Life Advocacy Briefing

First Casualty

REP. BART STUPAK (D-MI) ANNOUNCED FRIDAY he will not seek re-election in his Upper Peninsula district this year. He was first elected to Congress in 1992 in a district which Pres. George W. Bush carried by 53% for re-election in 2004.

The pro-Labor Democrat drew intense controversy to himself when he caved in to White House, party and labor union demands to help Pres. Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-SanFrancisco) pass the Senate version of ObamaCare.

It was Rep. Stupak who had championed a Hyde-like amendment shielding taxpayers from complicity in abortion within the healthcare takeover scheme. It was Rep. Stupak who led the startlingly successful fight to attach such an amendment to the House “healthcare” bill last November. And it was Rep. Stupak, long co-chairman with Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) of the House Pro-Life Caucus, who had gathered a band of supposedly anti-abortion Democrats to hold out for such an amendment in the Senate bill in March – until he led them to vote for the massive measure without the requisite amendment, rendering last November’s victory a bittersweet memory.

In the wake of his capitulation, his exhaustion was evident, as was the mounting difficulty he would face in seeking another term. Various pro-life and conservative political action groups were raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to dedicate toward ads opposing Mr. Stupak, and the Susan B. Anthony List withdrew a “Defender of Life” award the pro-life political action committee had intended to present to the lawmaker at a major banquet. That award was to have been presented just days after the bill passed and hours after he attended a private White House signing of the phony executive order with which Pres. Obama had lured him to deliver the handful of votes needed to enact the socialist, abortion-pushing President’s top objective.

We at Life Advocacy thank Rep. Stupak for the better days of his career and congratulate him on his decision to retire. We can understand how the emotional – even spiritual – exhaustion of what he has lately done can overwhelm a public official, and we hope he will seek and find redemption and peace. Our analysis of the motives for his cave-in is posted on our Internet website at www.LifeAdvocacy.com under the “Featured Items” of our homepage. It is titled “The Stupak Stumble,” and we commend it to our readers.

Supreme Court Battle Begins

JUSTICE JOHN PAUL STEVENS ANNOUNCED FRIDAY he will retire at the close of this session of the US Supreme Court, expected to be in late June or July. The oldest member of the court, he is about to reach his 90th birthday. The announcement touches off what is expected to be a fierce battle over his successor.

Don’t Buy It!

NEVER HAVE WE HAD SO MANY INQUIRIES about one issue as we have experienced in the past week from Illinois voters who received form letters from Sen. Roland Burris (D) reciting gobbledygook about the supposed absence of abortion coverage in the Senate version of ObamaCare. In addition to responding directly, we referred our correspondents to the Internet websites of National Right to Life Committee and Americans United for Life for detailed legal analyses on the point. We pass along that recommendation to the readers of Life Advocacy Briefing as well. If you receive a letter from a lawmaker trying to assure you that the new “healthcare” law does not change current law or long-standing policy protecting taxpayers from having to subsidize abortion, please check out www.nrlc.org and www.aul.org before accepting such a pitch.

Kudos to Leader Boehner

IT’s NOT OFTEN THAT A LEGISLATIVE LEADER IS SINGLED OUT for leadership on Life issues, but we were pleased to note the plaudits House GOP Leader John Boehner (OH) received last week from Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor-at-large for National Review Online (NRO), for his work on Life.

In a recent NRO column, Ms. Lopez noted, “I saw a lot of him during the healthcare debate [and in] various different forums, and he talks very movingly about the [Life] issue. But he talks about it as if it’s a human-rights issue, which it is,” she commented. “And there’s no question for him about it, and this is just where we are as Americans.”

Ms. Lopez called Mr. Boehner “a consistent leader for Life – especially when it truly counted. And,” she wrote, “there’s every indication he will continue to be one.”

In particular, we noted that it was the House GOP Leader himself who insisted Hyde Amendment language be added to ObamaCare during the televised White House-hosted “summit” on the measure, rather than leaving that objection to one of the other Congressional participants.

Stateside

NEW JERSEY’s NEW G.O.P. GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE has taken another whack at Planned Parenthood, having already cut the abortion behemoth out of his proposed state budget. Now he has withdrawn a federal waiver, applied for by his predecessor, former Gov. Jon Corzine (D), to reimburse PP as much as $7.4 million.

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry (R) last week signed three pro-life bills replacing measures earlier struck down by the state supreme court. Legislation assuring medical personnel their consciences would be respected, banning sex-selection abortion and regulating the use of the RU-486 abortion drug arrived at the governor’s desk from a legislature which acted with alacrity after the court struck down a comprehensive abortion regulation law on the basis that it violated the state’s “single-subject” requirement. Now that each provision has been enacted in a separate statute, the court will have to come up with other bases if it wishes to protect the abortion industry from all too modest state regulation.

