Half of Americans Want to Know Candidate's Abortion Stance Before Voting

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll conducted by Fox News finds that almost half of all voters want to know where a candidate stands on the issue of abortion before casting their vote for or against him. The poll is the latest to show that abortion still has a significant impact for voters, despite media pronouncements to the contrary.
The new survey, released on Friday, finds 45 percent of Americans need to know a candidate's position on abortion before they vote, while 53 percent say they don't.

A candidate's position on abortion is more important for pro-life voters than those who back abortion.

Fox News found that 56 percent of those identifying themselves as pro-life want to know a candidate's abortion views while just 41 percent of those who back legal abortions do.

That reconfirms results from previous surveys showing pro-life voters are more engaged on the abortion issue than those who back abortion and the results give pro-life candidates a slight edge on the issue.

The Fox News survey also found out that 48 percent of women, 46 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of born-again Christians want to know where a candidate stands on abortion before voting.

John Gorman, the head of the polling firm Opinion Dynamics, which conducted the survey for Fox News, downplayed the results.

"It is interesting to note that even among pro-life voters only slightly more than half need to know," he said.

They survey also found that while media stories focus on immigration and ethics issues as top stories, abortion is just as important for voters when they named their list of top political issues.

The poll also found that pro-life voters were five times more likely to say that abortion is a key political issues compared with voters who call themselves "pro-choice."

According to the Fox News survey, a majority of Republicans oppose abortions in the overwhelmingly majority of circumstances.

Some 50 percent of those polled say they oppose legal abortions in cases when the "pregnancy is unwanted" and only 39 percent of voters say abortions should be legal in such cases.

Republicans were 67-22 percent pro-life according to the poll while Democrats back abortion in general on a 54-37 percent margin.

The poll also determined that many voters don't know when abortions are done. Despite opposing abortions in 98 percent of the cases, the voters labeled themselves "pro-choice" on abortion by a 48-37 percent margin.

Another 15 percent said their views were mixed or didn't know how to classify where they stand on abortion.

http://www.lifenews.com/nat3410.html

Harper government irresponsibly approves HPV Vaccine that causes atrocious side-effects for young girls, including cancer

The Stephen Harper Conservative minority government earlier this year made a decision to spend $300 million on a campaign to inoculate females nine to 13 against cervical cancer. Sounds like great leadership on a critical health issue doesn't it. The problem is that the decision appears to be motivated to financially support the U.S. Big Business Pharmaceutical interests that developed the vaccine. Kathleen O'Hara in the Hamilton Spectator on 26 September 2007 referred to the vaccine programme as effort to create "more guinea pigs" for a vaccine that has many reported serious health issues.

Four provinces -- Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island -- have jumped on the bandwagon, making the relatively new vaccine Gardasil by Merck Frosst available for certain ages through public vaccination programs. Other provincial governments are deliberating on the matter, along with the territories.

There have been eight documented deaths that have been linked to the cervical cancer jab.

Doctors suspect the jab, which protects against a sexually transmitted human papilloma virus that causes the cancer, may be implicated in 3,461 adverse documented reactions, including paralysis and seizures.

The American-based National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) had released in February 2007 a new analysis of the U.S. Federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports of serious health problems following HPV vaccination (Merck's GARDASIL) during the last six months of 2006. Out of the 385 individual GARDASIL adverse event reports made to VAERS, two-thirds required additional medical care and about one-third of all reports were for children 16-years-old and under, with nearly 25 percent of those children having received simultaneously one or more of the 18 vaccines that Merck did not study in combination with GARDASIL. NVIC is calling on the FDA and CDC to warn parents and doctors that GARDASIL should not be combined with other vaccines and that young girls should be monitored for at least 24 hours for syncopal (collapse/fainting) episodes that can be accompanied by seizure activity, as well as symptoms of tingling, numbness and loss of sensation in the fingers and limbs, all of which should be reported to VAERS immediately.

