Life Advocacy Briefing

Saluting America’s Founding

AS WE APPROACH INDEPENDENCE DAY, we honor our nation’s founders and our Declaration of Independence, underscoring our God-given right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, thanking the Almighty for His many blessings at our founding and in the subsequent centuries.

We wish our readers a happy Fourth of July; our own family will be gathering for the weekend, so we ask our readers to excuse us from publishing next week and look forward to our return in mid-July.

‘Sacred Ground’?

IT WASN’T THE FIRST TIME former House Speaker – now Minority Leader – Nancy Pelosi has scorned a pro-life leader’s statements challenging her strident abortion advocacy. This time her response was in reaction to Priests for Life founder Fr. Frank Pavone, who had called on her to reexamine her claim to the active practice of what she terms her Catholic faith, in view of her claim of late-term abortion as “sacred ground,” despite public disgust over the practice following weeks of grisly testimony in the Philadelphia trial of abortionist/murderer Kermit Gosnell.

When Fr. Pavone suggested in an open letter to the lady from San Francisco that her remark was yet another instance of her misrepresenting the Catholic faith, Rep. Pelosi termed his response “hysterical” and asserted, “My faith isn’t about what their position is.”

Urgent Opportunity

READERS NEED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS WEEK’s RECESS to meet with their Congressman, urging support of the Health Care Conscience Rights bill (HR-940) sponsored by Rep. Diane Black (R-TN). Time is running out to put a stop to the anti-conscience mandates inherent in ObamaCare regulations, which kick in Aug. 1.

Persisting in Pressing for Pro-Life Protections

TEXAS GOV. RICK PERRY (R) HAS CALLED THE LEGISLATURE BACK into a second special session, beginning today (July 1), giving the House and Senate 30 days to pass again a comprehensive pro-life bill whose passage, minutes after midnight last Tuesday night, missed the deadline for enactment.

The proposal would ban abortions after 20 weeks’ gestation, impose standard health and safety standards on abortuaries and require abortionists to secure admitting privileges at local hospitals, a challenging requirement for nearly all abortionists to achieve.

The legislation “was prompted,” notes Operation Rescue (OR), “by horrific details that came forth during the Pennsylvania trial of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell … and by allegations brought against Houston abortionist Douglas Karpen by three former employees who say that he routinely killed babies born alive in ways similar to the practices of [Mr.] Gosnell.”

Most lawmakers appeared to be prepared to subject Texas’s 42 abortion mills to these restrictions, but one state senator attempted to filibuster the measure on the last day of the first special session, succeeding for some 10 hours before, notes OR, “a violation of the filibuster rules prompted an objection at 9:40 p.m., stopping the filibuster and throwing the session into chaos.” (For some reason, the galleries were jammed with abortion sympathizers, seemingly with few pro-life advocates on hand.) “Lack of security personnel made attempts to clear the unruly gallery futile,” notes OR, which goes on to assert: “We live in a Constitutional republic. We do not live by mob rule. While the mob may have prevailed through thuggery this time, the result was a defeat for pregnant women and their babies.”

That defeat appears to have been short-lived. Though abortion advocates – notably Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R) – managed to disrupt passage of the legislation in the recently adjourned regular session and then again in special session, the calling back of the Legislature for the specific purpose of the comprehensive abortion law reform proposal should assure victory for the taxpayers and families of Texas. And the public shock over the mob-rule atmosphere generated by the abortion lobby should enhance the measure’s political value, just as the mob actions in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2011, aided those seeking to shift control of state spending to taxpayers from labor union bosses.

At stake? Chris Tomlinson of the Associated Press claims the measure is “widely expected to shut down 37 out of 42 existing abortion clinics” in Texas. Let us pray.

ObamaCare’s High-Profile Partner

WITH MORE THAN 750 SHOPS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, Planned Parenthood’s engagement as an “educator” promoting the presumed benefits of ObamaCare could have a substantial impact as the Obama regime begins its PR campaign for its favorite initiative. Some PP affiliates will even become official government-funded “navigators,” charged with leading people through the maze of paperwork inherent in the process of signing up for ObamaCare insurance coverage. (We call these new federal agents “community organizers.”)

Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) is toying with trying to eliminate the “navigator” program with its $54 million price tag, saying, quoted by Politico’s Kathryn Smith, “‘Planned Parenthood is among the long list of liberal organizations that are expected to receive taxpayer-funded navigator grants. The navigator grants would further enable Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America, to continue its misuse of taxpayer dollars to [supplement] their big abortion business.’”

Planned Parenthood, of course, can be counted on to use the new infusion of federal funds – atop the $540-some-million the abortion behemoth already gets annually – for promotion of its own business schemes while selling submission to the government healthcare takeover.

Abortion Losing in Court of Public Opinion?

A COURT CHALLENGE SEEMS INEVITABLE whenever new Life-protective legislation makes it all the way through a governor’s signature, but in North Dakota four such measures at one time are, for the abortion industry and its community organizers, just too much to swallow.

Opponents to the new statutes, which take effect Aug. 1, took to the streets to garner signatures on a petition to put three of the new laws on the ballot, seeking to secure voter repeal. But they cannot even obtain the required petition signatures, let alone a majority vote at the polls. Organizers were denied a deadline extension last Monday, so they are now stuck with their traditional ploy of filing suit. We can only hope the judicial system in the state – unlike the US Supreme Court – has enough courage and justice to recognize common sense as well as popular consensus.

Court Nixes Human Gene Patenting

THE SUPREME COURT DID GET ONE RULING RIGHT last month: The court issued a unanimous ruling in June that bars the patenting of human genes. The court’s opinion was authored by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, who stated, reports Tom Strode for Baptist Press (BP), “‘[A] naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated’ by a biotechnology firm.”

The story quotes Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore, who, notes Mr. Strode, “said the high court ‘was right. Human beings didn’t create genes, and they cannot patent them. God gave humanity dominion as servant stewards over the natural order, but He didn’t give humanity dominion over humanity,’ said [Mr.] Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission” of the Southern Baptist Convention. “‘The wild mystery of our genetic code,’” he commented, quoted by BP, “‘is one more reminder that we are creatures, not gods.’” So true. And that goes for the Supreme Court, too.

Another Victory…for Now

THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE SO-CALLED BUFFER ZONE CONCEPT will be on the US Supreme Court’s docket for its next session, with the high court announcing its intention to review the First Circuit Court’s decision upholding the Massachusetts restriction on pro-life citizens’ freedom of speech and assembly.

Although the outcome cannot be guessed, especially given the current makeup of the Court, Life advocates can count it a victory that the case has caught the Justices’ attention and been accepted for their deliberation.

