Life Advocacy Briefing

For the Week of April 15, 2013

Putting our Military on the Spot / Planned Parenthood Promises to Fight

Kansas Continues to Lead for Life / Comings & Goings / Roll Call Series Continues

Senate Voting Records: Rubio & Fischer

Putting our Military on the Spot

EVEN IN A HOUSE DOMINATED & LED BY PRO-LIFE REPUBLICANS, New York Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter, with 32 of her colleagues as co-sponsors, is pressing again her traditional attempt to open US military health facilities to the slaughter of prenatal military dependents.

HR-1389 would repeal language blocking military facilities from being used for abortion and has been referred to the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Committee on Armed Services, chaired by Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA). The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC).

Other members of the subcommittee are GOP Representatives Austin Scott/GA, Jackie Walorski/IN, Joe Heck/NV, Chris Gibson/NY, Walter Jones/NC, Brad Wenstrup/OH and Kristi Noem/SD. The Democratic Party’s subcommittee leader, as Ranking Member, is Rep. Susan Davis (CA), joined by Representatives David Loebsack/IA, Niki Tsongas/MA, Carol Shea-Porter/NH, Robert Brady/PA, as well as Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo; “Delegates” are permitted by House rules to cast votes in committees even though they are not Constitutionally elected Members of the body.

Calls to subcommittee members urging rejection of HR-1389 may be made via the Capitol switchboard at 1-202/224-3121.

On announcing introduction of the measure, reports Patricia Kime for the Marine Corps Times, Rep. Slaughter claimed “her bill would ‘give military women the same access to reproductive healthcare as civilian American women. … It’s unconscionable,’” she declared in the report, “‘that American women who swore an oath to defend the Constitution are being denied their Constitutional rights.’” Of course, the “right” to procure the death of one’s own child is found nowhere in the text of the Constitution.

“Between 1993 and 1995,” notes Ms. Kime, “military medical facilities were allowed to perform abortions if paid for with private funds, under a directive issued by [then-]Pres. Bill Clinton. During that time,” reports the Marine Corps journalist, “27 abortions were performed in 1993 and 10 in 1994, although the abortions conducted in 1994 were all performed under the ‘life of the mother’ clause, according to the Congressional Research Service [CRS].

“CRS found,” writes Ms. Kime, “that although the policy had been expanded, it did not necessarily broaden access, especially overseas. A survey of 44 medical officers stationed in Europe at the time found that all but one ‘refused to do the procedure,’ and the one who said he would quickly reversed course after the survey, the CRS found.”

If Rep. Slaughter and her colleagues truly respected our military personnel, they would not be seeking to put them into such an unconscionable position.

Abortion fans co-sponsoring HR-1389 along with Rep. Slaughter are Democratic Representatives Raul Grijalva/AZ; Lois Capps, Judy Chu, Susan Davis, Michael Honda, Barbara Lee, Zoe Lofgren, Doris Matsui, Jerry McNerney, Grace Napolitano & Jackie Speier/CA; Diana DeGette/CO; Rosa DeLauro/CT; Kathy Castor/FL; Henry Johnson/GA; Mike Quigley & Janice Schakowsky/IL; Chellie Pingree/ME; Donna Edwards/MD; Michael Capuano, Edward Markey & Niki Tsongas/MA; John Conyers/MI; Keith Ellison/MN; William Clay/MO; Rush Holt & Donald Payne/NJ; Brian Higgins, Carolyn Maloney & Charles Rangel/NY; Earl Blumenauer/OR, and Gwen Moore/WI.

Planned Parenthood Promises to Fight

SEEING THEIR BUSINESS PLAN UNDER ATTACK, the abortion behemoth’s regional offices are threatening legal challenges to new pro-life laws, most recently in response to Alabama’s sweeping clinic regulations that require, among other features, abortionists gaining admitting privileges at local hospitals. Officials of Planned Parenthood Southeast complain, according to a report by CNN, “the new law’s requirements ‘would be difficult for nearly all providers to meet’ and would shut down clinics.”

They may be right, with a similar new law in Mississippi recently bringing that state’s sole abortuary to “‘the verge of closing.’” According to CNN, “that clinic is challenging the Mississippi law in federal court, saying the state would end up banning abortion because the clinic’s doctors [sic] haven’t been able to gain the privileges.”

Alabama’s Governor Robert Bentley, in his signing statement, declared, according to CNN, “‘As a physician, and as a governor, I am proud to sign this legislation….This bill provides appropriate standards of care.’”