‘Contributing to the Delinquency of Minors’

A COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY IN WISCONSIN HAS URGED THE LOCAL SCHOOLS to withdraw from teaching their students any human growth and development course rather than submit to a newly enacted state mandate including how-to contraceptive instruction in such classes.

“‘To adopt the highly controversial mandates of Act 134 risks the safety of our children and the careers of our teachers,’” he said, quoted by Kathleen Gilbert in LifeSiteNews.com, “‘something I implore you not to do.’”

Warning against implementing the newly mandated “explicit, pro-contraceptive sex education in public schools” in the rural county just west of the Wisconsin Dells, District Atty. Scott Southworth put the schools on notice, reports Ms. Gilbert, that teachers following the mandate “may risk criminal prosecution for promoting the delinquency of minors. …

“[Mr.] Southworth characterized the new law as ‘requiring that you transform your current human growth and development curricula into programming that promotes the sexualization – and sexual assault – of our children.’ …

“‘It is a crime to engage in sexual intercourse with any child under the age of 18,’ pointed out the DA,” quoted by Ms. Gilbert. “‘Forcing our schools to instruct children on how to utilize contraceptives encourages our children to engage in sexual behavior, whether as a victim or an offender,’” he said. “‘It is akin to teaching children about alcohol use and then instructing them on how to make mixed alcoholic drinks.

“‘While it is true that some children will wrongly choose to engage in sexual behavior before entering adulthood,’” he said in the LifeSite story, “‘our school districts should never promote illegal activity.’”

Mr. Southworth went on to cite the statute which authorizes him to charge “‘anyone who intentionally encourages or contributes to the delinquent (criminal) act of a child.’”

The district attorney criticized also the new statute’s section authorizing “volunteer health care providers” to teach the sex segment of the course. “‘Now schools can utilize these “healthcare providers,” who may come in the form of contraceptive industry representatives (e.g., employees of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion and contraceptive provider, which lobbied in favor of this new law) and who can effectively market sexually-oriented products to our children,’ he wrote,” quoted by Ms. Gilbert.

“‘Our children receive enough sales pitches from television, magazines and radios,’” he wrote. “‘They should not be subjected to pandering by “volunteers” from local contraception businesses whose real interest is likely obtaining new, young customers.

“‘I am forced to deal with the numerous sexual assaults that occur in Juneau County each year,’” wrote Mr. Southworth, quoted by LifeSite. “‘I witness firsthand the pain and suffering child victims must endure,’ wrote the DA. ‘However, these new mandates will make my job much more difficult by converting objective human growth and development programming into a radical program that sexualizes our children as early as kindergarten. This, in turn,’” he warned, “‘will lead to more child sexual assaults.’”

Birth Rate Falling Even Here

THE BIRTH RATE IN THE UNITED STATES – hovering for years at around replacement rate (at 2.1 children per woman of childbearing age) – has now fallen below replacement level, having declined to 2.08 children from 2007 to 2008, the latest year for which the birth rate has been published in the US National Vital Statistics Report.

Population Research Institute (PRI) president Steven Mosher attributes the drop to America’s economic troubles. In an interview with Catholic News Agency, Mr. Mosher said, “‘Children are an expression of hope in the future. With the downturn in housing prices and the upswing in the unemploymet rate,’” he told CNA, “‘it is not surprising that many couples decided to defer having children until the economic downturn had corrected itself.’”

Mr. Mosher predicted “‘a bigger drop in the birth rate in 2009’” because of even deeper unemployment.

“Asked about the broader consequences for a country below a replacement birth rate, [Mr.] Mosher commented” in his interview with CNA, “‘Look at present-day Greece, which is going over a demographic cliff because of a scarcity of children. Too few young people are entering the workforce to replace retiring workers, entitlement spending is increasing at the same time that tax revenues are leveling off, and the government is technically bankrupt.

“‘Children are the only future a country has,’” said Mr. Mosher, “‘and countries that fail to provide for the future in the most fundamental way – by providing the future generation – are condemned to stagnation, bankruptcy and death.’”

Warning to Canada: Don’t Copy Oregon

THOUGH MANY AMERICANS CITED CANADA’s SOCIALIZED MEDICINE SYSTEM as a warning against ObamaCare, a doctor in Oregon is now returning the favor to the Canadians.

