earned a reputation as a place where doctors will go to virtually any length and expense to try to save a patient’s life. “If you come into this hospital, we’re not going to let you die,” said Dr. David T. Feinberg, the hospital system’s chief executive. Yet that ethos has made the medical center a prime target for critics in the Obama administration and elsewhere who talk about how much money the nation wastes on needless tests and futile procedures. They like to note...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Tuesday morning, the Senate approved the Harry Reid manager's amendment to the government-run health care bill. Reid's amendment includes the so-called "compromise" language he agreed on with embattled Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska that keeps abortion funding in the bill. The Senate voted on the manager's amendment, number 3276, on a 60-39 vote. All Democrats in the chamber voted for the amendment while all Republicans, except absent pro-life Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, voted against it. With the vote today, the Senate now begins 30 hours of post-cloture debate that will continue throughout the day today...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Hollywood elite and abortion promotion have long been synonymous but Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon is quickly becoming one of the leading pro-abortion voices in Tinseltown. Nixon followed up her Planned Parenthood fundraising letter earlier this year by wading into the health care debate.Nixon is joining abortion advocates who want to ensure taxpayer funding of abortion remains in the Senate government-run health care bill.Just one week after returning to the United States from filming the sequel to the popular television franchise's first feature film, Nixon is bashing a congressman's ban on abortion...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is getting attention for an interview yesterday in which she essentially admits that the American public would be forced to pay for abortions under the Senate health are bill and then relies on accounting gimmicks to suggests that's not the case. Sebelius spoke with BlogHer interviewer Morra Aarons-Mele yesterday and praised the new abortion language the Senate adopted in Harry Reid's manager's amendment. The language, submitted by Sen. Ben Nelson in conjunction with Sen. Bob Casey and pro-abortion Sens. Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray, opens the door to massive abortion funding. "I...

"A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more." Matt 2:18 In Bethlehem, Herod killed all male children under 2 years of age because he felt threatened. On Capitol Hill, battles are raging to keep the abortion mills running. Who threatens you, Pelosi? Why are you determined to murder our children, Reid? If they succeed, the vote is shaping up for Christmas eve, a night when we are all reminded of the Christ born in a manger, a star to guide the wise men...

Politics: Sen. Mary Landrieu was the new "Louisiana Purchase." Sen. Ben Nelson got the federal government to pick up his state's future Medicaid tab. Maybe we should just put Senate votes up on eBay. Nelson, the 60th vote in the middle-of-the-night Senate party line vote on health care reform, will go down in American political history as the inventor of the permanent earmark. His seemingly principled stand against including federal funding for abortion evaporated like the morning dew as he decided to take what was behind door No. 1. The deal for Nelson includes special Medicaid funding for Nebraska, along...

Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- A Wisconsin state senator is expanding his call for an investigation of a Planned Parenthood abortion center shown on an undercover video misleading women about abortion and fetal development. Live Action's latest video has an abortion practitioner and staffer saying abortion does not kill a human being. The video also shows the staff misleading two women posing as potential abortion customers by telling them that the heart of the unborn child doesn't begin to beat until late in pregnancy -- instead of at about 22 days as is the case.Senator Glenn Grothman has already called...

GALVESTON, Texas, December 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Nearly half of women using depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), commonly known as the birth control shot, will experience high bone mineral density (BMD) loss in the hip or lower spine within two years of beginning the contraceptive, according to researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. The study, reported in the January 2010 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, was the first to show that women on the birth control shot who smoke, have low levels of calcium intake and never gave birth are at the highest risk for BMD loss....

My son stood larger than life, the sun dancing on his hair, his eyes sparkling as he laughed with his teammates in all the bravado only teammates can share. Grinning from ear to ear, ahead in a major semi-pro football game, my son was radiant with the joy of it, and I thanked God for days such as this. I once had the RIGHT to kill him. For a second I imagined him not there. That thought shot through my body like ice and anger at women like Nancy Pelosi welled up inside. What kind of monster would fight to...

Elmira, N.Y. - Bobby Schindler watched his sister die in one of the most publicized end-of-life cases in the nation’s history. Now, he’s hoping a similar case in Chemung County has a different ending. Schindler, the brother of Terri Schiavo, was in Elmira Monday to show his support for Sara Harvey, who is attempting to regain custody of her injured husband, Gary Harvey. “We’re trying to support her efforts to bring her husband home,” Schindler said. Chemung County is the guardian of Gary Harvey, who has been in a persistent vegetative state since he fell down his basement steps in...

