Pro-Life Republican Group Will Fight to Keep GOP Platform Pro-Life
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A leading-life group that works within the Republican Party says it will be working at the upcoming GOP convention this summer to make sure the party platform retains its strong pro-life position. Colleen Parro of the Republican National Coalition for Life says her group expects the smaller cadre of pro-abortion Republicans within the party to try to weaken the platform’s language, which calls for a human life amendment to the Constitution to protect unborn children from abortion. “We fully expect that there will be a move on the part of pro-abortion platform committee members to weaken the pro-life plank,” she tells LifeNews.com. “They have been trying to do that since 1990 and we have been able to defeat them.” Parro also said her group will make sure eventual presidential nominee John McCain doesn't follow through on old comments he’s made saying he wants to weaken the platform by including rape and incest exceptions. McCain affirmed his desire to weaken the plank last year but more recently indicated he would not change the pro-life position of the party. Parro said: “This time, although he has said he has no intention of changing the plank, we have no public assurance from him that he would oppose their efforts and instruct the committee to leave the pro-life plank as it is.” As LifeNews.com previously reported, pro-life Congressman Kevin McCarthy of California has been named the chairman of the platform committee while Steven Duffield will head the committee staff as the executive director. Duffield is a former aide to pro-life Sen. John Kyl of Arizona. The Republican Party platform committee is made up of one man and one woman from each state and territory. The committee will meet in Minneapolis to draft the 2008 Platform during the week prior to the Republican National Convention, which takes place the first week of September.

Miracle Baby Saved From Abortion Counsels Outside Kansas Abortion Center
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- Donna Joy Vance has been called a life spared to impact a nation. She certainly has done that in her young life, having appeared at Congressional hearings in support of the national ban on partial-birth abortions. Yet, Donna Joy was once scheduled for abortion at the late-term abortion center run by George Tiller in Wichita after having been prenatally diagnosed with severe fetal anomalies - conditions the doctors said were "incompatible with life." Thankfully, her mother refused the abortion. Donna Joy and her mother Lori Vance went to the abortion center on Thursday to talk to women going there for potential abortions. “Today, Donna Joy is very much alive and will join her mother, Lori, outside Tiller's abortion clinic where they hope to help other women chose life for their pre-born babies,” the pro-life group Operation Rescue said in a statement. This was the first time Donna Joy has visited Tiller's abortion clinic. She and her mother gave statements to the media concerning her impact on the national abortion debate and her feelings about why they believe it is so important for her to help other women save their babies, even if there are serious fetal anomalies involved.

Kansas Late-Term Abortion Center Employees in Court Over Attack
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- Employees of the late-term abortion center in Wichita run by George Tiller were in small claims court on Tuesday. Representatives of the Women's Health Care Services abortion center stand accused of using a “stink bomb” to sicken and intimidate pro-life advocates trying to persuade women to not have abortions. WHCS administrator JoAn Armentrout appeared on behalf of WHCS and was accompanied by security guard John Rayburn at the hearing. Pro-life advocate Mark Gietzen, director of the Kansas Coalition for Life, is seeking $4,000 in damages after an incident last September when Rayburn placed a "stink bomb" on the parking lot side of a cedar plank fence directly next to where pro-life supporters usually stand. Gietzen says the device emitted a powerful stench that sickened him and other pro-life people who had just convinced a possible abortion customer not to follow through with her appointment. Gietzen said he and others suffered from headache and nausea afterwards. At Tuesday's hearing, Armentrout submitted a memorandum to the court addressing the "stink bomb" incident. Armentrout argued WCHS was improperly sued since Rayburn is an independent contractor hired to provide security. She told the court that Rayburn's Diamond Security company was the entity that should be used. Judge Steven Woodring ordered that Gietzen amend his complaint to include Diamond Security and continued the small claims trial for a third time to June 10. Judge Woodring warned Armentrout that a decision in this case would be issued on June 10 and that he would allow no further delays. "This was a punitive act by Tiller's clinic that was obviously meant to get even with sidewalk counselors for saving a baby," said Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger. "People were sickened by this chemical attack, which no one at WHCS is denying took place. There should be some legal repercussions to this kind of behavior and we pray that Mr. Gietzen prevails in his suit."