Life Advocacy Briefing

House OKs Another Abortion $ Ban

THE U.S. HOUSE LAST WEEK PASSED LEGISLATION to remove ObamaCare medical education grants from automatic funding status and subject them to annual appropriations. (The bill is still subject to the Senate.)

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) offered an amendment to HR-1216 to explicitly exclude abortion and abortion training from the grant program and to ensure conscience protection for participants who object to involvement in abortion.

Her amendment was adopted on a vote of 234 to 182. We publish the roll call at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

The amendment was denounced by Nancy Keenan of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) as “‘an unprecedented restriction on medical training,’” reports Peter J. Smith for LifeSiteNews.com, “that ‘would limit drastically doctors’ ability to receive comprehensive and necessary instruction in reproductive-health care.’”

Mr. Smith also quotes the House floor statement of Rep. Foxx: “‘My amendment is designed to protect life and the livelihoods of those who defend it.’ … [Rep.] Foxx added,” writes Mr. Smith, “that her amendment supports the majority of US taxpayers opposed to public funding of abortion and seeks ‘to ensure that their hard-earned money does not go to organizations that promote abortion or discriminate against pro-life healthcare providers.’”

National Right to Life Committee’s Douglas Johnson also weighed in, reports Mr. Smith. “‘The reaction of Planned Parenthood and NARAL to the Foxx Amendment makes it crystal clear that they want the federal taxpayer to fund training of the next generation of abortionists,’” said Mr. Johnson in the LifeSiteNews report. “‘In fact,’” he said, “‘pro-abortion activists are also trying to make it impossible to become certified in and to practice in some medical fields without participating in providing abortions. Stronger federal anti-discrimination laws are needed,’” he said, “‘to counter these efforts, especially since the Obama Administration has severely weakened enforcement of the existing protective laws.’”

Notre Dame Infection Continues

JUST WHEN THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME IS TRYING TO MAKE PEACE with the pro-life community, the college-based Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) has discovered, reports Kathleen Gilbert for LifeSiteNews.com, that the newest board member of the venerable Roman Catholic institution “has dedicated thousands of dollars to supporting pro-abortion groups, including the pro-choice [sic] political action committee EMILY’s List.”

Roxanne M. Martino is a Notre Dame alumna and president and CEO of Aurora Investment Management, according to Miss Gilbert, citing CNS as source. Her election to the board of trustees took place last month and was recently announced.

Her donations to EMILY’s List, which is devoted to the election of pro-abortion female Democrats, total at least $16,150, according to the CNS report.

“CNS also found evidence,” writes Miss Gilbert, “that [Ms.] Martino has donated thousands to another pro-abortion group, the Chicago Foundation for Women, since 2004.

“‘The election of a trustee who has supported blatantly pro-abortion organizations does not bode well for Notre Dame’s effort to prove its pro-life commitment,’ said the Catholic education watchdog group on its blog,” reports Miss Gilbert.

Man Without a Country?

WITH MARYLAND MULLING REVOCATION OF HIS MEDICAL LICENSE, notorious late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart might soon have no place to go.

In the wake of Nebraska’s new statute outlawing the killing of prenatal children past 20 gestational weeks, Mr. Carhart shuttered his Bellevue, Nebraska, chopshop and boasted of plans to open shop in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and in an undisclosed location in Indiana, on his way to taking over an abortuary in Germantown, Maryland.

Indiana lawmakers got busy and posted a “No Fishing” sign in their state by passing a late-term abortion ban designed to head off Mr. Carhart’s plot, and Iowa House Members and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) have been attempting to shut him out of their state.

In Iowa, the action has been particularly dramatic and is not yet resolved after weeks of fighting over legislation to bar post-20-week abortions in the state. Though the Iowa Fetal Pain Bill cleared the House 60 to 39 in late March, determined fellow travelers of the abortion industry have blocked it in the State Senate, against overwhelming pressure from the public and even the media.

