N.C. House Approves Restrictive Abortion Legislation

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Photo Credit: Gerry BroomeRepublican lawmakers pushed ahead Thursday with their demand for new rules at North Carolina’s abortion clinics, saying they will make the procedure safer for women. Opponents argued it was a blatant attempt to shut down clinics and curb a woman’s right to choose.

The House voted 74-41 to approve new rules after a highly-charged, three-hour debate watched from the gallery by advocates on both sides of the issue.

The bill directs state regulators to change standards for abortion clinics to bring them in line with more regulated outpatient surgical centers. It also requires doctors to be present for an entire surgical abortion and when a patient takes the first dose for a chemically induced abortion.

The bill was tweaked after Republican Gov. Pat McCrory threatened to veto a separate bill approved quickly by the Senate last week. The governor said he supported more safety measures but was worried it would result in restricting a woman’s access to an abortion.

House leaders adjusted the Senate’s language with input from McCrory’s top health agency administrator. The standards have not been changed since 1994, officials have said. The governor hasn’t spoken publicly about the updated measure, which now must return to the GOP-led Senate next week. It would have to get approved there before it goes to McCrory’s desk.

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Federal Appeals Court Rejects Christian University’s Request to Overturn ObamaCare

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Photo Credit: APA federal appeals court in Virginia on Thursday rejected a Christian university’s bid to overturn the Obama administration’s health care law.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing Liberty University’s lawsuit.

Liberty argued the employer health insurance mandate of the Affordable Care Act violates the school’s religious rights by requiring it to provide coverage for abortion inducing drugs. The appeals court found no merit in the claim.

“Plaintiffs present no plausible claim that the act substantially burdens their free exercise of religion, by forcing them to facilitate or support abortion or otherwise,” Judge James A. Wynn Jr. wrote in the opinion. He wrote the law “allows an individual to obtain, and an employer to offer, a plan that covers no abortion services at all.”

The opinion was joined by Judges Andre M. Davis and Diana Gribbon Motz. Davis and Wynn are Obama appointees, and Motz was appointed by Bill Clinton. The same panel in 2011 ruled Liberty’s lawsuit was premature. The Supreme Court upheld the health care law in another case in June 2012, and in November the justices ordered the appeals court to reconsider Liberty’s case in light of that ruling.

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Bill O’Reilly Believes that Preachers Should be Jailed for Telling Homosexuals They’re Going to Hell (+video)

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In a pathetic exchange with Fox Commentator John Stossel, Bill O’Reilly maintains that a preacher should not be allowed to tell homosexuals that they’re going to hell.

O’Reilly pontificated that “that should be against the law.” In O’Reilly’s view, preaching hell as a consequence to sin brings “intentional personal anguish” to the homosexual and he or she should be protected from such words.

Stossel weakly pushed back, suggesting that the line should be drawn at “fighting words” but O’Reilly interrupted retorting, “Well, going to Hell is pretty violent…”

O’Reilly concluded that no one should be able to “terrorize someone” because of disagreements over beliefs.

Michael Lohan Interview-Opens Up About His Daughter Lindsay and Their Battle With Addiction

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Photo Credit: Irish CentralWhen you hear the name Lohan, you think celebrity and celebrity rehab in the same instant. Michael Lohan’s long struggle with substance abuse has been public and painful for himself as well as his family. It contributed to his stint in prison and helped lead to the dissolution of his marriage.

As if to magnify the havoc addiction can wreak on a family, his daughter Lindsay has followed in her father’s footsteps of addiction to drugs and alcohol.

The talented actress has damaged her promising movie career and her reputation, with many public and embarrassing moments over the years. Some of this behavior has lead to legal troubles and jail time…..she is presently in court ordered rehab at Cliffside Malibu.

Following his 2011 stint on TV as a patient in Dr. Drew Pinsky’s Celebrity Rehab, Michael says he’s done a lot of reflecting. He realized in his explosive last episode, that a switch of anger had been turned on by the dysfunction of his relationship with his girlfriend Kim. This lead to an emotional shouting match and confrontation on television…Michael was ultimately jailed for domestic abuse following another argument with Kim after release from Celebrity Rehab. At the time Dr. Drew called his relationship with Kim, “toxic.” See Dr. Drew calls it quits in “Hollywoodite”

Michael says he’s now clean and sober, working with others to promote a way, for not only celebrities to seek treatment for their addictions, but for those in all walks of life. He is actively working with the Lukens Institute, expanding their services through A.I.R., Aid in Recovery.

Recently Michael met and befriended the “Tan Mom,” Patricia Krentcil and helped her into rehab. Known for her leathery skin due to her addiction to the tanning booth, Krentcil gained national infamy for supposedly dragging her 5 year old daughter into the booth as well, trying to tint daughter like mother. She was subsequently arrested for child endangerment and was just recently reported to be in rehab for alcohol addiction. See catching up with Tan Mom.