According to NVIC's report, a majority of GARDASIL adverse event reports to VAERS involved those who suffered fever, nausea, headache or pain; 14 percent were for syncopal episodes with or without neurological signs; and 8 percent experienced tingling, numbness and loss of sensation, facial paralysis or Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Although adverse event reports to VAERS do not prove causation, they can provide an early warning sign that a new vaccine may be causing health problems that could be important. NVIC also found that there were several VAERS reports of HPV infection, genital warts and cervical lesions after GARDASIL vaccination. It is unknown if the girls were infected with HPV before being vaccinated or if GARDASIL failed to protect them. One case of HPV infection occurred in a 22-year-old girl who had participated in a Merck GARDASIL trial in 2003 when she had shown "strong conversion to all 4 vaccine types" but "tested positive for high risk HPV" in 2006, according to the VAERS report.

A lead researcher who spent 20 years developing the vaccine for humanpapilloma virus also says the HPV vaccine is not for younger girls, and that it is "silly" for states to be mandating it for them.

Not only that, she says it's not been tested for effectiveness in younger girls, and administering the vaccine to girls as young as 9 may not even protect them at all. And, in the worst-case scenario, instead of serving to reduce the numbers of cervical cancers within 25 years, such a vaccination crusade actually could cause the numbers to go up.

"Giving it to 11-year-olds is a great big public health experiment," said Diane M. Harper, who is a scientist, physician, professor and the director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire.

"It is silly to mandate vaccination of 11- to 12-year-old girls There also is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue."

Judicial Watch, a U.S. government watchdog, became concerned while noting large donations to key politicians originating from Merck. A freedom of information request from the group in May of this year discovered that during the period from June 8, 2006 -- when the vaccines received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -- to May 2007 there were 1,637 reports of adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine reported to the FDA.

The Toronto Star recently reported that Merck Frosst Canada Ltd hired public relations giant Hill & Knowlton to push the immunization strategies using some well-connected lobbyists: Ken Boessenkool, a former senior policy adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Bob Lopinski, formerly with Premier Dalton McGuinty's office; and Jason Grier, former chief of staff to Health Minister George Smitherman.

Harper's Conservative Government approved Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil in July and later announced a $300 million program to give the vaccine to girls from ages 9-13. That of course is only the beginning of what Merck likely hopes will be a much larger vaccination of all potentially sexually active women in Canada who are not already HPV infected. In August, McGuinty's Ontario Liberals, on the advice of his Health Minister George Smitherman, announced that all Grade 8 girls will have free access to Gardasil.

Katelyn Lexus: An american family tragedy

Not long ago, Nicholas and Lola Kampf looked like a couple who had it all.
A million-dollar house in North Yarmouth. A thriving real estate business. The luxuries of trips around the world and private school education for their two children.

Then came shocking charges last September, when their 19- year-old daughter, Katelyn, told police her parents tied her up and drove her south in the family Lexus, in an attempt to force her into an abortion she didn't want.

On Friday, the couple's legal ordeal ended when they pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of assault and disorderly conduct. Their family problems, however, were far from resolved.

"This is an American family tragedy," Lola Kampf told Superior Court Justice William Brodrick. "These events have ripped our family apart."

Nicholas and Lola Kampf sat at a defendants' table in Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland, clutching hands. Their daughter, who is now 20, sat on a bench about 15 feet behind them, holding her 8-month-old son. The parents did not look back, and Katelyn Kampf did not glance over when she told a judge he was letting them off easy.

"I'm really unhappy with the plea agreement. I know that they did kidnap me," she told Brodrick. "I do think they should face felony charges."

In the end, Brodrick accepted a plea deal that spared the parents from jail time. Instead, they will undergo psychological evaluations and counseling.

The Kampf family's legal saga began at their North Yarmouth home on Sept. 15, 2006.

Katelyn Kampf told police her parents wanted to take her to New York, where abortions are allowed until 24 weeks into the pregnancy. The procedure is allowed in Maine only until the 20th week, which she had already passed.

Nicholas and Lola Kampf say there was an argument and a fight. They said they bound their daughter's hands and untied her in the Lexus. They told investigators that they knew an abortion would not be provided without Katelyn's consent, and they were hoping during the car ride to convince her that that was the best choice for her future.

