Pro-Life Advocate Mike Huckabee Wins Family Research Council 2012 Straw Poll
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- At the 2009 Values Voters Summit sponsored by the Family Research Council, pro-life former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee won the straw poll. The former governor of Arkansas was the top pick of the more than 2,000 pro-life attendees of the FRC conference and he had a double digit lead over the next closest contender, Mitt Romney. Huckabee received 28 percent of the votes while former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won 12.40 percent. Close behind Romney were Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty (12.23 percent), former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (12.06 percent), and Indiana Congressmen Mike Pence (11.89 percent) in an essentially four-way tie for second place. Romney campaigned as a pro-life advocate during the 2008 Republican primary election and Pawlenty, Palin and Pence are all strong pro-life elected officials. Other candidates on the straw poll list were Newt Gingrich, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul. About five percent of voters said they were undecided. Tony Perkins, the FRC president, said Huckabee’s win was likely due to his being present and delivering a “strong message” at the summit and that he clearly understands what’s important to people and has his finger on “the pulse of conservative voters” in America. In the previous straw poll in 2007, Romney narrowly beat Huckabee by 30 votes, but there were some complaints that Romney's team stacked the online voting. This year, votes were only counted among participants on site. Aside from weighing the nine presidential contenders, Saturday’s straw poll results revealed what issues were most important to values voters in determining their choice of candidate to support. Forty percent said abortion was the most important issue in terms of their voting preference.

Christian Doctor Challenges Obama to Keep Abortion-Conscience Protections
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Even though his administration has already started the process of overturning Bush-era regulations that uphold federal abortion-conscience laws, Obama said in his health care speech this month that he wants to keep them in place. Jonathan Imbody, a vice president for the Christian Medical Association, talks about the development: "In a private meeting at the White House with several of President Obama’s senior advisors, I explained how vital conscience protections are to faith-based physicians, clinics and hospitals. I emphasized what our national survey revealed—that 95 percent of faith-based physicians would rather leave medicine than compromise their conscientiously held convictions. I also explained that the President’s announced plan to get rid of the federal conscience-protection regulation, coupled with weakening or removing conscience-protecting laws such as the Hyde-Weldon amendment, could trigger a crisis of access to healthcare professionals—especially for patients in medically underserved areas where they depend on faith-based medicine. In his speech to Congress and the nation on September 9, President Obama made a technical claim, that 'federal conscience laws will remain in place.' What Mr. Obama neglected to say is that he plans to get rid of the only conscience regulation that enforces those laws. Hopefully, the President and Congress will come to understand that if they remove or weaken conscience rights for healthcare professionals, the biggest losers would be poor patients served by faith-based physicians, nurses, hospitals and clinics."

Newsweek Writer Evan Thomas Pushes Health Care Rationing for Elderly People
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a new article in Newsweek, “The Case for Killing Granny," writer Evan Thomas pushes the meme that the elderly should have their health care rationed. Thomas writes, "But the need to spend less money on the elderly at the end of life is the elephant in the room in the health-reform debate. Everyone sees it but no one wants to talk about it." Wesley J. Smith, a pro-life bioethicist, responds: "But that is precisely what health care rationing to the elderly would be–pulling the plug on Grandma. And it wouldn't stop there. People with disabilities may be far more costly to treat, since they live longer than the frail elderly. Once you decide that saving money is the primary goal, those who need help the most will be the ones denied it–ironically, in the cause of expanding access to care. Thomas also pushes hospice, which I support too–as long as it is not coerced. But changes are needed in the regulations around hospice, for example, explicitly stating that tube feeding is permitted. Today, some hospices refuse to accept patients receiving ANH in the fear that it will be deemed life-extending treatment for which they will not be paid by Medicare. That limitation, in turn, prevents some patients–who don't want to dehydrate to death–from agreeing to the palliative approach."

Church-Going Americans Against Abortion-Funding in Health Care Reform Bills
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Church-going Americans continue to represent the strongest pro-life views according to a new poll that has them strongly opposing abortion funding in any health care reform package. A recent Zogby International/O’Leary Report Poll shows that a strong majority of American voters who attend church weekly agree that government health care programs should not cover abortions and should not interfere with the doctor-patient relationship when it comes to “end of life” counseling. “There are many moral implications surrounding health care reform,” said Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy for Focus on the Family Action, which introduced the report’s findings to attendees at the 2009 Values Voters Summit. “Whether it’s abortion, taxes, or rationing health care away from the elderly, values voters recognize these moral implications and are clearly troubled by – and committed to doing something about – them.” By a 73-21 percent margin, churchgoers don't want abortion funding in a health care bill. They support a provision that banned the government or insurance companies from considering a patient’s age or life-expectancy when deciding whether or not to cover certain medical procedures by a 54-41 percent clip. O’Leary Report publisher Brad O’Leary concluded, "This poll suggests that values voters, in general [and] place great importance on the value of the individual, the dignity of human life."

Pro-Life Advocate Attacked Outside City Hall in Arizona While Protesting Abortion
Flagstaff, Arizona (LifeNews.com) -- Just one week after a pro-life advocate was shot and killed while protesting abortion in Michigan, a pro-life advocate was assaulted by two pro-abortion women in Arizona. A man who is a regular fixture on Route 66 in front of City Hall, was attacked by two women during the day on Friday. According to information from the Flagstaff Police Department the Arizona Daily Sun obtained, the 69-year-old victim was standing in front of City Hall with a graphic sign of a baby killed in an abortion when he was approached by the two women. According to witnesses, the two women began to yell profanities at the victim. One woman kicked the sign and tried to take it. The victim tried to protect the sign and he and the woman fell to the ground as she went after it. While the two were on the ground fighting, the second woman joined the fray and tried to take the sign. The victim had to fight the other woman off as well. Paramedics arrived on scene to treat minor injuries. The two women, both 48, were cited and released on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and criminal damage. The charges will be heard by a Flagstaff Magistrate Court judge.

Pro-Life Heckler Interrupts Obama Speech for Pro-Abortion health Care Bill
Baltimore, MD (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life heckler was escorted by uniformed officers from President Obama's speech to students at the University of Maryland College Park on Thursday after he briefly interrupted the president's defense of his pro-abortion health care program. The young man, wearing a grey polo shirt and a beret, began yelling from his second-row seat at the university's cavernous basketball arena. "Obama you're a liar. Obama, your health care kills children. Abortion is murder," he yelled. As the man, Andrew Beacham, 26, was being escorted out, another man in the crowd grabbed his beret and tossed it, earning himself a police escort out of the arena. The heckler drew immediate boos from those seated around him and then from a boisterous and supportive crowd, who gave the president repeated ovations. Some threw cups or crumpled paper bags at the heckler. Mr. Obama briefly paused from his remarks to ask, "What's going on?" But he quickly resumed his prepared remarks. The speech came during a sustained public relations blitz by Mr. Obama designed both to sell his plan to the American public and to put pressure on Congress to pass it. Beacham, of Arlington, VA, has been arrested before when he protested at Notre Dame as Obama gave the Catholic university's commencement address and during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings on Sonia Sotomayor. He said, "There is still abortion funding in H.R. 3200, we are not fooled by Obama's empty rhetoric. He lies with a smile and the common folk are either believing him, or ignoring his lies to protect their own selfishness."

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