Life Advocacy Briefing

Gov. Brown Signs Planned Parenthood’s Protection Law

CALIFORNIA GOV. JERRY BROWN (D) HAS SIGNED odious legislation singling out “healthcare providers” for protection from undercover investigations, a drastic, unconstitutional fallout from Planned Parenthood’s embarrassment at being exposed in Center for Medical Progress [CMP] videos of the abortion goliath’s trafficking in baby body parts.

“Now anyone who records ‘confidential communication with a healthcare provider’ and publishes the recording in any way, including ‘websites and social media,’” writes Ben Johnson for LifeSiteNews.com, “could be fined $2,500 and sentenced to one year in prison for a first offense or up to $10,000 for repeat offenses. …

“‘It is clear that Planned Parenthood does not want to be held accountable to the public, whose taxpayer money it gladly takes by the hundreds of millions,’” commented CMP’s David Daleiden, quoted by Mr. Johnson, “‘and will even attack freedom of speech and the freedom of the press in order to maintain its own arbitrary levels of secrecy.’”

Justice Delayed

THE OKLAHOMA SUPREME COURT HAS STRUCK DOWN a pro-life law enacted last year on the argument, reports the Associated Press (AP), that it “‘contains different and unrelated purposes’ in violation of the state constitution’s requirement that legislation cover a single subject.”

As far as the legislature and the state’s attorney general are concerned, the four-part law was all about “protect[ing] the health and safety of women,” as AP reports. Certainly the four provisions were all “abortion related,” acknowledges AP. Provisions called for parental consent when a minor is to undergo an abortion, preservation of tissue from abortions, inspection of abortuaries and legal liability “for abortion providers,” AP explains.

Back to the drawing board for state lawmakers in Oklahoma, where enacting individual statutes addressing these protections should not present a problem. In the meantime, the court has ensured elevated risk for babies and their mothers and likely targeting of the conservative state by the abortion cartel.

What They Said

Life-related excerpts from Oct. 4, 2016, Vice Presidential debate, transcribed by Life Advocacy Briefing

Moderator Elaine Quijano: You have both been open about the role that faith has played in your lives. Can you discuss in detail a time when you struggled to balance your personal faith and a public policy position. [Sen. Tim Kaine discusses his quandary over death-penalty decisions he made as Governor of Virginia, his former office (2006-2010).]

Gov. Pence: It’s a wonderful question, and my Christian faith is at the very heart of who I am. I was also raised in a wonderful family of faith; it was church on Sunday morning and grace before dinner. But my Christian faith became real for me when I made a personal decision for Christ when I was a freshman in college. And I’ve tried to live that out, however imperfectly, every day of my life since. And with my wife at my side, we followed a calling into public service where we try to keep faith with the values that we cherish. With regard to when I struggle, I appreciate and I have a great deal of respect for Senator Kaine’s sincere faith, I truly do. But for me, I will tell you that for me, the sanctity of life proceeds out of the belief – that ancient principle that, where God says “before you were formed in the womb I knew you.”

And so, from my first time in public life, I sought to stand with great compassion for the sanctity of life. The state of Indiana has also sought to make sure that we expand alternatives in healthcare counseling for women – non-abortion alternatives. I’m also very pleased with the fact, we’re well on our way in Indiana to becoming the most pro-adoption state in America. I think if you’re going to be pro-life, you should be pro-adoption.

But what I can’t understand is with Hillary Clinton – and now Senator Kaine at her side – is to support a practice like partial-birth abortion. I mean to hold to the view – and I know, Senator Kaine, you hold pro-life views personally – but the very idea that a child that is almost born into the world could still have their life taken from them is just anathema to me. And I can’t conscience about, about a party that supports that.

Or that – I know you’ve historically opposed taxpayer funding of abortion. But Hillary Clinton wants to, wants to repeal the long-standing provision in the law where we said we wouldn’t use taxpayer dollars to fund abortion.

So for me, my faith informs my life. I try and spend a little time on my knees every day. But it all for me begins with cherishing the dignity, the worth, the value of every human life.

Here, Sen. Kaine inserts: Elaine, this is a fundamental question, a fundamental question. Hillary and I are both people out of religious backgrounds. Her Methodist Church experience was really formative for her as a public servant. But we really feel like you should live fully and with enthusiasm the commands of your faith. But it is not the role of the public servant to mandate that for everybody else. So let’s talk about abortion and choice. Let’s talk about that.

We support Roe versus Wade. We support the constitutional right of American women to consult their own conscience, their own supportive partner, their own minister but then make their own decision about pregnancy. That’s something, we trust American women to do that.

