by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• Virginia’s attorney general Ken Cuccinelli has refused to agree to a Board of Health plan which would allow abortion clinics to avoid meeting new abortion clinic regulations:
  

  In a four-sentence letter to the health department, senior assistant Attorney General Allyson K. Tysinger said that the the office would not certify the regulations.

  “The Board does not have the statutory authority to adopt these Regulations,” it says. “[T]he Board has exceeded its authority. Thus, this Office cannot certify these Regulations.”

  The action by the attorney general’s office is not the final word on the subject. The regulations, which would require extensive renovations, will continue to go through executive branch review. The attorney general’s office was only the first step in that process.

• Also in Virginia, a woman is suing her employer after she was allegedly fired after she wouldn’t get an abortion:
  

  The lawsuit claims restaurant President Leopoldo F. Aguirre Sr. ordered the firing and told [the woman] that customers don’t want to see “a belly” on their waitresses.

• Bei Bei Shuai (pictured left) has rejected a plea deal which would have allowed her to plead guilty to attempted feticide and avoid murder charges:
  

  Shuai was eight months pregnant on Dec. 23, 2010, when she ate rat poison after her boyfriend broke up with her. Shuai was hospitalized and doctors detected little wrong with the unborn child’s health for the first few days. The premature girl, Angel Shuai, was delivered by cesarean section Dec. 31, but died from bleeding in the brain three days later after being removed from life support.

• Fox News has a long article on fetal surgery which profiles Addison Kelly, a five-year-old girl who had a tumor removed from her chest cavity when she was in the womb. Also of interest are efforts by researchers to use fetal treatments sooner and sooner:
  

  Efforts under way in fetal surgery involve using less invasive or earlier treatments. One hope is that procedures done today for fetuses who are twentysome weeks old could be done sooner, with greater benefit.

  Dr. Alan Flake, director of CHOP’s Center for Fetal Research, is working with stem cells from adult bone marrow to develop a treatment for the blood disorder sickle-cell anemia that could be administered 12 to 14 weeks into pregnancy. Clinical trials of the therapy should begin in a year or two.

[Photo via The Guardian]

by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN, and Kelli

We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.

• Live Action notes yet another scandal in the abortion industry – this time from the UK’s National Health Service:
  

  Breaking news from England has found… doctors caught forging abortion consent forms – before they ever even saw any patients. When investigators mounted a series of raids on abortion clinics, they found doctors routinely pre-signing consent forms, with nurses filling in the patient information later….

  All in all, 14 hospitals have been censured due to these illegal abortions.

  What does this tell us about the attitude of the abortion industry? Both in the U.K. and here in the United States, there is an overwhelming prevalence of extreme disregard for the law. The abortion industry will blatantly break the law time and time again in order to profit off their gruesome business.

• Americans United for Life’s legal team has filed an amicus curiae brief in the Second Circuit case Children First Foundation v. Fiala, arguing that the state of New York discriminated against the pro-life viewpoint by refusing to issue a Choose Life license plate supporting the work of pregnancy care centers, despite the fact that the foundation “met all necessary guidelines for the plate.”

• Down on the Pharm notices the Obama campaign may have waded into trashy waters with its attacks on Mitt Romney (pictured left) and Bain Capital’s post-Romney association with Planned Parenthood’s human waste disposal company, Stericycle:
  

  Obama’s expose of Stericycle’s abortion association is likely to hurt that company far more than it hurts Romney. Who will take out Planned Parenthood’s “trash” now? Perhaps the Obama campaign should have thought of Planned Parenthood’s medical waste compliance issues before it decided to bust Stericycle by driving off the legitimate portions of its business.

• The Anti-Abortion Gang spots an interesting article in Slate which seems to find not-so-pro-choice terms like “baby-in-progress” acceptable when it comes to determining paternity and paternal responsibility during pregnancy.
• Fletcher Armstrong is looking for pro-lifers willing to drive Truth Trucks in key states during the election season, specifically Florida, Virginia, Colorado, and Iowa.
• Culture Campaign follows the possible precedent-setting case of a Virginia waitress who alleges she was fired because she refused her employer’s requests to have an abortion.
• Judie Brown points out how Planned Parenthood has successfully gained a societal advantage by using “reproductive wordplay”:
  

  After years of working at forming public opinion through early and frequent brainwashing in the classrooms of America, Planned Parenthood has succeeded in influencing public policies that confirm its belief that anything having to do with conceiving a child is a mechanical function of the body and nothing more.

