Life Advocacy Briefing

Welcome Back!

HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP STEVE SCALISE (R-LA) RETURNED TO CAPITOL HILL last Thursday, using two canes but back to duty after a summer of hospitalization and rehabilitation following a dastardly attack in June on the Congressional GOP baseball team during an early morning practice. His return is heartwarming, and his House floor declaration Thursday that “prayer works” is a reminder to us all to continue to pray for his full recovery and for safety for our public officials and law enforcement personnel.

House to Vote on Key Proposal

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER KEVIN McCARTHY (R-CA) ANNOUNCED last week that the House will take up the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act tomorrow, Tuesday. Readers are urged to call their own Representatives to urge a “yes” vote on this significant pro-life reform measure. House Members can be reached via the Capitol switchboard at 1-202/224-3121. The bill may be identified by title or by number, HR-36.

This proposal, offered by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) along with 169 co-sponsors, would outlaw abortions of babies who have gestated at least 20 weeks, a point at which most medical experts agree the baby can feel excruciating pain if attacked. Indeed, if prenatal surgery is needed for a baby’s benefit, it is now standard medical practice for anesthesia to be administered to protect the child.

But “according to the Centers for Disease Control,” reports Claire Chretien for LifeSiteNews.com, “in 2013, there were at least 5,770 late-term abortions on babies older than 20 weeks.” (The CDC is customarily well behind in publishing statistics, in part because the agency must depend on state agencies to report.)

Debate on the measure will aid the American people in grasping the brutal nature of abortion and summon our citizens to compassion for an innocent little member of the human family. The roll call will offer a definition to voters of those public officials who care versus those to whom abortion-industry loyalty (in both directions!) is paramount. And its passage will offer a measure of protection to those children who have sheltered in their mothers’ wombs already for five months or more.

In announcing the scheduling of the vote, Rep. McCarthy said, reports Ms. Chretien, “The bill ‘will protect those children who science has proven can feel pain, and give them a chance to grow and live full and happy lives.’ [Rep.] McCarthy continued, “‘We have an obligation to speak and defend for those who can’t speak for themselves. I welcome every Member of the House and the Senate to unite together and say that when children can feel pain, when you can see their noses and ears, when you can hear their heartbeats and feel their movement – at the very least we can all agree these children should be protected.’”

This is not the first time this proposal has appeared; indeed, it has passed the House twice before, in 2013 and 2015, but has yet to be passed by the Senate. State lawmakers in some 20 states have enacted the Pain Capable Protection Act; it is time for the full Congress to act, when America has a President who has promised to sign it into law.

Planned Parenthood Defunding on Hold

IT IS NO LONGER ‘NEWS’ for our readers to be informed that the Senate Majority Leader never called for a vote last week on the Budget Reconciliation measure which had become ObamaCare replacement. Unless you have been volunteering in the hurricane zones or hospitalized in critical condition, you most likely already know that.

But our readers may or may not realize that the end of ObamaCare replacement – whether for mere months or forever – is also the end for now of defunding Planned Parenthood.

The latest iteration of ObamaCare replacement – dubbed “Graham/Cassidy” after its two principal proponents – incorporated several pro-life provisions, including the reallocation of Planned Parenthood funding to federally recognized healthcare centers which are more comprehensive in service but do not commit abortions.

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins remarked on Planned Parenthood’s reprieve in his Sept. 26 Washington Update. His most newsworthy paragraph: “As frustrated as voters must be, there is some comfort,” he writes, “in the fact that conservatives refused to give in to [Sen. Susan] Collins’s demands to drop the language defunding Planned Parenthood. According to Hill sources,” he reports, “that was the condition of her support – one, fortunately, that conservatives refused. Without the language ending America’s forced partnership between taxpayers and the abortion industry, there is no healthcare reform. And no pro-life support. So, in the midst of these challenges,” declares Mr. Perkins, “we applaud the conservative leaders for rejecting a deal that would have done far more damage to the credibility of the GOP than another delay in the debate.”

Note to the White House: If Pres. Trump goes through with his concept of bargaining with “the Democrats” over another path to fulfill his campaign promise to “repeal and replace ObamaCare,” the Planned Parenthood reallocation provision must be non-negotiable, just as it was with Senators Graham and Cassidy and their conservative colleagues.

