Life Advocacy Briefing

Abortion Funding Ban Passes House

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSED the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (HR-7) last Tuesday by a vote of 227 to 188, following three procedural roll calls. We publish the final passage voting record at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing and plan to publish the three related records in future editions. Readers will find that a few Members changed their votes from one motion to another. The bill, filed by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), had 171 co-sponsors at the time of passage, which occurred just hours before the President was to begin his State of the Union Address.

A companion measure, S-946, was filed last May by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and now has 25 co-sponsors. It has yet to be considered by the Committee on Finance, to which it was referred. Readers are asked to contact their home-state Senators and the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and request consideration and passage of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. Senators may be reached via the Capitol switchboard at 1-202/224-3121.

Co-sponsors of the Senate bill – all Republicans – are Senators Sessions (AL), Flake (AZ), Boozman (AR), Rubio (FL), Crapo (ID), Coats (IN), Grassley (IA), Moran & Roberts (KS), Paul (KY), Vitter (LA), Cochran (MS), Blunt (MO), Fischer & Johanns (NE), Burr (NC), Portman (OH), Coburn (OK), Graham & Scott (SC), Thune (SD), Cornyn (TX), Lee (UT), Barrasso & Enzi (WY).

The President took note of the House’s deliberation on the major pro-life proposal last Tuesday, vowing to veto the bill in the event it reaches his desk. The House ignored his threat.

Engaging the Issue

AFTER THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE PARTICIPATED Jan. 22 in the annual March for Life rally at the National Mall in Washington, DC, the RNC adopted a stunning resolution during its mid-winter meeting.

The resolution “argues,” reports Dustin Siggins for LifeSiteNews.com, “that candidates who stay silent on abortion have ‘lost their elections’ because in doing so, they fail to [capitalize] on broad support for certain pro-life measures and ‘fail to alert voters to the Democrats’ extreme pro-abortion stances.’ …

“‘Staying silent fails,’” the resolution continues, according to LifeSiteNews, “‘because this strategy allows Democrats [we at Life Advocacy would say: pro-abortion candidates and their backers] to define the Republican [we would say: pro-life] brand and prevents the Republican Party [we would say: pro-life candidate] from taking advantage of widely supported pro-life positions … to attract traditional and new values voters.’”

Calling on pro-life candidates, professional political consultants and GOP political action committees to shift communication strategy from avoidance to engagement, the RNC actually pledges, quoting the resolution text directly, to “support Republican pro-life candidates who fight back against [the] Democratic [we would say: abortion lobby] deceptive ‘war on women’ by pointing out the extreme positions on abortion held by Democratic [pro-abortion] opponents.”

And the resolution goes on to declare the party’s national committee “will not support the strategy of Republican pro-life candidates who stay silent in the face of such deceptive rhetoric.”

If the RNC bureaucracy and decision-makers follow through on the terms of this resolution, it could foster a robust debate on issues over which the public overwhelmingly holds pro-life law-reform views.

The resolution was advanced to the near-170-member committee, representing every state, by Delaware’s national committeewoman, Ellen Barrosse, and was co-sponsored by Alaska’s Debbie Joslin, Arizona’s Bruce Ash, Connecticut’s Pat Longo, DC’s Ron Philips, Illinois’s Demetra DeMonte, Iowa’s Steve Scheffler, Michigan’s Dave Agema, Missouri’s Ed Martin, Oregon’s Donna Cain and Solomon Yue, Texas’s Robin Armstrong, Virginia’s Kathy Hayden and Morton Blackwell, and West Virginia’s Melody Potter and Kris Warner. It was adopted by voice vote.

Nuns Win Reprieve from Full Court

SCORE ONE FOR THE GOOD LADIES: When the Supreme Court granted the Little Sisters of the Poor relief Jan. 24 from the ObamaCare abortifacient/sterilization coverage mandate, the order was by unanimous vote.

A caveat was appended, that it should not be read as an indicator of the high court’s ultimate intent, should the case rise above the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (which is likely), but the rebuff to the Obama Regime and the slapback of its heavy hand was, after all, unanimous. And the beloved order of nuns is saved $1 million per year, though more likely, the Sisters would have withdrawn their loving service from the United States rather than submit to such an outrageous government edict.

The Jan. 27 Washington Update memo of Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins is our source for a comment from the Wall Street Journal that “the New Year’s Eve injunction [issued by Justice Sotomayor] was ‘unusual enough, … but the permanent stay pending appeal, issued [Jan. 24] by the full Supreme Court with no recorded dissent was rarer still – and a rebuke to the Obama Administration’s bullying conception of religious liberty.’ …

“Although the Supreme Court’s order doesn’t resolve the matter,” notes Mr. Perkins, “it does signal some very real problems for the President’s mandate – which the justices will consider in March as part of the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood suits.

