Pro-Life Amendment Causes Minnesota Lawmakers to Shelve Bill
by Rusty Pugh and Bill Fancher
(AgapePress) – A pro-life provision in Minnesota requiring women to receive certain information then wait 24 hours before having an abortion was added to Senate bill — which prompted Democratic leaders to immediately table the overall bill.
By a 36-31 vote, the pro-life measure was added to the $6.7 billion Minnesota Senate's Health and Human Services spending bill. The measure also is part of the House's Human Services bill, which is expected to be voted on this week.
Governor Jesse Ventura warned legislative leaders in writing Tuesday that he will veto any bill containing a 24-hour abortion waiting period. Pro-life supporters say Ventura will do anything to kill pro-life legislation.
The amendment would require most women seeking an abortion to receive specified information at least 24 hours beforehand. That information would include medical risks linked to abortions; medical assistance that might be available for prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal care; the gestational age of the unborn child; and the availability of a toll-free number and website that could provide information on support services during the pregnancy and on alternatives to abortion.
Under the amendment, those who perform abortions without following the guidelines could be taken to court, where a temporary restraining order could be imposed or a fine levied.
Meanwhile, a recent audit of pro-abortion agencies shows the tax dollars of pro-lifers are being used to help stage marches and rallies for those agencies. The audit was conducted by Capital Research Center. Spokesman Chris Yablonski says a recent rally and march in Washington sponsored by the National Organization for Women is a prime example of what the audit uncovered.
“Seven of the [rally's] sponsors or their affiliates, including the NOW Foundation, have together received at least $48.4 million in taxpayer money over the last five years,” Yablonski says.
Yablonski objects to that type of funding. “No one quarrels with these organizations' right to oppose President Bush and his policies. What would surprise most of us, I think, is that we've all been funding them,” he says.
The audit found the majority of that money went to Planned Parenthood. Yablonski insists that while his group does not oppose fund-raising for advocacy efforts, it does oppose using tax dollars of pro-life advocates to support a cause that is totally opposite their beliefs.
(This update courtesy of Agape Press.)
ST PETERSBURG (Lifesite News) – Based on new evidence that her husband may have lied in court, circuit Judge Frank Quesada granted a delay in the starvation of Terri Schiavo. As reported earlier in this space, Terri has been unable to move for the last eleven years but has survived with nutrition and hydration via a feeding tube. Her parents have been in an eight year long court battle with her husband who is seeking to stop the feeding and thus end Terri's life.
While the Supreme Court rejected the case, thus allowing Terri to be starved to death, new evidence suggests that Terri's husband Michael Schiavo may have lied in court about his wife's alleged requests not to be put on life support. The new allegations come from Michael Schiavo's ex-girlfriend, Cindy Shook Brashers, who told Terri's parents that Michael lied in saying his wife wished not to be kept on life support.
