Life Advocacy Briefing

Parents Beware!

AS PARENTS PREPARE TO ARRANGE PHYSICAL EXAMS for their children in anticipation of the coming school year, we join other pro-life organizations in raising a warning against consenting to immunizing their daughters against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) with a vaccine called Gardasil, whose manufacturer claims it will protect against this sexually transmitted disease.

(Gardasil is being marketed as a vaccine against cervical cancer, as HPV is the leading cause of the disease; by raising the specter of cervical cancer, the drug’s maker stimulates fear and diverts the potential buyer from recognizing the more certain prevention technique – avoiding premarital sexual intimacy.)

Besides the implication to their daughters that parents consenting to Gardasil could be green-lighting premarital sexual activity – dangerous enough in itself – this vaccine is developing a troubling track record of side effects from miscarriage to Guillain-Barre Syndrome to genital warts to warts more generally distributed on the body.

Reports to the Food & Drug Administration’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System show that just in the past year (since June 2008), some 235 Gardasil users have suffered permanent disability. Not all doctors are aware of this trail of tears.

Warnings

AMONG THE PITHY QUOTES we have seen in recent weeks concerning the Obama scheme to take over America’s medical care system are these:

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, termed the massive bill “‘the Abortion Industry Act of 2009,’” reports Kathleen Gilbert for LifeSiteNews.com. “‘Unless the legislation explicitly excludes abortion by amendment, abortion will be forced on every health plan in America.’”

And Eagle Forum president Phyllis Schlafly, in a characteristically insightful commentary for WorldNetDaily.com (WND), notes: “Seniors must submit to ‘advance care planning consultation’ (a/k/a end-of-life discussions) every five years, or more often if there is ‘significant change in the health condition of the individual, including diagnosis of a chronic, progressive, life-limiting disease, a life-threatening or terminal diagnosis or life-threatening injury.’ [Pages 425 & 429 of HR-3200] Will these consultants,” she asks, “advise seniors to hurry up and die because they are costing too much money?”

Turning to pages 502 and 520, Mrs. Schlafly warns in the WND column, “Government bureaucrats will conduct ‘Comparative Effectiveness Research’ to decide the effectiveness of treatments and drugs. That,” she comments, “is the exotic label for rationing, and as House Appropriations chairman David Obey (D-WI) admitted, drugs and treatments that are ‘found to be less effective and more expensive will no longer be prescribed.’”

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) issued a statement in late July stressing, “Health care is about protecting life, not taking it. The healthcare bill put forward by liberals in this Congress will force pro-life Americans to pay for abortions in violation of their deeply held religious convictions. … This bill will also penalize Americans enrolled in health insurance plans that do not provide abortions. Bureaucrats will define ‘minimum benefit standards’ to require coverage of abortion, and any employer who offers a plan that does not cover abortion will face up to 8% in tax penalties. Individuals who choose not to purchase a plan that covers abortion will be forced to pay a 2.5% tax penalty.”

What Can You Do?

IT IS CRITICAL THAT PRO-LIFE CITIZENS WEIGH IN on the massive healthcare takeover with their federal lawmakers during the August recess, while most Members of Congress and the Senate will be “at home” for at least several days if not the entire month. Insisting they vote to exclude abortion is a start; opposing the entire measure would be even better.

Pro-life citizens may wish to participate in “Recess Rally Day,” a concerted effort being planned for Saturday, Aug. 22. At noon (in every time zone) that day, Americans are asked to show up at the local office of their Member of Congress to oppose the healthcare takeover scheme. Local coordinators for some of these rallies have already come forth and are listed at the Internet website www.RecessRally.com. Coordinators are still being sought for many of the rallies but are not critical to the effort. What is critical is that concerned citizens show up, preferably with homemade signs.

This genuine grassroots effort has a great potential for impact but is not operating in a vacuum. A Washington, DC, newspaper The Hill reported early this month, according to an Aug. 5 special alert from Gary Bauer of Campaign for Working Families, “that labor unions and leftwing organizations ‘will spend between $10 million and $20 million this month to twist lawmakers’ arms over the stalled healthcare reform effort in Congress’ and the Employee Free Choice Act,” a key goal of organized labor relating to removing the statutory requirement of a secret ballot in union-shop organizing referenda.

