Thursday, January 4, 2018

Video Producer Sues YouTube for Censoring Pro-Life Videos

 NATIONAL   MICAIAH BILGER   JAN 3, 2018   |   2:47PM    WASHINGTON, DC
A conservative talk show host is suing YouTube for censoring his videos about abortion and other issues.
Dennis Prager filed a lawsuit against the internet giant Google in October, claiming it is wrongly censoring conservatives like himself on YouTube, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
His Prager University publishes a YouTube series that discusses political and social issues from a conservative perspective. One of the videos that he alleges YouTube censored was “The Most Important Question About Abortion,” which examines the morality of abortion, including whether an unborn baby should have rights.
On Friday, Prager asked a judge for a preliminary injunction against YouTube that would lift the restricted status from his videos, according to the report.
YouTube restricts videos that it considers “potentially mature” because of nudity, violence, profanity, obscene material, hate speech or other offensive content. People still can view videos that are restricted if they look for them.
Prager’s lawyers argued that because YouTube is so large, it basically is a public forum where the First Amendment freedom of speech should apply.
“Among others, legal scholars Professors Jeffrey Rosen and Timothy Wu warn that private corporations like Defendants ‘have more power over free speech and privacy than any president, king, or Supreme Court justice,’” they argued in a court brief.
“Because the First Amendment is ‘centered on the problem of wrongful discrimination in communications’ these scholars point out that ‘anyone who wants to understand free speech in the twenty-first century needs to know how the concept has expanded over time’ to include the vast and concentrated power over speech wielded by purportedly private internet intermediaries,” they continued.
Lawyers for Google argued that YouTube is a private company with First Amendment rights and it should not be compelled to host videos that it deems objectionable.
“While Plaintiff’s Complaint invokes the First Amendment, it seeks to invert the protections that it provides,” Google attorney Brian Willen wrote. “Rather than allowing PragerU to compel a private party like YouTube to make certain videos available to all users, the First Amendment gives YouTube the freedom to decide whether and how to present content on its service.”
Whether or not Prager’s lawsuit has merit, pro-life advocates have become increasingly concerned about online censorship on widely-used social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
In October, Twitter rejected an ad from pro-life Congresswoman Marsha Blackburnbecause she mentioned Planned Parenthood’s sales of aborted baby body parts. Twitter later reversed its decision after LifeNews and other news outlets reported about the matter.
Facebook and Twitter have blocked other pro-life advertisements in the past, as well.
In September, Live Action, the youth-centered pro-life organization known for its undercover investigations of Planned Parenthood, said Twitter has been censoring its ads. Live Action and founder Lila Rose said the social media site blocked their ability to advertise and told them to change information on their websites if they want to start advertising again.
Twitter also refused to run an ad from the Susan B. Anthony List in the fall because it contained the phrase “killing babies.”
In 2016, a Maryland pro-life pregnancy center also had its ad initially rejected by Facebook. The social media site tagged the phrase “if you are pregnant” as objectionable, likening it to “if you are fat.” Facebook later approved the ad after the pro-life group modified the phrase.
In 2015, Facebook also refused to allow Live Action News to advertise one of its storiesbecause “the image or video thumbnail may shock or evoke a negative response from viewers.” The image was of baby Eli Thompson who was born without a nose.
Facebook became a subject of national news in 2016 after some of its workers admitted that they suppressed conservative news stories in favor of liberal ones. LifeNews.com, which is the leading pro-life news website on the Internet and the only one specifically devoted to pro-life issues, has long believed that Facebook has been suppressing its traffic.
at

Abortion Clinic Launches Billboard Ad Campaign Saying Abortion is a Good “Parenting Decision”

 NATIONAL   MICAIAH BILGER   JAN 3, 2018   |   11:30AM    CLEVELAND, OH
Killing a baby in the womb is a good parenting decision. It’s a blessing. It’s normal. It’s a family value.
These essentially are the messages of a new billboard campaign by Ohio’s largest abortion business, Preterm. The ads celebrate and normalize abortion, leaving out the part about the baby’s death.
The AP reports Preterm recently paid for 16 billboards in the Cleveland area that display the words “Abortion is …” followed by different phrases, such as “a parenting decision,” “a blessing,” “liberty” and “your right.” Other phrases include “life-saving,” “necessary” and “a second chance.”
None of the billboards explain what an abortion actually is: the killing of a unique, living human being in the womb. In most cases, abortions occur after the unborn baby’s heart already is beating.
The abortion business coupled the billboards with a social media campaign, urging abortion activists to help them end the “stigma” of abortion.
“We want to push people to think about abortion in new, diverse ways with these billboards,” said Nancy Starner, director of development and communications for the abortion business, in a statement. “We want the people in our community who have had abortions to know that they’re not alone.”
The abortion industry would have women believe that there is no reason to feel bad after an abortion. They tell women that an abortion is a normal health care procedure, a blessing, a right.
But this is a deception, a disservice to women. Many women do mourn deeply after their abortions and struggle for years with their decision. Pro-lifers want to provide women with the truth and help them heal. Abortion is the killing of an unborn child; abortion is pain, it’s life-destroying, it’s death. And the bad feelings are a result of a child’s unnecessary death, not cultural stigma.
Women who have had abortions do not have to suffer alone. Most pro-lifers and pregnancy centers offer compassion and outstretched arms to women who are seeking healing after an abortion. They tell women that they can grieve the loss of their child, that their pain is not meaningless, and most importantly that they can heal from the mistakes of their past.