Moore Goes on to December Senate Election

THE VICTORY OF JUDGE ROY MOORE over Sen. Luther Strange in the Alabama GOP runoff election last Tuesday sets up a contest in early December which will finalize the replacement of now-Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions in the United States Senate.

The prominent evangelical conservative will be opposed in the runoff by Democratic nominee Doug Jones, who carries the endorsement of one of the nation’s most radical left-wing groups, MoveOn.org, and who skirts the abortion issue on his campaign website but declares, “No woman should be denied coverage of services based on the religious beliefs of her employer.”

That level of obfuscation could prove useful to Mr. Moore, who is not timid about declaring his convictions. From the “positions” segment of his campaign website comes this excerpt from “Family”: “A strong family based on marriage between one man and one woman is and should remain our only guide and model. I oppose abortion, same-sex marriage, civil unions and all other threats to the traditional family order. Federal funding for Planned Parenthood or any form of abortion should be stopped.”

Relief in Missouri

THE STATE OF MISSOURI HAS WON A KEY ROUND IN COURT, securing from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals a temporary stay on an order forcing the state, reports Dave Andrusko in National Right to Life News Today (NRL/NT) “to issue licenses to additional abortion clinics.”

The report quotes Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, who, writes Mr. Andrusko, “has led the fight against Planned Parenthood’s original November lawsuit. ‘The health and safety of Missouri women will now be protected while the court considers the merit of our appeal.’”

The disappointed plaintiffs, Planned Parenthood Great Plains, Mr. Andrusko reports, “countered in a statement: ‘These are politically and ideologically motivated laws that will do nothing but harm Missourians.’”

At issue is an April ruling by District Judge Howard Sachs striking down a Missouri law “requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges,” notes Mr. Andrusko, “at a hospital within 30 miles.” The ruling also invalidated a state law, reports NRL/NT, “requiring abortion clinics to meet the requirements of ambulatory surgical centers,” an eminently reasonable law, since abortuaries are a place where outpatient surgery is undertaken.

The state has issued a license, because of the Sachs ruling, for chemical abortions at the “Midtown Kansas City health center,” notes Mr. Andrusko, but, he writes, “the effect of the Appeals Court temporary stay is to at least temporarily halt the abortion industry’s plans to begin providing abortions elsewhere, in Columbia, Springfield and Joplin.”

Helping When, Where & How It Counts

WHILE PLANNED PARENTHOOD IS USING THE TRAGEDY of Hurricane Harvey to raise funds to offer “free abortions” to expectant mothers in the impact region, former abortuary manager Abby Johnson is leading a drive, reports Fr. Mark Hodges for LifeSiteNews.com, to do “‘something truly helpful’ for pregnant women” in the area.

Mrs. Johnson’s organization, And Then There Were None, which includes many other former abortuary workers, “has collected more than 22,968 diapers,” reports Fr. Hodges, “38,409 wipes, 1,444 pounds of baby food and 1,170 bottles of baby formula, along with hundreds of other items for displaced pregnant women.”  Mrs. Johnson had previously, while managing a Planned Parenthood shop in Houston during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, helped her employer raise funds just as Planned Parenthood is doing now.

“‘While I thought I was helping women during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to get them free abortions,’” she said, reports Fr. Hodges, “‘in reality I was only adding to the heartbreak. Now is our time to do something different,’” she said, “‘something truly helpful.’”

Her current drive, which has netted nearly $20,000 worth of donated items, is being undertaken through a gift registry at Walmarts across the country, under the title And Then There Were None. “So far,” reports LifeSiteNews, “along with the diapers, wipes, baby food, formula and other items above, ATTWN has received more than 200 bassinets, pack n’ plays, bouncers, swings and car seats. And more than a thousand teethers, toys, cups and feeders.”

The pro-life ministry is partnering, reports Fr. Hodges, with the Houston Pregnancy Help Center, “where families could get the items they need at no cost.     

“Abby wanted to help,” he writes, “because, ‘I’ve seen firsthand the emotional, physical and spiritual damage of abortion, working at Planned Parenthood.’”

Widening the Net

ALWAYS ANXIOUS TO EXPAND THEIR BUSINESS MODEL, Planned Parenthood, with help from the ACLU, is suing the State of Maine to require the state’s bureaucracy to permit nurse practitioners and midwives to commit abortions without physician supervision.

