Vital Signs: Nancy Pelosi recognized as abortion's biggest cheerleader

Questionable recognition. Planned Parenthood Federation of America announced House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will receive its Margaret Sanger Award during a March 27 ceremony.

Pelosi earned the award, named after the birth control advocate and Planned Parenthood founder, for her leadership in the women’s reproductive rights movement, including her role in passing the Affordable Care Act. Pelosi has voted against bills protecting unborn children capable of feeling pain and prohibiting taxpayer funding for abortion.

“As I have since my earliest days in Congress, I will defend reproductive freedoms and a comprehensive approach to women’s health care, reducing the number of unintended pregnancies at home and around the world,” Pelosi said in a statement on the 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Past Margaret Sanger recipients include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, actress Katharine Hepburn, and pro-abortion philanthropist Alan Guttmacher.

Narrowly defined? Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest sued the Alaska health commissioner Jan. 29 over regulations that redefine a “medically necessary” abortion for the purposes of receiving Medicaid funding.

The lawsuit, filed in Anchorage Superior Court, seeks to strike down and block enforcement of regulations that took effect Feb. 2. Judge John Suddock heard arguments last week over Planned Parenthood’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction until the case is resolved or the court issues a further order.

Alaska’s regulations require abortion providers to indicate why the procedure was medically necessary, from a list of 23 impairments, in order to get reimbursed with state funds.

Broadly defined? A federal judge has a set a June 1, 2015, trial date on the constitutionality of an Indiana law that broadens the legal definition of an abortion provider to any facility prescribing the abortion pill.

In November, U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson granted a preliminary injunction against the law, which would have taken effect Jan. 1.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana challenged the law, passed by Republican lawmakers last year, requiring facilities dispensing the RU-486 abortion pill to meet the same standards as those performing surgical abortions. All abortion centers would need to include surgical scrub facilities and surgical recovery rooms.

The law would only affect one Lafayette, Ind., facility, according to the Indianapolis Star.

Of what remains. Regulation of RU-486 also tightened in Arizona, where new rules implemented last week required both doses of the drug to be administered at an abortion facility, rather than allowing women to take the second dose at home. It also prevents using the drug after 7 weeks of pregnancy, rather than 9 weeks.

The new rules are part of a 2012 law that also included a 20-week abortion ban that was later struck down. The remaining rules require both surgical abortion providers and abortion pill providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. It also requires abortion facilities to report complications that require patients to have ambulance transport.

Planned Parenthood of Arizona President Bryan Howard called the new drug regulations “out-of-date,” but Cathi Herrod, president of the pro-life Center for Arizona Policy, hailed the new rules as the safest regulations for RU-486.

Lutheran abortion funding. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation, the charity arm of the Lutheran fraternal benefit society, has donated more than $8,400 to pro-abortion groups through its gift multiplier program, Life News reported. News of the donations broke earlier this month, but Thrivent did not disclose how much money was involved.

According to the organization’s 990 tax forms, its pro-abortion donations span at least a six-year period from 2006 to 2012. Because the gift multiplier program doubles member donations, Thrivent and its members donated more than $16,800 to pro-abortion organizations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.