Writing an open letter, Dr. William Toffler, national director of Physicians for Compassionate Care, based in Portland, Oregon, is warning Canadians, reports Thaddeus Baklinski for LifeSiteNews.com, “to beware of the ‘misguided legislation’ of Bill C-384, the bill that would legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada. …

“‘Since assisted suicide has become an option in my state of Oregon,’” Dr. Toffler wrote, as Mr. Baklinski reports, “‘I have had at least a dozen patients discuss this choice with me in my practice. Most of the patients who have broached this issue,’” he noted, “‘weren’t even terminal.’”

Dr. Toffler cited research, reports LifeSiteNews, “‘that assisted suicide requests are almost always for psychological or social reasons. In Oregon,’” he wrote, according to Mr. Baklinski, “‘there has never been any documented case of assisted suicide used because there was actual untreatable pain. As such, assisted suicide has been totally unnecessary in Oregon.’”

Oregon’s experiment with abetted suicide has gone on long enough that Dr. Toffler has noticed troubling changes in the doctor-patient relationship.

He wrote, quoted in LifeSiteNews, “‘People with serious illnesses are sometimes fearful of the motives of doctors or consultants. Such fears were never an issue before assisted suicide was legalized.

“‘Most problematic for me has been the change in attitude within the healthcare system itself,’ Dr. Toffler continued,” quoted by Mr. Baklinski. “‘I regularly receive notices that many important services and drugs for my patients – even some pain medications – won’t be paid for by the State health plan. At the same time,’” he said, “‘assisted suicide is fully covered and sanctioned by the State of Oregon and by our collective tax dollars.’”

Dr. Toffler “‘urge[d] Canadian leaders to reject the seductive siren of assisted suicide embodied in C-384. Oregon,’” he said, “‘has literally tasted the bitter pill (barbiturate overdoses), and many now know that our legislation is hopelessly flawed.’”

Unhealthy & Unhappy

March 26, 2010 Breakpoint with Charles Colson, copyright Prison Fellowship Ministries

Next time you buy a box of Girl Scout cookies to feed your sweet tooth, think about what the Girl Scouts leadership is feeding to young girls.

I almost fell out of my chair when I read the news. The World Assn. of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts hosted a panel in New York, part of the annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. According to the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-Fam), the Girl Scouts allowed Planned Parenthood “to distribute brochures containing sexually explicit material to the young girls.”

The booklet is titled “Healthy, Happy and Hot.” Much of the content is so pornographic, I wouldn’t dare talk about it over the air or post it online. But you need to know that the sex guide advocates every imaginable kind of sex. As the guide blithely puts it, “There is no right or wrong way to have sex. Just have fun, explore and be yourself!”

It also tells girls that “some people have sex when they have been drinking alcohol or using drugs. This is your choice.” Clearly, nothing is off limits – even for children below the age of consent.

The Girl Scouts are claiming that they did not offer the booklet, despite the fact that it was seen on the table in their room by witnesses including Sharon Slater, president of Family Watch International.

But why would Girl Scout leaders even bother denying it? They’ve had a long association with Planned Parenthood. As one of our Centurion graduates, Regis Nicoll, notes in an article on the BreakPoint website, Planned Parenthood is a welcome guest in 20% of the Girl Scout councils nationwide, conducting “educational” events.

During these events, Nicoll writes, attendees are given a book entitled “It’s Perfectly Normal.” The book enthusiastically promotes homosexual behavior and abortion, and includes graphic and, for me at least, vulgar descriptions of the human anatomy.

Planned Parenthood believes that sexual activity of any kind is a human right – at any age. To them, it’s never too early to start exposing children to their sexual philosophy. By contrast, of course, Christianity teaches that sex is a sacred act that ought to be reserved exclusively for a husband and wife. And we believe childhood should be a time of innocence – a time to be protected from adult subjects.

Philosophy may only be part of the reason why Planned Parenthood is so eager to expose Girl Scouts to their trashy booklets. Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, says it does so “with the intent of increasing their revenue.”

Wright says that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s number-one abortion provider, works with girls’ organizations “in order to profit from encouraging kids to be sexually active.” It’s obvious – the more sexually active, the more abortions. What a way to destroy young women.

Parents who question the Girl Scouts’ wisdom in allowing Planned Parenthood access to their daughters may want to consider a Christian alternative: American Heritage Girls. This group teaches leadership, character development and spiritual growth.

Or, if you are involved with Girl Scouts, for heaven’s sake, let your leaders know what you think about exposing young girls to sexually explicit materials and the destructive worldview they represent.

Sadly these days, we need to be on the lookout for radical, destructive worldviews everywhere – even behind the boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

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