The parents were indicted last fall on charges of kidnapping, assault and terrorizing. Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson eventually sought lesser charges through a plea deal, based on a judge's recommendation and the fact that Katelyn Kampf said she wanted to avoid a trial and did not want her parents to go to jail.

Anderson said she just learned in the past few days that Katelyn Kampf had changed her mind about the plea deal.

For most of Friday's hearing, Katelyn Kampf held her son, D'Andre, and fed him from a bottle at one point. Her parents apparently had never seen the child whose impending birth sparked the events of last September, as well as the claims and counterclaims that followed.

"This is one of the most unusual and bizarre cases I've ever encountered in over 20 years of doing this," said Anderson, the district attorney.

Anderson said Katelyn Kampf had dropped out of George Washington University and had become pregnant by her boyfriend, Reme Johnson. On Sept. 15, Katelyn decided she wanted to keep the baby, but her parents still wanted her to undergo an abortion. That led to the confrontation and car ride heading south.

When Katelyn Kampf and her father went into a department store in Salem, N.H., to buy a cell phone, Anderson said, Katelyn walked into a Staples store and called police.

Anderson dismissed claims that the ordeal was racially motivated. Kampf is white, and Johnson, the father of her baby, is black. Statements to investigators by Johnson and Katelyn Kampf did not support any theory of racial motivation, Anderson said.

"In my conversations with Katelyn, she had the feeling they didn't like Reme Johnson but they had never said anything overt about his race," she said.

The animosity was based on Johnson's criminal record, his lack of employment and

the fact that he was living with Katelyn Kampf without her parents' knowledge, Anderson said.

In her statement to Brodrick on Friday, Katelyn Kampf disagreed.

She said that when police interviewed her and her brother, Daniel, they asked if her parents were racist. "We did say 'yes,'" Kampf said. "Part of the reasons these things happened was because he was black."

Seth Berner, Katelyn Kampf's lawyer, contended outside court that the events constitute a hate crime. He said he will try to get the state Attorney General's Office or the U.S. attorney to review the facts.

"The outcome of this case is absolutely horrendous," said Berner, co-chairman of the legal redress committee for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Portland Branch. "It says what they did was no worse than stealing a bottle of wine."

But Anderson said every step was taken to make sure that Katelyn Kampf was part of the plea negotiations. The district attorney said she signed off on the plan at a Sept. 17 meeting.

During Friday's hearing, Berner tried to speak on Katelyn Kampf's behalf but was quieted by Brodrick, who said Berner had no legal right to speak.

"Any differences you have with Ms. Anderson can be handled elsewhere," Brodrick said to Berner. "You're on the record. Now you can proceed to your seat."

Brodrick said the assault and disorderly conduct charges, if they did not involve a "bizarre" family dynamic, would likely have been punished by a short jail sentence, probation and a fine. But he agreed that jail time would not be appropriate.

The Kampfs, who now reside in Florida, must undergo psychological evaluations and counseling and must pay for $5,000 worth of counseling for their daughter. They are not allowed to have contact with Katelyn Kampf, unless she decides to sit in on their counseling sessions.

If the Kampfs meet all the conditions, the assault charges against them will be dropped in 2009, but the disorderly conduct convictions will remain on their records.

Hope for reconciliation is another matter. Both parents said Friday that they want to mend the torn relationship.

"We have all made some bad choices in the past and we will have to live with them, but we must believe with our hearts and soul that time will heal the wounds they have caused," Lola Kampf said.

Immediately after the hearing, in a hallway, Katelyn Kampf cast doubt on that hope.

"They will never be involved in my life. Ever," she said.

What a tragedy that parents can do this to their daughter and grandchild -even if not racially motivated - and not spend many years in jail.

This young woman was kidnapped and assaulted in order to procure an abortion. If this had happened to a woman seeking an abortion with parents protesting that the prochoice movement would have made vast public commentary. This woman because she chose to give birth to her child has not prompted a word from that community.