Abortion

Pro-life advocates in Arkansas submitted to the state attorney general’s office a revised state constitution amendment to give rights to the unborn in the hopes that the measure will make it to the 2012 ballot, and eventually force a U.S. Supreme Court challenge to Roe vs. Wade.

Personhood Arkansas submitted the document for approval Wednesday, exactly a week after its first proposed amendment was rejected.

State Attorney General Dustin McDaniel rejected the measure last week citing several phrases that he believed were ambiguous and undefined. more >>

Newt Gingrich is not only a fierce competitor – he is also an angry one. The Romney campaign pelted Gingrich so hard with a series of attack ads in Iowa that they brought down his poll numbers by several percentage points. Now the Gingrich camp is hitting back in South Carolina with a string of negative abortion ads in an effort to slow Romney’s momentum.

The former Massachusetts governor has changed his abortion stance over the years and now says he is pro-life. This issue has remained a sore spot for Romney, allowing his opponents to take the opportunity to remind voters of Romney’s previous support for abortion rights.

Gingrich’s latest ad refers to Romney as the “pro-abortion” governor of Massachusetts. more >>

An Arizona college student quit her job with the Girl Scouts after being asked to turn her pro-life t-shirt inside out because of its message, an incident not shocking to a previous member of the organization.

“I believe unfortunate situations like this will continue to arise, especially as people discover the truth about Girl Scouts' values,” said Sydney Volanski, a former Girl Scouts member who left due to the organization’s pro-choice stance. “I can see a cycle forming: as more people know the truth, more people stand for their beliefs and get criticized; as more people get criticized, more people know the truth.”

The incident involved Renise Rodriguez, a 21-year-old Girl Experience Associate for the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona in Tuscon. She was wearing a “Pray to End Abortion” shirt when she went into the office during off-duty hours to prepare materials for a meeting. It was there that she was told twice by a supervisor to turn her shirt inside out if she planned to stay in the office or attend a troop meeting, according to Priests for Life more >>

Prominent pro-life advocate Father Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, said he plans to accelerate his pursuit of legal action against the abortion industry this year.

Pavone, who is a priest of the Catholic Diocese in Amarillo, Texas, said that he is confident his coalition’s actions will close many abortion mills and place many abortionists in jail.

"Building on the work done by many other groups with whom we collaborate, we will begin this month to accelerate the investigation of abortion clinics, which break laws left and right. We will bring special attention to the ten abortionists in Texas who have to answer to the Texas Medical Board for numerous violations, and will see to it that they are held accountable," Pavone said. more >>

A pregnant 14-year-old girl in Texas won a temporary restraining order against her parents who were attempting to force her into undergoing an abortion.

The teenager’s family had scheduled for her to have an abortion late last month before the girl decided against the procedure. Two temporary restraining orders (TROs) were subsequently won in court and the girl’s family is now legally required to abstain from contacting her until the child – currently at ten weeks – is born.

The teen, as well as her teenage boyfriend, his mother and pro-life litigation group, Texas Center for Defense of Life (TCDL), plan to fight for her right to birth the baby. more >>

In two Republican presidential debates over the weekend, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum discussed their positions on gay rights, the right to privacy and abortion rights.

In Saturday night's Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire, moderator George Stephanopoulos asked about a constitutional right to privacy, but couched it in terms of a right to contraception, which led to some confusing and humorous exchanges with Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.

“George, this is an unusual topic you're raising ... I can't imagine a state banning contraception,” Romney said and added that he would oppose any effort to ban contraception. more >>