Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A nonpartisan web site that routinely serves as a watchdog for public officials, the media and political groups says President Barack Obama has it wrong. FactCheck.org says the current health care plans pending in Congress do authorize abortion funding, contrary to Obama's claims otherwise.

"Despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plan," the web site concludes.

At issue are concerns from pro-life groups that the government-run health care plans would include abortion funding and coverage. Obama has said they don't and gone as far as accusing pro-life groups of lying about the legislation.

The FactCheck web site, run by staff at the University of Pennsylvania, says "it's true that House and Senate legislation would allow a new 'public' insurance plan to cover abortions"...

Operation Rescue has launched a petition drive designed to block Nebraska late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart from moving into Kansas.

Carhart has made statements to the media that he hopes to open a new late-term abortion clinic in Wichita, possibly negotiating to buy the former clinic operated by the late George Tiller.

Operation Rescue spokeswoman Cheryl Sullinger explains her group's strategy against Carhart...

ROME – Italy has approved the use of the abortion drug RU-486, drawing fierce protests by the Vatican.

The drug, which terminates pregnancy by causing the embryo to detach from the uterine wall, is already available in several other European countries. But approval in Italy had been held up so far by the Catholic Church, which opposes abortion and contraception...

Beijing (AP) - China performs about 13 million abortions every year, mostly for single young women who experts say know little about contraception, state media said Thursday in a rare disclosure of sensitive family planning statistics.

The China Daily newspaper said the real number of abortions is believed to be even higher since the 13 million accounts for procedures in hospitals but many more are known to be carried out in unregistered rural clinics. Also, about 10 million abortion pills are sold every year in China, the paper said...

A bill under the guise of reducing abortion could actually do the opposite.

LifeNews.com reports Congressmen Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), a former pro-lifer who abandoned his views and was subsequently kicked off the board of Democrats for Life of America, and Representative Rose DeLauro (D-Connecticut), a former staff of NARAL, have introduced a bill being touted as pro-life legislation but is being called a "bailout for the abortion industry."

According to Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee, the $647-million "Reducing the Need for Abortions Initiative" does not live up to its name...

If passed, two healthcare reform bills could mean more abortions at taxpayers' expense.

The two primary measures -- the Kennedy bill and the House Democratic leadership bill -- contain provisions that would represent the greatest expansion of abortion since the Supreme Court legalized it in 1973, according to Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee.

"These two bills contain multiple provisions that would result in federally mandated insurance coverage of abortion on demand, result in massive federal subsidies for abortion, result even in mandated creation of many new abortion clinics across the country," he explains...

They weigh less than 3 pounds, usually, and are perhaps 15 inches long. But they can remember.

The unborn have memories, according to medical researchers who used sound and vibration stimulation, combined with sonography, to reveal that the human fetus displays short-term memory from at least 30 weeks gestation - or about two months before they are born.

"In addition, results indicated that 34-week-old fetuses are able to store information and retrieve it four weeks later," said the research, which was released Wednesday...

CNSNews.com) – At her confirmation hearing this week, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor refused to give her personal views on abortion. However, Sotomayor spent more than a decade serving on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), a group that opposes “any efforts” to “in any way restrict” abortion.

According to legal briefs filed by PRLDEF, the group opposed parental consent laws, waiting periods, and even the broad “undue burden” standard, which says abortion restrictions cannot be too burdensome for women wanting to end their pregnancies.

Sotomayor did not provide those legal briefs to the Senate Judiciary Committee...

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against pharmacists exercising their conscience.

The lawsuit was filed to block the state of Washington from enforcing a law requiring pharmacists to dispense medication in violation of their religious beliefs. That is especially related to Plan B, otherwise known as the "morning-after" pill -- which some medical professionals believe induces abortion. Brad Dacus heads the Pacific Justice Institute.

"This is a clear affront and a violation of the fundamental religious convictions of the owners of pharmacies," he contends. "No pharmacist owner should ever have to choose between saving a human life and keeping their shop and business"...