Though more likely motivated by the reality that the pool of abortion workers – including abortionists themselves – is shrinking, the ACLU is claiming, via a posting on their Internet blog, that the lawsuit springs from the desire of the stepdaughter of a Maine abortionist “to be an abortionist and a nurse practitioner,” reports Lianne Laurence for LifeSiteNews.com. “‘I couldn’t imagine a more fulfilling career,’” she oozed.

The ACLU claims in the lawsuit itself, reports Ms. Laurence, that “not letting nurse practitioners and midwives abort unborn children is a ‘medically unjustified restriction.’”

Get It Straight!

Sept. 27, 2017, FRC Action Update commentary by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins

            Most people probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about disease. And at least where STDs are concerned, maybe that’s part of the problem. For the last several years, sexually transmitted infections and diseases have exploded into one of the worst crises no one is talking about. Now, they’re almost impossible to ignore, with rates surging to record highs in young and old people alike. The outbreak of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis reached an astounding two million cases last year, “the highest number ever,” according to the Centers for Disease Control [CDC].

            A whopping 1.6 million new cases cropped up in 2016, stoking the fears of the medical community that Americans aren’t taking the problem seriously enough. To the CDC, the statistics are even more alarming since some strains of gonorrhea are now untreatable.

            Unfortunately, this is just another byproduct of sexual liberalism that’s coming home to roost in a nation that’s spent the last eight years not just encouraging but funding messages of irresponsibility. Instead of encouraging morality, Barack Obama used every second of his two terms to promote immorality. And for our libertarian friends, the economic burden is nothing to sneeze at. Taxpayers sink almost $20 billion a year into treatments for these infections – most of them incurable and all of them expensive. Now, sadly, it’s become part of the push for universal health care. The philosophy is simple: live however you want, and everyone else pays the price.

            From bathroom policies to free birth control, we’ve sexualized our culture to the point that it’s actually killing us. Instead of ignoring the problem, it’s time for liberals to join conservatives in urging America to stop engaging in risky behavior that results in deadly consequences. Clearly, there needs to be a serious discussion of the long-term implications of the Left’s agenda of sexual-satisfaction-at-any-cost, not just for individuals but for society as a whole. The government has spent years (and even more taxpayer dollars) trying to solve a problem it helped create. How many more will we spend ignoring the real solution: restraint?

House Voting Record

Norton Amendment to HR-3354 – Granting Budget Autonomy to the District of Columbia, opening the door to taxpayer-funded abortions – Sept. 14, 2017 – Failed – 186-222 (Democrats in italics)

Voting “no” / pro-Life: Aderholt, Brooks, Byrne, Palmer, Roby, Rogers/AL; Young/AK; Biggs, Franks, McSally, Schweikert/AZ; Crawford, Hill, Westerman, Womack/AR; Calvert, Cook, Denham, Hunter, Issa, Knight, LaMalfa, McCarthy, McClintock, Nunes, Rohrabacher, Royce, Valadao, Walters/CA; Buck, Coffman, Lamborn, Tipton/CO; Bilirakis, Buchanan, Curbelo, DeSantis, Dunn, Gaetz, Mast, Webster/FL; Allen, Collins, Ferguson, Graves, Handel, Hice, A.Scott, Woodall/GA; Labrador, Simpson/ID; Bost, R.Davis, Hultgren, Kinzinger, LaHood, Roskam, Shimkus/IL; Banks, Brooks, Bucshon, Hollingsworth, Messer, Rokita, Walorski/IN; Blum, King, Young/IA; Estes, Jenkins, Marshall, Yoder/KS; Barr, Comer, Guthrie, Massie, Rogers/KY; Abraham, Graves, Higgins, Johnson/LA; Poliquin/ME; Harris/MD; Amash, Bergman, Bishop, Huizenga, Mitchell, Moolenaar, Trott, Upton, Walberg/MI; Emmer, Lewis, Paulsen/MN; Harper, Kelly, Palazzo/MS; Hartzler, Long, Luetkemeyer, Smith, Wagner/MO; Gianforte/MT; Bacon, Fortenberry, Smith/NE; Amodei/NV; Frelinghuysen, Lance, LoBiondo, MacArthur, Smith/NJ; Pearce/NM; Collins, Donovan, Faso, Katko, King, Reed, Stefanik, Tenney, Zeldin/NY; Budd, Foxx, Holding, Hudson, Jones, McHenry, Meadows, Pittenger, Rouzer, Walker/NC; Cramer/ND; Chabot, Davidson, Gibbs, Johnson, Jordan, Joyce, Latta, Renacci, Stivers, Turner, Wenstrup/OH; Cole, Lucas, Mullin, Russell/OK; Walden/OR; Barletta, Costello, Dent, Fitzpatrick, Kelly, Marino, Meehan, Murphy, Perry, Rothfus, Shuster, Smucker, Thompson/PA; Duncan, Gowdy, Norman, Rice, Sanford, Wilson/SC; Noem/SD; Black, Blackburn, DesJarlais, Duncan, Fleischmann, Kustoff, Roe/TN; Arrington, Babin, Barton, Brady, Burgess, Carter, Conaway, Culberson, Farenthold, Flores, Gohmert, Granger, Hensarling, Hurd, S.Johnson, Marchant, McCaul, Olson, Poe, Ratcliffe, Sessions, Smith, Thornberry, Weber, Williams/TX; Bishop, Love, Stewart/UT; Brat, Comstock, Goodlatte, Griffith, Taylor, Wittman/VA; Herrera-Beutler, McMorris-Rodgers, Newhouse, Reichert/WA; Jenkins, McKinley, Mooney/WV; Duffy, Gallagher, Grothman, Sensenbrenner/WI; Cheney/WY.

