Life Advocacy Briefing

Sorry!

OUR EDITOR TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE CONGRESSIONAL RECESS – and therefore lack of urgency for our readers – and met a family commitment which occupied her time at our customary deadline. Consequently, Life Advocacy Briefing is a little late this week. We apologize and ask our readers’ forbearance.

Not So Keen

SOME MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WHO WENT HOME TO CAMPAIGN during the autumn recess are finding a less hospitable environment than usual. One of the principal reasons: Enactment of ObamaCare.

“With the elections less than one month away, a new poll of more than 4,800 likely voters in 12 swing Congressional districts,” reports Gary Bauer in his Oct. 6, 2010, End of Day Report to participants in his Campaign for Working Families, “finds that [Pres.] Obama, [Majority Leader] Reid and [Speaker] Pelosi placed a very bad bet and may well lose big, come November 2nd. Here,” he writes, “are some key findings:

• 56% of all [likely] voters in these swing districts want ObamaCare repealed.

• 54% of Independent voters want the law repealed.

• By a 22-point margin, undecided voters favor repeal.

• And even 23% of Democrats want to repeal their party’s signature ‘achievement.’

“These,” he notes, “are devastating numbers for Democrat incumbents. And according to the poll, some are trailing their Republican challengers by double-digits.”

Actions Have Consequences

ONE OF THOSE DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVES WHO ARE SMARTING from having voted for final passage of ObamaCare is Pennsylvania Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper, a first-termer fighting for her political life in her Erie area district.

Rep. Dahlkemper is among the House Democrats who stood behind Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) in backing his amendment to block abortion coverage from the House version of ObamaCare but continued to stand with him as he plummeted down a political cliff by allowing Pres. Obama to persuade him that he, the abortion lobby’s favorite President, would save the final (Reid) version of ObamaCare from covering abortion, notwithstanding its express statutory provisions.

Now Rep. Dahlkemper is having to hear radio ads on four Erie stations “contend[ing],” reports Associated Press (AP) writer Joe Mandak, “her vote for healthcare reform [sic] resulted in ‘the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded abortions ever.’” And she doesn’t like it.

Attorneys for her campaign, reports AP, “said in a letter to the stations on Wednesday that the ad is ‘slanderous, inaccurate and falsifies … Dahlkemper’s stand on abortion.’”

The ads are a project of Americans United for Life Action, and Rep. Dahlkemper is one of 12 House Democratic candidates targeted with the same message; 11 of the dozen are incumbents who backed Mr. Stupak all the way to the end; the twelfth, State Sen. Joyce Elliott, is seeking an open House seat as a Democrat running in Arkansas. The ad in her district, notes AP, was “in a slightly different version,” stating that she “‘support[s]’ the healthcare reforms.”  Rep. Stupak himself is beyond the reach of political threat; he chose last winter, after the ObamaCare debacle, to retire instead of seeking re-election.

Palin Pullin’ for Pro-Life Victories

THE 2008 REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR VICE PRESIDENT, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, weighed in last Tuesday with her own comments about the impact of ObamaCare’s abortion subsidy on the current Congressional election campaigns.

Speaking in Texas to more than 2,500 supporters of the pro-life group Heroic Media, Mrs. Palin, reports Kathleen Gilbert for LifeSiteNews.com, said “the upcoming battle for Congressional seats would prove a clash between the ‘culture of life’ and the ‘culture of death,’ as Americans angry over the healthcare push take to the polls.”

Mrs. Palin termed the President’s promotion and signing of the massive healthcare takeover “‘the biggest advance of the abortion industry in America,’” writes Miss Gilbert.  “‘That’s why it’s essential,’” she said in the LifeSite story, “‘that we use the 2010 midterms to elect a Congress that will make undoing the damage of ObamaCare its first priority.’”

Victory on Conscience Rights

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT’sPRO-LIFE CONTINGENT scored a stunning victory last Thursday on the question of whether the consciences of medical personnel should be respected by civil authorities.