The Third Rail?

ABORTION IS OFTEN CITED BY PUNDITS as “the third rail of politics,” suggesting issues involving the decriminalized “procedure” are politically too hot to touch.

Pro-life citizens know, though, that seeking to reform radical abortion laws – in order to protect innocent preborn babies and their vulnerable mothers – can instead be a politically winning issue when a public official takes the truth about abortion law to his or her largely uninformed constituents. But all agree on one point: Consistency is critical. If you’re going to claim a pro-life position, sticking to it is vital.

One “blue-dog Democrat” from Tennessee, Rep. Bart Gordon, may be learning that lesson the hard way. We heard one of his colleagues call “Bye-bye” to him at the end of the Committee on Energy & Commerce markup of the Obama healthcare takeover bill 10 days ago. And Jim Brown of OneNewsNow.com, the Internet-based news service of the American Family Assn. (AFA), last Thursday noted Mr. Gordon “is in hot water with right-to-lifers after seemingly switching his stance on abortion over the course of less than two hours.

“Last week,” Mr. Brown explains, “the House Energy & Commerce Committee temporarily approved an amendment to the Democrats’ healthcare bill that would have restricted federal funding of abortion in the new government-run healthcare program. But less than two hours after the vote, committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) used a parliamentary procedure to bring the amendment – sponsored by Bart Stupak (D-MI) – up again for another vote, and the second time around, it failed 30-to-29.”

The difference? Reports Mr. Brown: “Rep. Bart Gordon … cast the deciding vote to kill the pro-life amendment after initially voting for it. According to a spokesman for [Mr.] Gordon, the Congressman ‘legitimately misread the text of the amendment and … when it became clear to him what he was voting for, he switched his vote.’” Uh, that does not help.

The Congressman’s own explanation, according to OneNewsNow: “[Mr.] Gordon tells Politico.com that he has always supported a ban on taxpayer funding of abortion, but he opposed the pro-life amendment last week because it ‘would have extended the ban to private insurance companies.’” That surely will be understood and forgiven by the pro-life majority who voted Rep. Gordon into office, won’t it?

Sotomayor Now a ‘Justice’

THE SENATE THURSDAY CONFIRMED JUDGE SONIA SOTOMAYOR to a lifetime appointment on the US Supreme Court. Since one of the principal concerns raised about the New York federal appellate judge’s record and philosophy centers around her leadership of a pro-abortion litigating group (Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund), we publish the voting record below and will include this vote in our Life Advocacy Briefing Senate Voting Record Index for the 111th Congress later this year. The tally: 68 to 31; only Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) missed the vote.

N.E.A. Self-Exposed

WHEN THE NATION’s LARGEST TEACHER UNION (N.E.A.) MET in annual convention earlier this summer, delegates were treated to a whiny diatribe from the union’s retiring general counsel, Bob Chanin.

“‘We are not paranoid,’” said Mr. Chanin in an address to NEA affiliates, quoted by Kathleen Gilbert for LifeSiteNews.com. “‘Someone really is after us. … Why are these conservative and right-wing b***tards picking on NEA and its affiliates? I will tell you why: It is the price we pay for success.’”

Actually, Mr. Chanin, those pro-life protesters – both outside the hall and inside the union itself – are “after you” because of the NEA’s relentless advocacy of the killing of the nation’s schools’ own future students and your promotion – in the classroom as well as in the halls of power – of rampant, anti-reproductive homosexuality. You – the NEA – are radical and completely deaf to the pleas of large numbers of your own members, as well as oblivious to the obvious illogic of your position.

What we can appreciate about you is your exposure of both the extreme viewpoints you clearly hold and the intemperate language you use toward your fellow citizens. Nice example, Mr. Teacher Union lawyer! Now more folks will know who’s corrupting their children.

