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Federal Court Upholds Kentucky Law on Abortion

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In a 2-1 ruling, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 1998 Kentucky law on Friday requiring abortionists to have written arrangements with hospitals and ambulance services before killing babies.

A baby-killing clinic in Kentucky challenged the law in 2017 after the state found the clinic lacked proper arrangements to care for women as required under the law.

The decision reversed a lower court ruling that claimed the law would leave Kentuckian women desirous of abortions without a clinic and violated constitutionally-protected rights to due process, the Associated Press reported. But the court ruled on Friday that the lower court erred in its conclusion that the clinic would be forced to shut down. The ruling notes the Kentuckian law allows abortion clinics to apply for a 90-day waiver and continue to operate. (Read more from “Federal Court Upholds Kentucky Law on Abortion” HERE)

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Facebook Censors Ad Slamming Biden and Harris Over Abortion Extremism

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On Friday, Facebook prevented the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List from running ads in swing states slamming Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, for their extreme pro-abortion stances. Facebook cited a fact-check from The Dispatch, Steve Hayes’ outlet, but The Dispatch later withdrew the fact-check and issued an apology. As of Friday afternoon, Facebook has kept up the “partly false information” flag despite The Dispatch’s apology. . .

Facebook claimed that ads “must not include claims debunked by third-party fact checkers or, in certain circumstances, claims debunked by organizations with particular expertise. Advertisers that repeatedly post misinformation may have permanent restrictions placed on their ability to advertise on Facebook.” . . .

“Our ad makes the same factual argument Vice President Pence made about the Biden-Harris record in support of late-term abortions during the vice presidential debate, an argument Kamala Harris didn’t bother refuting herself,” the SBA List president explained. “Our argument is also backed by the Democratic Party platform, which flatly calls for no limits on abortion.”

Dannenfelser noted that Facebook shut down similar pro-life ads from SBA List in 2018, but the company later apologized. “Now they have outsourced their censorship to the anti-Trump press, continually waging a suppression campaign specifically targeting pro-life conservative voices. We refuse to be silenced.” (Read more from “Facebook Censors Ad Slamming Biden and Harris Over Abortion Extremism” HERE)

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President Donald Trump Expands Executive Order Defunding International Planned Parenthood

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President Donald Trump took another step to defund the abortion industry Monday through a new proposed rule to expand the Mexico City Policy.

The pro-life policy has been in place during Republican presidential administrations since Ronald Reagan, defunding the International Planned Parenthood Federation and other abortion groups of hundreds of millions of tax dollars.

But Trump has done more to protect life than other Republican presidents. In 2017, he expanded the policy to cut off more streams of revenue to international non-governmental agencies (NGOs) that promote and/or provide abortions. The rule defunded Planned Parenthood’s international arm of about $100 million and the British abortion chain Marie Stopes International of about $73 million in U.S. tax dollars.

The new proposed rule could lead to even more cuts to pro-abortion groups.

Released Monday in the Federal Register, it would require all groups that receive global health aid contracts to agree not to promote and/or provide elective abortions, The Hill reports. Those that refuse would not receive taxpayer funding. (Read more from “President Donald Trump Expands Executive Order Defunding International Planned Parenthood” HERE)

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Activist Paints ‘Baby Lives Matter’ Outside Planned Parenthood

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Anti-abortion activist Tayler Hansen painted the phrase “Baby Lives Matter” on the street outside two women’s health clinics in Charlotte, N.C., this week.

The first one was painted outside of a Planned Parenthood facility, and the other was painted on the street near a clinic called, “A Preferred Women’s Health Center.”

Hansen said he is “trying to raise awareness in a truly peaceful way.” He’s painted the same phrase in Salt Lake City, Richmond and Washington.

WBTV’s Sky 3 took a picture of the mural outside the Planned Parenthood clinic, before it was painted over by other activists.

Local newspaper Queen City Nerve reported Thursday that Hansen’s painting outside the Planned Parenthood facility was covered with phrases such as, “Your body, your choice,” and “BLM.” (Read more from “Activist Paints ‘Baby Lives Matter’ Outside Planned Parenthood” HERE)

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University Professor Threatens to Dismiss Students Who Openly Oppose Abortion, BLM

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An Iowa State University professor is coming under fire after she issued a syllabus threatening discipline against students who undertook projects that opposed Black Lives Matter and abortion.

Labeled a “GIANT WARNING,” the portion of the syllabus banned “instances of othering,” which it defined as “sexism, ableism, homophobia,” and a variety of other things. “The same goes for any papers/projects: you cannot choose any topic that takes at its base that one side doesn’t deserve the same basic human rights as you do (ie: no arguments against gay marriage, abortion, Black Lives Matter, etc). I take this seriously,” it added.

Young America’s Foundation, a conservative youth organization, released a screenshot of the syllabus on Monday, claiming that it came from a professor named Chloe Clark. According to Iowa State’s website, the course, English 250, is for “written, oral, visual, and electronic composition.” The course is required as part of students’ “Communication Proficiency” requirement for graduation.

In a statement to Fox News, the university described the syllabus as “inconsistent” with its commitment to the First Amendment.