As I talked with Michael, the conversation easily flowed, he was especially animated about how the Lukens Institute focuses on treating the trauma in an addict’s life. “People need to get to the root of their problems before they can address their other problems.” “They treat the trauma first, not just putting a band aid on the wound.” People have a switch that can be triggered by their trauma and it can lead them back to their addictions.

Michaels divorce from his wife Dina inflicted a great trauma on his children, including Lindsay and that can be hard to heal. He feels that has played a role in Lindsay’s struggles with drugs and alcohol and the divorce was particularly hard on Lindsay, impacting her as the eldest child.

But those hurts can be healed, as Michael shared:

“People don’t realize I now have a great loving relationship with my kids including Lindsay” and “I’m the only one Lindsay wanted to have visit while she was staying at the Betty Ford Rehab Center.” She stayed at Betty Ford prior to being moved to her present facility, Cliffside Malibu. Michael said he is happy she is as Cliffside because they treat the trauma that is at the root of addiction.

Michael is hoping his daughter will get the treatment she needs at her present facility….But grim statistics show that many thousands of people die from the epidemic of addiction in our country.

I asked Dr. William Hanna, Clinical Director at the highly rated west coast addiction treatment facility called Reflections, to offer an opinion, regarding trauma being at the root of addiction:

“It has become apparent that this increasingly undeniable recognition, on the part of myself as therapist, clinician, and clinical director; has propelled me to assist hundreds of individuals through “trauma-work”.

“Once the traumatic genesis of symptoms has been established, then the meaningful psychotherapy begins. In trauma-work, the therapist’s presence is ideally that of an authentically-interested and involved and utterly reliable witness who is able to willingly hear, absorb, and accept profoundly-impactful, emotion-laden, and frequently disturbing information about the life of the resident. Therapy for the trauma client must take place in a context of safety and trust in which the resident feels free to engage in unrestricted memory and affective experiences. Under these conditions the trauma client is much more likely to be revealing and willing to participate in the process of disclosing, healing, and recovery. Louise McCallion, Executive Director and myself have carefully and strategically chosen Reflections‘ “clinical team”, in order for us to be professionally-competent and significantly-empathic to do the deep work that we are known for.” For more from Dr. Hanna at Reflections, click here.

Celebrities like the Lohans can be ridiculed for their public meltdowns and failures, but more than likely if they weren’t under the influence of their addictions to drugs and alcohol, none of that behavior would have occurred.

Very few addicts get the national exposure the Lohans attract and perhaps through their public ordeals, there can be some triumphs that can help lead others to a new way of living.

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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Hundreds Call to Adopt Down Syndrome Baby, Save it From Abortion

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Photo Credit: Carolyn KasterWhen the Rev. Thomas Vander Woude learned about a young couple planning to abort their unborn baby that had been diagnosed with Down syndrome, the priest reached out and offered a deal: Deliver the child and he would help find an appropriate adoptive family…

The woman, who has not been identified for her privacy and her protection, was just shy of six months pregnant and lives in a state that prohibits abortions past 24 weeks — which meant he had a short time to find a family willing to make a lifelong commitment.

So Father Vander Woude, the lead pastor at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Gainesville, Va., approached a volunteer who helped manage the church’s social media pages, and she posted an urgent plea on Facebook early Monday morning.

“There is a couple in another state who have contacted an adoption agency looking for a family to adopt their Down Syndrome unborn baby. If a couple has not been found by today they plan to abort the baby. If you are interested in adopting this baby please contact Fr. VW IMMEDIATELY,” the post read. “We are asking all to pray for this baby and the wisdom that this couple realize the importance of human life and do not abort this beautiful gift from God”…

[A church staff member was astounded by the response, saying] the church received phone calls from all over the United States and around the world, including from England, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands.

Read more from this story HERE.

Woman Declared ‘Dead’ Awakens Just Before Doctors Harvest Her Organs

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsImagine waking up to see operating room lights and doctors standing over you, armed with scalpels and other operating tools.

That’s exactly what happened to 41-year-old Colleen Burns, who had arrived at the emergency room at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, N.Y., over a week earlier suffering from a drug overdose, Counsel and Heal reported. Mistakenly believing Burns to be dead, doctors at the center were about to harvest the woman’s organs for transplant, before she opened her eyes.

The 2009 incident is detailed in a recently revealed report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which also lists the series of mistakes by doctors that led to the terrible event.

Burns had been found unresponsive, likely due to an overdose of Xanax and Benadryl. According to the report, hospital specialists recommended treating her with activated charcoals in order to stop the drugs from being absorbed into her stomach and intestines – but the staff failed to follow through with this recommendation.

Burns eventually spent over a week at the hospital, with nothing being done to stop the drugs from being absorbed into her system. She started to suffer from seizures, though CT scans revealed her brain was normal.

