Abortion

In conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, a pro-life group released a new ad with the support of retired astronauts.

Promoting the "potential" of every human life, the new CatholicVote.org television ad launched in Houston and is beginning to spread on the Web.

"The courage and dedication of the astronauts aboard Apollo 11, and hundreds of others involved in our nation's space program make me proud of our great country," Dr. Joseph Kerwin, the first American doctor in space with Skylab 2, said at a press briefing last week. more >>

The Senate health committee approved legislation Wednesday that would expand insurance coverage to nearly all Americans but also would empower federal officials to mandate coverage of abortion on demand in virtually all health plans, according to critics.

 On Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved a massive bill sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) on a 13-10 party line vote. A day earlier, the House Democratic leadership unveiled a similar 1,000-page bill, H.R. 3200, which President Obama said “will begin the process of fixing what’s broken about our health care system."

"And by emphasizing prevention and wellness, it will also help improve the quality of health care for every American," Obama added. more >>

The Obama Administration, working with powerful Democratic leaders in Congress, is trying to smuggle into federal law sweeping expansions of access to abortion on demand, including federal funding of abortion, through "health care reform" legislation, railed pro-lifers Tuesday.

"These proposals are a violation of fundamental tenets of our Constitution: that deeply-held religious convictions be respected, that the federal government not compel privately offered services to do Uncle Sam's bidding, and that the conscience rights of scores of millions of Americans be respected," said Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins.

"No one in any field of endeavor should be compelled to violate his or her conscience at the whim of Washington. One of the reasons we fought a Revolution was to establish that principle, and it's still worth defending today," he added. more >>

As House Democrats speed toward unveiling their health care reform package, conservatives are actively campaigning against letting it slip by with abortion coverage.

On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved adding a provision to the health care bill that would require abortion groups to be included in any health insurance network created by the bill, according to Family Research Council.

"It's ironic that Senator Mikulski (D-MD) and the committee Democrats would consider taxpayer-funded abortions to be a health care benefit since the baby gets no health care benefit from abortion," said FRC president Tony Perkins. "President Obama and the Democrat leadership claim they want to 'reduce' abortion, but you don't reduce abortion by funding it." more >>

In their first meeting Friday, President Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI touched on the ethics of abortion and stem cells.

The two leaders met at the Vatican's apostolic palace where the pontiff offered Obama a copy of a document titled "An Instruction on Certain Bioethical Questions," according to CNN.

While Obama supports abortion rights and funding embryonic stem cell research, the Vatican is staunchly opposed to both. In a paper that was released in December, the Vatican hardened its opposition to using embryos for stem cell research and affirmed the dignity of every human life – beginning at conception. more >>