Voting “yes” / anti-Life: Sewell/AL; Gallego, Grijalva, O’Halleran, Sinema/AZ; Aguilar, Barragan, Bass, Bera, Brownley, Carbajal, Cardenas, Chu, Correa, Davis, DeSaulnier, Eshoo, Garamendi, Gomez, Huffman, Khanna, Lee, Lieu, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Matsui, McNerney, Napolitano, Panetta, Pelosi, Peters, Roybal-Allard, Ruiz, Sanchez, Schiff, Sherman, Speier, Swalwell, Takano, Thompson, Torres, Vargas, Waters/CA; DeGette, Perlmutter, Polis/CO; Courtney, Esty, Himes/CT; Blunt-Rochester/DE; Castor, Demings, Deutch, Hastings, Murphy, Soto, Wasserman-Schultz, Wilson/FL; Bishop, Johnson, Lewis, D.Scott/GA; Gabbard, Hanabusa/HI; Bustos, D.Davis, Foster, Gutierrez, Kelly, Krishnamoorthi, Lipinski, Quigley, Rush, Schakowsky, Schneider/IL; Carson, Visclosky/IN; Loebsack/IA; Yarmuth/KY; Richmond/LA; Pingree /ME; Brown, Cummings, Delaney, Hoyer, Raskin, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes/MD; Capuano, Clark, Keating, Kennedy, Lynch, McGovern, Moulton, Neal, Tsongas/MA; Conyers, Dingell, Kildee, Lawrence, Levin/MI; Ellison, McCollum, Nolan, Peterson, Walz/MN; Thompson/MS; Clay/MO; Kihuen, Rosen, Titus/NV; Kuster, Shea-Porter/NH; Gottheimer, Norcross, Pallone, Pascrell, Payne, Sires, Watson-Coleman/NJ; Lujan, Lujan-Grisham/NM; Clarke, Crowley, Engel, Espaillat, Higgins, Jeffries, Lowey, C.Maloney, S.Maloney, Meeks, Meng, Nadler, Rice, Serrano, Slaughter, Suozzi, Tonko, Velazquez/NY; Adams, Butterfield, Price/NC; Beatty, Fudge, Kaptur, Ryan/OH; Blumenauer, Bonamici, DeFazio, Schrader/OR; Boyle, Brady, Cartwright, Doyle, Evans/PA; Cicilline, Langevin/RI; Cohen, Cooper/TN; Castro, Cuellar, Doggett, Gonzalez, A.Green, G.Green, Jackson-Lee, E.B.Johnson, O’Rourke, Veasey, Vela/TX; Welch/VT; Beyer, Connolly, McEachin, Scott/VA; DelBene, Heck, Jayapal, Kilmer, Larsen, Smith/WA; Kind, Moore, Pocan/WI.

Not Voting: Gosar/AZ; Costa/CA; DeLauro, Larson/CT; Crist, Diaz-Balart, Frankel, Lawson, Posey, F.Rooney, T.Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Ross, Rutherford, Yoho/FL; Carter, Loudermilk/GA; Scalise/LA; Cleaver, Graves/MO; Tiberi/OH; Bridenstine/OK; Clyburn/SC; Brady/TX; Garrett/VA; Ryan/WI.