LIFE DIGEST: Charge urged in Hasan’s killing of unborn child
- Nov 17, 2009 - 1 -
The U.S. military should prosecute Army Maj. Nidal Hasan for 14 murders, not just 13, in the shooting rampage he conducted Nov. 5 at Fort Hood, Texas, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) said.
Hasan has been charged in 13 deaths, but an additional charge should be added in the killing of the unborn child of Francheska Velez, who was three months pregnant when she was shot to death, ADF contended in a letter to the Staff Judge Advocate at Fort Hood. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, it is a crime to cause the death of a child in his mother’s womb.
Also in this edition: Abortion clinics shuttered or for sale and N.H. committee rejects assisted-suicide bill.
“All murder victims – born and preborn – deserve equal justice,” ADF Senior Legal Counsel Steven Aden said in a written release. “Women who volunteer to protect our country deserve to know that the government will enforce the laws that protect their children.”
Velez, 21, returned early from a tour of duty in Iraq after learning she was pregnant. She was preparing to take maternity leave, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Abortion clinics shuttered or for sale
Abortion clinics in various parts of the country continue to close or go on the market.
The Community Healthcare Center in Pensacola, Fla., shut down Oct. 30, according to a report by WEAR-TV, the local ABC affiliate. State inspectors discovered the clinic’s lab license had expired 413 days earlier. The state gave the clinic the option of paying a $413,000 fine or closing. Though Florida’s Agency for Healthcare Administration offered the center a reduced fine, it never received a reply.
The closing came two days before the end of a 40 Days for Life prayer vigil outside the clinic.
“People have prayed there that abortions would cease, and it was during the fall 40 Days for Life campaign . . . that it was finally announced that this facility, where untold numbers of unborn children perished, was closing,” said David Bereit, 40 Days for Life national director, in a written statement. “That is not just a coincidence. God works in mysterious ways, and this is indeed an answer to prayer!”
Planned Parenthood of Montana has announced its clinic in Kalispell, Mont., is closing because of the “economic downturn,” effective Nov. 20. The center was the site of a 40 Days for Life vigil in the spring.
The 40 Days for Life effort involves peaceful prayer vigils outside abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood offices, as well as fasting for the end of abortion.
Meanwhile, abortion doctor Albert Hodari has put on sale three of his clinics in Michigan. He has placed “for sale” signs in front of centers in Flint, Livonia and Southgate, according to a Nov. 13 LifeNews.com report.
In June, Hodari was fined $10,000 by the state after Regina Johnson died at one of his clinics following a botched abortion, LifeNews reported.
N.H. committee rejects assisted-suicide bill
A New Hampshire legislative committee has defeated a bill to legalize assisted suicide.
The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted 14-3 against the bill Nov. 10, according to the Associated Press. The panel’s recommendation will be considered by the House in January. If the House agrees with the committee, it is highly unlikely the issue will return to the chamber before 2011, AP reported.
The committee’s decision “is encouraging to all of us who know that legalizing the direct killing of the sick and those with disabilities will mean death, rather than treatment, for the most vulnerable among us,” said Jennifer Popik, legislative counsel with the National Right to Life Committee, in a written release. “The committee rightly saw that any supposed ‘safeguards’ that promoters of assisted suicide attempt to sell are nothing more than an illusion.”
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. If your church is interested in purchasing bulletin inserts or other materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Family, Children, Life, Abortion, End-of-Life Issues, Suicide, Citizenship, National,
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1 On Nov 18th, 2009, at 1:41am, David McFadden wrote:
We should never forget that Albert Hondari could be having a change of heart concerning abortion. Who knows somday he could be our biggest ally. If the Christian community extends the love of Christ out to the world, including Albert Hondari, we could win many to the pro-life world view.