  It is very clear that “reproductive choice” is the national raison d’être for deadly practices that treat men and women more like machines than the people God created them to be. If we are to stop Planned Parenthood, we must stop its influence—and we can only do that by changing the way people think about their bodies, sexuality, and reproduction.

• Big Blue Wave posts a comedic video regarding the stifling of free pro-life speech at Auckland University:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je-ys-1tlRQ[/youtube]

[Photo via ridgecrest.ca.com]

by Hans Johnson

Words have meaning. And so do images.

WARNING: Video is sick, disturbing, and juvenile.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1niqKEK465E[/youtube]

Send e-mail suggestions to dailyvid@jillstanek.com

[HT: Jill]

On July 13 FBI agents Conrad Rodriguez and William Sivley paid a visit to my son-in-law, Andy Moore, at his home.

Andy is a pro-life activist who prays and protests outside the Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center abortion mill in Dallas, where late-term abortionist Curtis Boyd freely acknowledges he “kill[s]” children.

Agents Rodriguez and Sivley told Andy three red flags prompted their visit:

1. His use of a megaphone outside the mill, a one-time event on March 31, which he stopped and never repeated after police told him he was violating a noise ordinance.
2. A complaint by the clinic manager that Andy trespassed, which he did not. There was no evidence, yet police gave Andy a warning: “I asked the officer multiple times, ‘Why are you giving me this warning, as I did not trespass?’ All he would tell me was, ‘I’m giving you this warning.’ He did not answer my question.”
3. Unsubstantiated complaints that Andy may be too aggressive. “One of the agents told me it is acceptable to be aggressive, however there is a line. He gave examples of things which would cross the line, such as making threats of violence, or obstructing vehicle access – violations of the FACE act. I told him in no uncertain terms that I had never done anything like this and had not considered anything like this either.”

Obviously, the charges rose to the level of nada to begin with, certainly not above local law enforcement’s pay grade. Thankfully, Andy videotaped his one and only foray into megaphoning, which was clearly tame and polite:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Wzrke5VYY[/youtube]

But the FBI used these as an excuse to knock on the door, nerve-wracking to begin with, and followed by asking totally inappropriate questions clearly aimed at intimidating Andy, while also launching into a  fishing expedition about me. Per Andy and my daughter, who was home at the time,  here were questions the agents asked:

• What affiliations do you have including church groups?
• How long have you known your wife?
• What belief system makes you believe in your cause?
• What is your goal in protesting?
• Do you know why people would make complaints against you?
• Are there friends of yours or people you’re connected with that you could confidentially tell us are aggressive or abrasive? “Don’t be afraid to tell us.”
• Are you involved in activism in Austin, since we noticed some entries on abortionwiki?
• They were REALLY interested in the connection to Jill Stanek – details of internship, New Zealand speaking tour visit, did you get your activist and pro-life ideas from her? Did she train or teach you? Did you meet Jill before or after you became involved in the movement? Was it Jill who “fired you up” to become so active in the movement?
• They were overly nice saying he wasn’t in trouble and feel free to tell us anything. Encouraged him to keep going back out there, that they represent both sides. ++they are protecting his freedom of speech++ is what they kept saying.
• They said their task force that deals with these abortion cases also handles Hate Crimes and White Supremacy. Odd grouping with pro-lifers.
• They knew he was an immigrant.  They said a felony on his record could/would get him deported. “You wouldn’t want to be apart from your wife and newborn.”

Life Legal Defense Fund, one of the pro-life legal firms that has successfully defended pro-lifers against prosecution by Obama’s Department of Justice, has now taken Andy under its wing. Senior Staff Counsel, Allison Aranda, shared her insights in an email:

The Obama administration is essentially engaging in a witch hunt.  From the moment the new administration took office, the DOJ has been targeting peaceful pro-life sidewalk counselors.  They have come out guns blazing on several occasions often bringing allegations that could later not be substantiated or in some cases clearly proven to be false.  Their weapon of choice – the FACE act.  The DOJ is using tactics that amount to legal extortion.  They have filed these frivolous claims against innocent people who don’t have the finances to hire big shot attorneys.  The DOJ then kindly offers to settle the case if the counselor simply agrees to stay so many yards away and pay a couple thousand dollar fine.