House Voting Records – Procedural Motions on Late-Term Ban

Motion to End Debate & Proceed to HRes-266 – Rule for Consideration of HR-1797 (Pain-Capable [Late-term] Abortion Ban Act) & of Farm Bill – June 18, 2013 – Adopted 229 to 196 – Pro-Life victory (Democrats in italics)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Aderholt, Bachus, Brooks, Roby, Rogers/AL; Young/AK; Franks, Gosar, Salmon, Schweikert/AZ; Cotton, Crawford, Griffin, Womack/AR; Calvert, Cook, Denham, Issa, LaMalfa, McCarthy, McClintock, McKeon, Gary Miller, Nunes, Rohrabacher, Royce, Valadao/CA; Coffman, Gardner, Lamborn, Tipton/CO; Bilirakis, Buchanan, Crenshaw, DeSantis, Diaz-Balart, Mica, Miller, Nugent, Posey, Radel, Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Ross, Southerland, Webster, Yoho, Young/FL; Broun, Collins, Gingrey, Graves, Kingston, Price, A.Scott, Westmoreland, Woodall/GA; Labrador & Simpson/ID; R.Davis, Hultgren, Kinzinger, Roskam, Schock, Shimkus/IL; Brooks, Bucshon, Messer, Rokita, Stutzman, Walorski, Young/IN; King, Latham/IA; Huelskamp, Jenkins, Pompeo, Yoder/KS; Barr, Guthrie, Massie, Whitfield/KY; Alexander, Boustany, Cassidy, Fleming, Scalise/LA; Harris/MD; Amash, Benishek, Bentivolio, Camp, Huizenga, Miller, Rogers, Upton & Walberg/MI; Bachmann, Kline, Paulsen/MN; Harper, Nunnelee, Palazzo/MS; Graves, Hartzler, Long, Luetkemeyer, Smith & Wagner/MO; Daines/MT; Fortenberry, Smith, Terry/NE; Amodei, Heck/NV; Frelinghuysen, Garrett, Lance, LoBiondo, Runyan, Smith/NJ; Pearce/NM; Collins, Gibson, Grimm, Hanna, King, Reed/NY; Coble, Ellmers, Foxx, Holding, Hudson, Jones, McHenry, Meadows, Pittenger/NC; Cramer/ND; Chabot, Gibbs, Johnson, Jordan, Joyce, Latta, Renacci, Stivers, Tiberi, Turner, Wenstrup/OH; Bridenstine, Cole, Lankford, Lucas, Mullin/OK; Walden/OR; Barletta, Dent, Fitzpatrick, Gerlach, Kelly, Marino, Meehan, Murphy, Perry, Pitts, Rothfus, Shuster, Thompson/PA; Duncan, Gowdy, Mulvaney, Rice, Sanford, Wilson/SC; Noem/SD; Black, Blackburn, DesJarlais, Duncan, Fincher, Fleischmann, Roe/TN; Barton, Brady, Burgess, Carter, Conaway, Culberson, Farenthold, Flores, Gohmert, Granger, Hall, Hensarling, S.Johnson, Marchant, McCaul, Neugebauer, Olson, Poe, Sessions, Smith, Stockman, Thornberry, Weber, Williams/TX; Bishop, Chaffetz, Stewart/UT; Cantor, Forbes, Goodlatte, Griffith, Hurt, Rigell, Wittman, Wolf/VA; Hastings, Herrera-Beutler, McMorris-Rodgers, Reichert/WA; Capito, McKinley/WV; Duffy, Petri, Ribble, Ryan, Sensenbrenner/WI; Lummis/WY.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Sewell/AL; Barber, Grijalva, Kirkpatrick, Pastor, Sinema/AZ; Bass, Becerra, Bera, Brownley, Capps, Cardenas, Chu, Costa, Davis, Eshoo, Farr, Garamendi, Hahn, Honda, Huffman, Lee, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Matsui, McNerney, Geo. Miller, Napolitano, Negrete-McLeod, Pelosi, Peters, Roybal-Allard, Ruiz, Linda Sanchez, Loretta Sanchez, Schiff, Sherman, Speier, Swalwell, Takano, Thompson, Vargas, Waters, Waxman/CA; DeGette, Himes, Perlmutter, Polis/CO; Courtney, DeLauro, Esty, Larson/CT; Carney/DE; Brown, Castor, Deutch, Frankel, Garcia, Grayson, Hastings, Murphy, Wasserman-Schultz, Wilson/FL; Barrow, Bishop, Johnson, Lewis, D.Scott/GA; Gabbard, Hanabusa/HI; Bustos, D.Davis, Duckworth, Enyart, Foster, Gutierrez, Kelly, Lipinski, Quigley, Rush, Schakowsky, Schneider/IL; Carson, Visclosky/IN; Braley, Loebsack/IA; Richmond/LA; Michaud, Pingree/ME; Cummings, Delaney, Edwards, Hoyer, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes, VanHollen/MD; Capuano, Keating, Kennedy, Lynch, McGovern, Neal, Tierney, Tsongas/MA; Conyers, Dingell, Kildee, Levin, Peters/MI; Ellison, McCollum, Nolan, Peterson, Walz/MN; Thompson/MS; Clay, Cleaver/MO;Horsford, Titus/NV; Kuster, Shea-Porter/NH; Andrews, Holt, Pallone, Payne, Sires/NJ; B.Lujan, Lujan-Grisham/NM; Bishop, Clarke, Crowley, Engel, Higgins, Israel, Jeffries, Lowey, Maffei, C.Maloney, S.Maloney, Meeks, Meng, Nadler, Owens, Rangel, Serrano, Slaughter, Tonko, Velazquez/NY; Butterfield, McIntyre, Price, Watt/NC; Beatty, Fudge, Kaptur, Ryan/OH; Blumenauer, Bonamici, DeFazio, Schrader/OR; Brady, Cartwright, Doyle, Fattah, Schwartz/PA; Cicilline, Langevin/RI; Clyburn/SC; Cohen & Cooper/TN; Castro, Cuellar, Doggett, Gallego, A.Green, G.Green, Hinojosa, Jackson-Lee, E.B.Johnson, O’Rourke, Veasey, Vela/TX; Matheson/UT; Welch/VT; Connelly, Moran, Scott/VA; DelBene, Heck, Kilmer, McDermott, Smith/WA; Rahall/WV; Kind, Moore, Pocan/WI.