And we don’t think that women should be punished – as Donald Trump said they should – for making the decision to have an abortion. Governor Pence wants to repeal Roe versus Wade; he said he wants to put it on the ash heap of history. We have some young people in the audience who weren’t even born when Roe was decided. This is pretty important. Before Roe versus Wade, states could pass criminal laws to do just that, to punish women if they made the choice to terminate a pregnancy. I think you should live your moral values, but the last thing, the very last thing that government should do is have laws that would punish women who make reproductive choices. And that is the fundamental difference between a Clinton-Kaine ticket and a Trump-Pence ticket that wants to punish women who make that choice.

Gov. Pence: No it’s really not. Donald Trump and I would never support legislation that punished women who made the heartbreaking choice to end a pregnancy.

Sen. Kaine: Then why did Donald Trump say that?

Gov. Pence: We just never would.

Sen. Kaine: Why did he say that?

Gov. Pence: Look, he’s not a polished politician like you and Hillary Clinton. And so, things don’t always come out exactly the way he means them, but [here, Sen. Kaine interjects an issue concerning immigration].

Gov. Pence: There is a choice here, and it is a choice on Life. I couldn’t be more proud to be standing with Donald Trump, who’s standing for the right to life. It’s a principle that Senator Kaine, and I’m very gentle about this, because I really do respect you. It’s a principle that you embrace – and I’ve appreciated the fact that you have supported the Hyde Amendment, which bans taxpayer funding for abortion, in the past – but that’s not Hillary Clinton’s view.

People need to understand; we can come together as a nation, we can create a culture of life. More and more young people today are embracing Life because we know we are better for it, like Mother Teresa said at that famous National Prayer Breakfast, [Sen. Kaine attempts to interrupt, but Gov. Pence persists] “Bring the children, let’s welcome the children into our world.” There are so many families around the country who can’t have children. If we could improve adoption so that families that can’t have children can adopt more readily those children from crisis pregnancies … . [interrupted continually by Sen. Kaine]

Sen. Kaine: Governor, why don’t you trust women to make this choice for themselves? We can encourage people to support life, of course we can. But why don’t you trust women? Why doesn’t Donald Trump trust women to make this choice for themselves? That’s what we ought to be doing in public life, living our lives of faith or motivation with enthusiasm and excitement, convincing each other, dialoging with each other about important moral issues of the day, but on fundamental issues of morality, we should let women make their own decisions.

Gov. Pence: Because a society can be judged by how it deals with its most vulnerable, the aged, the infirm, the disabled and the unborn. I believe it with all my heart, and I couldn’t be more proud to be standing with a pro-life candidate in Donald Trump.

Debate Revisited

Oct. 5, 2016, commentary by FRC Action president Tony Perkins

After last night’s vice presidential debate, there has to be at least one person who’s relieved there isn’t a second: Hillary Clinton. From start to finish, Gov. Mike Pence (R-IN), long considered the stable, thoughtful anchor of the GOP ticket, was in command – calmly beating back a worked-up, over-rehearsed Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA). For 90 minutes, the duo sparred on everything from the failed Iran deal to tax reform and even the role of faith in each man’s life.

Through it all, Gov. Pence was steady and relatable – easily winning the night, according to even the most liberal of media. The Washington Post, New York Times and Politico – hardly part of the Donald Trump cheering committee – were brutal on Kaine, whose constant interruptions (70 [72] times, counted pundits) did more to turn off voters than rebut the answers his opponent was offering. Each time the discussion took a substantive turn, Clinton’s running-mate responded with personal criticism of Trump instead of the policy answers voters were hoping for. “Kaine started the debate talking so quickly and trying to load so many Trump attacks into every answer that it made it virtually impossible to grasp any one attack. … When he wasn’t trying to stuff 10 pounds of attack in a five-pound bag in his answers, he was relentlessly interrupting Pence,” the Post’s Chris Cillizza writes. “Every single time Pence started to level an attack against Hillary Clinton, Kaine immediately began to talk over him. I’m not sure if that was on purpose or not, but it didn’t come across well – at all.”

Of course, Sen. Kaine must have been desperate to change the subject, as Pence effectively went where Trump did not: to the corruption of the Clinton Foundation, Hillary’s private e-mail scandal and the Democrats’ abortion extremism. For Gov. Pence, whose record on Life speaks for itself, this was a comfortable topic. Not so for Sen. Kaine, whose personal views seem to be in direct conflict with the radical abortion alliance Hillary Clinton demands. Pence skillfully handled both, diving deeper into the culture of death Trump’s opponent so rabidly supports.

