Life Advocacy Briefing

Death Lobby Hits New Jersey

THE NEW JERSEY ASSEMBLY VOTED last Thursday to legalize doctor-abetted suicide by a vote of 41 to 31. The measure goes next to the State Senate; should it pass there, it will be submitted to Gov. Chris Christie, who, according to LifeSiteNews.com, “has previously stated he opposed efforts to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide” in his state.

“‘Today’s vote represents another instance of society turning its back on the medically vulnerable,’” said Burke Balch of National Right to Life, quoted by LifeSiteNews. “‘Contrary to what we’re told by assisted suicide advocates,’” said Dr. Balch, “‘these laws do not offer a patient “dignity” but only abandonment from healthcare workers and family, who are supposed to be caring for patients and loved ones.’”

Further, notes LifeSiteNews, such laws “are riddled with legal problems surrounding enforcement.  … The right to die,” opined the LifeSite staff, “rapidly becomes a ‘duty to die.’”

‘Life’ Sells

THE ABORTION ISSUE PLAYED A ‘KEY ROLE’ in the Nov. 4 elections, according to a new poll of actual voters taken after the election by The Polling Company/Woman Trend, reports National Right to Life (NRL) in a news release.

Some 23% of voters reported “the abortion issue affected their vote and [that they] voted for candidates who oppose abortion. This compares to just 16%,” notes NRL, “who said abortion affected their vote and voted for candidates who favor abortion.” The poll results yield “a 7% advantage,” NRL points out, “for pro-life candidates.

“These poll results help explain the victories experienced by the right-to-life movement in [the Nov. 4] elections,” states NRL. “Despite being vastly outspent by pro-abortion organizations such as Planned Parenthood and EMILY’s List, pro-life candidates won … by significant margins.”

Remarked NRL president Carol Tobias, “The abortion issue has played a key role in every major election since Ronald Reagan won the Presidency in 1980.”

Women & Children First

THE CITY OFFICIALS IN A SMALL GEORGIA CITY DECIDED last week not to take any chances with the protection of their women and children.

“Council members unanimously voted,” reports Dustin Siggins for LifeSiteNews.com, “to ban abortion clinics and ‘pill mills’ from Rossville.” The Chattanooga suburb, whose population was 4,105 as of the 2010 census, does not currently host any such death shops, “but [the council] enacted the ordinances,” writes Mr. Siggins, “to prevent either [type of mill] from entering the city.”

The only exceptions written into the ban are abortions in hospitals, undertaken by licensed physicians and only those “medically necessary,” writes Mr. Siggins, “to save the mother’s life. An exception is also made,” he reports, “if a doctor certifies that the baby is unable to survive outside of the womb.” But clearly, such “hard-case” loopholes are unlikely to open Rossville to the abortion trade.

“According to a local report,” writes Mr. Siggins, “Mayor Teddy Harris told council members that the bans occurred to him after a resident asked whether a methadone clinic in the city was illegally present. Wishing to avoid the ‘drama’ of ‘protesters,’” Mr. Siggins reports, “[Mr.] Harris then pushed for the bans.”

Brigham Bills Piling Up

NEW JERSEY’s BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS HAS ORDERED notorious abortionist Steven Chase Brigham to pay $420,000 to cover the board’s costs of prosecuting him, reports Cheryl Sullenger for Operation Rescue (OR).

OR’s president Troy Newman responded to the news with a suggestion for the board. “It is our hope,” he declared, “that all of [Mr.] Brigham’s assets will be seized and sold to cover this order, including all the equipment in his 17 abortion facilities. Given all the human misery he has caused over years of botched abortions and other illicit practices,” Mr. Newman said, “the time for leniency is long past.”

The board’s vote to assess Mr. Brigham $420,000 adds to $140,000 he has already been ordered to pay, notes Ms. Sullenger, “in fines for his negligent and unethical behavior that led the board to revoke his license. According to NJ.com,” writes Ms. Sullenger, “Brigham also owes the federal government $460,000, and a tax lien of that amount could force the Board of Medical Examiners to wait in lie for payment.”

In the report, OR urged “his seven New Jersey abortion facilities should be forced to close, since that state does not allow non-licensed individuals to hold ownership in medical facilities. … Brigham’s last remaining medical license was revoked in August of this year,” reports Ms. Sullenger, “after the Board found that he engaged in numerous violations related to a clandestine bi-state late-term abortion scheme that was uncovered when one of his patients suffered an incomplete abortion, ruptured uterus and a pulled bowel.”

