North Carolina County Drops Abortions From Employees' Health Insurance Plan
Raleigh, NC (LifeNews.com) -- Wake County has dropped coverage for elective abortions from its employee health plan. Officials say a 29-year-old state Supreme Court ruling makes it illegal to use tax payer money to pay for the procedure and that an oversight of the rule allowed the practice to continue since the late 1990s. County Manager David Cooke ended the practice on Wednesday. The Board of Commissioners will consider the change on Monday. “When I heard about it, I couldn't believe we were actually spending Wake County tax payer money for elective abortions,” Tony Gurley, of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, said. “So I checked with the county attorney and county manager and unfortunately, through our oversight, we were. So we've got to stop doing that. It's illegal. We can't continue breaking the law. But the alternative is to follow the law as it's currently written for federal employees, so I think that's a good compromise.” Attorney and state House Minority Leader Paul Stam, R-Wake, said he called fellow Republican Tony Gurley, the newly installed chairman of the county commissioners board, to discuss the court ruling and to make sure Gurley knew Wake County's insurance covered elective abortions. "I promised him that someone would bring legal action against counties that didn't stop it," said Stam, who was the plaintiff in the 1981 court ruling. Planned Parenthood of North Carolina and the American Civil Liberties Union oppose ending abortion coverage. Planned Parenthood vice president Melissa Reed said Stam was playing politics with employees' benefits.

Brazil Residents Strongly Oppose Abortion According to New National Poll
Brasilia, Brazil (LifeNews.com) -- About three quarters of people in Brazil are against abortion, according to a poll by Instituto Sensus. Some 73.5 per cent of respondents share this view, while 22.7 percent say they support legalized abortions. Brazil’s penal code has typified abortion as a crime since 1940. An abortion is only permitted when a pregnancy is the result of a rape, or when the woman’s life is endangered. Approximately 80 percent of Brazilian residents are Catholics and the teachings of the Catholic Church are strongly pro-life. Some policies of Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva—a member of the left-leaning Worker’s Party (PT)—have focused on attempting to overturn or weaken the nation's pro-life laws. In June 2007, Brazilian health minister Jose Gomes Temporao announced the government’s plan to distribute free morning-after pills, which can cause an abortion in some instances. On Jan. 30, the government deleted a clause from a proposed amendment to the country’s Human Rights Code, which stated that abortion is a basic human right for women. Brazilian human rights minister Paulo Vannucchi apologized for including the controversial clause in the reforms.

Vermont Legislature Won't Take Up Unborn Victims Bill to Protect Women, Children
Montpelier, VT (LifeNews.com) -- Legislation that would increase criminal penalties for causing the death of an unborn child will not be taken up in the Vermont Senate this year. Judiciary Chairman Dick Sears sponsored one of two Senate bills addressing the issue of killing unborn children and the other was introduced by Senator Vincent Illuzi. But Sears says neither bill will leave his committee. He says both bills had some support. He said: "But a lot of people in my caucus and in the Senate - including Republicans and Democrats - didn't want to deal with anything. There was no consensus how to deal with this issue. And without consensus it's hard to deal with emotional issues like this." Sears says the two bills were quickly becoming a battleground between pro-life and pro-abortion groups because one bill doesn't acknowledge the death of the baby while the other does. Momentum for a fetal homicide law began building last summer. Patricia Blair, a Bennington woman who was six months pregnant, lost her twin unborn children after her minivan was struck head on. The driver of the other car has been charged with driving under the influence of drugs and gross negligence with injury resulting. Vermont has no specific crime addressing the death of unborn children. Blair, and her growing ranks of supporters, wanted the more controversial language in the other bill. Strong advocacy for the legislation from pro-life contingents, Sears said, convinced him that committee discussion would devolve into a moral and religious debate over the merits of Roe. v. Wade even though no one suggested that would happen. Blair said she's "disappointed" in Sears' decision but that she will continue her advocacy on her twins' behalf. "I plan on sticking around and making this work in one way or another," she said.

Idaho House Passes Health Freedom Act to Fight Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
by David Ripley of Idaho Chooses Life
Boise, ID (LifeNews.com) -- The Idaho House of Representatives passed HB 391 on Tuesday by a lopsided 52-18 vote. Sponsored by Reps. Labrador, Luker & Clark, this legislation lays the groundwork for the State of Idaho to fight ObamaCare should it be shoved through the Congress. Sadly, the vote was a strictly partisan affair. All Democrats voted against it, all Republicans voted for the measure. One would have hoped that at least some Democrats would have joined the effort to push back against Nancy Pelosi's frightening plan to take over America's health care system. The current versions of this scheme would fundamentally alter the relationship of citizens to their government. Citizens would be required to buy health insurance, and private companies would be required to compete against a taxpayer-subsidized government entity as a first step toward us all into a single-payer system controlled by government bureaucrats. The worst features of ObamaCare, of course, are the threats to life mandated by its cut to Medicare, its massive subsidies for abortion-on-demand, and the absence of conscience protections for health care providers. HB 391 declares that "the power to require a person's choice in securing health care services is not found in the Constitution of the United States, and is, therefore, a power reserved to the people pursuant to the 9th Amendment, and to the states under the 10th Amendment." The legislation makes it illegal for any state official to enforce or otherwise participate in a federal health care system that violates this public policy.

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