by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat Planned Parenthood will close two Iowa clinics in March. One of the clinics set to close (Spencer Health Center) currently offers abortion services. Richard Doerflinger writes about ways to reduce abortion including fighting poverty, ending tax-funded abortions, regulating the abortion industry, upholding strong marriages and promoting sexual risk […]

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• USA Today picked up the story of Jennifer Morbelli’s post-abortion death.
• The Stir’s Adriana Velez is the first pro-choicer that I’ve seen attempt to comment on Morbelli’s death (quite a difference from Savita Halappanavar). A search at the RH Reality Check web site for Morbelli returns 0 results.Velez thinks one must be “a heartless ideologue” to protest the clinic whose practices led to Morbelli’s death. One wonders if she felt the same way regarding the protests after Halappanavar’s death.

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• Jennifer McKenna-Morbelli’s death after abortion was covered by News 12 Long Island.
• A 16-year-old girl in Texas is suing her parents for allegedly trying to force her into an abortion.
• A federal judge has blocked Arizona’s attempt to prevent Planned Parenthood from getting Medicaid funds:
  

  In an 11-page ruling, Judge Neil Wake [a G.W. Bush appointee] said legislation approved last year violates federal laws which say that those enrolled in the Medicaid program are entitled to get their services from any qualified medical provider.

  He said there was no evidence presented that Planned Parenthood is not qualified to offer family planning services. Instead, Wake said, the law is simply an attempt by legislators to prevent Planned Parenthood from getting any federal or state funds, no matter for what they are used.

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• Slate’s William Saletan (a pro-choice writer) argues pro-lifers get legislation passed because they care more than pro-choicers:
  

  To cancel out that advantage, pro-choicers have to raise the intensity level. When the percentage of respondents who call abortion critical, very important, or a deal-breaker rises toward 30 percent or more, the balance of power begins to shift.Think about that when you see pro-lifers winning elections, passing laws, and marching in the cold. They don’t win because they’re a majority. They win because they care enough to fight.

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• A Lima, Ohio abortion clinic has closed. Note the hilarious bias in the article:
  

  A pregnancy services provider that lists non-surgical abortion among its services has shut its doors in Lima, but as of now, it’s unclear whether the closure is temporary or permanent.

  The Capital Care Network Lima office had its front door locked, lights off and curtains pulled shut Wednesday afternoon.

  Several calls made to the Lima and Columbus offices went unanswered — many of the calls would not go through.

  The wide range of pregnancy services that “pregnancy services provider” Capital Care Network Lima provided included abortion, abortion, abortion, emergency contraception, pregnancy testing and abortion counseling.

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat A California assemblywoman has taken up the mantle of “increasing access to abortion” in the state where it is arguably most accessible. Her bill would allow non-physicians to be abortionists. The pro-life student group at Oklahoma State is suing the university after being preventing from distributing leaflets with […]

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• The Washington Post has an article on Allegheny Reproductive Health Center abortion clinic and abortion history in Pennsylvania. Interestingly, writer Sarah Kliff fails to mention why the state of PA passed a law in 2011 which “requires surgical abortion clinics to become certified as ambulatory surgical centers and meet other rules.” Wouldn’t want to bring up Kermit Gosnell, eh?

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• At National Review, Michael New reports that despite the Rasmussen poll which supposedly showed an increase in pro-choice sentiment following the November election, nothing really changed from their previous April poll:
  

  Rasmussen’s April survey also showed that likely voters were more likely to describe themselves as “pro-choice” rather than” pro-life,” by a 51–40 margin. In short, the “war on women” rhetoric and the statements by Akin and Mourdock only resulted in a three-percentage-point gain in “pro-choice” sentiment — a difference that falls within the poll’s margin of error….

  [Th]e Democrats’ emphasis on abortion and contraception… likely succeeded in increasing turnout among pro-choice voters. It also likely made pro-choice voters more likely to cast their vote based on the abortion issue. However, the results of the Rasmussen survey provide little evidence that this fall’s election cycle substantially shifted public opinion in favor of legal abortion.