“For now, the Court’s decision is a small victory for conscience rights,” Mr. Perkins writes, “in the middle of a much larger clash over religious liberty in general. Let’s hope the justices decide to give every American the same protection as the Little Sisters,” he comments, “and strike down the mandate once and for all!” Amen.

The Planned Parenthood Factor

JUST BECAUSE PLANNED PARENTHOOD CLAIMS to “reduce teen pregnancy rates” does not make it so.

A statistical analysis undertaken by American Life League’s Stop Planned Parenthood (STOPP), surveyed data from the Texas Dept. of Health Services, examining actual teen pregnancy rates across 16 Texas panhandle counties between 1994 and 2010.

“In 1996, the year before opposition to Planned Parenthood began [in the region],” the study states, “the average teen pregnancy rate in the 16 counties where PP operated facilities was 43.6 per 1,000 girls aged 13 to 17. By 2002,” the report continues, “the rate had dropped to 28.6. In 2008, the year the last two PP facilities disaffiliated from PPFA [Planned Parenthood Federation of America], the teen pregnancy rate was 27.2.

“And in 2010, two years after the Texas Panhandle became Planned-Parenthood-free, the teen pregnancy rate had fallen to 24.1.”

The full report is on the Internet at www.stopp.org/PPFAReports/PPFA_2013_Report.pdf.

Bully Pulpit

Life-affirming excerpts from Jan. 28 official GOP response to the State of the Union address offered by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA), transcribed by Politico.com

Like all parents, we have high hopes and dreams for our children, but we also know what it’s like to face challenges. Three days after we gave birth to our son, Cole, we got news no parent expects. Cole was diagnosed with Down syndrome. The doctors told us he could have endless complications, heart defects, even early Alzheimer’s. They told us all the problems. But when we looked at our son, we saw only possibilities. We saw a gift from God.

Today we see a six year old boy who dances to Bruce Springsteen, who reads above grade level, and who is the best big brother in the world. We see all the things he can do, not those he can’t. Cole and his sisters, Grace and Brynn, have only made me more determined to see the potential in every human life—that whether we are born with an extra 21st chromosome or without a dollar to our name—we are not defined by our limits, but by our potential.

…Tonight, I simply offer a prayer … that, with the guidance of God, we may prove worthy of His blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For when we embrace these gifts, we are each doing our part to form a more perfect union. May God guide you and our President, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

March for Life Speeches: Rep. Chris Smith

Congressional speeches from the Jan. 22, 2014, rally on the National Mall, transcribed by Life Advocacy Briefing from C-Span coverage

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman, House Pro-Life Caucus: Thank you very much, thank you ladies and gentlemen, for joining this extraordinary March, [this] magnificent celebration of God’s gift of life today, [a] recommitment to defending and protecting women and children from the violence of abortion.

Despite the fact that President Obama is using self-deception and the coercive power of the state to promote abortion violence, the Pro-Life movement is alive and well and making serious, significant and sustained progress. In the last three years alone, a record 200 pro-life laws have been enacted in the states.

Although the U.S. Senate Democratic leadership refuses to even vote on pro-life legislation, that’s not the case in the House under Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. A majority of the House, as you heard, backed bills, one by Trent Franks to end the discrimination against baby girls killed by sex-selective abortions—the real war on women—and another bill to protect pain-capable unborn children from excruciating pain.

You know as well as I that abortionists are victim makers, and since 1973 more than 56 million children have been brutally slain, a death toll that equates to the entire population of England. On the other hand, the compassionate people in the Pro-Life movement have, for over 40 years, welcomed, embraced, loved and deeply cherished both mothers at risk and co-victims of [sic] every post-abortive woman.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, in the run-up to passage of ObamaCare, Americans were repeatedly told by President Obama himself, including in his speech to a joint session of Congress, that—and I quote—“Under our plan no federal dollars will be used to fund … abortion.” Oh, if that were only true. Under ObamaCare, billions of dollars in the forms of tax credits are today buying abortion subsidizing health insurance plans in exchanges throughout the country. Like the President’s promise that you can keep your insurance plan if you like it, the massive public funding of abortion in ObamaCare insurance plans breaks another solemn promise. So to rid ObamaCare of its massive expansion of public funding, ask your Senators, ask your House of Representatives to support the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, sponsored by 165 House members and a full quarter of the United States Senate. And as you heard, Eric Cantor is scheduling that legislation for a vote next week.

And finally, by the grace of God and because of you, your prayers and hard work, we are winning. And to the youth, to the youth especially: Never quit or grow weary or discouraged. Your generation will end abortion. Thank you.

