The Power of the Online Pro-Life Movement

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: HellNIn 2012 LifeNews.com broke the story of Elisa Bauer, a mentally disabled Nevada woman who was nearly forced to have an abortion against her will. With the fate of the unborn baby’s life hanging in the balance, thousands of the pro-life news website’s readers took action, calling and emailing Nevada District Court Judge Egan Walker’s office by the thousands. . .

Bauer delivered a beautiful baby girl, Cierra Marie, and nearly two years later, her grandparents adopted her in, ironically, the same Nevada court where her life was once threatened.

Over the course of the last 11 years, the number of lives saved thanks in large part to LifeNews is far too many to count, let alone know. But it’s Elisa Bauer’s story that stands out to founder Steven Ertelt as a defining example of a time the news agency was able to make a direct impact.

“[Bauer] was pressured by the system, basically the foster care system, to have an abortion and her foster parents stepped in and were able to help stop that,” Ertelt tells Townhall. “LifeNews played a crucial role in connecting people together, getting prolife attorneys involved, working with pro-life groups, and getting people to lobby key players involved in that debate on what happens to her and her unborn child.”

Though LifeNews officially launched in 2003, Ertelt has been harnessing the power of the Internet as early as 1993 to spread the pro-life message, even walking away from dreams of becoming a stockbroker to focus on what he considers the human rights issue of our time. (Read more about the online pro-life movement HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Florida Courthouses Stop All Weddings to Avoid Marrying Homosexuals

/11 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AFPSeveral counties in Florida have put the kibosh on performing any weddings as a sort of duck and dodge against serving gays — the logic being that clerks with religious objections to homosexual marriage aren’t breaking any laws if they don’t offer services to anyone.

Among the counties taking part in the quasi-protest: Duval, Clay and Baker, The Associated Press reported.

[Due to a federal judge’s twisted reading of the US Constitution,] Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage expires in the coming days, but rather than abide by the new cultural order, clerks — in conjunction with other county officials — have announced the discontinuance of courthouse wedding services for all, AP said.

“It was decided as a team, as an office, this would be what we do so that there wouldn’t be any discrimination,” Duval County Clerk of Courts Ronnie Fussell told The Florida Times-Union. “The easiest way is to not do them at all.”

He also said that marriage “is between a man and a woman” and that “personally, it would go against my beliefs to perform a ceremony that is other than that,” AP reported. (Read about the courthouses stop all weddings to avoid marrying homosexuals HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Hundreds of Babies Euthanized Each Year in Netherlands

/1 Comment/in , /by

photo credit: o5comBy Donna Rachel Edmunds. Just over a decade on from assisted dying being legalised in the Netherlands, as many as 1 in 33 Dutch people are thought to have died this way, including 650 babies a year, euthanized so that their parents don’t have to witness them struggle with disability or disease. The escalation in death by euthanasia over the last six years has led one Dutch ethicist, who had been in favour of the law when it was first passed, to warn “some slopes truly are slippery.”

Earlier this week, eighty prominent Britons wrote to the Telegraph calling for a commitment from all the political parties to revisit the question of assisted dying in the next Parliament, if a vote is not taken on the matter before the general election in May.

They wrote: “If there is not enough time for the Bill to complete its stages before the general election then it is imperative that Parliament continues this important debate afterwards.

“We are closer than ever to allowing dying people to have safeguarded choice in how they approach their deaths. Whoever forms the next government must allow time for Parliament to reach consensus on a safeguarded law.” (Read more about the babies euthanized each year in the Netherlands HERE)

___________________________________________________

Pregnant 16 Year Old Killed by Mother and Brother for ‘Family Honor’

By Express News Service. In another case of honour killing, the mother and brother of the pregnant minor girl, whose body was found in the bushes near her home on December 23 under Kandhai police station area in Pratapgarh district, were arrested on Monday for allegedly killing her.

The police said the victim’s brother had come to know about her pregnancy and caught her trying to get in touch with her boyfriend on the night of December 22.

According to the police, ever since the incident came to light they suspected that the teenage girl may have been killed by her own family members in the name of honour.

Following investigations, the police arrested her mother, aged 50, and her 24-year-old brother, who used to run a bicycle repair shop near his house. The girl’s father was, however, not involved in the incident, police said. (Read more from this story HERE)

Multi-Platinum Superstar Rapper Nicki Minaj: My Abortion has Haunted Me All My Life

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: The Daily Signal

Photo Credit: The Daily Signal

By Philip Wegmann. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, rapper Nicki Minaj openly discussed her decision to have an abortion, a choice that she says has “haunted me all my life.”

While attending the prestigious LaGuardia Performing Arts High School in New York and dating an older man from Queens, Minaj discovered she was pregnant. “I was a teenager,” Minaj says. “I thought I was going to die”. . .

In “The Pinkprint,” an album critics have called her most personal work yet, Minaj raps about the decision. On the track “All Things Go,” she mourns that “my child with Aaron would’ve been 16 any minute”. . .

