Life Advocacy Briefing

Trumped by Chris Matthews

POPULIST G.O.P. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DONALD TRUMP showed last week that it helps, sometimes, to think through an answer to questions about abortion or even to have thought them through before the questions come.

During a televised town-hall interview with MSNBC‘s Chris Matthews last Wednesday, Mr. Trump hemmed and hawed his way into a corner from which his campaign later sought to retreat. Here is the high-wire act as transcribed and published by FoxNews.com:

“Host Chris Matthews pressed [Mr.] Trump to clarify, asking him whether abortion should be punished and who ultimately should be held responsible. ‘Look, people in certain parts of the Republican Party, conservative Republicans, would say, “Yes, it should,”’ [Mr.] Trump said. …

“When asked specifically at the town hall what he thought, the New York businessman answered, ‘I would say it’s a very serious problem, and it’s a problem we have to decide on. Are we going to send them to jail?’

“‘I’m asking you,’ Matthews prompted. ‘I am pro-life,’ Trump said. Matthews pressed on, asking again who should be punished in an abortion case if it were illegal.

“‘There has to be some form of punishment,’ Trump said. ‘For the woman?’ Matthews asked. ‘Yeah,’ Trump responded, adding later that the punishment would ‘have to be determined.’”

Among the things Mr. Trump showed he does not understand about the pro-life cause, he evidently is not aware that the pro-life movement, in recent years overwhelmingly, focuses its compassion not just on the unborn child but also on the often desperate and even victimized abortive mother.

Further, he seems uninformed about the status of the law pre-Roe. State laws officially criminalizing the crime of abortion did not generally, before the Supreme Court invalidated them in 1973, hold the aborted mother responsible in the death of her baby but sought to prevent the flourishing of the abortion industry by punishing the abortionist at whose hands the baby died. Yes, punishment was required for the sake of justice and mercy, but few if any jurisdictions would punish the mother for the crime committed by another’s hand.

Mr. Trump could be excused, in some circles, as a businessman who simply has not troubled himself to think about “social issues.” But in offering himself for the highest office in the land – and for the leadership of what has sadly become America’s sole pro-life political party – he does have some obligation to do as much diligence on issues as he no doubt does on the finer points of deals he has spent his business life pursuing.

We are reminded of wealthy businessman Steve Forbes, who not only approached his campaign for President with a heart inclined toward the pro-life point of view but who then met with at least one pro-life leader of whom we are aware, specifically to think through the politically ticklish question of “rape-incest” abortions. He emerged from that meeting, incidentally, with his pro-life convictions bolstered by an approach that permitted him to handle the “rape-incest” question without compromise or flinching.

We could only wish Mr. Trump would have pursued the same sort of preparation. His bumbling attempt at guessing where “people in certain parts of the Republican Party” actually stand on the question of whom to punish for the abortion crime is likely to cost him dearly in a general election contest, should he achieve his party’s nomination. 

Drug Safety Agency Abets Death

IN A MOVE REMINISCENT OF THE LATTER DAYS OF THE CLINTON REGIME, the federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) helped out Planned Parenthood and its fellow travelers last week with a revised protocol on use of drugs to kill developing little boys and girls.

Bill Clinton’s last gift to the abortion lobby was the FDA’s unleashing of the French RU-486 abortion drug onto the US market; we can only hope the relaxation of the prescription/use standards last week by the same agency will be Barack Obama’s parting gift and that he does not have more such little jewels up his sleeve.

Now that several states have enacted laws limiting use of RU-486 – also known as the mifepristone/misoprostol drug cocktail – to the seven-week window authorized by the FDA in the waning days of 2000, the FDA has relaxed that limit to permit RU-486 to be inflicted on babies as old as 10 gestational weeks.

According to the Endowment for Human Development (www.ehd.org/dev_article_unit4.php), a baby’s heart begins to beat “only three weeks and one day after fertilization.”

There’s a baby in there, FDA. And you just abetted his or her death in your zeal to help Planned Parenthood move from the increasingly risky surgical abortion business into the lucrative chemical abortion trade.

Pushing for the Truth

THE CONGRESSIONAL PROBE INTO THE FETAL HARVESTING RACKET is meeting some resistance from the businesses the Select Panel is seeking to investigate.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who chairs the special committee, announced a new round of renewed subpoenas last week, declaring, reports Dustin Siggins for LifeSiteNews.com, “‘Unfortunately, some of these organizations have so redacted documents – even after being subpoenaed – that it is impossible for us to get the complete picture of what is actually going on. Others,’” she said, “‘have refused to produce documents required under previous subpoenas and have threatened to withhold additional subpoenaed information.’