First the State Senate’s Government Oversight Committee, to which the bill was assigned, refused to consider the measure. In an extraordinary move, the majority of Senators, including two Democrats, signed a petition to discharge the committee and bring the measure to the Senate floor. But at the behest of Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (D), abortion activist Sen. Joe Bolkcom (D) took control of the bill and refused to call it for a vote. (Sen. Bolkcom is married to a former abortuary director.)

Next, Sen. Bolkcom filed his own “late-term abortion ban,” leaving late-term abortions legal while thwarting the specific plans of Leroy Carhart to infest Council Bluffs, which is the hometown of Leader Gronstal. SF-534 would enact a process by which a late-term abortionist could open up shop in Des Moines, Iowa City, Davenport or Cedar Rapids, an outrageous diversion from a true late-term ban. The Senate passed the Bolkcom bill 26 to 23, but House Members are incensed at the sleight of hand and at the Senate’s rebuff of the more genuine House measure. The House is now refusing to take up the Senate sham, maintaining the public pressure for the needed House bill.

The legislature was slated to adjourn in late April but has continued its session because of an unrelated budget crisis, giving time for the late-term abortion drama to continue to rage.

Dastardly Misrepresentation

April 26, 2011, BreakPoint commentary by Chuck Colson, copyright BreakPoint (BreakPoint.org)

If I asked you who understood a country’s people better, its residents and leaders or some foreign technocrat who had never been there, you might think that it was a trick question.

Well, according to some Obama Administration officials, you would be wrong. Not only that, but believing otherwise is proof that you are under the Vatican’s thrall. At least that was the position taken by the American delegation at a recent United Nations panel entitled “Secure Human Development: Marriage, Family, Community.”

The American delegation tried to persuade other countries to adopt a more “comprehensive” approach to development and population. By “comprehensive” the American delegation means fewer people. Their emphasis was on “family planning” and access to abortion.

To the Americans’ consternation, the foreigners weren’t buying. The representative from St. Lucia asked a good question: “How do we get our fertility rate to rise? We were told we needed to reduce our fertility rate – [but] now we have an aging population.”

St. Lucia is not alone. After 40 years of population control propaganda and coercion, all of the industrialized and much of the developing world has below-replacement level fertility rates and aging populations, which in turn threaten economic development.

Nonetheless, this questioning of population-control dogma was too much for American delegate Laurie Shestak-Phipps to bear. Ignoring St. Lucia’s problem with a declining population, she replied that, “It is detrimental to not have adequate family planning resources.” She then asked, “Why is there a resistance to acknowledging access to family planning as a necessity?”

Actually, she already had an answer in mind: It’s the Vatican’s fault. Shestak-Phipps lashed out at the co-hosts: The Vatican and very Catholic Malta. To her, valuing “family, community and marriage” means being able to “avoid unsafe abortion,” having “access to the highest attainable standard of reproductive health, and [people deciding] how many children they should have.”

It doesn’t matter that what Shestak-Phipps thinks is good for countries like St. Lucia isn’t what they need or want; she knows what’s best for them, and anyone who says otherwise, like the Vatican, is the enemy of human well-being.

This is not the first time that our representatives have gone after the Vatican. In a March meeting of the UN’s Human Rights Council, the State Department misrepresented the Vatican’s position on a proposal to add “sexual orientation and gender identity” to international laws against discrimination.

They told Latin American representatives that the Holy See had changed its position on the proposed addition when it had done no such thing. As a result, “several Latin American delegations” threw “their support behind the declaration after incorrectly believing the Holy See [supported] it.”

Reading these stories, you might think it was the 19th century all over again: Powerful western countries taking up, with apologies to Rudyard Kipling, the “white man’s burden” and bidding famine and sickness cease. This time, however, it’s simply by passing out condoms and family planning literature.

March for Life Speeches

Congressional speeches delivered at the Jan. 24, 2011, March for Life, transcribed by Life Advocacy Briefing from C-SPAN.org videocoverage; more to follow in future editions.

Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL): Good afternoon, I’m Steve Southerland, I’m one of the freshmen, and I’m from Florida. How’s everybody doing today? Man, it’s great to see you. You warm my heart. You make me feel good inside. I will tell you, three years ago our family, we found out that my sister-in-law Carol and my brother Shane were going to expect a baby. We were thrilled because we were going to add to our numbers. And I’ll tell you, when we found out that Michael Southerland was going to be born with Down Syndrome, that didn’t stop our excitement. We began to pray that God would prepare our hearts, that we would be everything that he needed us to be, to be the family so blessed, so lucky, so fortunate, to be the one that Michael would come to live with. And I will tell you, when he was born, we praised God for His blessings, for we know, we knew, we believe in God’s Word, where it says, “For I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb,” according to Jeremiah 1:5. I will tell you, according to Psalm 139, “For you were wonderfully and fearfully made.” I believe that with all my heart. I believe that this country, that we hurt and we experience pain because of our disregard for precious life. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We can address liberty, we can address pursuit of happiness only, only once Life is secured. God bless you, and may God continue to bless this great nation. Thank you.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS): Good afternoon, Tim Huelskamp from Kansas. It’s a real honor to be here today with my wife and our four adopted children. How about a shout-out for adoption? Yea! As you might be able to see, my children don’t look like us, but these are the children that Planned Parenthood doesn’t want. Can we stop Planned Parenthood? Yes we can! Yes we can! The state of Kansas in 1850 was called Bloody Kansas. Today we are at the heart of the struggle for Life. In 1850, the Supreme Court decided black people were not human; they’ve decided young people aren’t human. We are here to change this nation, and we will change our country. Yes we can! Thank you.