Through emotion-driven rhymes, she raps, “Please baby forgive me, mommy was young, mommy was too busy trying to have fun,” and sings, “Wish I could touch your little face or just hold your little hand; if it’s part of God’s plan, maybe we can meet again.” (Read more about Nicki Minaj saying, “My abortion has haunted me all my life” HERE)

__________________________________________

What the Battle Over Abortion Will Look Like in 2015

By Tierney Sneed. The recent surge in abortion laws — more were enacted between 2011 and 2013 than in the previous decade — met both success and defeat in court challenges in 2014. That fight over women’s access to abortion likely will continue in the months to come, as both houses of U.S. Congress will be Republican-led, as will even more state houses. What issues will be at the battle lines?

Ten states have laws in place banning abortion after 20 weeks; Nebraska was the first to pass theirs, in 2010. . .

As litigation continues, there is reason believe that Congress — with both houses led by Republicans — may also consider a federal ban on abortions performed after the 20th week of pregnancy. The House passed a 20-week ban in 2013, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., refused to bring the Senate version to the floor. At a National Right to Life Conference in July, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R.-Ky.​, who will take over for Reid come January, promised to revive the legislation. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

7th Grader Stopped by Gov’t School from Handing Out Fliers for Religious Event (+video)

/4 Comments/in , , /by

Photo Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP / Getty Images

Photo Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP / Getty Images

A Kansas school blocked a seventh-grader from handing out fliers inviting students to join her in prayer at the school’s flagpole.

Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano called the school’s ban “so obviously wrong and misguided,” noting that students “theoretically” have the same constitutional rights as anyone else.

“Schools can restrain speech if the speech is disruptive,” Napolitano said. “But when the speech is not disruptive and when it’s especially protected by the Constitution, like speech about religion or speech about non-religion, they cannot interfere with it.”

The school issued a statement to Fox News outlining its policy, which prohibits the distribution of religious material on school property before, during and after the school day.

Napolitano says this is unconstitutional unless the school can show that the “mere distribution” interferes with school activity. Napolitano does not believe it has done so. (Read more about the child who was stopped from handing out fliers for religious event HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Planned Parenthood Proudly Aborted 327,653 Babies in 2014

/8 Comments/in , /by

baby2873By Penny Starr. Planned Parenthood clinics did 327,653 abortions in its fiscal year 2014 (which ran from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014), according to Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s newly released annual report.

That works out to an average of 37 abortions per hour or nearly 1 every 90 seconds.

Planned Parenthood also received $528.4 million from government grants and reimbursements, which equaled 41 percent of its revenue.

The federal government is prohibited from paying directly for abortions through Title X family planning grants and reimbursements, however, federal funds do pay for Planned Parenthood operations, including the clinics where abortions are performed.

The 327,653 abortions Planned Parenthood reports that it did in its organizational fiscal 2014 exceeds by 487 the number of abortions it did the previous year. (Read more about Planned Parenthood proudly announcing its “accomplishments” HERE)

_____________________________________________________

Parents Starve 22-Day-Old Baby to Death, Infant Dies in Car Seat as They Ate at Restaurant

By Sarah Zagorski. On December 23, 22-day-old Betsey Stephens died from starvation and neglect after going at least seven hours without nutrition. Her parents, Ruby and Roy Stephens, discovered that their baby was unresponsive when they went to remove her from her car seat.

The family was on a road trip from Tennyson, Indiana to Florida to see relatives for the Holidays when they stopped to eat. Apparently Betsey had been left alone in the car while her parents dined at Golden Corral; and when they returned she was dead. They called 911 but they were too late and Betsey was declared dead at the hospital.

Now Ruby and Roy are being charged with first-degree murder. Mike Link, the assistant chief of Lakeland Police, explained the child’s condition at a press conference.

He said, “‘When I saw the photographs…it shook me to my core because in thirty years, I have never seen anything like that.” At the time of Betsey’s death she weighed only 4Ibs 1 ounce, which is half of what most babies weigh at her age. Link also said that Betsey suffered tremendously for the 22 days she was alive. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Homosexual Accuses Church Members of Beating Him to Remove Demons

/1 Comment/in , /by

inside church2 SCAn embattled North Carolina church is defending itself after five of its members were indicted earlier this month following allegations that they beat a young man in an attempt to rid him of demons they purportedly believed were making him gay.

Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, North Carolina, recently released a statement on its website claiming that Matthew Fenner, the now 21-year-old student who claims he was hit, strangled and held against his will during an alleged incident in 2013, isn’t telling the truth about what happened to him.

The church asked for prayer as the five church members — Brooke McFadden Covington, Sarah Covington Anderson, Justin Brock Covington, Adam Christopher Bartley and Robert Louis Walker Jr. — ”fight to prove their innocence,” according to a statement published on the church’s website. . .