House Voting Record

Final Passage of HR-3170, Financial Services Appropriations bill, which permits public funding of abortion in the District of Columbia – July 16, 2009 – Passed – 219-208 (Democrats in italics)

Voting “no” / pro-life: Aderholt, Akin, Alexander, Altmire, Austria, Bachmann, Bachus, Bartlett, Barton (TX), Biggert, Bilbray, Bilirakis, Bishop (UT), Blackburn, Blunt, Boccieri, Boehner, Bonner, Bono-Mack, Boozman, Boren, Boustany, Brady (TX), Bright, Broun (GA), Brown (SC), Brown-Waite, Burgess, Burton (IN), Buyer, Calvert, Camp, Campbell, Cantor, Cao, Carney, Carter, Cassidy, Chaffetz, Childers, Coble, Coffman (CO), Cole, Conaway, Costello, Crenshaw, Culberson, Dahlkemper, Davis (AL), Davis (KY), Davis (TN), Deal (GA), Dent, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Diaz-Balart, Dingell, Donnelly (IN), Dreier, Driehaus, Duncan, Ehlers, Ellsworth, Emerson, Fallin, Flake, Fleming, Forbes, Fortenberry, Foxx, Franks (AZ), Frelinghuysen, Gallegly, Garrett (NJ), Gerlach, Gingrey (GA), Gohmert, Goodlatte, Granger, Graves, Griffith, Guthrie, Hall (TX), Harper, Hastings (WA), Heller, Hensarling, Herger,Hill, Hoekstra, Hunter, Inglis, Issa, Jenkins, Johnson (IL), Sam Johnson, Jones, Jordan (OH), Kildee, King (IA), King (NY), Kingston, Kirk, Kirkpatrick (AZ), Kline (MN), Lamborn, Lance, Latham, Latta, Lee (NY), Levin, Lewis (CA), Linder, Lipinski, LoBiondo, Luetkemeyer, Lummis, Daniel Lungren, Mack, Manzullo, Marchant, Markey (CO), Marshall, Matheson, McCarthy (CA), McCaul, McClintock, McCotter, McHenry, McIntyre, McKeon, McMorris-Rodgers, Melancon, Mica, Miller (FL), Miller (MI), Gary Miller, Mitchell, Mollohan, Moran (KS), Murphy (NY), Tim Murphy, Myrick, Neugebauer, Nunes, Nye, Oberstar, Olson, Paul, Paulsen, Peterson, Petri, Pitts, Platts, Poe (TX), Posey, Price (GA), Putnam, Radanovich, Rahall, Rehberg, Reichert, Roe (TN), Rogers (AL), Rogers (KY), Rogers (MI), Rohrabacher, Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Roskam, Ross, Royce, Ryan (WI), Scalise, Schmidt, Schock, Sensenbrenner, Sessions, Shadegg, Shimkus, Shuler, Shuster, Simpson, Skelton, Smith (NE), Smith (NJ), Smith (TX), Souder, Stearns, Stupak, Sullivan, Taylor, Terry, Thompson (PA), Thornberry, Tiahrt, Tiberi, Turner, Upton, Walden, Wamp, Westmoreland, Whitfield, Wilson (OH), Wilson (SC), Wittman, Wolf, Young (AK), Young (FL).

