Poll Finds 56 Percent of Americans Want Abortions Illegal or More Limited
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll conducted by the New York Times and CBS News finds that 56 percent of Americans wants abortions to be illegal or under more strict limitations. The survey found 22 percent of Americans say abortions should not be permitted and another 34 percent wants abortions to be much harder to get than they are currently. Jut 41 percent of those polled say abortion should generally be available without any limits. The media outlets asked respondents the following question: “Which of these comes closest to your view? Abortion should be generally available to those who want it; Abortion should be available but under stricter limits than it is now; or Abortion should not be permitted?” The poll found that the number of Americans who don't want any limits on abortions has risen from 34 percent in March to 37 percent in May and 41 percent now. Those wanting more limits has fallen from 41 percent in March to 37 percent in May to 34 percent now. The percentage of those who do not wants abortions permitted at all has held steady from 23 percent in March to 21 percent in May to 22 percent now. Pro-life observers said the poll is faulty because, while it pretends to offer a pro-life, pro-abortion and middle ground answer, it actually puts most pro-life advocates in a tough spot by forcing them to choose the middle ground response. Polls that break down abortion attitudes into various categories find a 55-45 percent pro-life split and a large portion of the pro-life advocates say abortion should be illegal in virtually all cases except to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape and incest. Such people don't have a category in a poll like this one that gives them only an option to have abortion not be permitted in any case without exception. The CBS News/New York Times poll featured telephone interviews with 1,554 American adults and was conducted from July 9 to July 17. It has a margin of error of three percent.

Pro-Life Group Names New Planned Parenthood Boycott Targets
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life group that monitors corporations that give contributions to Planned Parenthood has released a new boycott list. Life Decisions International hopes pro-life advocates will consult the list before making purchases at some of the leading companies in the United States because they support the number one abortion business. Doug Scott, the president of LDI, tells LifeNews.com that the boycott list has proven effective over the 15 years the group has targeted corporate Planned Parenthood sponsors. "As a direct result of the commitment, action and prayers of pro-family people, at least 153 corporations have stopped funding Planned Parenthood," he said. Scott estimates that the boycott has cost Planned Parenthood more than $35 million over the period after corporations targeted by the boycott relented. He added: "This should be a testament to those who believe it is impossible to change corporate philanthropic behavior." Several well-known companies are appearing on the LDI boycott list for the first time, including the Allstate insurance company, CCA Global (the parent of Carpet One and other flooring stores), Chevron, Texaco, Comcast, DuPont, eBay and PayPal, the Four Seasons Hotels, GlaxoSmithKline, Marriott, OSI Restaurants (which includes Outback Steakhouse), Sears and Kmart, Sonic, and Wawa convenience stores. Some of the companies that remain on the boycott list include Abode software, Wachovia, Nike, Time Warner, Bank of America, CIGNA, Walt Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Wells Fargo, Whole Foods, Nationwide insurance, and others. The new Boycott List includes a revised section identifying charitable organizations associated with Planed Parenthood. That includes the Audubon Society, Alzheimer's Association, AARP, American Diabetes Association, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, MDA, NEA, MS Society, and the Sierra Club, among others. "The Pro-Life Movement will succeed only to the extent that pro-life people are willing to be inconvenienced," Scott said. "The very lives of children are worth that much effort and a whole lot more."

