Submitted by philip on
By Staff, World News Briefs
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., recently led a Special Order hour before Congress to raise awareness about abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s murder trial and the mainstream media’s refusal to cover it.
Smith was joined by nine other representatives: Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo.; John Fleming, R-La.; Joe Pitts, R-Pa.; Scott Garrett, R-N.J.; Andy Harris, R-Md.; Keith Rothfus, R-Pa.; Roger Williams, R-Texas; Scott Perry, R-Pa.; and Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind.
“Mr. Speaker, Kermit Gosnell is a predator who must be publicly exposed and openly denounced,” Stutzman said. “And that’s why I come to the floor—to bring attention to this case [so] that the American people are informed of it, aware of it, and realize the acts that are happening within our own country.”
Andy Moore, director of AbortionWiki, condemned the media blackout and urged pro-lifers everywhere to raise awareness through social media. “If this was puppies that Gosnell was killing, the media would be all over it,” he told LifeSiteNews.com.
Moore helped organize “TweetFest,” an effort to elevate the hashtag “#GosnellMurders” to Twitter’s top trend list and pressure mainstream media outlets to cover the case. The “Break the Blackout” campaign launched today and has attracted tweets from The Manhattan Declaration, John Piper, CNN commentator Dana Loesch, and Alveda King, among others. Hashtag “#Gosnell” is currently number four on Twitter’s trend list.
Gosnell, 72, has been charged with the murder of seven babies and one woman through illegal and unsanitary abortion practices.
Witnesses have described his abortion center in graphic detail: baby parts stuffed in jars, poor women left to bleed to death, blood-saturated operating rooms. and Gosnell’s practice of snipping babies’ spines, what he called “ensuring fetal demise.”
Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic, pointed out additional elements to Gosnell’s practice that merit national coverage: the blatant racism in his practices, the lack of oversight, and the fact that insurance groups, government health offices, and even the local hospital knew about his dangerous operation but failed to shut it down.
“This should be front page news,” wrote Kirsten Powers in a USA Today op-ed. “When Rush Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke, there was non-stop media hysteria … yet, accusations of babies having their heads severed – a major human rights story if there ever was one – doesn’t make the cut.”
Santorum: Republicans should not cave on marriage
Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum said this week that homosexual marriage is a trendy issue and that Republicans should not cave in on what he called a “foundational” issue.
Santorum said that support of homosexual marriage would be “suicidal” for the GOP. He made the statements in an interview with the Des Moines Register.
In case you are geographically challenged: Des Moines is in Iowa.
And in case you’re politically challenged: The Iowa caucuses are less than three years away, which in modern political terms means just around the corner.
Santorum said that 30 years ago, when a few Republicans came out in favor of abortion, “you could go back and read stories, oh, you know, ‘The Republican Party’s going to change. This is the future.’ Obviously that didn’t happen.”
Today, the Republican Party and the nation are more pro-life today than then. Santorum concluded: “I think you’re going to see the same stories written now, and it’s not going to happen. The Republican Party’s not going to change on this issue.”
Judge rules: Give teens abortion drug without a prescription
NEW YORK – A federal judge ruled in April that the so-called morning-after pill must be made available over the counter to women and girls of all ages, according to a report in The New York Times.
The government had required a prescription for girls 16 and younger.
The drug, sold under brand names like Plan B and Ella, prevents implantation of a fertilized egg or causes an early abortion. It is marketed as a method of “emergency” contraception.
In 2011, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius ignored recommendations by the Food and Drug Administration to make the drug available to all without a prescription.
Her decision surprised many, given the Obama administration’s strong support for abortion.
Although the drug is supposed to be kept behind the pharmacy counter, government regulators have approved dispensing it in a vending machine in at least one location: Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania.
Texas A&M students want freedom to opt-out of funding gay student center
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Students at Texas A&M University could soon opt out of paying student fees that support groups contrary to their religious beliefs, a local news station reported.
In a packed meeting Apr. 3, the Student Senate voted 35-28 to recommend the policy to the administration. Before the vote, senators renamed and broadened the original proposal, at first called “The GLBT Funding Opt-Out Bill.”
The measure was designed to give students the ability to opt out of helping to pay for a resource center for gay students, which collects about $100,000 per year in student fee funding. The money averages out to about $2 per student, according to a university spokesman.
Supporters of the renamed “Religious Funding Exemption Bill” told the news station the measure was rebranded Tuesday and all mentions of the GLBT Resource Center were removed in an effort to protect the religious rights of students without singling out the homosexual community.
“I don’t see why we should be forced to pay for something that we wouldn’t take part in otherwise,” Prima Starr, a student at Texas A&M, told the news station. “I am morally opposed. I’m not saying you can’t do what you want to do. But it my eyes, it’s what I feel is wrong.”
Despite earning Student Senate approval, the opt-out allowance remains controversial. Opponents claim the rebranding was simply for show, and that the measure is still “anti-gay.”
TAMU’s student body president, John Claybrook, will get the measure next. If he approves it, the bill will go to school administrators for final approval.
STDs rampant, cause infertility
New data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) suggest that about 24,000 women in the U.S. become infertile every year as a result of undiagnosed sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). STDs are particularly devastating young people.
According to a statement from the CDC released this week, “While sexually transmitted diseases affect individuals of all ages, STDs take a particularly heavy toll on young people. CDC estimates that youth ages 15-24 make up just over one-quarter of the sexually active population, but account for half of the 20 million new sexually transmitted infections that occur in the United States each year.”