Voting “yes” / pro-abortion: Abercrombie, Ackerman, Adler (NJ), Andrews, Arcuri, Baca, Baird, Baldwin, Barrow, Bean, Becerra, Berkley, Berman, Berry, Bishop (GA), Bishop (NY), Blumenauer, Boswell, Boucher, Boyd, Brady (PA), Braley (IA), Corrine Brown, Butterfield, Capito, Capps, Capuano, Cardoza, Carnahan, Carson (IN), Castle, Castor (FL), Chandler, Chu, Clarke, Clay, Cleaver, Clyburn, Cohen, Connolly (VA), Conyers, Cooper, Costa, Courtney, Crowley, Cuellar, Cummings, Davis (CA), Davis (IL), DeFazio, DeGette, Delahunt, DeLauro, Dicks, Doggett, Doyle, Edwards (MD), Edwards (TX), Ellison, Engel, Eshoo, Etheridge, Farr, Fattah, Filner, Foster, Frank (MA), Fudge, Giffords, Gonzalez, Gordon (TN), Grayson, Al Green, Gene Green, Grijalva, Gutierrez, Hall (NY), Halvorson, Hare, Harman, Hastings (FL), Heinrich, Herseth-Sandlin, Higgins, Himes, Hinchey, Hinojosa, Hirono, Hodes, Holden, Holt, Honda, Hoyer, Inslee, Israel, Jackson (IL), Jackson-Lee (TX), Johnson (GA), E.B. Johnson, Kagen, Kanjorski, Kaptur, Kennedy, Kilpatrick (MI), Kilroy, Kind, Kissell, Klein (FL), Kosmas, Kratovil, Kucinich, Langevin, Larsen (WA), Larson (CT), LaTourette, Lee (CA), Lewis (GA), Loebsack, Zoe Lofgren, Lowey, Lujan, Lynch, Maffei, Maloney, Markey (MA), Massa, Matsui, McCarthy (NY), McCollum, McDermott, McGovern, McHugh, McMahon, McNerney, Meek (FL), Meeks (NY), Michaud, Miller (NC), George Miller, Minnick, Moore (KS), Moore (WI), Moran (VA), Murphy (CT), Patrick Murphy, Murtha, Nadler (NY), Napolitano, Neal (MA), Obey, Olver, Ortiz, Pallone, Pascrell, Pastor (AZ), Payne, Perriello, Peters, Pingree (ME), Polis (CO), Pomeroy, Price (NC), Quigley, Rangel, Reyes, Richardson, Rodriguez, Rothman (NJ), Roybal-Allard, Ruppersberger, Rush, Ryan (OH), Salazar, Linda Sanchez, Loretta Sanchez, Sarbanes, Schakowsky, Schauer, Schiff, Schrader, Schwartz, Scott (GA), Serrano, Sestak, Shea-Porter, Sherman, Sires, Slaughter, Smith (WA), Snyder, Space, Speier, Spratt, Stark, Sutton, Tanner, Teague, Thompson (CA), Thompson (MS), Tierney, Titus, Tonko, Towns, Tsongas, VanHollen, Velazquez, Visclosky, Walz, Wasserman-Schultz, Waters, Watson, Watt, Waxman, Weiner, Welch, Wexler, Woolsey, Wu, Yarmuth

Voting “Present: Buchanan.

Not Voting: Barrett (SC), Lucas, Pelosi, Pence, Perlmutter, Scott (VA).

SenateVoting Record

Motion to Confirm Sonia Sotomayor as Assoc. Justice of the US Supreme Court – Aug. 6, 2009 – Adopted 68-31 (Democrats in italics; “Independents” marked “I”)

Voting “no” / pro-life: AL/Sessions & Shelby, AK/Murkowski, AZ/Kyl & McCain, GA/Chambliss & Isakson, ID/Crapo & Risch, IA/Grassley, KS/Brownback & Roberts, KY/Bunning & McConnell, LA/Vitter, MS/Cochran & Wicker, NE/Johanns, NV/Ensign, NC/Burr, OK/Coburn & Inhofe, SC/DeMint, SD/Thune, TN/Corker, TX/Cornyn & Hutchison, UT/Bennett & Hatch, WY/Barrasso & Enzi.

Voting “yes” / pro-abortion: AK/Begich, AR/Lincoln & Pryor, CA/Boxer & Feinstein, CO/Bennet & Udall, CT/Dodd & Lieberman (I), DE/Carper & Kaufman, FL/Martinez & Nelson, HI/Akaka & Inouye, IL/Burris & Durbin, IN/Bayh & Lugar, IA/Harkin, LA/Landrieu, ME/Collins & Snowe, MD/Cardin & Mikulski, MA/Kerry, MI/Levin & Stabenow, MN/Franken & Klobuchar, MO/Bond & McCaskill, MT/Baucus & Tester, NE/Nelson, NV/Reid, NH/Gregg & Shaheen, NJ/Lautenberg & Menendez, NM/Bingaman & Udall, NY/Gillibrand & Schumer, NC/Hagan, ND/Conrad & Dorgan, OH/Brown & Voinovich, OR/Merkley & Wyden, PA/Casey & Specter, RI/Reed & Whitehouse, SC/Graham, SD/Johnson, TN/Alexander, VT/Leahy & Sanders (I), VA/Warner & Webb, WA/Cantwell & Murray, WV/Byrd & Rockefeller, WI/Feingold & Kohl.

Not voting: Kennedy (MA).

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