“A British politician and abortion activist” named Christine McCafferty, reports Hilary White for LifeSiteNews.com, sought to “‘regulate’ conscientious objectors to abortion across Europe” in a proposal she had entitled “Women’s Access to Lawful Medical Care: The Problem of Unregulated Use of Conscientious Objection.” The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) rejected the McCafferty Report by a vote of 56 to 51.

An Irish senator and a delegate from Italy “led the assembly in passing a series of amendments,” reports Ms. White, “which totally reversed the thrust of the report. The changes forced [Ms.] McCafferty and other pro-abortion Assembly members to vote against their own proposal.”

One pro-life advocate who leads European Dignity Watch told LifeSiteNews.com, “the surprise turnaround ‘is a victory for common sense and for freedom’ and ‘a great victory for Europe. Europe has made clear tonight that freedom of conscience constitutes a pillar of a democratic society that needs to be defended, at times also against a radical minority that wishes to limit freedom and impose a unique pro-abortion thinking in Europe.’”

She went on, “‘It is a great sign of hope that a majority has clearly voted against a radical pro-abortion, anti-freedom, anti-diversity lobby that tries to establish unhealthy and suffocating legislation.’” Totalitarians are the same the world over, both in office and in clacking from the side.

This is P.R.?

IF YOU WERE WONDERING what those Frankensteinian embryo vivisection scientists are doing with the public funds they receive for their search-and-destroy missions, one less obvious answer would be handing out prizes for propaganda promoting their dastardly deeds.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (read: Clone & Kill outfit) last week awarded a prize to a fellow named Tryon Anderson, reports Dana Cody of Life Legal Defense Assn., for a poem attempting to extol embryo experimentation. The poem, reports LLDA, “begins, ‘This is my body which is given for you’ and ends ‘Take this in remembrance of me,’ unambiguous references,” notes LLDA, “to Christ’s words at the Last Supper and the words with which Holy Communion is celebrated to this day.

“The choice of this poem for a prize represents the deliberate pilfering of the holiest of voluntary, sacrificial acts in the history of humanity,” declares LLDA, “for a shoddy pep piece in [the Institute’s] campaign to promote the wholesale destruction of human life.”

It’s no wonder some of us refer to embryo vivisectionists and their pushers as Nazi scientists. It requires immense strength and grace for us to ask that they be forgiven, “for they know not what they do.” Their abuse of our Lord, however, does suggest they do know to Whom they are doing it.

Real Hope

THOUGH EMBRYO VIVISECTIONISTS still have not a single breakthrough to show for their ghoulish ways, researchers treating patients with their own adult stem cells are celebrating one success after another. (See the fascinating Internet website www.stemcellresearch.org.)

Now comes a brief report published by Family Research Council in the Oct. 6 FRC Action Update touting adult stem cells as a treatment for multiple sclerosis, a vicious, progressive disease characterized, notes the Update, by “an increased decline in muscle function and ability due to a massive loss of nerve signals.”

Multiple sclerosis patient Barry Goudy, reports FRC Action, “was treated with his own adult stem cells in 2003.” Until then, he had been “headed for the wheelchair,” reports the Update, “as most MS sufferers are.”

Upon treatment, reports FRC Action, “his symptoms disappeared in four months, and he continues to be symptom-free today.”

Quoteworthy

Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the Christian Medical Assn., commenting in a CMA news release about a recent breakthrough discovery related to induced pluripotent stem cells as alternatives to the anti-ethical embryonic human stem cells: “All the formaldehyde in the world can’t preserve the dead and decaying hypothesis that embryonic stemcell research is the Holy Grail of cures. Embryonic stemcell research advocates need to put aside their misguided ideology and financial interests and let science pursue real cures for real patients.”

The Shoe Begins to Drop

Oct. 7, 2010, commentary by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins in his Washington Update

The President’s new healthcare law is finally resulting in some bipartisanship. According to a new poll, both parties are growing to hate it. Although the numbers for repeal are solidly in the Republican camp (56% want the law overturned), a general dissatisfaction is starting to creep into the President’s own party. A shocking one in four Democrats is now in favor of repeal – with 49% of undecided voters piling on. That news is particularly bad for 12 freshman Democrats, who are taking a crack at a second term in hostile districts. In each one, “a majority of those surveyed said they want the controversial law gone.” And that starts with firing the people who put it there.

