Life Advocacy Briefing

Taking a Week Off

OUR PRODUCTION CREW IS UNAVAILABLE at our usual publication time, so please do not expect a Life Advocacy Briefing next week. We expect to be back with our June 16 edition.

Gallup Finds Strong Pro-Life Voter Commitment

In responding to the question “With respect to the abortion issue, would you consider yourself to be pro-choice or pro-life,” 47% chose “choice” and 46% embraced “life.” One year ago, the “pro-life” response drew 48% vs. 45% “pro-choice.”

But looking at the historical trend, one sees a “pro-choice” self-label decline from 56% in 1996 to 47% today – and a rise from 33% “pro-life” in 1996 to 46% today. Naturally, the line graph shows dips and rises year by year, but the general trend is apparent and encouraging.

Another question asked by Gallup brings equally encouraging news, particularly for those who are oriented toward the political battle. Testing the intensity of voters’ inclinations as a determining factor in their voting decisions, Gallup found last month that some 24% of those labeling themselves as “pro-life” would vote only for a candidate who stands for Life, whereas just 16% of self-labeled “pro-choice” voters said they would base their voting decisions on the issue.

More detailed reporting on the Gallup Poll on abortion can be viewed on their website, and the firm’s news release summarizing the findings is posted here.

‘Every Child a Blessing’

REP. STEVEN PALAZZO (R-MS) HAS FILED A BILL to bar “wrongful birth” or “wrongful life” lawsuits. HR-4698 has been assigned to the House Committee on the Judiciary and is co-sponsored, as of this writing, by 36 House GOP Members and one Democrat.

The title of the proposal is “Every Child Is a Blessing Act.” For the sake of Constitutionally designed federalism, it would apply in situations where interstate or foreign commerce is somehow involved; state laws would still be needed where an interstate connection cannot be shown.

“A ‘wrongful birth’ claim,” explains National Right to Life Committee’s Dave Andrusko, “rests on the assumption by a parent that a baby should have been aborted, due to some real or perceived deficiency – usually a disability – and would have been aborted had it not been for some act of commission or omission by the person who is being sued. A ‘wrongful life’ claim is based on the same concept but is filed in the name of the child rather than the parent.

“Such claims are not based on any allegation that a defendant in some way failed to take actions that would have led to the abortion of the afflicted baby,” writes Mr. Andrusko, “for example, that a doctor failed to recommend a medical test that would have served no purpose other than to target an afflicted baby for abortion.”

In a written statement, Rep. Palazzo said, according to Mr. Andrusko: “‘Wrongful birth cases are a waste of judicial resources and amount to nothing more than court-sanctioned child abuse. … No child should ever have to hear they should never have been born.’”

Readers are asked to call their Members of Congress via the Capitol switchboard at 1-202/224-3121. Those who are not yet co-sponsoring HR-4698 should be asked to do so; those who are already sponsors (listed at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing) should be thanked.

Live Action Seeks Action on Planned Parenthood Defunding

LIVE ACTION LAUNCHED A NEW PROJECT last week exposing Planned Parenthood’s “illegal and unethical behavior,” reports Dustin Siggins for LifeSiteNews.com, and urging its exclusion from taxpayer funding.

Live Action “has penned a letter to all Members of Congress,” writes Mr. Siggins, “insisting that Planned Parenthood ‘should not receive even a cent of American taxpayers’ income.’” And the group has “launched a petition,” he notes, “to prevent Planned Parenthood from continuing to receive federal funds. …

“Planned Parenthood received $540.6 million in taxpayer funding in the year ending June 30, 2013,” reports LifeSiteNews. “Separately,” writes Mr. Siggins, “over $650,000 went to [Planned Parenthood] clinics in five states to be sued for helping people navigate the Affordable Care Act.”

The basis for Live Action’s appeal is a compendium of videos produced by the youth-led group since 2008, documenting Planned Parenthood’s “illegal or unethical behavior,” notes Mr. Siggins. The video collection is posted on the group’s Internet website, where one can also view the Jan. 22, 2014, debate between Live Action founder Lila Rose and National Abortion Rights Action League president Ilyse Hogue.