The five individuals accused of beating him have been charged with second degree kidnapping and simple assault, with Sarah Covington Anderson facing an additional charge for purported strangulation. (Read more from the story, “Homosexual Accuses Church Members” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller at Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

City Shuts Down Glee Church Camp

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

By Todd Starnes. It appears that Jesus and jazz hands don’t mix.

That’s the gist of a legal battle in Auburn, N.Y., pitting City Hall against a summer glee camp hosted in the Case Mansion a building owned by the First Presbyterian Church.

The city’s code enforcement officer issued a cease-and-desist order in July — alleging the church’s musical theater glee camp was a zoning violation. And more than five months later – the wheels of justice are finally beginning to turn.

“Immediately cease use of property in an R-2 zone for commercial use,” the order read. “Cease operating a summer glee camp @100/camper in a residential district. This is not an allowable use here”. . .

“Why in the world is the city prosecuting the church over a glee camp?” asked Hiram Sasser, a Liberty Institute attorney defending the church against the city’s prosecution. Liberty Institute has a reputation for taking on religious liberty cases — and Sasser said First Presbyterian definitely has a case. (Read more about the glee church camp shutdown HERE)

___________________________________________________

Chinese Authorities Tear Down Cross on Christian Nursing Home

By Sui-Lee Wee. Chinese authorities have dismantled a cross in a Christian nursing home a week before Christmas, an employee said on Tuesday, the latest example of a growing crackdown on Christianity.

Men dressed in plainclothes removed the cross that was on top of the nursing home in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Dec. 19, said Gao Huifang, a worker at the home.

Activists say the incident is part of a campaign targeting churches throughout Zhejiang province, which is known for its growing Christian population. Hangzhou is the provincial capital.

The dismantling of the cross had stunned residents, and three elderly people fainted on the spot, Gao said. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller at Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Abortionist Who Sold Abortion Pills to Women Who Weren’t Pregnant Loses License

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Life News

Photo Credit: Life News

By Steven Ertelt. Oklahoma abortionist Nareshkumar Gandalal “Naresh” Patel has lost his medical license after the state attorney general brought charges related to his selling the abortion drug to women who were not pregnant.

Patel once faced charges of raping and sodomizing his abortion patients but eventually avoided punishment. Now, Patel has posted a $2,000 bond and has been released from jail and his Outpatient Services for Women abortion facility remains closed for now.

Police raided the Outpatient Services for Women abortion center in Oklahoma City and arrested Patel. The arrest came after a Operation Rescue filed a five-count complaint against him with the State Attorney General’s office, the Oklahoma Health Department, and the Oklahoma Medical Board.

Patel doesn’t face charges related to the rapes or dumping the bodies of abortion babies. Instead, Patel, 62, is accused of obtaining money by false pretenses. Patel lied to women and told them they were pregnant and then put their lives and health at risk by selling them the dangerous RU 486 (mifepristone) abortion pill that has killed dozens and injured thousands of women. (Read more about the abortionist who sold abortion pills to women who weren’t really pregnant HERE)

_________________________________________________

Abortion Industry on Verge of ‘Implosion’

By WND. The “implosion” in America’s abortion industry is continuing, and the only thing that prevents a complete collapse is a series of court injunctions that are preventing various state safety laws from being enforced, according to a new survey of the situation.

“In all, 73 abortion facilities shut down for all or part of the year. The total number of all remaining abortion clinics in the U.S. is currently 739. Surgical abortion facilities account for 551 of that total while the number of medication-only abortion facilities stands at 188,” said the report from Operation Rescue. “Out of 60 surgical abortion clinic closures, 47 were permanent. This represents a 23 percent decline in surgical abortion facilities over the past five years.

“The only things that are preventing total collapse are court injunctions that are blocking several state abortion safety laws from being enforced,” the report said.

The report said 13 surgical facilities were closed, but then allowed to reopen “primarily due to court action that enjoined abortion safety laws that had shut down the substandard facilities.” (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller at Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Court Dismisses Lawsuit by Christian Fire Fighters Forced into Gay Pride Parade

/13 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

After more than 10 years of litigation, the Supreme Court of Rhode Island has thrown out lawsuits by two Christian firefighters who were forced to drive a Providence fire truck in a “gay”-pride parade despite their religious objections.

The firefighters, Theodore Fabrizio and Stephen Deninno, both of whom are Roman Catholic, argued they should not be mandated to participate in such an event since their personal faith neither supports nor condones homosexuality.

Writing for all five members of the high court this month, Justice William Robinson called it a legitimate work assignment, saying their appearance in the 2001 parade as public servants was “relatively anonymous.”

“The respondents’ appearance in the parade, solely as members of the Providence Fire Department, did not constitute a form of expression on their part. Rather, it was simply the accomplishing of a task assigned to an engine company of the Providence Fire Department,” Robinson wrote.

The two lawsuits were originally filed in 2004 against former Mayor Buddy Cianci and James Rattigan, the fire chief of Providence in 2001. (Read more about the Christian fire fighters suit HERE)

Follow Joe Miller at Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.