House Voting Record

HR-7 – No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act – Final Passage – Jan. 28, 2014 – Passed – 227-188 (New Members in ALL CAPS; Democrats in italics)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Aderholt, Bachus, Brooks, BYRNE, Roby, Rogers/AL; Young/AK; Franks, Gosar, Salmon, Schweikert/AZ; Cotton, Crawford, Griffin, Womack/AR; Calvert, Cook, Denham, Hunter, Issa, LaMalfa, McCarthy, McClintock, McKeon, Gary Miller, Nunes, Rohrabacher, Royce, Valadao/CA; Coffman, Gardner, Lamborn/CO; Bilirakis, Buchanan, Crenshaw, DeSantis, Diaz-Balart, Mica, Nugent, Posey, Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Ross, Southerland, Webster, Yoho/FL; Collins, Gingrey, Graves, Kingston, Price, A.Scott, 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; Huelskamp, Jenkins, Pompeo, Yoder/KS; Barr, Guthrie, Massie, Rogers, Whitfield/KY; Boustany, Cassidy, Fleming, McALLISTER, Scalise/LA; Harris/MD; Amash, Benishek, Bentivolio, Camp, Huizenga, Miller, Rogers, Upton, Walberg/MI; Bachmann, Kline, Paulsen, Peterson/MN; Harper, Nunnelee, Palazzo/MS; Graves, Hartzler, Long, Luetkemeyer, SMITH, Wagner/MO; Daines/MT; Fortenberry, Smith, Terry/NE; Heck/NV; Frelinghuysen, Garrett, Lance, LoBiondo, Smith/NJ; Pearce/NM; Collins, Gibson, Grimm, King, Reed/NY; Coble, Ellmers, Foxx, Holding, Hudson, 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, Cuellar, Culberson, Farenthold, Flores, Gohmert, Granger, Hall, Hensarling, S.Johnson, Marchant, McCaul, Neugebauer, Olson, Poe, Sessions, Smith, Stockman, Thornberry, Weber, Williams/TX; Bishop, Chaffetz, Matheson, Stewart/UT; Cantor, Forbes, Goodlatte, Griffith, Hurt, Rigell, Wittman, Wolf/VA; Hastings, Herrera-Beutler, McMorris-Rodgers, Reichert/WA; Duffy, Ribble, Ryan, Sensenbrenner/WI; Capito, McKinley, Rahall/WV; 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, Schiff, Sherman, Speier, Swalwell, Takano, Thompson, Vargas, Waters, Waxman /CA; DeGette, Perlmutter, Polis/CO; Courtney, DeLauro, Esty, Himes, 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, Quigley, Schakowsky, Schneider /IL; Carson, Visclosky/IN; Braley, Loebsack/IA; Yarmuth/KY; Richmond/LA; Michaud, Pingree/ME; Cummings, Delaney, Edwards, Hoyer, Sarbanes, VanHollen/MD; Capuano, CLARK, Keating, Kennedy, Lynch, McGovern, Neal, Tierney, Tsongas/MA; Conyers, Dingell, Kildee, Levin, Peters/MI; Ellison, McCollum, Nolan, Walz/MN; Thompson/MS; Cleaver/MO; Horsford, Titus/NV; Kuster, Shea-Porter/NH; Andrews, Holt, Pallone, Pascrell, Payne, Sires/NJ; Lujan, Lujan-Grisham/NM; Bishop, Clarke, Crowley, Engel, Hanna, Higgins, Israel, Jeffries, Lowey, Maffei, C.Maloney, S.Maloney, Meeks, Meng, Nadler, Owens, Rangel, Serrano, Slaughter, Tonko, Velazquez/NY; Butterfield, Price/NC; Beatty, Fudge, Kaptur, Ryan/OH; Bonamici, DeFazio, Schrader/OR; Brady, Cartwright, Doyle, Fattah, Schwartz/PA; Cicilline, Langevin/RI; Clyburn/SC; Cohen, Cooper/TN; Castro, Doggett, Gallego, A.Green, G.Green, Jackson-Lee, E.B.Johnson, O’Rourke, Veasey, Vela/TX; Welch/VT; Connolly, Moran, Scott/VA; DelBene, Heck, Kilmer, Larsen, McDermott, Smith/WA; Kind, Moore, Pocan/WI.

Voting “present”: Broun/GA.

Not voting: Campbell, Loretta Sanchez/CA; Tipton/CO; Miller/FL; Westmoreland/GA; Rush/IL; Ruppersberger/MD; Clay/MO; Amodei/NV; Runyan/NJ; McCarthy/NY; Jones/NC; Boehner/OH; Blumenauer/OR; Hinojosa/TX; Petri/WI.