Some of the Planned Parenthood exposé videos show, Mr. Siggins reports, “that Planned Parenthood clinic employees have ignored state laws that require the reporting of statutory rape and encouraged lying about rape. … Other videos,” he notes, “show that clinic employees in Virginia, New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC, advised [Live Action’s undercover] investigators on how to get birth control, abortions and other care for underage sex slaves. …

“Legal but unethical actions are also exposed in Live Action’s new effort,” LifeSiteNews reports. “Donations from investigators in four states were accepted for the specific cause of aborting black babies, and in North Carolina,” writes Mr. Siggins, “a [Planned Parenthood] nurse referred an [undercover] investigator [from Life Action] for an ultrasound after being told the baby would be aborted if it were a girl.”

Excluding Promiscuity Pushers from the Schools

LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS HAVE PASSED and sent to Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) a bill barring abortionists from sowing sex education materials in the public schools. The governor has signaled his intention to sign the measure.

“Senators approved HB-305,” writes Ben Johnson for LifeSiteNews.com, “which bars any employee of an abortion facility or its affiliates from speaking about ‘human sexuality or family planning,’ by a 31-to-5 vote. It passed the state House,” he reports, “91-to-6 on April 16.” The proposed law applies to both public and charter schools.

Though Planned Parenthood is not specified in the proposed new law, it clearly would curb the abortion behemoth’s pervasive use of public schools for recruitment of customers and for contributing to the sexual delinquency of minors, a major aspect of PP’s enterprise.

“Lawmakers who supported the bill cited the state’s commitment to life,” writes Mr. Johnson, “and determination to protect under-age girls from an industry they say exploits their ignorance and innocence.

“‘Louisiana has a long-standing policy of respecting the humanity of the unborn child,’ said the bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Frank Hoffman (R-West Monroe),” quoted by LifeSiteNews. “‘Abortion providers should not be able to access publicly funded school grounds with any direct or indirect efforts to promote abortion.’”

In whining about the proposal, “left-wing blog Think Progress,” quoted by Mr. Johnson, demonstrated the need for the groundbreaking Louisiana proposal. “‘Planned Parenthood is currently the biggest sex ed provider in the country,’” opined the blog writer, “‘with a large education-focused branch that works on developing age-appropriate [sic] sexual health [sic] material for use online and in classrooms.’ …

“Former abortion facility owner Carol Everett,” notes Mr. Johnson, “recently revealed that the material she and others in the abortion industry distributed was designed entirely to encourage abortion – preferably multiple abortions for every teenage girl. ‘We have a whole plan that sold abortions, and it was called sex education,’ said [Mrs.] Everett, who,” notes Mr. Johnson, “ran four abortion clinics in Texas in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“The sexual material and her ‘educational talks,’” he writes, “were designed to ‘break down their natural modesty, separate them from their parents and their values and become the sex expert in their life, so they turned to us.’

“She added that after teaching them about genitalia in kindergarten and masturbation a few years later,” notes Mr. Johnson, “she would prod young girls to engage in sexual activity by offering them defective ‘protection. … We would give them a low-dose birth control pill [that] they would get pregnant on, or a defective condom, because we didn’t buy the most expensive condoms,’ she said,” quoted by LifeSiteNews. “‘We bought the cheapest condoms’” for distribution to unsuspecting sales targets.

Admitting Privileges Mandate Goes to Gov. Jindal

LOUISIANA’s LEGISLATORS HAVE SENT TO THE GOVERNOR the abortionist admitting privileges bill which seems to be sweeping the nation’s state capitols. GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal indicated via a Twitter message, reports Heather Clark for Christian News Network, he is “looking forward to signing” the legislation, which, he said, “‘will give women the health and safety protections they deserve.’”

HB-388 passed the Senate early in May by a vote of 34 to 3 and passed the House on May 21 on an 88-to-5 roll call. The House sponsor is Rep. Katrina Jackson (R-Monroe).

Three of the five abortuaries in Louisiana will likely have to close once the legislation takes effect, reports Ms. Clark. Those three currently ply their trade in New Orleans, Metairie and the state capital, Baton Rouge.

The bill provides, according to Ms. Clark: “‘On the date the abortion is performed or induced, a physician performing or inducing an abortion shall have active admitting privileges at a hospital that is located not further than 30 miles from the locale at which the abortion is performed or induced and that provides obstetrical or gynecological healthcare services.’”

Ralph Hall Loses Run-Off

VENERABLE U.S. REP. RALPH HALL (R-TX) LOST HIS BID for re-election in last Tuesday’s Texas run-off election. He had failed to clear the 50% mark in the March primary against attorney John Ratcliffe, who has now bested him for the GOP nomination.  Mr. Hall is the first incumbent to lose renomination this year.

At 91, Mr. Hall is one of two World War II veterans currently serving in Congress; both will depart after the November election. Michigan Democrat John Dingell, the other, has announced his retirement.

We thank and salute Rep. Hall for a solid voting record in defense of Life, and we applaud Mr. Ratcliffe’s commitment, which we quote from his campaign website, that he “will always vote for the protection of unborn life and against taxpayer funding for abortion.”

Planned Parenthood Closing Shop in College Town

THE OTHER SHOE HAS DROPPED IN KANSAS. Now that Planned Parenthood has dropped its lawsuit seeking to block the state from protecting its taxpayers (as we reported in last week’s Life Advocacy Briefing) the abortion behemoth has announced, reports Kansans for Life legislative director Kathy Ostrowski, “it plans to close its financially failing Hays facility that no longer qualifies for family planning funds distributed by the Kansas Health Dept.”

Hays, population 20,000, is the largest community northwest of central Kansas. It is a county seat and a college town, home to Fort Hays State University. Planned Parenthood’s “Hays Health Center,” according to Ben Johnson, writing for LifeSiteNews.com, “offered abortion referrals as well as the morning-after pill, which can work as an abortifacient.”

The state’s law, enacted in 2010 and authored by then-State Sen. Tim Huelskamp (now a Member of Congress), prioritizes distribution of federal Title X (Ten) family planning funds to prefer hospitals and full-service medical clinics operated by public health agencies; Planned Parenthood won a 2011 federal court ruling mandating Planned Parenthood funding under Title X even in Kansas, but the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that injunction in March, upholding the law. Planned Parenthood decided recently not to appeal the defunding.

The 10th Circuit ruled, reports Ms. Ostrowski, “that Planned Parenthood of Kansas/Mid-Missouri lacked standing to pursue its claims in federal court and that its claim of a First Amendment violation lacked merit – about as resounding a defeat,” she opined, “as you could get.”

When District Judge Thomas Marten forced Kansas to fund Planned Parenthood in 2011 despite the state law, state Health Secretary Robert Moser retorted, reports Ms. Ostrowski, “‘Title X was not intended to be an entitlement program for Planned Parenthood. Other providers are already offering a fuller spectrum of health care for Kansas patients. This highly unusual ruling implies a private organization has a right to taxpayer subsidy. The people of Kansas,’” he said, “‘disagree.’”

Noteworthy Quote

George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington, speaking May 3, 2014, at the International Pro-Life Conference in Rome, quoted by Patrick B. Craine in LifeSiteNews.com: “If the state effectively asserts the power to declare some members of the human community – the unborn, for example – outside the circle of common concern and legal protection, then no one is safe, for no one has any ‘rights’ the state cannot abrogate. … The result of this denial of the first of human rights, the right-to-life, was the same under both German National Socialism and Marxism-Leninism; the result was genocide. … It must be said, and it must be said without hesitation: the desperately false idea that some human lives are worth less than others, and thus have less claim on cultural and legal protection than others, is at the root of the abortion license in our countries and is now infecting public policy toward the elderly, at the other end of the life spectrum.”

Co-Sponsors of ‘Every Child Is a Blessing’ Bill

Along with Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-MS), chief sponsor, co-sponsors: GOP Representatives Mike Rogers (AL); Trent Franks (AZ); Doug Lamborn (CO); Jeff Miller (FL); Rob Woodall (GA); Marvin Stutzman (IN); Tim Huelskamp & Mike Pompeo (KS); John Fleming & Steve Scalise (LA); Andy Harris (MD); Dan Benishek & Bill Huizenga (MI); Michele Bachmann (MN); Gregg Harper & Alan Nunnelee (MS); Billy Long (MO); Christopher Smith (NJ); Stevan Pearce (NM); Walter Jones, Patrick McHenry & Robert Pittenger (NC); Steve Chabot (OH); Mike Kelly, Tom Marino & Joseph Pitts (PA); Trey Gowdy (SC); Diane Black & Marsha Blackburn (TN); Joe Barton, Kevin Brady, Michael Conaway, Bill Flores, Steve Stockman & Randy Weber (TX); Sean Duffy (WI).

Also, Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski (IL).