“Created as one of the last acts of former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) last year, the Select Panel is tasked with examining the practices of the fetal harvesting industry,” notes Mr. Siggins. “The subpoenas were issued to the fetal harvesting company StemExpress, BioMedIRB – a review board service – and the company Ganogen.”

The latter firm “uses aborted fetuses for research,” writes Mr. Siggins, “including putting human organs into animals for experimentation the company says could result in eventually reducing or eliminating wait times for organ donations.”

Said Chairman Blackburn, quoted by LifeSiteNews, “‘There should be no resistance to letting all the facts come out, but some abortion supporters seem to be clearly rattled with basic facts coming to light.’” She said the panel would continue to issue subpoenas when necessary to develop a truthful report “‘in a timely fashion.’”

In addition to the biotech outfits, two attorneys are likely recipients of the subpoenas, according to Mr. Siggins. One is the attorney for late-term abortionist Curtis Boyd, owner of Southwestern Women’s Options clinics in Dallas and Albuquerque, reports Mr. Siggins. The other is the attorney for the University of New Mexico, reports LifeSiteNews, “which has also resisted the House investigation. [Mr.] Boyd is a volunteer faculty member at the university,” writes Mr. Siggins, “and babies aborted at his clinics have been used in at least two university studies.”

Indiana Stands Up for ‘The Least of These’

INDIANA GOV. MIKE PENCE (R) HAS SIGNED LANDMARK LEGISLATION banning “most abortions done,” writes Dustin Siggins for LifeSiteNews.com, “because of the sex or race of the unborn child or if the child has a disability.”

Said Gov. Pence in a statement issued after signing the law, quoted by former Reagan domestic policy chief Gary Bauer in his March 28 End of Day Memo to his Campaign for Working Families: “‘Some of my most precious moments as governor have been with families of children with disabilities, especially those raising children with Down syndrome. These Hoosiers never fail to inspire me,’” he said, “‘with their compassion, and these special children never fail to move me with their love and joy. … I sign this legislation with a prayer,’” said the former Member of Congress, “‘that God would continue to bless these precious children, mothers and families.’”

Indiana now joins North Dakota as the only two states in the nation, according to Mr. Bauer, which “extend legal protections to unborn children with Down syndrome.”

Florida Axes Planned Parenthood

FLORIDA HAS BECOME THE 12th STATE TO DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD, according to Reagan domestic policy chief Gary Bauer, writing in his March 29 End of Day Memo to his Campaign for Working Families. In reporting the development, Mr. Bauer gives “kudos” to Florida’s GOP Gov. Rick Scott for signing the “legislation cutting off taxpayer dollars to abortion clinics.”

The new law also requires abortionists, reports Ben Johnson for LifeSiteNews.com, “to have admitting privileges at – or a transfer agreement to – a nearby hospital and mandate[s] that abortion facilities meet the same safety standards as other ambulatory surgical centers.” Further, reports Mr. Johnson, the new law “requires the state to inspect at least half of all the state’s abortion facilities every year.”

Though Planned Parenthood chiefette Cecile Richards howled at the governor’s action, claiming, notes Mr. Bauer, “that ‘thousands of people across Florida may no longer be able to access essential reproductive health care, such as cancer screenings, birth control and well-woman exams,’” the ridiculousness of that claim was answered, in Mr. Bauer’s memo, by John Stemberger, president of Florida’s Family Policy Council and a veteran warrior for Life.

Said Mr. Stemberger, quoted by Mr. Bauer, “‘There are 636 Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) sites and Rural Health Clinics in the state of Florida. … These FQHCs provide far more care, not less, than the limited services that Planned Parenthood and similar abortion-centric facilities provide.’”

How many Planned Parenthood shops “serve” the people of Florida? According to Mr. Bauer, a check of PP’s website will show that “it operates 22 centers in Florida.” Hopefully, thanks to the Florida legislature and to Gov. Scott, they will soon be even scarcer.

Smacking Down Women’s Health & Their Babies

VIRGINIA GOV. TERRY McAULIFFE (D) VETOED LEGISLATION last week that, reports Dustin Siggins for LifeSiteNews.com, “would shift most of Virginia’s funding for abortion groups to public health groups, hospitals and other organizations that focus on health care.”