“What I can’t understand is with Hillary Clinton and now Senator Kaine at her side is to support a practice like partial-birth abortion. I mean, to hold to the view – and I know, Senator Kaine, you hold pro-life views personally – but the very idea that a child that is almost born into the world could still have their life taken from them is just anathema to me. And I cannot – I can’t conscience about – about a party that supports that. Or that – I know you’ve historically opposed taxpayer funding of abortion. But Hillary Clinton wants to, wants to repeal the longstanding provision in the law where we said we wouldn’t use taxpayer dollars to fund abortion. [F]or me, my faith informs my life … . But it all for me begins with cherishing the dignity, the worth, the value of every human life.”

Kaine did his best to escape the extreme abortion label – something made virtually impossible by Clinton’s own record on the subject. The woman who once called for the procedure to be “safe, legal and rare” spent her Senate career voting against the unborn 100% of the time. There was, as Carol Tobias points out in a great summary of Clinton’s political legacy, “no limit on abortion that she would accept.” And that includes partial-birth abortion – the gruesome, inhumane practice of killing a baby who is seconds away from being born. Trump-Pence, on the contrary, has openly expressed support for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a bill that would outlaw abortion after 20 weeks (when, not-so-coincidentally, eight in 10 Americans would limit it).

In his desperate attempt to connect with a country that overwhelmingly supports the abortion restrictions his party does not, Kaine tried to recover, saying, “We really feel like you should live fully and with enthusiasm the commands of your faith. But it is not the role of the public servant to mandate that for everyone else.” That’s interesting, since he and Clinton are more than willing to do just that by forcing taxpayers into a financial partnership with the abortion industry through their pledge to repeal the Hyde Amendment.

Unfortunately for the Democrats, this kind of double standard is to be expected in an ideology untethered from morality. At one point, Sen. Kaine seemed to hint at this, saying, “I don’t believe in this nation … where we don’t raise any religion over the other, and we allow people to worship as they please, that the doctrines of any one religion should be mandated for everyone.” If that’s so, whose views will you impose? All laws are a reflection of someone’s moral standard. If you want to know what that standard is for these candidates, download FRC Action’s Presidential Voter Guide [www.frcaction.org/2016]. In the meantime, Gov. Pence hit the nail on the head when he said: “A society is judged by how it takes care of the most vulnerable.” That’s why we must have a pro-life President.

Contrast in Records

Excerpts from Oct. 4, 2016, pre-debate analysis by Fr. Mark Hodges, reprinted from LifeSiteNews.com

… Kaine claims his faith is Roman Catholic, yet he ‘strongly’ supports abortion on demand. “I’m a strong supporter of Roe v. Wade,” Kaine told CNN in July. “We don’t need to make people’s reproductive decisions for them.”

Following the lead of self-identified Catholic Democrats like Ted Kennedy and Mario Cuomo, Kaine says he is “personally against abortion,” but his record is given the highest praise by Planned Parenthood. The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) gave Kaine a perfect, 100% abortion supporting score. The pro-life National Right to Life Committee gave Kaine a perfect “zero” for his unwavering pro-abortion record.

As governor, Kaine cut off state funding for abstinence-only sex education programs, insisting that contraceptives must be taught in schools. …

Kaine supports ObamaCare, stating, “I was a supporter and remain a supporter of the Affordable Care Act.”

… Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is the political polar opposite of Kaine on abortion, sex education, marriage, homosexuality, same-sex “marriage” and ObamaCare.

On abortion, Gov. Pence has championed pro-life legislation making it illegal to abort a baby on the basis of sex, race, nationality or disability, including Down Syndrome.

He fought for better health and safety standards for abortion facilities and for increased penalties for abortion facilities that fail to properly report their business record. He also supported women’s informed consent laws and extended them to include color photos of the baby’s development.

He worked to pass laws which require the respectful burial or cremation of aborted babies and stop Planned Parenthood’s contracted practice of treating those babies as medical waste or using them for experimentation.

He supports defunding Planned Parenthood of tax dollars completely. In fact, while in Congress, Pence led the effort to defund the nation’s largest abortion business in 2007, by seeking to prevent any business which does abortions from receiving Title X [Ten] Funds.

The Indiana governor also encouraged giving life by providing $1,000 adoption credit for parents. The Indiana Right to Life further noted his support for mothers: “Gov. Pence’s Real Alternatives program at pregnancy resource centers offers life-affirming and compassionate care to women through pregnancy and as they begin parenting. …”

The pro-life champion also promoted umbilical cord donation as the alternative to destructive embryonic stemcell experimentation, and he sponsored measures which protect citizens from being forced to pay for abortion coverage. … [While still in Congress,] Pence voted against ObamaCare and criticized it for its forced abortion coverage mandate.

As a result of these obvious disparities between the candidates – even though both claim to be faithful Christians – the Indiana Right to Life has endorsed Pence for Vice President. A press release from the pro-life organization stated summarily, “Gov. Pence’s pro-life stance is more than a talking point.  Gov. Pence has put his pro-life position into action time and time again.”