Fix This Fix!

EFFORTS TO UNCOVER THE UNSAVORY PRACTICES OF STEVEN BRIGHAM in Maryland are leading to a public information crisis involving the Maryland Public Information Act.

“The case began with a simple request for public documents,” reports Cheryl Sullenger for Operation Rescue (OR). The request had been submitted by Maryland pro-life leader Andrew Glenn, who was moved by “hair-raising reports” he had read, notes Ms. Sullenger, “of a horrific late-term abortion scheme perpetrated illegally in his home state by the notorious late-term abortionist Steven Chase Brigham.” That led Mr. Glenn to request “copies of abortion facility license applications,” writes Ms. Sullenger, “to see if any other abortionists in Maryland had tainted histories of similar abortion abuses. … However,” writes Ms. Sullenger, “the Maryland Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene (MDMH) ruled that [Mr.] Glenn was not entitled to any information about those who ran the abortion facilities and provided him only heavily redacted copies that left out the information in which [Mr.] Glenn was most interested.”

What’s worse – and what brings us to report this injustice: the MDMH proceeded to sue Mr. Glenn “to ensure that the information was never released” – information which the state had refused to furnish to him.

“When it came to abortion,” notes Ms. Sullenger, “the veil of secrecy that so often protects abortion providers from accountability came crashing down on [Mr.] Glenn’s right to inspect the public records. In fact,” she writes, “it appeared that the MDMH was concealing the information at the behest of Planned Parenthood, which wrote on the top of one application form a request that information about the clinic administrator and provider be redacted in the event of a public information request … . The MDMH,” she notes, “also took up the abortion cartel’s victimhood mantra, claiming that there was some unspecified threat of violence should the requested information be released. … The State,” she writes, “finally admitted that [Mr.] Glenn posed no such threat yet argued that he should be denied the information nonetheless.”

Incredibly, Mr. Glenn lost the first round in court; his attorney, associated with the American Center for Law & Justice, has filed an appeal which is expected to be heard early in 2015.

What Would One Expect?

A DE-LICENSED OHIO ABORTIONIST HAS BEEN INDICTED, reports Cheryl Sullenger for Operation Rescue (OR), “on federal charges of receiving and distributing child pornography.”

69-year-old Thomas William Michaelis, writes Ms. Sullenger, “was said to have ‘retired’ in May 2014, but in reality,” she notes, “the Ohio Medical Board permanently revoked his medical license at that time, noting a documented history of sexual deviancy dating back … nearly 25 years.”

The abortionist worked at Toledo’s Capital Care Network, notes the report, which “has had its own set of issues with the law. It holds no valid hospital transfer agreement,” writes Ms. Sullenger, “which is legally required. Revocation of the clinic’s license and order to close were recommended by a state hearing officer,” notes Ms. Sullenger, after testimony last March. “Capital Care Network was indeed ordered to close in July,” she reports. But “the facility remains open pending an appeal of the closure.” (This is the Toledo abortuary on which we have earlier reported; the shop attempted to use a hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, some 50 miles away and across state lines, to claim it was meeting Ohio law; the ruse has not worked, so far.)

“Abortion clinics provide conditions for men like Michaelis … to prey on women,” notes OR president Troy Newman. “The abortion cartel is chock-full of sexual deviants. If anyone thinks that is an overstatement, they simply have not done their homework,” he said. “Sexual predation is the abortion cartel’s biggest dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about, but it is more widespread than most people think.”

And the federal indictment of this “retired” abortionist should help bring public attention to the connection.

Noteworthy Quote

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PASTOR JACK HIBBS, responding to the California Dept. of Managed Health Care mandate seeking to force all employers – including churches – to cover elective abortions in all employee health insurance plans, quoted by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins in his Nov. 12, 2014, Washington Update: “I felt violated; I felt forced. I love America, and I love American history, and I have a lot of invested interest in defending the unborn. I see the Constitution under attack, and I see my religious freedom under attack. … We will take this to the point of being jailed, if necessary, being arrested, if necessary. I cannot violate my biblical worldview. Once I have to do that, I no longer live in the United States our founding fathers gave me.”

Message to the Dem Party

Nov. 5, 2014, report by Matt Hadro, CNA/EWTN News

In the wake of momentous losses for US Democrats on Tuesday, one group said the party’s abortion stance may be isolating voters and hindering candidates on both sides of the issue.

“It was a rough election cycle for pro-life Democrats, largely due to our own party position on abortion,” Democrats for Life executive director Kristen Day told CNA (Catholic News Agency).

“In pro-life states and districts, Democrats, and particularly pro-life women, have a hard time pulling the lever for a candidate who is associated with a party that not only supports abortion but actively campaigns against providing any reasonable restrictions on a ‘medical procedure’ that takes a life,” Day explained in a press release.

Noting that 21 million Democrats identify as pro-life, Day said that the party’s inflexible stance on the issue is too extreme for most members of the party. “A large majority of Democrats support reasonable restrictions on abortion. We are alienating a whole new generation of pro-life Democrats.”

Democrats were trounced at the polls on [Nov. 4] as Republicans took control of the US Senate, expanded their control of the House and won the governor’s mansion in deep blue states like Maryland, Illinois and Massachusetts. Of the eight Democratic candidates endorsed by Democrats for Life, only two won their elections, both incumbent Congressmen.

Day said that the Democratic Party’s rigid emphasis on abortion hurt the party overall—both those who adhere to the party’s platform and those who object to it.

In some cases, a singular focus on abortion came across as desperate to voters, she said, pointing to incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall’s loss in Colorado after attacking his opponent’s pro-life stance so heavily that he earned the local nickname Mark Uterus. “He made his whole campaign about abortion,” Day said of Udall.

Democratic Texas governor candidate Wendy Davis also made abortion a focal point of her run for office. She lost the election and failed to gain the women’s vote in the state. Similarly, abortion activist Sandra Fluke, who gained public attention by advocating for employer-funded contraception, lost her bid for California State Senate by a 20-point margin.

Day also pointed to Maine, where the Democratic Congressional candidate Emily Cain “made abortion the foundation of her campaign” and “lost in a Democratic-leaning district that was in Democratic hands since 1995.”

However, Day suggested that the Democratic Party’s “out of touch” platform on abortion harmed not only those candidates who agree with it but hampered the efforts of pro-life Democrats as well.

In West Virginia, Democratic governor Earl Ray Tomblin – who has previously described himself as “pro-life” – vetoed a Democratic-led effort to pass a late-term abortion ban. Day thought this helped torpedo the re-election chances of [US] Rep. Nick Rahall, whom she had endorsed. She said that Rahall lost in a “guilt by association” race, in which Republicans were able to make the argument that “you cannot trust pro-life Democrats in West Virginia.”

That just provided everything the Republicans needed to attack pro-life Democrats and say this was their plan all along, they never wanted a 20-week ban,” Day explained.

Democrats must become a big-tent party on Life issues to have any hope of re-taking the House and Senate, Day insisted.

First of all, we need to change the platform,” she said. “We have to have a more inclusive platform and say pro-life Democrats are welcome…. At least we need to take steps to not carry NARAL’s water anymore,” she added. “We are a big tent party that wants to help all those who need assistance, all the vulnerable. We need to help the hungry, help the disabled – our traditional values. And the unborn child is part of that. And that’s what our party should be. And we’re not doing a good job.

The position that the Democratic Party has on that issue is just not what the rest of the country thinks. It’s the minority position, and it’s hurting our party tremendously,” she stressed.

Two Democratic incumbents with strong pro-life records did succeed in the Nov. 4 election. Dan Lipinski of Illinois and Collin Peterson of Minnesota were easily re-elected to the US House of Representatives. Both had been endorsed by Democrats for Life and are known for supporting pro-life legislation.

Still, being a pro-life Democrat today is close to impossible, Day said, and the pro-life group National Right to Life agreed.

The party strategists say you have to change your position and be pro-choice if you want to move up in the party. Tremendous pressure for that,” Day said.

“There were some Democrats who said ‘I am pro-life,’” acknowledged National Right to Life president Carol Tobias, “but then they voted against pro-life measures. They were saying one thing and doing another…. But there’s tremendous pressure on Democrats. They are expected to toe the party line and support abortion with no limits. And taxpayer funding of abortion,” she added.