Anti-Abortion Group: If ‘Black Lives Matter,’ What About the 16 Million Black Babies Killed in Abortions?

Do these types of comments go too far?

Wesley J. Smith writes in lifenews.com:

“…(I)f you really want to find the source of missing African-American voters, it is estimated that more than 16 million African-American babies weren’t born because of abortion.

“If you really want to find missing black voters, that’s where I think the finger should be pointed. Because of Roe v. Wade, and what some believe to be the targeting of African-Americans by the abortion industry, there are millions of black voters who never had a chance to cast a ballot.”

(Updated report)

http://www.lifenews.com/2015/05/15/if-black-lives-matter-what-about-the-16-million-black-babies-killed-in-abortions/

Raped 10-Year-Old Denied Abortion

TYT Network

A 10-year-old who was raped by her stepfather in Paraguay won’t be allowed to have an abortion. Abortion in Paraguay is illegal, writes the British newspaper The Telegraph.

According to the British newspaper The Guardian, the Catholic country only allows abortion if pregnancy is “life-threatening.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/paraguay/11575694/Girl-10-raped-by-stepfather-denied-abortion-in-Paraguay.html

LA Times: Is The Republican Campaign To Repeal Obamacare Over?

After five years and more than 50 votes in Congress, the Republican campaign to repeal the Affordable Care Act (the ACA or “Obamacare”) is essentially over, states the LA Times.

According to the LA Times, GOP congressional leaders, unable to roll back the law while President Obama remains in office and unwilling to again threaten a government shutdown to pressure him, are focused on other issues like trade and tax reform.

Another interesting development is that senior Republican lawmakers have quietly incorporated many of the law’s key protections into their own proposal bills, including guaranteeing coverage and providing government assistance to help consumers purchase insurance.

Oddly, facing the situation that the Supreme Court this year could strip away insurance subsidies provided through the law, several GOP lawmakers have even proposed extending the aid, perhaps even until a new president takes office.

Former Florida Governor and presidential candidate Jeb Bush has shown little enthusiasm for a new healthcare fight. Last year, he even criticized the repeal effort, states the LA Times.

This doesn’t mean that efforts to repeal the law will completely stop.

“Only 18% of Americans want to go back to the system we had before because they do not want to go back to some of the problems we had,” Whit Ayres, a veteran Republican pollster who works for presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who still demand a repeal, appear to be long shots for the presidential nomination, states the LA Times.

More realistic might be adjustments to Obamacare rather than outright repeal. For example, the Affordable Care Act allows states to enact policies that specifically ban abortion coverage in health plans offered through the health insurance exchange.

Right now, Republicans in the House State Affairs Committee in Texas are considering just such a bill that would ban coverage for abortion in health plans offered through the ACA’s health insurance exchange.

Opponents, however, argued that House Bill 3130 would create yet another hurdle for women.

More:

http://www.latimes.com/business/healthcare/la-na-obamacare-republicans-20150418-story.html#page=1

(Updated article)

Rand Paul Gives Unclear Message On Abortion

Associated Press

Senator and presidential candidate Rand Paul was asked on by Associated Press reporter Philip Elliot on Wednesday to clarify his position on abortion legislation.  Some called his response to Elliot “testy.”

According to the AP, Paul – a newly-declared presidential candidate – is “dodging a central question about abortion: What exceptions, if any, should be made if the procedure were to be banned?”

During the interview, Paul would not say if his opposition to abortion rights includes an exception in cases of rape, incest or risk to the life of the mother.

South Dakota Republican Writes Article Titled ‘Planned Parenthood Worse Than ISIS And Lying About It’

Secular Talk

Apparently, the U.S. has nothing to worry about in the Middle East. Time to bring the planes home?

Republican legislator Isaac Latterell from South Dakota attacked Planned Parenthood by comparing it to the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group, Talking Points Memo reported.

GOP Launches Full Assault On Reproductive Rights: Are Democrats The Underdogs?

31 of the 50 governors are Republicans. 69 out of the 99 state legislative bodies (Houses and Senates) are Republican dominated.

The state legislators have been able to expedite one of their top policy priorities – restricting access to abortion – given the historic gains they made in last year’s midterm elections, according to the Huffington Post.

State lawmakers have raced to file bills concerning all aspects of the procedure. As of last week, lawmakers have introduced more than 100 bills regulating abortion in more than half of all states, according to data from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.”

TYT Network

Was There Recently A Moderate Republican Backlash?

CNN discusses the ongoing GOP debate about abortion and how it could hurt them in 2016.

CNN

More here

Texas Abortion Clinics Decline Through Piecemeal Legislation

According to Bloomberg, at the start of 2013, there were 41 abortion clinics in Texas. Then the state’s Republican-controlled legislature, which had already cut funding for family-planning services and reduced the availability of subsidized contraception, passed a law requiring doctors performing abortions at clinics to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.

That’s often tough, because many hospitals refuse to be associated with abortion providers. Today only 17 of the state’s clinics remain in business.

Now a federal appeals court in New Orleans is weighing whether to uphold another part of the Texas law that mandates that abortion clinics meet building codes for surgical outpatient centers.  For example, they must have hallways wide enough to accommodate stretchers.

Lawmakers who voted for the bill say their goal was to protect patient safety, but abortion providers say the expense of remodeling or moving to meet the standards would force all but seven of the remaining facilities to close. That, abortion rights activists say, violates a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says states can’t place an “undue burden” on women seeking to terminate their pregnancies. “Texas now seeks to do indirectly what, for 40 years, it has been unable to do directly: eliminate millions of women’s access to safe and legal abortion services,” lawyers for the plaintiffs said in court filings.

Two of the three judges hearing the case ruled against the clinics in a separate challenge last March.

The Supreme Court has already intervened to let clinics keep operating without meeting the building requirements as the case proceeds, and Justice Stephen Breyer indicated in an earlier opinion that the court’s four liberal justices would be willing to hear the case if the clinics lose.

While the court battle progresses, abortion providers and their allies have moved to set up a system for maintaining services in Texas. Planned Parenthood expects to open a $6.5 million ambulatory surgical center in San Antonio in the next few weeks that meets the legal requirements. That would bring the state’s total to eight if the courts rule against the clinics. Activists have also created travel funds to pay for bus or airline tickets and hotel rooms for women who need abortions but can’t afford the trip to a clinic.

One of the newest, Fund Texas Choice, recently hired a full-time staff member to handle requests. “What we’re doing is putting out fires, because right now Texas is in a state of emergency,” says founder Lenzi Sheible, a 21-year-old law student. “If we’re not prepared for the eventuality that there will only be eight clinics in Texas, then we’re not doing our job.”

Abortion ‘Coercion’ Would Carry Criminal Penalties Under Michigan Law

Coercing someone to have an abortion would carry criminal penalties under bills approved by the Michigan state Senate on Thursday.

In typical right-wing “one size fits all” hardline fashion, the bill would propose that it result in criminal penalties under Senate Bills 1156 and 1157.

Republican state Sen. Judy Emmons, R-Sheridan, says more needs to be done to prevent coerced abortion.

“The decision is taken from them. They are forced into it,” she said.

Democrats say the bills do not clearly define what “coercion” means.

“This lack of clarity stands to have a number of unintended consequences for women, their health care providers, and their families as they work through what are already very difficult decisions,” said Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor. The legislation now goes to the state House.

http://wemu.org/post/coerced-abortion-target-stiffer-penalties