Gov. McAuliffe, who served as chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Presidential campaign after earlier serving a four-year stint as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, staged a news conference at Planned Parenthood’s Richmond HQ to highlight his veto action, declaring, reports Mr. Siggins, “‘We’re here today to smack down the latest attack on women’s healthcare rights.’” He added, Mr. Siggins reports, “‘It’s no secret that this bill is aimed at destroying Planned Parenthood.’”

The bill’s sponsor, Delegate Ben Cline (R-Lexington), had a different description of his proposal, which had passed both houses of the Virginia legislature. He called it, according to Mr. Siggins, “‘important legislation that would redirect taxpayer dollars toward more comprehensive providers of healthcare services for women. … The governor,’” Mr. Cline asserted, “‘is clearly listening to his friends in the abortion lobby rather than ensuring that women have access to quality care.’”

Besides the funding shift, reports Mr. Siggins, “the legislation would have made it illegal for Virginia state officials to contract with organizations that provide abortions, except for hospitals.” Regrettably, from our point of view, the legislation would have permitted such contracts for abortions of babies conceived during commission of a sex crime or, notes Mr. Siggins, stricken with “major fetal abnormalities.”

Commodifying Human Life

March 21, 2016, BreakPoint commentary by John Stonestreet

Americans have a thing for the exotic, no matter how costly it may prove to other people. For instance, the Florida Everglades are home to, among other species, Nile crocodiles, green anacondas, and most famously, tens of thousands of Burmese pythons.

As words like “Nile” and “Burmese” suggest, none of these species are native to Florida or even to this continent. Their presence in the Everglades, and the damage they’re causing to that fragile ecosystem, is the result of people indulging their desire for exotic pets and then dumping them when they become inconvenient.

As bad as this sort of self-indulgence is when we’re talking reptiles, it’s infinitely worse when the exotic commodity is people.

A recent listing on Craigslist ran this header, “50K+ Compensation: East Indian/South Asian looking Egg Donor Needed.” The listing included a photo of the kind of egg donor the solicitor had in mind: a beautiful woman of Asian origin, the kind that tend to do well in Miss World and Miss Universe pageants.

The people behind the listing, who describe themselves as “a well-respected [sic] boutique egg donation and surrogacy agency in Southern California,” didn’t stop at the merely superficial. In addition to having an “attractive” and “exotic” “East Indian look,” the egg donor must be intelligent as well, with at least a 3.5 GPA and a 2150 on the SAT, which would place her in the 97th percentile.

In other words, this woman, this donor, must be statistically improbable. In exchange for being this improbable, the egg donor would not only be well compensated, she would “change someone’s life in a way that is truly the world’s greatest gift.”

Funny, I thought gifts were free.

This solicitation isn’t unprecedented. In 1999, ads in the newspapers of elite universities offered $50,000 to “athletic” women who were at least 5’10” and had scored 1400 or better on their SATs. Little wonder that, since then, stories about Ivy League grads being offered big money for their eggs has been a recurring item in the news.

None of which changes the fact that we’re talking about not only buying life, but life made-to-order, or at least as close as we can for now.

Our culture has already decided the principal moral question of whether it is okay to treat our children as a customized consumer experience. And as I recently said on BreakPoint, advances in genetics, like CRISPR gene editing, offer the promise of allowing us to custom-order children straight from the factory, as it were, rather than limit ourselves to what’s available at the dealership.

The desire for customizable “exotic-looking” children is the product of the same worldview that prompts people to buy exotic pets: As Westerners we think of ourselves primarily as consumers, with inherent rights to any and all goods in a global marketplace.

This consumer view of the world extends beyond the shopping mall and Amazon.com. It now includes the conceiving, birthing, choosing and raising of children. Unable, too busy or too stressed to spend nine months being pregnant? Hire a surrogate, preferably an “East Asian/South Asian” one who’ll do the job for less.

Want a hedge to protect your parental investment? Buy eggs from attractive, accomplished women. This is where our obsession with restriction-free choice and personal autonomy leads. Babies become products, things to be desired, acquired, and even discarded when they do not meet our tastes and desires.

A culture like this makes a swamp full of pythons and crocodiles look reassuring by comparison.

To better understand this evil, I invite you to check out the powerful documentary from the Center for Bioethics and Culture entitled “Eggsploitation.”

[Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: The “Eggsploitation” documentary can be found via the Internet at www.eggsploitation.com/about.htm.]