Not voting: Bonner/AL, Campbell & Hunter/CA, Rogers & Yarmuth/KY, Markey/MA, Pascrell/NJ, McCarthy/NY, Boehner/OH, Larsen/WA.

HRes-266 – Rule for Consideration of HR-1797 (Pain-Capable [Late-term] Abortion Ban Act) & of Farm Bill – June 18, 2013 – Adopted 232 to 193 – Pro-Life victory (Democrats in italics)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Aderholt, Bachus, Brooks, Roby, Rogers/AL; Young/AK; Franks, Gosar, Salmon, Schweikert/AZ; Cotton, Crawford, Griffin, Womack/AR; Calvert, Cook, Denham, Issa, LaMalfa, McCarthy, McClintock, McKeon, Gary Miller, Nunes, Rohrabacher, Royce, Valadao/CA; Coffman, Gardner, Lamborn, Tipton/CO; Bilirakis, Buchanan, Crenshaw, DeSantis, Diaz-Balart, Mica, Miller, Nugent, Posey, Radel, Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Ross, Southerland, Webster, Yoho, Young/FL; Collins, Gingrey, Graves, Kingston, Price, A.Scott, Westmoreland, Woodall/GA; Labrador & Simpson/ID; R.Davis, Hultgren, Kinzinger, Lipinski, Roskam, Schock, Shimkus/IL; Brooks, Bucshon, Messer, Rokita, Stutzman, Walorski, Young/IN; King, Latham/IA; Jenkins, Pompeo, Yoder/KS; Barr, Guthrie, Massie, Whitfield/KY; Alexander, Boustany, Cassidy, Fleming, Scalise/LA; Harris/MD; Amash, Benishek, Bentivolio, Camp, Huizenga, Miller, Rogers, Upton & Walberg/MI; Bachmann, Kline, Paulsen, Peterson, Walz/MN; Harper, Nunnelee, Palazzo/MS; Graves, Hartzler, Long, Luetkemeyer, Smith & Wagner/MO; Daines/MT; Fortenberry, Smith, Terry/NE; Amodei, Heck/NV; Frelinghuysen, Garrett, Lance, LoBiondo, Runyan, Smith/NJ; Pearce/NM; Collins, Gibson, Grimm, Hanna, King, Reed/NY; Coble, Ellmers, Foxx, Holding, Hudson, Jones, McHenry, McIntyre, Meadows, Pittenger/NC; Cramer/ND; Chabot, Gibbs, Johnson, Jordan, Joyce, Latta, Renacci, Stivers, Tiberi, Turner, Wenstrup/OH; Bridenstine, Cole, Lankford, Lucas, Mullin/OK; Walden/OR; Barletta, Dent, Fitzpatrick, Gerlach, Kelly, Marino, Meehan, Murphy, Perry, Pitts, Rothfus, Shuster, Thompson/PA; Duncan, Gowdy, Mulvaney, Rice, Sanford, Wilson/SC; Noem/SD; Black, Blackburn, DesJarlais, Duncan, Fincher, Fleischmann, Roe/TN; Barton, Brady, Burgess, Carter, Conaway, Culberson, Farenthold, Flores, Gohmert, Granger, Hall, Hensarling, S.Johnson, Marchant, McCaul, Neugebauer, Olson, Poe, Sessions, Smith, Stockman, Thornberry, Weber, Williams/TX; Bishop, Chaffetz, Stewart/UT; Cantor, Forbes, Goodlatte, Griffith, Hurt, Rigell, Wittman, Wolf/VA; Hastings, Herrera-Beutler, McMorris-Rodgers, Reichert/WA; Capito, McKinley, Rahall/WV; Duffy, Petri, Ribble, Ryan, Sensenbrenner/WI; Lummis/WY.