House Committee Votes Wednesday on Bill Banning Abortions at 20 Weeks

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The full House Judiciary Committee will vote on Wednesday on a Congressional bill that would ban abortions nationwide at 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Last week, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice voted on a party-line vote 6-4 for the bill, with Republicans supporting the ban on late-term abortions and Democrats opposing it.

During the hearing, former abortion practitioner Anthony Levatino told members of the committee the gruesome details of his former abortion practice and how he became pro-life following the tragic automobile accident of his child.

Another bombshell dropped during the hearing came from Dr. Maureen Condic, who is Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She testified that the unborn child is capable of reacting to pain as early as 8-10 weeks. This is when most abortions in America take place.

The committee also saw graphic pictures of babies who were killed by Douglas Karpen, who is considered the second Kermit Gosnell.

Read more from this story HERE.

Homeschooling Growing Seven Times Faster than Public School Enrollment

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As dissatisfaction with the U.S. public school system grows, apparently so has the appeal of homeschooling. Educational researchers, in fact, are expecting a surge in the number of students educated at home by their parents over the next ten years, as more parents reject public schools.

A recent report in Education News states that, since 1999, the number of children who are homeschooled has increased by 75%. Though homeschooled children represent only 4% of all school-age children nationwide, the number of children whose parents choose to educate them at home rather than a traditional academic setting is growing seven times faster than the number of children enrolling in grades K-12 every year.

As homeschooling has become increasingly popular, common myths that have long been associated with the practice of homeschooling have been debunked.

Any concerns about the quality of education children receive by their parents can be put to rest by the consistently high placement of homeschooled students on standardized assessment exams. Data demonstrates that those who are independently educated generally score between the 65th and 89th percentile on these measures, while those in traditional academic settings average at around the 50th percentile. In addition, achievement gaps between sexes, income levels, or ethnicity—all of which have plagued public schools around the country—do not exist in homeschooling environments.

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‘Walking Dead,’ ‘Vampires Diaries’ Actress Arrested in Obama-Bloomberg Ricin Case

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By Tony Maglio. Actress Shannon Richardson has been arrested and charged for allegedly sending ricin-tainted letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a law enforcement official confirmed to TheWrap.

The 36-year-old has appeared in small television roles on “The Vampire Diaries” and “The Walking Dead,” according to her iMDb page.

Richardson is charged with mailing a threatening communication to the President of the United States, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement. According to the arrest affidavit, on May 20, 2013, Richardson is alleged to have actually mailed three letters containing the toxin ricin. The letters were sent to President Barack Obama and Mark Glaze in Washington, D.C., and Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York City. Richardson was arrested today in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and appeared before Judge Craven this afternoon in Texarkana, Texas, for an initial appearance. Read more from this story HERE.

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Texas actress first accuses husband, but she’s arrested in ricin case

By Michael Martinez. Susan Candiotti and Carol Cratty. A Texas actress in a troubled marriage was arrested and charged Friday in connection with ricin-tainted letters that were mailed last month to President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, authorities said.

Shannon Richardson, 35, also known as Shannon Rogers and Shannon Guess, initially told the FBI that her husband, Nathaniel, sent the ricin-laced letters, but a polygraph exam found her to be “deceptive” on the matter, court papers said.

Investigators found that her computer storage devices contained the text of threatening letters sent to the president, but the couple’s computer records show her husband couldn’t have printed them out because he was at work at the time, an FBI arrest affidavit said.

On Thursday, Shannon Richardson told investigators she mailed the ricin-tainted letters, but she claimed that her husband typed the letters and forced her to print and mail them, the affidavit said.

Her husband denied involvement and claimed his wife wanted to end their marriage and leave him, the affidavit said. He told investigators that his wife was “intentionally misleading” them, the court papers said. Read more from this story HERE.

Delaware ‘Meat-Market’ Abortion Facility Back in Business

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By Ben Johnson. Delaware public health officials have allowed a Planned Parenthood facility that two former nurses likened to a “meat-market” to reopen.

State officials allowed the Planned Parenthood office in Wilmington to go back into business after accepting the state chapter’s plan to correct the 14 health and safety violations inspectors found in April…

The state and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited the facility, and state Attorney General Beau Biden called its abortionist, Dr. Timothy Liveright, “a clear and immediate danger to the public”…

Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich, who quit her job as a nurse in the office after 27 days, told Jill Stanek [that the clinic’s abortionist] Liveright would ogle, slap, or play peek-a-boo with his patients.

He would also sing hymns to Jesus while performing abortions, including one with the lyrics: “Jesus, oh Jesus, take the sinners down by the river, Oh Jesus.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Planned Parenthood “House of Horrors” Clinic That Botched Five Abortions Reopens

By Steven Ertelt. A filthy Planned Parenthood abortion clinic that botched five abortions this year alone and was closed by state officials is reopening in Wilmington, Delaware.

As LifeNews has reported, the Delaware Planned Parenthood clinic has experienced five botched abortion emergencies in less than five weeks. Since then, one abortionist and two employees have left Planned Parenthood in Wilmington, Delaware, as a result of the scandal.

The clinic was under the investigation of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services and the Delaware Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline.

Former Planned Parenthood nurses Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich and Joyce Vasikonis told legslators recently of a “meat-market style of assembly-line abortions where the abortionist refused to wear gloves, surgical instruments were reused without being cleaned, and “bloody drainage” remained on abortion tables between procedures, exposing women to blood-borne diseases.”

“It was just unsafe. I can’t tell you how ridiculously unsafe it was,” said Mitchell-Werbrich. “Planned Parenthood needs to close its doors, it needs to be cleaned up, the staff needs to be trained.” Read more from this story HERE.

