Abortion

Southern Baptists passed a resolution Wednesday, celebrating the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president while at the same time denouncing some of the president's recent actions on such issues as homosexuality and abortion.

"Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention ... share our nation's pride in our continuing progress toward racial reconciliation signaled by the election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President," the resolution states.

It passed with a near unanimous vote during SBC's annual meeting in Louisville, Ky. more >>

The Senate recently blocked a resolution that condemns violence against abortion providers.

Opposition came from some Republicans and pro-life senators who objected to some of the language in the measure.

The resolution states in part that "health care employees have suffered threats and hostility to provide crucial services" and "recognizes that acts of violence should never be used to prevent women from receiving reproductive health care." more >>

Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and late night host Jon Stewart faced off for the second time over another heated topic – abortion, or the pro-life issue, as Huckabee preferred to call it.

The debate Thursday night on "The Daily Show" didn't sway opinions but both parties demonstrated civility at a time when dialogue on abortion has become inflammatory, as Stewart noted.

"I hope that people begin to see that both sides can come at it with good faith and good intentions and are not frenzied and maniacal on one side and callous and indifferent on the other," said Stewart, who identifies more with the pro-choice camp but admitted he's in "the squishy middle" of the debate. more >>

Pro-life groups have planned a series of prayer and memorial events for this weekend in Wichita, Kan., where late-term abortion doctor George Tiller was killed late last month.

The two-day effort, named “A Time for Healing ... A Time for Life,” will include a prayer walk across Wichita, a number of prayer vigils, and a memorial service at Women's Health Care Services, the abortion clinic Tiller had run from 1975 until last month, when he was shot and killed during a Sunday service at his Lutheran church.

"As members of the pro-life and faith community, we are coming together for a time of prayer and remembrance. We will be praying for the Tiller family as well as asking God to bring healing to the City of Wichita,” commented the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, which is sponsoring the weekend events with Operation Rescue and Living Word Outreach of Wichita. more >>

The head of a pro-life group in Wichita said his group is interested in buying the clinic of slain late-term abortion provider George Tiller and turning it into a place that honors life rather than one that takes life away.

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, which is operating at the former site of an abortion clinic it purchased and closed, said he has brought up the idea of purchasing Tiller's clinic with a few board members but nothing has been confirmed.

He said that the group might turn the Women’s Health Care Services clinic – the site of Tiller's operations for decades – into a memorial museum for babies. The activist group has long tried to shut down the Wichita clinic. more >>