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Sewell/AL; Barber, Grijalva, Kirkpatrick, Pastor, Sinema/AZ; Bass, Becerra, Bera, Brownley, Capps, Cardenas, Chu, Costa, Davis, Eshoo, Farr, Garamendi, Hahn, Honda, Huffman, Lee, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Matsui, McNerney, Geo. Miller, Napolitano, Negrete-McLeod, Pelosi, Peters, Roybal-Allard, Ruiz, Linda Sanchez, Loretta Sanchez, Schiff, Sherman, Speier, Swalwell, Takano, Thompson, Vargas, Waters, Waxman/CA; DeGette, Himes, Perlmutter, Polis/CO; Courtney, DeLauro, Esty, Larson/CT; Carney/DE; Brown, Castor, Deutch, Frankel, Garcia, Grayson, Hastings, Murphy, Wasserman-Schultz, Wilson/FL; Barrow, Bishop, Broun, Johnson, Lewis, D.Scott/GA; Gabbard, Hanabusa/HI; Bustos, D.Davis, Duckworth, Enyart, Foster, Gutierrez, Kelly, Quigley, Rush, Schakowsky, Schneider/IL; Carson, Visclosky/IN; Braley, Loebsack/IA; Huelskamp/KS; Richmond/LA; Michaud, Pingree/ME; Cummings, Delaney, Edwards, Hoyer, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes, VanHollen/MD; Capuano, Keating, Kennedy, Lynch, McGovern, Neal, Tierney, Tsongas/MA; Conyers, Dingell, Kildee, Levin, Peters/MI; Ellison, McCollum, Nolan/MN; Thompson/MS; Clay, Cleaver/MO;Horsford, Titus/NV; Kuster, Shea-Porter/NH; Andrews, Holt, Pallone, Payne, Sires/NJ; B.Lujan, Lujan-Grisham/NM; Bishop, Clarke, Crowley, Engel, Higgins, Israel, Jeffries, Lowey, Maffei, C.Maloney, S.Maloney, Meeks, Meng, Nadler, Owens, Rangel, Serrano, Slaughter, Tonko, Velazquez/NY; Butterfield, Price, Watt/NC; Beatty, Fudge, Kaptur, Ryan/OH; Blumenauer, Bonamici, DeFazio, Schrader/OR; Brady, Cartwright, Doyle, Fattah, Schwartz/PA; Cicilline, Langevin/RI; Clyburn/SC; Cohen & Cooper/TN; Castro, Cuellar, Doggett, Gallego, A.Green, G.Green, Hinojosa, Jackson-Lee, E.B.Johnson, O’Rourke, Veasey, Vela/TX; Matheson/UT; Welch/VT; Connelly, Moran, Scott/VA; DelBene, Heck, Kilmer, McDermott, Smith/WA; Kind, Moore, Pocan/WI.

Not voting: Bonner/AL, Campbell & Hunter/CA, Rogers & Yarmuth/KY, Markey/MA, Pascrell/NJ, McCarthy/NY, Boehner/OH, Larsen/WA.