Francis Gets Personal: ‘I Didn’t Want to be Pope’

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Pope Francis revealed Friday that he never wanted to be pope and that he’s living in the Vatican hotel for his “psychiatric” health.

Francis showed a personal and spontaneous side as he met with thousands of children from Jesuit schools across Italy and Albania. Tossing aside his prepared remarks, Francis surprised the kids by asking them if they’d like to ask him some questions instead.

“Yes!” they shouted to cheers and applause – and the concern of teachers who fretted that no one had prepared anything.

Answering their questions one by one, Francis told them the decision to become a priest had been difficult and that he had suffered “moments of interior darkness” when “you feel dry, without interior joy.”

But he said he went ahead because he loved Christ.

Read more from this story HERE.

Prolife Leaders Believe Obama Should be Impeached for Unlawful Surveillance

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Troy Newman of Operation Rescue told LifeSiteNews.com he was not at all surprised by the revelation that the U.S. government is spying on its own citizens.

“It’s finally out,” Newman said. “These are the things that we have been suspecting and confirming and warning people about for at least the last 20 years. With the advent of technology, it’s become much easier for the government to spy upon us and monitor our conversations. Before, it was just our mail and telephone. Now, it’s obviously cell phones and all internet interactions.”

Newman linked the administration’s disregard for the most vulnerable human life with its apparent disregard for privacy rights, saying, “If killing children in the womb is a constitutional right, then we have no civil rights in this country. Everything else can be stripped away from us. So, this ought not surprise anyone.”

But just because Newman is not surprised by the government’s spying does not mean he doesn’t want to see the people responsible punished.

Asked what he thinks is the proper response to the news of the NSA’s intelligence gathering efforts centered on ordinary Americans, Newman said, “I think Obama should be impeached.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Study: Facial Expressions of Unborn Babies in the Womb Show They Feel Pain

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A newly-published research study shows unborn children are capable of feeling pain in the womb, as evidenced by the grimaces they show in their facial expressions…

Researchers from Durham and Lancaster Universities in England say unborn babies learn to show pain in their facial expressions as part of the process of fetal development. They took 15 scans of healthy unborn children and found that, when responding to painful stimuli, the babies were capable of one-dimensional expressions of pain in their faces at 24 weeks — such as moving their lips in a negative fashion.

At the 36th week of pregnancy, the researchers found unborn children can perform complex multi-dimensional facial expressions similar to what children make after birth.

Read more from this story HERE.

Women’s Conference Attended by Melinda Gates Champions Peter Singer Who Says Coercive Population Controls Necessary Because of Religion

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Bioethicist Peter Singer compared women and children to cows overgrazing a field and said that women’s reproductive rights may one day have to be sacrificed for the environment. He made the remarks at the global Women Deliver Conference last week, hailed as the most important meeting to focus on women and girls’ human rights in a decade.

The controversial Princeton University professor, known for championing infanticide and bestiality, was a featured panelist on Thursday at the three-day Women Deliver conference attended by Melinda Gates and more than 4,000 abortion and contraception activists in Kuala Lumpur.

Singer said that since the world’s affluent are not likely to restrain their high rate of consumption compared to the world’s poor any time soon, and since it’s possible that family planning efforts may “turn out to be not enough…we ought to consider what other things there are that we can do …in order to try stave off some of the worst consequences of the environmental catastrophes…”

“It’s possible of course, that we give women reproductive choices, that we meet the unmet need for contraception but that we find that the number of children that women choose to have is still such that population continues to rise in a way that causes environmental problems,” he said. Women have more children because of their “ideological or religious views.”

…Singer, who has also argued the case for bestowing international human rights on primates, said it is “appropriate to consider whether women’s reproductive rights are ‘fundamental’ and unalterable or whether, in bioethicist speak, they are ‘prima facie’ – good and important to respect but there can be imaginable circumstances in which you may be justified in overriding them.”

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Court Win in Girl’s Lung Transplant Case (+video)

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A federal court judge has granted a temporary order that will allow 10-year-old Sarah Murnaghan, who is dying from cystic fibrosis and desperately needs new lungs, to join an adult organ transplant list.

The judge has scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing for June 14, MyFoxPhilly reported.

Judge Michael Baylson made his ruling after hearing oral arguments Wednesday afternoon on a federal lawsuit filed by Sarah’s parents, challenging the “Under 12 Rule” that was keeping the 10-year-old off the adult transplant list.

Baylson’s order tells Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to direct the group that manages the organ transplant list to cease application of it in Sarah’s case.

And if there is another child in the judicial district in Sarah’s situation, the judge would consider and probably grant a temporary restraining order for them, too, if the case is presented in court.

Read more from this story HERE.

Court Order: Generic Morning-After Pills Must Be On Sale to All Ages in US, Without Restriction

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Generic versions of emergency contraception can be sold without a prescription or age restrictions while the federal government appeals a judge’s ruling allowing the sales, an appeals court said Wednesday.

The brief order issued by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan permitted two-pill versions of emergency contraception to immediately be sold without restrictions, but the court refused to allow unrestricted sales of Plan B One-Step until it decides the merits of the government’s appeal. It did not specify why the two-pill versions were being allowed now, though it said the government failed to meet the requirements necessary to block the lower-court decision.

The order was welcomed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, where President Nancy Northup called it a “historic day for women’s health.”

“Finally, after more than a decade of politically motivated delays, women will no longer have to endure intrusive, onerous and medically unnecessary restrictions to get emergency contraception,” she said in a statement.

The center’s litigation director, Julie Rickelman, said the government has two weeks to decide whether to appeal the 2nd Circuit’s decision on the stay to the full appeals court or the Supreme Court. Even if there is no appeal of the stay ruling, it was unclear how soon drugstores would move the two-pill emergency contraception from behind the counter. She said she hoped the pills would be available without restriction within a month.

Read more from this story HERE.