“The syllabus statement as written was inconsistent with the university’s standards and its commitment to the First Amendment rights of students,” a statement from the taxpayer-funded university read. (Read more from “University Professor Threatens to Dismiss Students Who Openly Oppose Abortion, BLM” HERE)

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Biden’s Terrifying Promise: To Undo ALL Trump Pro-Life Policies If Elected

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By Life Site News. In his Agenda for Women released Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden promised to restore domestic and overseas funding to the abortion industry. The Trump administration has made an effort not to finance abortions with federal money.

Biden dedicated one section of his Agenda for Women to “Reproductive Health,” which is generally a reference to abortion. The former vice president under President Barack Obama said he “will work to codify Roe v. Wade, and his Justice Department will do everything in its power to stop the rash of state laws that so blatantly violate Roe v. Wade.” . . .

Joe Biden said he wanted to repeal the Hyde Amendment by reissuing “guidance specifying that states cannot refuse Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood and other providers and reverse the Trump Administration’s rule preventing these organizations from obtaining Title X funds.” . . .

Biden’s plan would, accordingly, enable women to abort their babies using taxpayer money. (Read more from “Biden’s Terrifying Promise: To Undo ALL Trump Pro-Life Policies If Elected” HERE)

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Joe Biden Can’t Claim to Be a Catholic When He Deviates From Catholic Teachings on Abortion

By Mary D. Wood. For the Associated Press to quote someone identifying Joe Biden “as a very devout Catholic and person of deep faith” is a bold slap on the Catholic religion’s principles of belief (“Biden campaign shines a light on his faith,” July 19). As a lifelong Catholic, I follow the basic truths of my faith, which teaches that abortion is a sin. Joe Biden is a pretend Catholic. . .

Embracing just some of the church’s teachings does not make you a “devout Catholic.” It makes you a fraudulent Catholic. (Read more from “Joe Biden Can’t Claim to Be a Catholic When He Deviates From Catholic Teachings on Abortion” HERE)

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Planned Parenthood Finally Admits That Its Founder Was a Horrific Bigot; Abortion Giant to Remove Margaret Sanger’s Name

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Planned Parenthood Finally Admits That Its Founder Was a Horrific Bigot

By New York Post. Planned Parenthood is finally removing the name of Margaret Sanger, its founder, from its Manhattan clinic — ending decades of denial about her horrid, racist views.

Just four years ago, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America did admit it was wrong of Sanger to speak to the Ku Klux Klan in 1926. And to support the sterilization of the disabled and “placing so-called illiterates, paupers, unemployables, criminals, prostitutes and dope fiends on farms and in open spaces as long as necessary for the strengthening and development of moral conduct.”

But it refused to confront her words such as: “The most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.” (Read more from “Planned Parenthood Finally Admits That Its Founder Was a Horrific Bigot” HERE)

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Planned Parenthood to Remove Margaret Sanger’s Name From Center Over ‘Racist Legacy’

By The Hill. Planned Parenthood of Greater New York (PPGNY) announced Tuesday that it will remove the name of Margaret Sanger, who founded the national organization, because of her racist legacy and her connections to the eugenics movement.

Planned Parenthood’s Manhattan Margaret Sanger Health Center will be renamed, and city officials are working to rename the nearby Margaret Sanger Square. The organization said the new name would be announced soon.

Sanger, who was a nurse, established the first birth control clinic in the U.S., which would eventually become the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

PPGNY said the decision came out of “a public commitment to reckon with its founder’s harmful connections to the eugenics movement.”

Eugenics is a discredited, racist theory that states the human race can be “improved” through selective breeding of those with “desirable” traits. The theory often targeted poor people, people of color, those with disabilities and other marginalized groups. (Read more from “Planned Parenthood to Remove Margaret Sanger’s Name From Center Over ‘Racist Legacy'” HERE)

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John Roberts Screws Protectors of Life Again, Strikes Down Louisiana’s Abortion Law

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The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Louisiana abortion law, handing a win to abortion rights advocates who feared the conservative court would break with past rulings to rein in protections that emerged from the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade.

The justices voted 5-4 to invalidate Louisiana’s admitting-privilege law in the first major abortion ruling of the Trump era, which came after the court struck down a nearly identical Texas restriction four years ago.

The ruling, which underscored the razor-thin voting margin over abortion rights, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court’s four liberals, is likely to make future Supreme Court decisions over a woman’s right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy an even more pressing issue in the coming presidential election.

The decision is also the clearest indication yet that the court, which now tilts more conservative with the addition of President Trump’s two nominees, is pursuing a more restrained approach than many abortion rights advocates feared.

In a concurring opinion, Roberts said his vote was guided by deference to prior rulings, particularly the court’s 2016 decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which struck down a nearly identical Texas law. (Read more from “John Roberts Screws Protectors of Life Again, Strikes Down Louisiana’s Abortion Law” HERE)

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State Bans Abortions for Babies With Down syndrome

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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced that he will sign a bill banning abortions at the detection of a heartbeat, which is around six weeks into the pregnancy.