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Gallup: Americans More Pro-Life than Pro-Choice

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photo credit: wht_wolf9653Many Republican insiders continue to push the narrative that the GOP lost in 2012 because of the Hispanic vote and social issues, rather than because a badly broken Republican nomination process produced a candidate who didn’t emphasize Obamacare and didn’t motivate downscale rural white Americans to vote. In light of this ongoing debate, it’s worth revisiting Gallup’s illuminating polling on abortion.

Gallup’s most recent polling on the issue, taken this spring, indicates that more Americans actually regard themselves as “pro-life” than “pro-choice.” According to the poll, 48 percent of Americans say they are “pro-life,” while 45 percent say they are “pro-choice.” What’s more, opposition to abortion is rather plainly on the rise, as those numbers were effectively flipped ten years ago — and as, in the mid-1990s, the number of people who considered themselves “pro-choice” outpaced the number who considered themselves “pro-life” by about 20 percentage points.

Another finding from Gallup’s polling, however, is perhaps even more illuminating. Those who work in America’s newsrooms are overwhelmingly in favor of abortion’s legality…

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The Next Gay Marriage Battle? ACLU Files First-Known Lawsuit Over State Bans on Same-Sex unions

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Photo Credit: APThe battle over gay marriage forges on. Civil rights lawyers said they filed the first known legal challenge Tuesday on behalf of 23 men, women and children seeking to overturn a state law effectively banning same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania, the only northeastern state that doesn’t allow it or civil unions.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Harrisburg, also will ask a federal judge to prevent state officials from stopping gay couples from getting married. It names Gov. Tom Corbett, Attorney General Kathleen Kane and three other officials. The plaintiffs are one widow, 10 couples and one of the couples’ two teenage daughters, and they include four couples who were legally married in other states but whose marriages go unrecognized by the state of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania would become the 14th state to legalize gay marriage if the lawsuit is successful. It also would force the state to recognize the legal marriages of all same-sex couples in other jurisdictions.

The plaintiffs, some of whom spoke during a news conference in the state Capitol after the lawsuit was filed, said their willingness to join was driven partly by a desire to have the same legal and financial protections afforded to opposite-sex couples, but mostly by the emotional satisfaction of seeking social justice.

“Everyone in our world recognizes us as a true family,” said Deb Whitewood, 45, who lives in the Pittsburgh suburb of Bridgeville with her partner of 22 years, Susan Whitewood, and their three children. “We feel that it’s time that the commonwealth of Pennsylvania did, too.”

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Preacher Arrested for Calling Homosexuality a Sin (+video)

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An American evangelist said he was arrested and interrogated about his Christian faith after he was caught on a London sidewalk preaching that homosexuality is a sin.

Tony Miano, a retired deputy sheriff and former chaplain with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept., was charged with “using homophobic speech that could cause people anxiety, distress, alarm or insult.”

Miano had been preaching on a London street corner during the Wimbledon Tennis Championships with a ministry group called Sports Fan Outreach International.

He was preaching about immoral living – and cited homosexuality as an example of lifestyle choices that are contrary to biblical teaching.

“I never used any gay slurs,” he said. “You would never hear me using slang or discriminatory language against homosexuals or any other group. That would be contrary to my faith.”

See video here:

[police arrive at the 25:40 mark]

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New State Laws Forcing Almost All Abortion Clinics in Some States to Shut Down

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Photo Credit: APWhile much of the national abortion debate has focused on late-term abortions, pro-life forces are scoring major victories with new laws and regulations that in effect would force many — if not all — abortion clinics in a state to shut down.

This battle over clinic regulations shifted into high gear in Texas on Monday as state lawmakers moved closer to passing a bill that advocates on both sides say would force all but a handful of the state’s 67 abortion providers to close.

In a report released Monday, the Guttmacher Institute said that states’ efforts to restrict abortion — including clinic regulations — were on pace to exceed those enacted in 2012. The institute also reported that there were nearly 3,000 U.S. abortion providers in the early 1990s and fewer than 1,800 providers since 2008.

Abortion rights supporters say regulations, many passed in states where Republicans dominate the legislatures, are not-too-subtle efforts to drive clinics out of business and deny women their rights to abortion, even while allowing abortion to remain nominally legal on the books. Techniques include raising treatment standards clinics must meet, blocking relationships with public hospitals and banning online technology that enables abortion doctors to treat patients in remote locations.

“Extremist politicians” made “a blatant attempt to shutter the Red River Women’s Clinic, the sole abortion provider in North Dakota, with a law that would require the clinic’s doctors to unnecessarily have admitting privileges at a local hospital,” said the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is planning to block the law in state court this summer. Pro-choice activists call these measures targeted restriction of abortion providers (TRAP) laws.

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