Pro-bono legal foundations like LLDF, Alliance Defending Freedom, and Liberty Counsel have taken a stand to defend these innocent pro-lifers.  Thankfully the sidewalk counselors have either had witnesses or video evidence to defend their actions.  The DOJ has outright dismissed charges in two cases, walking away with egg on their face.  In one case, a federal court judge issued a scathing opinion questioning the motives of the DOJ for bringing such unsubstantiated charges in the first place.  The judge suggested that there might have been a conspiracy between the government and the abortion clinic to violate the free speech rights of the pro-life advocates.

It now seems that the unscrupulous Eric Holder is at it again.  This time when the government determined that the evidence wasn’t quite what they thought it would be to proceed on a FACE claim against Andy, they turned their intimidating interrogation into a fishing expedition about the personal life of Jill Stanek.  Targeted bullying by our government because of an individual’s viewpoint and willingness to share that message in the public square is intolerable.  LLDF is committed to aggressively defending the rights of pro-life advocates.  We will not back down, and we will not be threatened.  We will continue to fight so that the freedoms of all are protected and preserved.

… Imagine that you want to buy a horse. You pay for a horse, and what is delivered to you is a fertilized horse egg. You would probably feel cheated. You can’t ride or race a fertilized horse egg. It isn’t a horse. Even in Texas. You need a mare and a lot of development. A single cell isn’t a horse, a cluster of undifferentiated cells (technically, a “blastocyst”) isn’t a horse, a cluster of differentiated cells isn’t a horse, a horse embryo isn’t a horse, and a horse fetus isn’t a horse. You would feel cheated if you were sold any of them….

The reason not to use the above language is that it can both hide reality and does not adequately communicate the moral values that underlie progressive policy. The right to limit development is a matter of liberty and family freedom.

~ George Lakoff and Elizabeth Wehling, Common Dreams, July 16

by LauraLoo

She’s been engaged to Liam Hemsworth for just over a month and already Miley Cyrus has babies on the brain.

Set to tie the knot with the Hunger Games hunk, 22, bride-to-be Cyrus, 19, isn’t worried about wedding planning as much as she is family planning. 

“Miley and Liam really want to have a baby quickly,” a Cyrus family source tells Us Magazine.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz4qnkG2NCY[/youtube]

The HuffPo also reminisces by providing a photo gallery of Miley through the years.

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

It used to be whiskey, tears and cigarettes…. Now it’s [my baby’s] kind of tears, no cigarettes and the color of poop. Pure joy. I miss the whiskey, not the cigarettes.

I like myself more than I used to.

~ Singer Pink, revealing the positive impact that her infant daughter, Willow, has made on her life, as quoted by People, July 12

Rich and I are at the airport. It’s 12:30p on July 16 here. (Happy 30th birthday to son Tim!) Our plane departs for America soon, thus ending our whirlwind pro-life tour for Right to Life Australia.

No matter what state or country I visit, I find pro-lifers amazingly similar. We are our own unique culture, like our own ideological country. No matter where I travel, I meet instant best friends. There’s no time or need for small talk. We jump right to the topic at the front of all our minds, the sanctity of innocent human life. So it was in Australia. I will miss my new friends.

There are cultural differences here. Australians are more reserved, so the boldness of American pro-lifers is a bit startling to the senses. It is interesting to observe us from the outside.

Also, the culture is more secular, so there is much more apathy on the life issue.

Finally, there is no explicit constitutional right to free speech in Australia. And so we see the first pro-life university group to organize in two decades, Life Choice Sydney, already in danger of dissafiliation after only four weeks in existence. Please “like” the group’s Facebook page to increase their volume of support, which may help for the upcoming hearing. (The uni group Prolife Auckland in New Zealand is encountering the same attempt at censorship.)

I was honored to meet with two pro-life Members of Parliament in Victoria, and my speech in Queensland was held in a Parliament meeting room, with several pro-life MPs in attendance.

One thing is for sure, as I’ve mentioned before. Pro-life groups and politicians around the world look to U.S. pro-lifers for inspiration and ideas. We are the tip of the spear, a big responsibility.

Along with that, we somewhat bear the brunt. International pro-lifers also look to us to see how our cutting edge legislation, etc., is greeted by pro-aborts. They learn from our battles and mistakes.

Rich is telling me we have to catch our flight, so I have to bid you g’day! I’ll be back online in about 24 hours. I’ve missed you! Thanks to Kelli and the mods for holding down the fort.