Mitt Romney and Tom Tancredo Feud With Sam Brownback Over Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Tom Tancredo are feuding with Sam Brownback over the issue of abortion. Brownback, a Kansas Republican senator, has been trying to build his campaign with the support of the pro-life community and has tried to paint himself as the most pro-life candidate on the GOP side of the 2008 presidential elections. His campaign employed automated phone calls to voters in leading primary states going after Romney and Tancredo. The calls say: "Mitt Romney is telling Iowans he is firmly pro-life. Nothing could be further from the truth. His wife, Ann, has contributed money to Planned Parenthood." But Romney spokesman Tim Albrecht was upset by the calls and said they were "despicable” and “negative” because they wrongly portrayed the GOP candidate and his wife's views. "They should apologize to Ann Romney and Governor Romney for this personal attack," Albrecht said. The Brownback campaign has also gone after Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo for taking money from a man who helped organized the Planned Parenthood abortion business in Michigan. "Say no to Tom Tancredo and his Planned Parenthood friend and help end abortion in America," the caller says to residents of Iowa. Tancredo complained about those adds and pointed to his 100 percent pro-life voting record in Congress. He said Brownback “is well aware of my lifelong commitment to the unborn." In a statement, Tancredo added, "I call on Senator Brownback to cease with the maliciously misleading push calls intended to harm me and apologize.” But Brownback spokesman John Rankin defended the calls. "We stand by the accuracy of our statement that Mrs. Romney financially supported Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the world," he said. Rankin also said Tancredo "says he is committed to being pro-life but has accepted thousands of dollars from the founder of a major Planned Parenthood network." The Tancredo ads talk about donations he accepted from John Tanton, a physician who helped found the Northern Michigan Planned Parenthood Association. But Tanton has said he backed Tancredo only because he shares the Congressman’s anti-immigration views. "No one can attack me for my position on life -- no one," Tancredo said during an appearance on Jan Mickelson's morning program on WHO Radio. "I have been pro-life since I was in the state Legislature 30 years ago," Tancredo said.

Italian Doctor Who Killed Piergiorgio Welby Cleared of Homicide Charges
Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- Anesthesiologist Mario Riccio, who shut off the life support for Piergiorgio Welby last December, killing the euthanasia activist, has been cleared of homicide charges in connection with the death. Riccio was the subject of international condemnation after killing the disabled man who had been campaigning for the legalization of assisted suicide in Italy. However, Judge Zaira Secchi cleared Riccio of homicide charges saying that he was complying with his patient's request, even though Welby had never seen the anesthesiologist as a physician before his death. Earlier this year a panel that oversees doctors in the European nation decided against sanctions for similar reasons. Riccio applauded the court's decision, saying he could have been put in jail for 15 years as a result of the charges. Riccio unplugged the machine that was helping Welby breathe. He then administered a lethal drug cocktail that killed the 60 year-old man. At the time he killed Welby, Riccio denied his actions constituted an illegal euthanasia, which could have netted him between six and 15 years in prison if charged and convicted. Riccio's actions drew condemnation from former Italian President Francesco Cossiga, who wanted him charged with murder, and from the Catholic Church, which refused to allow Welby's family to have a Catholic funeral. Welby, afflicted with advanced muscular dystrophy, had been on life support since 1997. According to witnesses, Welby said "thank you" three times to his friends and supporters before he died.

China Produces World’s First Cloned Rabbit Taking Cells From Embryo
Beijing, China (LifeNews.com) -- Scientists in China have produced the world’s first cloned rabbit using a biological process that takes cells from an unborn rabbit, the nation’s media reported on Tuesday. China Daily says researchers created a cloned female rabbit which weighed 60 grams at birth in February and that it is growing normally at a center for animals in Shanghai. The first cloned animal was Dolly the sheep who was born in 1996 after hundreds of failures. She ultimately had to be euthanized because of medical problems and pro-life advocates worried that any attempts at human cloning would result in the deaths of hundreds of unborn children. Since Dolly, scientists have also cloned other animals including mice and cattle and South Korean scientists last year announced the creation of the first cloned dog. The birth of Snuppy also came after the death of hundreds of unborn dogs. French scientists created the first cloned rabbit in 2002 but the China researchers are the first to create a rabbit without having to use an existing adult rabbit.