House Voting Record

Foxx Amendment to HR-1216 – To exclude abortion from ObamaCare grants to medical education programs and to protect conscience rights – May 25, 2011 – Passed 234 to 182 (Democrats in italics)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: AL/Aderholt, Bachus, Bonner, Brooks, Roby, Rogers; AK/Young; AZ/Flake, Franks, Gosar, Quayle, Schweikert; AR/Crawford, Griffin, Ross, Womack; CA/Calvert, Campbell, Denham, Dreier, Gallegly, Herger, Hunter, Issa, Lewis, Lungren, McCarthy, McClintock, McKeon, Gary Miller, Nunes, Rohrabacher, Royce; CO/Coffman, Gardner, Lamborn, Tipton; FL/Adams, Bilirakis, Buchanan, Crenshaw, Diaz-Balart, Mack, Mica, Miller, Nugent, Posey, Rivera, Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Ross, Southerland, Stearns, West, Young; GA/Broun, Graves, Kingston, Price, Austin Scott, Westmoreland, Woodall; ID/Labrador, Simpson; IL/Costello, Hultgren, Johnson, Kinzinger, Lipinski, Manzullo, Roskam, Schilling, Schock, Shimkus, Walsh; IN/Bucshon, Burton, Donnelly, Pence, Rokita, Stutzman, Young; IA/King, Latham; KS/Huelskamp, Jenkins, Pompeo, Yoder; KY/Davis, Guthrie, Rogers, Whitfield; LA/Alexander, Boustany, Cassidy, Fleming, Landry, Scalise; MD/Bartlett, Harris; MI/Amash, Benishek, Camp, Huizenga, Kildee, McCotter, Miller, Rogers, Upton, Walberg; MN/Bachmann, Cravaack, Kline, Paulsen, Peterson; MS/Harper, Nunnelee, Palazzo; MO/Akin, Emerson, Graves, Hartzler, Luetkemeyer; MT/Rehberg; NE/Fortenberry, Smith, Terry; NH/Guinta; NJ/Garrett, Lance, LoBiondo, Runyan, Smith; NM/Pearce; NY/Buerkle, Gibson, Hayworth, King; NC/Coble, Ellmers, Foxx, Jones, McHenry, McIntyre, Myrick, Shuler; ND/Berg; OH/Austria, Chabot, Gibbs, Johnson, Jordan, LaTourette, Latta, Renacci, Schmidt, Stivers, Tiberi, Turner; OK/Boren, Cole, Lankford, Lucas, Sullivan; OR/Walden; PA/Altmire, Barletta, Critz, Fitzpatrick, Gerlach, Holden, Kelly, Marino, Meehan, Murphy, Pitts, Platts, Shuster, Thompson; SC/Duncan, Mulvaney, Scott, Wilson; SD/Noem; TN/Black, Blackburn, DesJarlais, Duncan, Fincher, Fleischmann, Roe; TX/Barton, Brady, Canseco, Carter, Conaway, Culberson, Farenthold, Flores, Gohmert, Granger, Hall, Hensarling, Sam Johnson, Marchant, McCaul, Neugebauer, Olson, Paul, Poe, Sessions, Smith, Thornberry; UT/Bishop, Chaffetz; VA/Cantor, Forbes, Goodlatte, Griffith, Hurt, Rigell, Wittman, Wolf; WA/ Herrera-Beutler, McMorris-Rodgers, Reichert; WV/McKinley, Rahall; WI/Duffy, Petri, Ribble, Ryan, Sensenbrenner; WY/Lummis.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: AL/Sewell; AZ/Grijalva, Pastor; CA/Baca, Bass, Becerra, Berman, Bilbray, Bono-Mack, Capps, Cardoza, Chu, Costa, Davis, Eshoo, Farr, Garamendi, Honda, Lee, Lofgren, Matsui, McNerney, George Miller, Napolitano, Pelosi, Richardson, Roybal-Allard, Linda Sanchez, Loretta Sanchez, Schiff, Sherman, Speier, Stark, Thompson, Waters, Waxman, Woolsey; CO/DeGette, Perlmutter; CT/Courtney, DeLauro, Himes, Larson, Murphy; DE/Carney; FL/Brown, Deutch, Hastings, Wasserman-Schultz, Wilson; GA/Barrow, Bishop, Johnson, Lewis, David Scott; HI/Hanabusa, Hirono; IL/Biggert, Davis, Dold, Gutierrez, Quigley, Rush, Schakowsky; IN/Carson, Visclosky; IA/Boswell, Loebsack; KY/Chandler, Yarmuth; LA/Richmond; ME/Michaud, Pingree; MD/Cummings, Edwards, Hoyer, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes, VanHollen; MA/Capuano, Frank, Keating, Lynch, Markey, McGovern, Neal, Olver, Tierney, Tsongas; MI/Clarke, Conyers, Dingell, Levin, Peters; MN/Ellison, McCollum, Walz; MS/Thompson; MO/Carnahan, Clay, Cleaver; NV/Berkley, Heck; NH/Bass; NJ/Andrews, Holt, Pallone, Pascrell, Payne, Rothman, Sires; NM/Heinrich, Lujan; NY/Ackerman, Bishop, Clarke, Crowley, Engel, Grimm, Hanna, Higgins, Hinchey, Israel, Lowey, Maloney, Meeks, Nadler, Owens, Rangel, Serrano, Slaughter, Tonko, Towns, Velazquez, Weiner; NC/Butterfield, Kissell, Miller, Price, Watt; OH/Fudge, Kaptur, Kucinich, Ryan, Sutton; OR/Blumenauer, DeFazio, Schrader, Wu; PA/Brady, Dent, Doyle, Fattah, Schwartz; RI/Cicilline, Langevin; SC/Clyburn; TN/Cohen, Cooper; TX/Cuellar, Doggett, Gonzalez, Al Green, Gene Green, Hinojosa, Jackson-Lee, E.B. Johnson, Reyes; UT/Matheson; VT/Welch; VA/Connolly, Moran, Scott; WA/Dicks, Inslee, Larsen, McDermott, Smith; WV/Capito; WI/Baldwin, Kind, Moore.

Not voting: AZ/Giffords; CA/Filner; CO/Polis; FL/Castor, Webster; GA/Gingrey; IL/Jackson; IA/Braley; MO/Long; NJ/Frelinghuysen; NY/McCarthy, Reed; OH/Boehner; SC/Gowdy; TX/Burgess, WA/Hastings.