(Warning: This story contains content that may offend some readers.)Elderly people are now buying their loved ones suicide kits as Christmas gifts, according to a prominent euthanasia physician nicknamed "Dr. Death." Dr. Philip Nitschke, founder of Exit International and author of "The Peaceful Pill Handbook," has explained the use of legal drugs, inert gases, plastic bags and other methods for committing suicide to audiences all over the world, including in U.S. cities such as San Francisco, Calif., and Anaheim, Calif. He told Australia's Herald-Sun a so-called "peaceful pill" is being developed from Nembutal, the favored drug for ending life. Nembutal...

Ben Nelson (D-Nb.), though, said Sunday that he's not committed to vote to kill a GOP filibuster. "I have made no promise," Nelson said on CNN's "State of the Union." I can't decide about the procedural vote until I see the underlying bill. It would be, I think, reckless to say I'll support the procedure without knowing what the underlying bill consists of. And it's not put together yet. It's a draft — it will be a draft bill some time next week, submitted the Congressional Budget Office for the review of the cost." Nelson also gave a thumbs-down...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life groups have spent most of Saturday morning furiously analyzing the Nelson-Reid compromise language on abortion funding in the Senate health care bill. Their conclusion is that the language undermines the amendments they wanted to ban abortion funding. The compromise language appears in the manager's amendment Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is offering to shore up the 60 votes he needs to overcome the filibuster against the pro-abortion health care bill. The language is not similar to the Stupak and Nelson amendments approved by the House and defeated in the Senate. Instead, Section 38 adds a...

The 60 votes are there for ObamaCare to pass in the Senate. The only thing preventing a vote is a blizzard in Connecticut, where Joe Lieberman went home for Sabbath. So you might say that God is the reason, both for sending Joe home and for sending the snow storm. I'm beginning to think that it will take a miracle to stop this massive take-over of the health care industry. So I propose an ongoing Rosary vigil. How it works is that I begin by saying a Rosary. When I finish, I reply to this thread. Hopefully, someone else will...

Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is headed to Nebraska. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, will headline an Omaha rally Sunday afternoon to try to persuade U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson to change his mind on health care reform. The rally will be at 3 p.m. at the Civic Auditorium Music Hall, 17th Street and Capitol Avenue. Doors will open at 2 p.m. The rally was put together quickly Saturday after Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, said he would support a health-care reform bill in the Senate. Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Terry of Omaha is expected to attend, as well as state...

Fixed it is not. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) latest health care “manager’s amendment” would STILL levy a new “abortion premium” fee on Americans under the Democrats’ health care plan. Just like the original 2,032-page, government-run health care plan from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) and the last version of Senator Reid’s 2,074-page bill, this latest 383-page amendment levies an abortion premium and does not fix the problem of government funds being used to subsidize elective abortions.http://www.nrlc.org/AHC/NRLConReidManagersAmend.html Under Reid’s “manager’s amendment,” there is no prohibition on abortion coverage in federally subsidized plans participating in the Exchange. Instead the amendment includes...

Abortion Deal In Sight In Senate Healthcare Negotiations Barbara Boxer is 'optimistic' about reaching 60 votes after all-day talks with Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic holdout Ben Nelson. The GOP redoubles threats to slow business to a crawl. By Janet Hook and Noam N. Levey December 18, 2009 Reporting from Washington - With a critical vote looming this weekend, Senate Democratic negotiators closed in Friday night on a deal to persuade a lone Democratic holdout -- Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson -- to back the party's healthcare bill after a marathon day of negotiations. That would give Democrats the 60...

December 19, 2009 'Betrayed' [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Nebraska Right to Life on Nelson's choice: Lincoln——Nebraska Right to Life and pro-life Nebraskans have been betrayed by Senator Ben Nelson's agreement with Democratic leadership to become their 60th vote for cloture on the Senate healthcare bill, propped up by abortion compromise language which in no way resembles the Stupak amendment in the House bill or the Nelson/Hatch amendment attempt in the Senate. Both of those amendments had protections against taxpayer funding of abortion. "Senator Nelson had a chance to ensure that the longstanding principle of the Hyde Amendment against federal funding of...