New Jersey Abortion Businesses’ Problems Detailed in New Health Report
Atlantic City, NJ (LifeNews.com) -- A new report released on Monday by the state health department detail the problems at an abortion business in Atlantic City. The report talks about blood stained operating tables ad expired drugs -- just two of the many violations state health authorities discovered at the Alternatives abortion center last month before they shut it down. Alternatives closed on June 22 after the violations the 116-page report detailed after officials conducted the first inspection there in six years. Current state requirements call for inspections every other year. According to the new report, physicians did not scrub in for abortion procedures and instead used the sanitary area for storage and an unnamed employee defended the violation, according to the Press newspaper and told health authorities, “Abortions aren't really surgery, they aren't sterile procedures.” The report did not contain any information about a corrective action plan which medical facilities are required to give to the state 10 business days after getting the inspection report and it has been 14 days since abortion center owner Alan Kline received the report from the state. Health Department spokesman Tom Slater told the newspaper that he didn't expect the abortion center to be punished for its late response. “They're working with us in good faith. It's a huge report and we do realize that,” Slater said. “They have called with questions and there has been some back and forth.” Once Alternatives submits the corrective action plan and the state approves it, it can reopen. Steven Chase Brigham, who owns six abortion businesses in New Jersey and has had his medical license revoked in two states for botched abortions, is in the process of buying Alternatives. He has paid employees and did abortions there on June 8 and 15 and the report indicates he already violating state laws there as the abortions were done without registered nurses working on the days as required by law.

Missouri Abortion Law Could Face Upcoming Judicial Battle if Abortion Industry Sues
Jefferson City, MO (LifeNews.com) -- The state of Missouri could b headed back to court has it has numerous times before if the abortion industry decides to file a lawsuit over a new pro-life law there to limit abortions. Taking effect late next month, the law puts forward new health and safety regulations for abortion facilities and requires them to meet the same sort of standards legitimate surgical clinics are expected to follow. As a result of the new law, abortion businesses may have to spend large sums of money to get their facilities in compliance. For example, the Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri says I may have to spend as much as $2 million on repairs to its abortion center to comply with the law and improve health standards for the women who get abortions there. That could put the abortion center out of business and Planned Parenthood may consider filing a lawsuit seeking to prevent the law from going into effect by claiming it is unconstitutional. Should the Columbia abortion center close, Planned Parenthood's only abortion business in Missouri would be in St. Louis, although other abortion businesses operate in the state and Planned Parenthood runs a third in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, located in Kansas. Missouri Right to Life director Susan Klein told AP about the situation that Missouri is not the first state to put abortion facility regulations in place but has done it in a unique way that hasn't thoroughly been tested in court. “Just because no other state has done it does not mean this is not good legislation. We believe it's excellent legislation,” Klein said. “Abortion has risks with it, and the Department of Health should be able to come in and have a say so in how women are taken care of.”

India Catholic Church Strongly Condemns Rash of Female Infanticides, Sex-Selection Abortions
Mumbai, India (LifeNews.com) -- The Catholic Church in India has condemned the finding of 30 bags full of body parts of unborn children who authorities say are most likely the victims of sex-selection abortions or infanticides. The chairman of the nation’s conference of Catholic bishops warned those who would think of targeting girl babies simply because they're females. It is horrible to think that human beings have been eliminated only because they were female. Our baby girls have been killed and this is properly speaking murder. It shows how much it has become customary to eliminate girls who are just born or still in the womb,” said Mgr Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbay and chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CCBI). Gracias talked about the finding of the babies’ bodies inside an abandoned well near a private medical center that did abortions in Orissa. Police suspect that the remains belong to children thrown into the well right after birth (or as a result of abortions) in a clinic in Nagayath District. “Rules are not enough to solve the problem,” said the archbishop of Mumbai about new restrictions the India government has put in place. “We must all fight in our own way to ensure that this practice is abandoned.” Abortion is a “diabolic” practice and is worse when it is performed “for sex selection.” To this effect, “the training of medical and support staff becomes important.” “For this reason we had nuns get medical training so that they can provide treatment and care in the remotest rural areas of the country,” archbishop Gracias said. “The catholic Church has always given great importance and valued life irrespective of sex.