Life Advocacy Briefing

Prayers Appreciated

OUR EDITOR CONTINUES A SLOW RECOVERY from injuries sustained in an auto accident. We deeply appreciate the prayers of our readers for Penny Pullen, as well as for our team, who are seeking to maintain our weekly publication in this unusual time.

Bingo!

THOUGH MOST WERE NOT AWARE OF THE THREAT, the American people won a superb victory in the US Senate last week when Pres. Barack Obama and his Senate leader Harry Reid (D-NV) failed to achieve the votes necessary to advance one of the Regime’s favorite judicial nominees for a confirmation vote.

Needing 60, the cloture vote on Caitlin Halligan fell short at 51 to 41. We publish the voting record near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

This is the second time Ms. Halligan has been rejected by the U.S. Senate, this time for DC District Court of Appeals; in 2011, she failed to achieve enough Senate votes to replace Justice John Roberts when he became Chief Justice.

Called  a “textbook example of judicial activism”  by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Ms. Halligan some years ago filed an amicus brief on the side of the National Organization for [sic] Women (NOW) in a suit that sought to apply racketeering laws to pro-life clinic protesters in NOW vs. Scheidler, a case in which the defendant was Joseph Scheidler, founder and president of Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League. The Scheidler family eventually prevailed but have not yet recouped their substantial losses.

Life Advocacy called mid-week for our email subscribers to chime in on this nomination, and we are grateful for our readers’ participation in informing their Senators of the radical nature of this attempted appointee.

Backing Conscience Rights under ObamaCare

REP. DIANE BLACK (R-TN) IS FIRING ANOTHER SALVO in an effort to protect the conscience rights of healthcare workers, employers, and individuals with her introduction of HR-940, the Health Care Conscience Rights Act. The bill seeks to apply traditional religious conscience rights to ObamaCare, especially to the mandate requiring employers to include contraception, sterilization, and abortion drug coverage in their health insurance plans. It is also designed to permit health care workers to refrain from participating in procedures they find objectionable without resulting discrimination.

The bill has already drawn 66 co-sponsors: GOP Representatives Bachus, Bonner & Rogers/AL; Schweikert/AZ; Griffin/AR; Lamborn/CO; Miller, Radel, Ros-Lehtinen & Southerland/FL; Broun, Gingrey, Graves & Westmoreland/GA; Pompeo/KS; Davis, Hultgren, & Roskam/IL; Walorski/IN; King/IA; Huelskamp/KS; Boustany, Cassidy & Fleming/LA; Harris/MD; Benishek, Bentivolio & Walberg/MI; Nunnelee/MS; Hartzler, Long & Wagner/MO; Daines/MT; Fortenberry & Terry/NE; Smith/NJ; Pearce/NM; Ellmers, Foxx, Jones & McHenry/NC; Cramer/ND; Chabot, Johnson, Jordan, Latta, Tiberi & Wenstrup/OH; Lankford/OK; Barletta, Kelly & Murphy/PA; Wilson/SC; Blackburn, Duncan, Fincher & Roe/TN; Conaway, Flores, Hall, Neugebauer, Olson & Poe/TX; McKinley/WV; Lummis/WY. Also Illinois Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski.

We encourage our readers to call their own Congressmen to thank those who are sponsoring this key legislation or to urge others to join Rep. Black in this effort, via the Capitol switchboard at 1-202/224-3121.

There They Go Again!

EVEN AFTER BEING OVERRIDDEN BY HIS LEGISLATURE on a 20-week abortion ban, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe was then faced with an even more restrictive ban and vetoed the legislature’s 12-week abortion ban, characterized by an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) news release as “the most severe in the country.”

It took only hours for both houses of the legislature to override this veto as well. Court challenges are expected, but it is heartening to see state lawmakers in Arkansas exercise such determination to protect innocent preborn children and their parents from the evil of abortion.

Meanwhile, in Idaho, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has struck down as unconstitutional a 20-week fetal pain abortion ban, along with two perfectly reasonable pro-life laws that have served Idaho’s families for a long time.

What Does It Take?

THE PEOPLE OF MARYLAND HAD REASON TO BELIEVE that they were safer when new regulations went into effect last year requiring licensure for abortion shops. Then came dead silence from the state’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in response to the death of 29-year-old Jennifer Morbelli of complications from an abortion at 33 weeks.

Seventeen members of the Maryland House of Delegates have sent a formal letter to the regulatory department questioning why her death failed to spark an immediate suspension of the Germantown Reproductive Health Center’s license. The letter reminded the department of a still ignored November, 2012, complaint concerning illegal dumping at the abortion shop operated by the notorious LeRoy Carhart. Additionally, the legislators challenged in their letter the continued operations of several surgical abortion clinics throughout the state without benefit of license.

According to Operation Rescue, the Germantown clinic was never inspected to verify its compliance with licensing requirements.

Challenging Planned Parenthood’s Funding

LAST WEEK WE REPORTED BRIEFLY on a Congressional letter challenging the taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and other grantees which are committing abortions, and we indicated we would attempt to follow up with additional information about this initiative.

Next week, we plan to reprint a commentary on this project, written by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

Here are the lawmakers who signed the letter; all are Republicans: Representative Diane Black (TN) and Representatives Aderholt, Bachus & Roby/AL; Gosar & Griffin/AZ; LaMalfa/CA; Lamborn/CO; Bilirakis & Miller/FL; Broun, Gingrey, Scott & Westmoreland/GA; Bucshon & Rokita/IN; King/IA; Huelskamp/KS; Guthrie/KY; Boustany, Cassidy & Fleming/LA; Harris/MD; Huizenga/MI; Bachmann/MN; Nunnelee & Palazzo/MS; Hartzler, Long & Luetkemeyer/MO; Daines/MT; Terry/NE; Smith/NJ; Pearce/NM; Ellmers & Pittenger/NC; Chabot, Gibbs, Johnson, Jordan, Latta, Renacci, Stivers & Tiberi/OH; Cole/OK; Kelly & Pitts/PA; Noem/SD; Blackburn, Duncan & Roe/TN; Barton, Brady, Carter, Farenthold, Flores, Hall, Johnson, Neugebauer, Olson, Poe & Weber/TX; Forbes/VA; Ribble/WI.

Also, Senator David Vitter (LA) and Senators Boozman/AR; Risch/ID; Blunt/MO; Johanns/NE; Scott/SC; Enzi/WY.

Senate Voting Record

Cloture motion to bring forward nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals—Rejected—51 to 41 (needing 60) Wednesday, March 6, 2013 (Democrats in italics; Independents marked with “I”; new members in ALL CAPS)

Voting “no”/pro-Life: Sessions & Shelby/AL, FLAKE & McCain/AZ, Boozman/AR, Rubio/FL, Chambliss & Isakson/GA, Risch/ID, Kirk/IL, Coats/IN, Grassley/IA, Moran & Roberts/KS, McConnell & Paul/KY, Collins/ME, Cochran & Wicker/MS, Blunt/MO, FISCHER/NE, Heller & Reid/NV, Ayotte/NH, Burr/NC, Hoeven/ND, Portman/OH, Coburn & Inhofe/OK, Toomey/PA, Graham & SCOTT/SC, Thune/SD, Alexander & Corker/TN, Cornyn & CRUZ/TX, Lee/UT, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Enzi/WY.

Voting “yes”/anti-Life: Begich/AK, Pryor/AR, Boxer & Feinstein/CA, Bennet/CO, Blumenthal & MURPHY/CT, Carper & Coons/DE, Nelson/FL, HIRONO & SCHATZ/HI, Durbin/IL, DONNELLY/IN, Harkin/IA, Landrieu/LA, KING (I)/ME, Cardin/MD, COWAN & WARREN/MA, Levin & Stabenow/MI, Franken & Klobuchar/MN, McCaskill/MO, Baucus & Tester/MT, Shaheen/NH, Menendez/NJ, HEINRICH & Udall/NM, Gillibrand & Schumer/NY, Hagan/NC, HEITKAMP/ND, Brown/OH, Merkley & Wyden/OR, Casey/PA, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Leahy & Sanders (I)/VT, KAINE & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Manchin & Rockefeller/WV, BALDWIN/WI.

Not Voting: Udall/CO, Crapo/ID, Vitter/LA, Mikulski/MD, Johanns/NE, Lautenberg/NJ, Johnson/SD, Hatch/UT.

Regime Advancing Abortion Coverage in ObamaCare

Commentary by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins in his March 4, 2013, Washington Update

If the sequester was supposed to grind government to a halt, you wouldn’t know it by the volumes coming out of Health and Human Services (HHS). On the first afternoon of the President’s doomsday, HHS was unusually productive—pumping out more than 700 new pages of ObamaCare regulations.

The deluge, one of several recent bursts of rule-making, was part of the plan to implement more taxpayer-funded abortion—but thanks to former FRCer (and current President of the Charlotte Lozier Institute) Chuck Donovan, Americans are learning more about the President’s wildly unpopular agenda. Buried in the pages of regulatory jargon is the rule that will almost certainly expand the number of people who have low-cost abortion coverage. Until ObamaCare, Chuck points out, every federal employee health care plan excluded abortion. Friday’s rule makes it clear that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which oversees those federal plans, will allow abortion coverage if the state does. In other words, unless a state explicitly blocks abortion coverage, people in that state will subsidize it since ObamaCare bypasses the Hyde Amendment, the laws which had stopped the government from funding health plans with abortion coverage. The result? Taxpayers will be on the hook for potentially hundreds of thousands of additional abortion subsidies. This is historic, Chuck explains, and not in a good way. “Abortion is not health care,” he writes, “and OPM will soon be managing multi-state plans that assume it is.” Of course, the silver lining is that states can opt out of the abortion coverage in ObamaCare—and several have.

At least 18 states—Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin—have enacted legislation to ban abortion coverage in state exchanges. Others, including Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Texas, have similar laws in the works. (New Jersey tried, but failed, to pass a measure last year.) The reality is, states that don’t move to protect themselves will soon see OPM barge into their exchange and contract for one or more plans that include abortion. If your leaders haven’t passed a bill protecting taxpayers (and the unborn) from ObamaCare’s real agenda, encourage them to do so—and quickly! Barring a legislative miracle, these rules are scheduled to take effect in mid-May. And even if your state does have an abortion opt-out, it’s important to realize that your federal tax dollars are still going to Washington and cycling to other states that pay for abortion.

Congressman Alan Nunnelee (R-MS) is doing everything in his power to pass a blanket prohibition that would block OPM from administering any plan—anywhere—that covers abortion. His bill, Stop Abortion Funding in Multi-state Exchanges Act (or SAFE) [HR346], keeps the Obama administration from reaching over federal law to expand its culture of death. Encourage your congressman to sign on and help keep taxpayers, women, and children SAFE.

March for Life Speech: Former Sen. Rick Santorum

Delivered Jan. 25, 2013, at the March for Life on the National Mall in Washington, DC, transcribed by Life Advocacy; speech by  former Pennsylvania Sen. and 2012 GOP Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum

Thank you very much. Thank you so much for being here today. For standing here in the cold to give a sense of warmth to this city that is a cold city these days. A sense of warmth, of God’s love for all of His children. Thank you for being here. God bless you for being here.

I want to just pick up on what Patrick said, and thank you, Patrick, for that introduction, and you might notice, I sort of don’t travel much without some of the family here. And Karen is here and several of our children are here. But as Patrick mentioned, one of our little ones is not here. But she made quite an impression on this country as a result of the race that we were involved in last year. We had to take a break from the campaign because Bella, our youngest, who has trisomy-18, got very ill, and it forced us to violate the privacy that we wanted to keep around her and let people know who she was. And I have to tell you, the response was amazing. The response to this little girl and the struggles that she was going through and who she was, the outpouring of prayer and support was just amazing to us. And affirmed to us the goodness of the people in this country.

This country is in search of truth, and they’re not finding much of it here in Washington, D.C. And what we saw from our little girl, a little girl that we were encouraged to abort — See we were encouraged to abort her because, well, she was going to be saddled with disabilities and it would be better for her. Well, we all know that death is never better. Never better. Really, what it’s about is that it would be easier for us, not better for her. And I’m here to tell you, each one of these children and my wife for sure would tell you, that Bella is better for us and we are better because of Bella.

Give these poor children who are all too often, if they are discovered in the womb to have a disability, all too often aborted — please give them a chance. Welcome them into your home, as you here welcome them into our human family. Ladies and gentlemen, Bella makes us better. Bella has made the people that she’s touched in this country better. She is joyful, she is sweet, she is all about love.

And that fits so well here today. Because this movement is not a bunch of moralizers standing on their mountaintop, preaching what is right. It is a bunch of people that every day go out and open up their arms and stand in front of abortion clinics in the cold, who go to crisis pregnancy centers every day and reach out their hands in love for little children and for moms and for dads and for everyone who in a culture of death has to make critical decisions about life. You are the voice of the voiceless. You are those who stand for love in a world of death, and we are proud to be here with you, to stand for life, to stand for love. And one day, one day, we will be here in triumph because love and truth always triumph. Thank you, and God bless you.