The state’s Legislature passed the abortion bill backed by the Republican governor and opposed by Democrats as budget negotiations stalled after midnight, FOX 17 reports.

. . .The bill requires an ultrasound to be conducted before an abortion and would prohibit physicians to perform an abortion based on “sex, race or disability diagnosis of the unborn child.”

While there is an exception for medical emergencies, there are no exceptions in the bill for women who are victims of rape or incest. Both sides claim they are protecting the health of mothers.

Though critics said it won’t hold up in court, Lee claimed it was “enhanced” to be more likely to survive due to its “ladder” provision, similar to the Missouri bill, “of sequential abortion prohibitions at two-week gestational age intervals, along with severability clauses for each step of the ladder.” (Read more from “State Bans Abortions for Babies With Down syndrome” HERE)

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I’m an ER Physician. Here’s Why Abortion Isn’t an ‘Essential Health Service.’

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Although we appear to be “flattening the curve” of the COVID-19 pandemic, with governors slowly lifting stay-at-home orders and hospitals beginning to schedule surgeries again, infection spikes in certain regions remain a possibility.

Throughout the coming months, we need to focus as a society on medical care that will not only help us survive but thrive.

Working in emergency rooms as an emergency medicine physician of more than 20 years, I’m particularly concerned that abortion activists have been promoting and advocating abortion as an “essential health service.”

An essential health service is a health care action or medical procedure that is essential to protecting the life of a human. But the truth is that rather than helping women through this pandemic, abortion is more likely to worsen the toll of illness.

Any decision about a medical procedure as serious as terminating a pregnancy must be made with facts and an assessment of risks. When medical equipment is scarce and many resources must be directed toward treating victims of COVID-19, continuing to perform abortions is medically irresponsible.

Here are three key facts:

1. The stress of COVID-19 adds to abortion’s emotional toll.

Abortion is known to result in mental health issues, and COVID-19 is likely to exacerbate those negative effects. Anxiety and fear have exploded during this time as many Americans suffer from prolonged isolation and economic challenges.

Calls to the federal mental health crisis hotline are nearly 900% greater than this time last year. According to Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly half (45%) of adults in the United States reported that their mental health has been affected negatively due to worry and stress over the coronavirus.

Combined with the emotional toll of abortion, the impact of this stress is amplified. Abortion long has been associated with serious, adverse mental health outcomes such as depression, grief, persistent sadness, and elevated stress—many of the same mental health challenges we are seeing from COVID-19.

Losing a baby, whether from abortion or a spontaneous miscarriage, causes emotional pain. Women who have abortions face higher rates of depression.

Data shows an increase in the number of suicide attempts by women who previously had an abortion. In fact, women who get abortions are at a 154% increased risk of suicide, according to the Southern Medical Journal.

What’s more, we know that women sometimes are coerced into abortion as a result of domestic abuse. Claiming that abortion is an “essential health service” only will minimize the emotional risks, fueling this cycle of violence and pressure.

At a time when domestic abuse afflicts more women than ever before, we need to respect and support women, not encourage them to get abortions.

2. Complications from abortion are more dangerous during a pandemic.

Complications from an abortion are a significant risk—even more so during a pandemic with an over-stressed health care system. I’ve seen firsthand the life-threatening medical complications that stem from an abortion procedure.

This type of crisis is often the result of abortion clinics not being equipped to provide the necessary emergency care. Instead, they send women to the ER.

Abortion itself carries risks of infection and increases the likelihood of women needing additional medical supervision and treatment. Also, blood loss, inflammatory stress, and other adverse outcomes from abortion can compromise a woman’s health and immune system, which makes her more susceptible to contracting a virus.

Chemical abortions, such as by the brand-name drug Mifeprex, are no safer. Typically 5% to 7% of women who undergo a chemical abortion require surgical follow-up procedures. Experimenting with an abortion at home—especially right now—is very dangerous.

3. COVID-19 doesn’t affect pregnancies.

I have heard from pregnant women who are worried that continuing a pregnancy during COVID-19 could be harmful. I understand their concerns, but the available data suggests that pregnant women do not suffer from coronavirus infections.

And as yet there is no evidence of vertical transmission of the coronavirus from mother to baby; the virus hasn’t been found in breast milk or amniotic fluid after birth. To date, the research shows that women infected with the coronavirus during pregnancy don’t have a higher incidence of compromised health or unhealthy babies.

Some women may be considering abortion because they fear that increased doctor visits and a hospital birth might expose them and their family at home to COVID-19. In actuality, abortion puts women at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 than their pregnancy does.

Abortion has long-term detrimental effects on a woman, the data shows. Our nation desperately needs more love and hope, and less death and despair.

The reality is that if women who face unplanned pregnancies view abortion as the “healthy” option, we know that it is in fact a fatal deception.

As a physician who deals with death daily in the ER, I can say that death of any kind is horrific. I believe we can and must protect the lives of both the young and the old, and this includes protecting preborn human life. (For more from the author of “I’m an ER Physician. Here’s Why Abortion Isn’t an ‘Essential Health Service.’” please click HERE)

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