But on the other hand Planned Parenthood’s threats in Alabama might be hollow. The outfit’s Mid-and-South Michigan office made similar legal threats when the Great Lakes state’s omnibus pro-life legislation passed in December. But, according to LifeSiteNews.com, as the law went into effect on March 31, the regional organization’s president Lori Lamerand told the Detroit CBS-TV station, “‘The licensing requirements are reasonable enough that we can accommodate them.’”

Michigan Right to Life spokesman Ed Rivet said, according to LifeSiteNews, “her admission proves Planned Parenthood was engaging in scare tactics. ‘The catastrophic claims that abortion advocates said were going to bring to an end abortion in the state…was Chicken Little then and Chicken Little now.’”

Kansas Continues to Lead for Life

THOUGH WE WERE AMONG THOSE WHO WERE SORRY to see US Sen. Sam Brownback (R) leave his distinguished career in Washington to take on the governor’s office in Topeka, we could not be more delighted with what he is accomplishing in leading the cause of Life in Kansas, where families long suffered under such fanatics as former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), now the Obama health czar.

Gov. Brownback must be truly relishing the current session of the Kansas legislature; certainly the state’s pro-life citizenry are seeing plenty of cause for delight.

On the way to the governor’s desk is legislation to establish the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center at the University of Kansas, for starters, which will offer adult stemcell treatments across a wide variety of conditions and diseases and will train doctors and educate the public on adult stemcell therapy. The Center will also develop a database of available adult stemcell treatments and clinical trials. It is believed to be a groundbreaking development for the delivery of medical treatment and cures in the United States, which, while pushing Frankensteinian embryonic stemcell experimentation, has allowed practitioners and researchers in other countries to take the lead in effective, ethical stemcell research and application.

Other bills heading to the Brownback desk are a ban on wrongful birth and wrongful death lawsuits (“The Unborn Civil Rights Act”), a proper definition of Life (“at fertilization”), a ban on sex-selection abortions and comprehensive regulations on abortuaries, including adding to the information an abortionist must convey in securing informed consent for his dastardly deed.

Another delight for the governor and his fellow pro-life citizens is a new law, scheduled to take effect July 1, which bars abortion industry representatives, such as Planned Parenthood staff, from engaging in public school sex education presentations.

All this in a state where already the abortion rate has dropped by around 5.4% in 2012, according to the Kansas Dept. of Health & Environment. Gov. Brownback first took office in 2011.

Comings & Goings

KANSAS AUTHORITIES FACE A NEW PROBLEM in an old location in Wichita with the planned reopening of the abortuary long operated by the late notorious baby killer George Tiller. Operation Rescue (OR) has turned up plans by so-called physician Cheryl Chastine to make periodic flights from Oak Park, Illinois, to Wichita as one of three apparent out-of-state abortionists at South Wind Women’s Center in Tiller’s former building. Ms. Chastine was licensed to practice medicine in Illinois in August, 2011, and subsequently obtained a Kansas license in January, 2013.

In what Operation Rescue dubs a “bait and switch” tactic, Ms. Chastine has indicated her intentions to open a “Professional Association under the name ‘Wichita Medical Center’ at the same address as the proposed South Wind Women’s Center, operated by former Tiller lobbyist Julie Burkhart, who has no medical license or training,” according to OR. “Kansas law requires that clinics that provide medical services be owned by licensed providers.”

Illinois pro-life activists planned a demonstration for last weekend outside the Oak Park medical facility where Ms. Chastine apparently has been spending the bulk of her time.

Five botched abortions since early January and filthy conditions reported by former employees have brought a temporary halt to business at the Planned Parenthood shop in Wilmington, Delaware. We at Life Advocacy hope that the state’s Dept. of Health and Social Services will take a serious approach to its investigation and come to the conclusion that reopening this facility would be an unconscionable threat to the health of women of Delaware and beyond.

The so-called American Family Planning abortion clinic in Dearborn, Michigan, has just become the sixth mill to close in the state since September. News of its shuttering leaked before the event to pro-life activists, one who received the information from the director of the mill, with confirmation by another activist telephoning the operation. According to pro-life blogger Jill Stanek (www.jillstanek.com), “Abortionist-owner Joon-Nahm Ann is now 73 years old and said to be retiring.” The shop has been the focus of 11 years of concerted prayer.

Michigan authorities ought to vigorously inspect Detroit’s Summit Women’s Center now that it has hired controversial Reginald Sharpe as an abortionist after he closed two of his own shops nearby. Pro-life leader Lynn Mills “has a simple question for the staff” at Summit, reports Ben Johnson for LifeSiteNews.com: “How could you hire an abortionist who killed a patient?”