at

Video of Man Who Committed Suicide Got 6 Million Views Before YouTube Finally Removed It

 NATIONAL   ALEX SCHADENBERG   JAN 3, 2018   |   3:49PM    WASHINGTON, DC
Newsweek recently published an excellent article by Joseph Frankel concerning the suicide contagion effect. The article is based on the video that Logan Paul posted on Youtube that showed the body of a Japanese man who died by suicide. The video achieved 6 million views before Youtube removed the posting. The Newsweek article examines the question: Is Suicide Contagious?
According to Frankel, the suicide contagion effect has been proven by many studies.
“Even though people do still wonder how a behavior as serious as suicide can be contagious, there are consistent results from so many studies that indicate that following a media story, suicide rates go up,” Madelyn Gould, an epidemiologist at Columbia University who studies suicide risk and prevention, told Newsweek. Gould also points out this is “far from the first example of the dangers of amplifying stories of suicide.”
And it’s far from the first time that media outlets have had to reckon with the question of suicide contagion: the phenomenon of increased risk of suicide after exposure to suicide, including depictions of or reporting on suicide in the media. Last May, the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why featured a graphic scene depicting a character’s suicide. The show sparked several articles examining whether the series would stoke the effect, along with a research study in JAMA Internal Medicine showing Google searches for terms related to suicidal thoughts spiked after the show’s release.
Frankel explains the history of the suicide contagion effect:
The 1772 novel The Sorrows of Young Werther tells the story of a young man who kills himself after a failed romance. It was reportedly banned in several cities for fear that young people in Europe, many of whom mimicked the protagonist’s style of dress, would take their own lives as well. This phenomenon has been dubbed the Werther effect, a term that researchers have adopted over a century after the book’s publication.
The Werther effect is a touchstone in research and writing about suicide. But, researchers have also found a flipside in the the “Papageno effect”: reported stories that focus on people who have suicidal thoughts, and ultimately find ways of coping and surviving were associated with a decrease in the suicide rate.
Follow LifeNews.com on Instagram for pro-life pictures and the latest pro-life news.
After almost 20 years of experience with the assisted suicide issue, I am convinced that media articles promoting assisted suicide has an assisted suicide contagion effect. Studiesand research appears to agree with this assertion. Dr Will Johnston reported that his patient became suicidal after watching the Brittany Maynard video.
rankel states, in the article, that the media is responsible for reporting in a manner that prevents harm and he refers to the Austrian reporting guidelines but he does not refer to the World Health Organization guidelines for reporting on suicide.
Clearly the way suicide and assisted suicide is reported effects the public.
LifeNews.com Note: Alex Schadenberg is the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and you can read his blog here.

at

Canadian Province Will Give Away Free Abortion Pills

 INTERNATIONAL   MICAIAH BILGER   JAN 3, 2018   |   1:49PM    VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
British Columbia will begin offering free abortion drugs to women on Jan. 15, providing even more incentives for women to abort their unborn babies.
The province follows New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Alberta, Quebec and Ontario in its decision to offer the deadly drugs for free through the taxpayer-funded health system.
Vice reports women will be able to obtain mifegymiso, a combination of the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol, for free at pharmacies in British Columbia with a prescription, starting Jan. 15.
The abortion drugs may be used up to 9 weeks of pregnancy to abort an unborn baby, according to the report.
“In April 2017, the common drug review recommended Mifegymiso, also known as RU-486, for public coverage,” the province health ministry said in a statement Tuesday. “Removing the cost barrier helps ensure that individuals can access this safe, legal and available option if they choose.”
Mifegymiso, also known as RU-486, has been partially covered through PharmaCare since July 11, 2017.
However, some users would have had to cover an out-of-pocket cost of about $300 for the drug. …
Access to the drug will still require a person to visit a doctor or nurse practitioner for an ultrasound to ensure they don’t have an ectopic pregnancy where an embryo attaches outside the uterus.
The pressure to provide taxpayer-funded abortions is an example of just how radical abortion activists’ agenda is. Canada already has some of the most liberal abortion laws in the world, allowing abortions for any reason up to birth, many already taxpayer-funded. Parental consent for minors, waiting periods, informed consent and other basic, common sense regulations are non-existent. But abortion activists will not tolerate anything less than full support of abortion on demand up to birth, paid for by taxpayers.
Follow LifeNews.com on Instagram for pro-life pictures and the latest pro-life news.
About 100,000 unborn babies are aborted in Canada every year, according to the Campaign Life Coalition.
Unlike in the United States, the abortion drugs only became available on the market this year in Canada. Mifegymiso is a two-drug abortion method known in the U.S. as mifepristone (RU-486) and misoprostol. They are responsible for killing millions of unborn babies in the United States and at least 14 women.
In 2012, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report indicated that 14 women in the United States alone died from using mifepristone and 2,207 women were injured by it.
The dangerous abortion drug has claimed the lives of 2 million unborn children in the United States since its approval at the end of the Clinton administration. In addition to the unborn children, women have suffered as well, as a Planned Parenthood study admits at least one woman is seriously injured from the abortion pill daily.
The Canadian provinces’ decisions likely will anger more than just pro-life advocates. Polls consistently show that most people do not want their tax dollars being used to pay for abortions.
A 2015 Marist poll found that more than two-thirds of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion, including a majority of women and people who identify as pro-choice. A 2016 poll by Harvard University found just 36 percent of American voters support taxpayer funding for abortions.
at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *