Life Advocacy Briefing

Missed You!

OUR APOLOGIES for having suspended publication one week without warning. We’re glad to be back after a week-long hiatus prompted by an urgent family need. We missed a big news week, too, and hope to make it up to you this week as we report chiefly on the firestorm which put Planned Parenthood so reprehensibly and precariously in the news. Here’s hoping it is a crisis of duration and ultimate significance. Because this edition of Life Advocacy Briefing will be devoted chiefly to the Planned Parenthood baby parts trafficking expose, we will begin with a different important story so our readers do not miss it.

Pain-Capable Abortion Protection Signed in Wisconsin

WISCONSIN HAS JUST BECOME THE 15th STATE to ban abortion on developing babies old enough to feel pain – those aged 20 gestational weeks or older. (Is it not time for Congress to act?)

Unfortunately, enactment of the new law was a partisan event in Wisconsin; it passed, reports the Associated Press, “without any Democratic support. … Minority Democrats,” explains AP, “have complained that Republicans should leave women alone and let them decide how to handle their own bodies.” Of course, this legislation is all about someone else’s body and the infliction of a viciously painful death.

The new law was signed by Gov. Scott Walker “one week after launching his bid,” notes AP, “for the 2016 [GOP] Presidential nomination.”

The only exception to the prohibition is in the event a mother “is likely to die,” reports AP, “or suffer irreversible injuries within 24 hours.” There are no exceptions related to the manner of the baby’s conception.

The Wisconsin statute defines the crime as a felony punishable by up to $10,000 in fines and imprisonment up to three-and-a-half years. It also provides a venue for lawsuits for damages.

Shocking Reality

THE CENTER FOR MEDICAL PROGRESS (C.M.P.) RELEASED A VIDEO in mid-July documenting one scene in an undercover investigation undertaken by a team of pro-life champions seeking to expose one of Planned Parenthood’s dirty big secrets: The abortion behemoth regularly engages in supplying body parts of aborted babies to so-called medical researchers. For a fee.

In America. In the 21st century. Not in Nazi Germany in the 20th.

Here and now. Experimentation on the body parts of innocent little human babies, harvested – for a fee – in the name of science. Harvested in America’s abortuaries.

The Planned Parenthood representative interviewed in the video is not some clinic director operating a rogue side business. It was none other than Planned Parenthood’s medical director, Deborah Nucatola.

She “describ[ed] the sale of aborted baby organs,” notes Operation Rescue’s Cheryl Sullenger, “while munching out on salad and swilling red wine.” The interview made such a repulsive impression, Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards responded to the video by apologizing for Dr. Nucatola’s “tone.”

Operation Rescue president Troy Newman noted in Ms. Sullenger’s report: “This is the biggest hit Planned Parenthood has ever taken from a public relations standpoint. They simply have no defense for their Gosnell-like cavalier attitude toward reducing the remains of human babies to a ‘product’ that is sold on the open market.”

Gulp!

REACTION CAME SWIFTLY from throughout the pro-life movement and well beyond. Though mainstream media coverage was light, with the story competing for coverage with the radical terrorist attack in Chattanooga and wrap-up of the Obama Regime’s Iran nuclear talks, our editor did hear – with her own ears – an MSNBC commentator/reporter saying, in a clip carried by Fox News Channel, that she could understand those who were “disgusted” by Planned Parenthood’s involvement in baby body parts trafficking.

Of course, some fellow travelers could not manage even to flinch. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who has devoted the early stages of his regime to dismantling every life-protective policy or regulation he can find, “was alone,” notes Ms. Sullenger, “in rejecting calls from state legislators for an investigation into Planned Parenthood.” But Mr. McAuliffe stood out as rare.

Is This Just the Beginning?

THE FIRST SHOE DROPPED in mid-July; the second joined it last Tuesday, and it appears many more Planned Parenthood expose videos are awaiting release by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), a previously unpublicized ally of Live Action, which broke into public view just a few years ago with their own series of undercover-probe videos.

CMP’s head is David Daleiden, a “former Live Action worker,” according to Amanda Marcotte, attempting to discredit CMP on the XXfactor blog at Slate.com. The left-wing commentator fumes and fusses, apparently more disturbed that Planned Parenthood’s perfidy is exposed than she is that Planned Parenthood’s “senior medical director Deborah Nucatola,” as Ms. Marcotte identifies her, spent long minutes on the first-released video cavalierly negotiating the sale of fetal body parts to a seeming buyer.

Mr. Daleiden, interviewed last Wednesday evening by Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel, indicated the undercover video operation had gone on three years and that “hundreds of hours” of further video would likely yet be released and could prove to be even more explosive.

No wonder two reporters for The Hill.com, Peter Sullivan and Sarah Ferris, set forth last Wednesday – even before the Daleiden/Hannity interview was telecast – a lengthy, detailed list of reasons for “fears on the Left growing for Planned Parenthood.” Their list includes a suggestion – apparently being echoed around the “progressives” movement – that fallout from the ongoing expose could do to Planned Parenthood what scandal did to ACORN in 2009, noting, “The nonprofit group, which had been involved in voter registration drives, disbanded after months of negative publicity.”

As we begin our report of the stunning news, we offer our congratulations and thanks to Mr. Daleiden and his Center for Medical Progress and to Live Action for their role in inspiring and presumably training Mr. Daleiden in going to the heart of the beast with an effective presentation of truth, shocking as it is. We commend also Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics for showing the way with his explosive undercover investigations of Planned Parenthood and others in the abortion cartel. We are reluctant to quote the CMP videos themselves, but we invite our readers to view them at CMP’s Internet website at www.centerformedicalprogress.org.

Congress Begins to Respond

IT IS TIME – WELL PAST TIME – FOR CONGRESS TO DEFUND Planned Parenthood, the nation’s chief purveyor of abortions and now exposed as a trafficker in the body parts of its victims.

Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) last Tuesday filed HR-3134, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015, along with 124 co-sponsors, whom we list near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing; her proposal has been referred to the Committee on Energy & Commerce. The proposal, according to Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, would “put a moratorium on Planned Parenthood funding until the group proves it isn’t performing abortion or providing money to others that do,” a goal which PP cannot meet without sacrificing its reason for existence.

House Democrats, on the other hand, are seeking a Justice Department probe – of the Center for Medical Progress, not of Planned Parenthood.

In the Senate, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) has filed S-1836, mirroring HR-3134; he has yet to recruit co-sponsors, as of our writing deadline. Senators Rand Paul (KY) and Ted Cruz (TX), both contenders for the GOP Presidential nomination, vowed, according to The Hill, to attempt a Planned Parenthood defunding amendment vote during Senate deliberations on the federal highway bill.

We urge our readers to contact both home-state Senators and urge them to vote for any proposal which defunds Planned Parenthood and to contact also House Members to insist that they vote now to enact HR-3134 to defund Planned Parenthood now. The abortion behemoth rakes in more than a half-billion dollars every year from Congressional appropriations. No “family planning services” can justify the payment of our tax dollars to this outfit.

Congress has not yet broken for the August recess, and these votes could come at any time, so contacts should be made via the Capitol switchboard at 1-202/224-3121. Personal appointments in their home-district offices during August are also in order even if votes are taken before recess; any action taken now is unlikely to be final. Individual home-state or district office contact information can be discovered via www.congress.gov or from the reference section of any public library.

How Do You Explain This, Ms. Nucatola?

A HOUSE COMMITTEE HAS DEMANDED of Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards that she direct PP medical director Deborah Nucatola to brief the panel’s staff this Friday on just what her employer is up to in the harvesting and trafficking of aborted babies and their body parts and also to explain the comments she made suggesting that Planned Parenthood is committing partial-birth abortions, comments which have prompted the House Judiciary Committee to seek a Justice Dept. probe.

The directive came from the House Committee on Energy & Commerce. The briefing promises to stir much passion in Congress and among the public. We thank the Speaker and the committee for going after the evil which has been exposed now to public view.

First State Responses

THE FIRST STATES TO LAUNCH THEIR OWN INVESTIGATIONS were Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and Texas. They were joined by Kansas and one other by our deadline.

In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is an announced candidate for the GOP Presidential nomination, “put a hold,” reports Operation Rescue’s Cheryl Sullenger, “on Planned Parenthood’s attempts to license a ‘mega’ abortion center in New Orleans, pending the outcome of an investigation.

“‘I have instructed Louisiana’s Dept. of Health & Hospitals to conduct an immediate investigation into this evil and illegal activity and to not issue any licenses until this investigation is complete,’” Gov. Jindal said in the Sullenger report. “‘I am also asking the FBI to assist DHH in investigating this alleged criminal activity by this organization.’”

Speaker Boehner Responds

ON THE FEDERAL LEVEL, House Speaker John Boehner, just hours after release of the video, issued a statement and directed the House Committee on Energy & Commerce to probe the charges.

The committee has issued a letter to Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards, reports OR’s Cheryl Sullenger, “ordering Deborah Nucatola to appear before them on July 31, 2015, and brief them on specific aspects of Planned Parenthood’s involvement in the trafficking of fetal body parts.”

Here is Speaker Boehner’s statement, as issued by his office on July 15: “Nothing is more precious than life, especially an unborn child. When anyone diminishes an unborn child, we are all hurt, irreversibly so. When an organization monetizes an unborn child – and with the cavalier attitude portrayed in this horrific video – we must all act. As a start, I have asked our relevant committees to look into this matter. I am also calling on Pres. Obama and Health & Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to denounce, and stop, these gruesome practices.”

Fortunately, Speaker Boehner knows better than to hold his breath.

He also made some comments to the media, beyond the official statement we reprinted above. Quoting a report by Michael Haverlock for OneNewsNow.com, “the Speaker’s repulsion over Planned Parenthood’s actions was in no way masked. ‘If you’ve seen this video,’” he said in the OneNewsNow report, “‘I don’t have to tell you how sickening it is. … So rest assured that we’re going to get to the bottom of this [and] protect the values that we hold dear. …

“‘I want the committees to do their investigation,’” he continued, quoted by Mr. Haverlock. “‘I want them to do their hearings. And once they have, then we’ll decide what’s the proper course of action. … I could talk about the video, but I think I’d vomit trying to talk about it,’” he said. “‘It’s disgusting.’”

Co-Sponsors of HR-3134

Democratic Representative Dan Lipinski/IL.

Republican Representatives Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks, Bradley Byrne, Martha Roby & Mike Rogers/AL; Trent Franks, Paul Gosar, Matt Salmon & David Schweikert/AZ; Rick Crawford, French Hill & Bruce Westerman/AR; Doug Lamborn/CO; Gus Bilirakis, John Mica, Jeff Miller, Bill Posey, Tom Rooney & Ted Yoho/FL; Buddy Carter, Tom Graves, Barry Loudermilk, Tom Price, Austin Scott & Lynn Westmoreland/GA; Raul Labrador & Michael Simpson/ID; Mike Bost & Peter Roskam/IL; Larry Bucshon, Luke Messer, Marlin Stutzman, Jackie Walorski & Todd Young/IN; Rod Blum/IA; Lynn Jenkins, Mike Pompeo & Kevin Yoder/KS; Andy Barr & Brett Guthrie/KY; Ralph Abraham, Charles Boustany, John Fleming & Garret Graves/LA; Andy Harris/MA; Dan Benishek, Bill Huizenga, Candice Miller, John Moolenaar & Tim Walberg/MI; John Kline/MN; Gregg Harper, Trent Kelly & Steven Palazzo/MS; Sam Graves, Vicky Hartzler, Billy Long, Jason Smith & Ann Wagner/MO;

Also GOP Representatives Jeff Fortenberry & Adrian Smith/NE; Christopher Smith/NJ; Stevan Pearce/NM; Chris Collins/NY; Walter Jones, Mark Meadows, Robert Pittenger & Mark Walker /NC; Kevin Cramer/ND; Steve Chabot, Bob Gibbs, Bill Johnson, Jim Jordan, David Joyce, James Renacci, Steve Stivers, Patrick Tiberi & Brad Wenstrup/OH; Jim Bridenstine, Tom Cole & Markwayne Mullin/OK; Lou Barletta, Mike Kelly, Joe Pitts, Keith Rothfus & Bill Shuster/PA; Jeff Duncan, Trey Gowdy & Tom Rice/SC; Marsha Blackburn, Scott DesJarlais, John Duncan, Chuck Fleischmann & David Roe/TN; Brian Babin, Joe Barton, Michael Conaway, John Culberson, Blake Farenthold, Bill Flores, Jeb Hensarling, Sam Johnson, Kenny Marchant, Randy Neugebauer, Pete Olson, Ted Poe, John Ratcliffe, Pete Sessions, Lamar Smith, Randy Weber & Roger Williams/TX; Rob Bishop & Jason Chaffetz/UT; Dave Brat, Morgan Griffith, Bob Goodlatte & Robert Wittman/VA; Dan Newhouse/WA; David McKinley & Alex Mooney/WV; Sean Duffy & Glenn Grothman/WI; and Cynthia Lummis/WY.

Truthful Reminder

How God sees life in the womb: from the Holy Scripture, English Standard Version

Jeremiah 1: 4-5 – Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you … .”

Psalm 139: 13-16 – For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Luke 1: 15b – He [John] will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

Luke 1: 41a – And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.

Exodus 30: 19 – I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live …

Amen.