Australia Lifts Ban on Foreign Aid Funding of Abortion
Back in December, Ramona Vijeyarasa reported on Rewire
that Australia was considering lifting its ban on foreign aid funding
for abortion services.  Now the country has.  Radio Australia reports,
"The policy change announced by the Australian government overturns a
12
year old ban, imposed under the previous conservative government, which
had stopped the use of any Australian overseas development funding for
activities involving abortion."

California County Supervisor Doesn’t Like Planned Parenthood "Talking" About Birth Control to Teens
In
California, a county supervisor has a problem not only with the fact
that Planned Parenthood provides abortions, but also provides education
and counseling on birth control: "We have a problem with financing
Planned Parenthood, period," Mario Mainero, [Orange County Supervisor
John] Moorlach’s chief of staff, told the Orange County Register.
"We just don’t think government money should be used to talk to teens
and preteens about birth control and abortion." Reports the California Catholic Daily:

 

Money funneled to Planned
Parenthood of San Bernardino and Orange Counties under the two
contracts is used to help pay for immunizations and “an online chat
room and telephone hot line where people can call and anonymously ask
health educators questions about birth control and STDs and find
resources for health care,” said the Register report, citing
Kight as the source for the information. “Educational presentations
throughout the community include discussions about anatomy and
physiology, all birth control methods, the responsibility that
accompanies sexual activity and the general and reproductive health
hazards of smoking, among other things.”

Kentucky Ultrasound Bill Falters
A Kentucky bill to require
women to meet with their doctors prior to an abortion for an ultrasound
failed to get enough support in the House Health and Welfare Committee
to move forward, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports:

Senate bill 79 didn’t receive enough votes to get to the House floor. The vote was 8-8; a majority is required for approval.

With only four days left for passing legislation in this year’s
session, the committee vote represents a major setback for the bill.

The
Senate has already approved SB 79, which also requires women to have a
face-to-face meeting with physicians before having abortions.

Doug Kmiec Answers Questions on Obama’s First Weeks in Office
Anti-choice Obama supporter Doug Kmiec answers Dan Gilgoff’s questions
on some of Obama’s recent pro-choice moves: reversing the global gag
rule, on Kathleen Sebelius, on lifting ban on federal funding for
embryonic stem cell research.  On overturning the global gag rule,
Kmiec writes,

The Mexico City policy aggravated levels of disease, deprived remote
areas of less developed nations sometimes of their only available
health care, and as you reported, I believe, may well have also
accounted for dramatic increases in abortion. So while I did not have
occasion to address the Mexico City policy hardly at all during the
campaign, I see a President willing and capable of re-assessing
questionable policy early in his administration even if it was also a
policy that in some instances helped separate us from those who do not
share our concern with abortion as a practice. I am more interested in
seeing us maintain the amendment which continues to preclude U.S.
funding of abortion in foreign countries than a policy that seemed to
have an abundance of negative collateral health effects unrelated to
abortion.

 

Other News to Note

March 10: About.com: Poll: When Does a Pregnancy Begin?

March 10: Wowowow: Rush Limbaugh to Vatican: Vacuum Cleaner, Not Washing Machine, Most Liberating for Women

March 10: Slate: Contraception vs. Washing Machines? No Contest.

March 9: The Maneater: Column: Missouri Republicans believe in fairies, unicorns: Legislators try to shut down FOCA before it passes.

March 10: The Harvard Crimson: Feminist Disputes Pro-Life Tie: Speaker says feminist belief in universal equality applies to the unborn

March 10: NYT blog: Stem Cell Research Debate

March 10: PennLive: Catholics wary of possible bill on abortion

March 10: LifeNews: Obama Faith Member Joel Hunter: Pro-Lifers Lying About His Pro-Abortion Record

March 10: Beliefnet: Sexting, Jesse Logan’s Teen Suicide, and the Double Standard for Boys