For Representatives Chris Carney and Paul Kanjorski (both D-PA), their case isn’t helped by news coming out of Scranton, Pennsylvania, that three major Catholic hospitals are selling off their facilities. Despite being on sound financial ground – owners say they’re actually ahead of this year’s budget – “the new requirements brought on by the new healthcare legislation make it hard for [us] to stay in business.” When asked about ObamaCare, the CEO said that it “is absolutely playing a role” in their decision to unload three hospitals that have been mainstays in the community for almost one hundred years. Sister Marie Parker talked about how sad they are to let go of a century of service. “Sisters of Mercy are strongly supportive of this decision, because we do understand the realities of health care, and we think it’s best for the community.”

By “realities,” she’s undoubtedly talking about the most despicable part of ObamaCare, taxpayer-funded abortion. Without strict conscience protections in place, medical workers everywhere could be ordered to perform these procedures against their will. So Mercy Health is protecting itself the only way it knows how – by getting out of the business before that business includes abortion. How many others will be forced to do the same? Since the very beginning, there’s been a history of faith-based health care in America. Some estimate that as many as one in five patients get their care from hospitals with religious ties. As the government crowds out the groups that meet those needs, where will people go?

And the medical community is not the only one being crushed under the weight of this law. Businesses – small and large – are feeling the squeeze of the new regulations. McDonald’s is just one of the corporations that threatened to cut coverage for employees because of rising premiums. When the chain made its displeasure known, the Administration intervened. At least 30 unions and businesses that have made a public stink about the costs have been rewarded with waivers from Health & Human Services.

“The big political issue here is the President promised no one would lose the coverage they’ve got,” said Robert Laszewski, a health policy consultant. “Here we are, a month before the election, and these companies represent one million people who would lose the coverage they’ve got.” Unfortunately for the average American, there aren’t enough exemptions to go around.

None Dare Call This ‘Choice’

Sept. 24, 2010, commentary by Bradley Mattes, executive director, Life Issues Institute

Imagine being fined – three, even four times your annual income – for having a baby a year too soon. Imagine having to raise your second child in secret. Imagine fearing a simple walk through town, knowing at any moment you might be plucked from the street, thrown into a truck and forced to watch your unborn baby die. Now imagine that’s reality. Because for millions of families, it is.

This week [in late September] marks the 30th anniversary of [Red] China’s mandatory one-child policy. Incidentally, this week we’re also filming an emotional round of interviews on the topic for an upcoming episode of Facing Life Head On [www.facinglife.tv]. One researcher told us that seeing the saddened faces of women who had been forced into abortions they did not want – some as late as eight and nine months into the pregnancy – not only broke his heart but changed his views on abortion, too.

The very number of those saddened faces is staggering. In America, we’ve lost about 50 million babies since abortion become legal in 1973. In far less time, the Chinese people have suffered some 400 million abortions. (That’s more than the entire population of the United States!) Is it any wonder then that China also has the highest female suicide rate in the world? That’s certainly no coincidence.

Incredible suffering persists for those families. Sadly, we are not just allowing it to happen; we are paying for it. Millions of US dollars go to the United Nations Family Planning Fund (UNFPA), a group closely linked to carrying out the Communist government’s coercive policies. Years ago, thanks to the courage of pro-life leaders, the US stopped sending money to groups promoting abortion – and certainly those loathsome enough to insist on forced abortions, sterilization and infanticide. But with the swipe of a pen, Pres. Obama wasted no time in allowing those funds to freely flow once again. This is blood on our hands.

Ironically, so-called “pro-choice” organizations are remaining deadly silent as millions of women are forced to have abortions. But Americans can no longer ignore the responsibility we share in this global loss. That’s why our team is working hard to educate political leaders about the tragedy of abortion, both in the US and beyond.

Ultimately, population control advocates messed up their math. It’s not the number of babies born that is the problem. It’s each baby killed, each man and woman coerced and each US dollar paying for the terror that is one too many. Until that stops, we certainly won’t. Please join us. Together, we’ll save lives all around the world.

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