When Ms. Mills “confronted one of the workers at [Mr.] Sharpe’s new office, writes Mr. Johnson, “with a copy of the death certificate” from the cited incident, the worker declared, “‘That doesn’t have anything to do with Sharpe. If he’d killed somebody, he’d be in jail.’ ‘It’s right here,’ said [Ms.] Mills, holding up the death certificate. ‘And you hired him.’” The cause of death listed: “uterine perforation during medical procedure.” The challenged abortuary worker responded “vigorously,” writes Mr. Johnson, with “‘It does not matter. One of the complications in any surgery you have is to die.’” [Ms.] Mills has seen pictures of Sharpe’s botched abortion victim as she lingered in the hospital, according to Mr. Johnson, and was horrified by the amount of suffering they portrayed.

Additionally, Reginald Sharpe’s ex-wife received an order of protection against the abortionist, as reported in a follow-up story by Ben Johnson, after Sharpe “threatened to murder [her], telling her he ‘understood’ how a man could murder and dismember another human being.”

Detroit area women do not need the “services” of such a menace.

Roll Call Series Continues

WE BEGAN LAST WEEK publishing the voting records from the Senate Life-related amendment marathon in March. This week we are presenting the roll calls from a key pro-life policy amendment offered by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and from an ObamaCare right-of-conscience amendment by Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE). Both are freshman lawmakers; Sen. Rubio was elected in 2010 and Sen. Fischer in 2012. We thank them both for their efforts.

Senate Voting Records: Rubio & Fischer

Rubio Amendment 292 to Senate Budget bill to express the sense of the Senate enacting the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (federal government policy favoring parental notice of abortion and aiding its enforcement where law) – March 22, 2013 – Rejected 48-51 (Democrats in italics; “Independents” marked “I”)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Sessions & Shelby/AL, Murkowski/AK, Flake & McCain/AZ, Boozman & Pryor/AR, Rubio/FL, Chambliss & Isakson/GA, Crapo & Risch/ID, Coats & Donnelly/IN, Grassley/IA, Moran & Roberts/KS, McConnell & Paul/KY, Vitter/LA, Cochran & Wicker/MS, Blunt/MO, Fischer & Johanns/NE, Heller & Reid/NV, Ayotte/NH, Burr/NC, Hoeven/ND, Portman/OH, Coburn & Inhofe/OK, Casey & Toomey/PA, Graham & Scott/SC, Thune/SD, Alexander & Corker/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Hatch & Lee/UT, Manchin/WV, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Enzi/WY

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Begich/ AK, Boxer & Feinstein/CA, Bennet & Udall/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Carper & Coons/DE, Nelson/FL, Hirono & Schatz/HI, Durbin & Kirk/IL, Harkin/IA, Landrieu/LA, Collins & King (I)/ME, Cardin & Mikulski/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, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Johnson/SD, Leahy & Sanders (I)/VT, Kaine & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Rockefeller/WV, Baldwin/WI

Not Voting: Lautenberg/NJ

Fischer Amendment 630 to Senate Budget bill to establish a reserve fund to protect women’s “healthcare access” in a manner providing conscience rights for medical providers under ObamaCare – March 22, 2013 – Rejected 44-55 (Democrats in italics; “Independents” marked “I”)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Sessions & Shelby/AL, Flake & McCain/AZ, Boozman & Pryor/AR, Rubio/FL, Chambliss & Isakson/GA, Crapo & Risch/ID, Coats/IN, Grassley/IA, Moran & Roberts/KS, McConnell & Paul/KY, Vitter/LA, Cochran & Wicker/MS, Blunt/MO, Fischer & Johanns/NE, Heller/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, Hatch & Lee/UT, Manchin/WV, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Enzi/WY

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Begich & Murkowski/AK, Boxer & Feinstein/CA, Bennet & Udall/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Carper & Coons/DE, Nelson/FL, Hirono & Schatz/HI, Durbin & Kirk/IL, Donnelly/IN, Harkin/IA, Landrieu/LA, Collins & King (I)/ME, Cardin & Mikulski/MD, Cowan & Warren/MA, Levin & Stabenow/MI, Franken & Klobuchar/MN, McCaskill/MO, Baucus & Tester/MT, Reid/NV, Shaheen/NH, Menendez/NJ, Heinrich & Udall/NM, Gillibrand & Schumer/NY, Hagan/NC, Heitkamp/ND, Brown/OH, Merkley & Wyden/OR, Casey/PA, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Johnson/SD, Leahy & Sanders (I)/VT, Kaine & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Rockefeller/WV, Baldwin/WI

Not Voting: Lautenberg/NJ