Life Advocacy Briefing

The Anniversary

TODAY, JAN. 22, IS THE 45th ANNIVERSARY of the tragic, unconscionable Roe v. Wade edict by which the US Supreme Court declared war on America’s future by decriminalizing the intentional killing of human babies before their birth. Estimated baby death toll has reached some 60 million, with incalculable collateral damage to their mothers and fathers, extended families and society as a whole. God help us.

Offering Powerful Witness

THE ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE took to the streets of Washington, DC, on Friday, just past our publication deadline. We expect to begin reporting on the noon March rally in next week’s edition of Life Advocacy Briefing. Our tradition includes publishing our transcripts of major speeches at the rally, which, the White House announced last week, was to include a live-transmission message from Pres. Donald Trump; a speech by House Speaker Paul Ryan was also expected, according to an announcement last week from the March for Life organizers.

House to Vote this Week on Born-Alive Infant Act

THE U.S. HOUSE VOTED LAST THURSDAY to adopt the Rule for consideration of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act, HR-4712, scheduling the vote for “during the period from January 22, 2018, through January 26, 2018.”

We will report on the vote in next week’s Life Advocacy Briefing, and we begin by publishing, at the close of this week’s edition, the voting record on the Rule, HRes-694.

Though a campaign surfaced early last week to bring forward the Heartbeat Protection bill being sponsored by Rep. Steve King (R-IA), along with 169 co-sponsors, during last Friday’s March for Life, we are doubtful, as we write, that it was brought out of committee or even subcommittee in time to be considered in conjunction with the March for Life. Disappointment in that scheduling decision by the House Leadership could explain Rep. King’s unusual vote against the Rule for the Born-Alive bill, though it gives him an unfortunate blot on his otherwise always-perfect record.

Pain-Capable Bill Sees Action in Senate

THE U.S. SENATE’s VERSION of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act – already passed by the House – was reintroduced Jan. 16 by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) with 45 co-sponsors and was immediately placed on the Senate calendar, ready for consideration as pro-life Americans gathered from across America for the annual March for Life. We expect a vote may have been held last Friday – after our press deadline – and anticipate reporting the outcome and the voting record in next week’s Life Advocacy Briefing.

The following Senators (all Republicans) listed themselves as co-sponsors for this important legislation, which would outlaw the abortion of babies who have reached the 20-week gestational threshold when science tells us they can experience excruciating pain in the midst of abortion assaults: Senators Shelby/AL, Sullivan/AK, Flake & McCain/AZ, Boozman & Cotton/AR, Rubio/FL, Isakson & Perdue/GA, Crapo & Risch/ID, Young/IN, Ernst & Grassley/IA, Moran & Roberts/KS, McConnell & Paul/KY, Cassidy & Kennedy/LA, Cochran & Wicker/MS, Blunt/MO, Daines/MT, Fischer & Sasse/NE, Heller/NV, Burr & Tillis/NC, Hoeven/ND, Portman/OH, Inhofe & Lankford/OK, Toomey/PA, Scott/SC, Rounds & Thune/SD, Corker/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Hatch & Lee/UT, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Enzi/WY.

Endangered Species?

VETERAN DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN DAN LIPINSKI (IL), one of just two House Democrats who can lay claim to even a shaky pro-life voting record, could be in trouble for nomination to an eighth term in Chicago’s south-side 3rd district.

Though popular in the district, the 51-year-old often depends for re-election on his district’s pro-life voters, some of whom will likely this March choose a GOP primary ballot in order to vote for Jeanne Ives, a strongly pro-life state legislator who is challenging Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner in the Republican primary on the same day as Mr. Lipinski will face a stiff challenge from a self-described “progressive” woman who, reports Illinois Review, “is being heavily backed by abortion advocacy groups such as NARAL” (National Abortion Rights Action League).

The gubernatorial primary which could divert traditional Lipinski voters from the Democratic primary was brought on by Gov. Rauner’s recent signature on a bill forcing Illinois taxpayers to cover elective abortions despite an earlier pledge that he would veto the legislation if it passed.

State-Level Defunding Moving Along

NEBRASKA GOV. PETE RICKETTS (R) MADE CLEAR in his 2018 budget proposal submitted Jan. 10 that Title X (Ten) “family planning” funds administered by the state will not be disbursed to so-called clinics which commit abortions.

Citing legislation enacted by Congress last year, the governor said in a statement quoted by Catholic News Agency (CNA), “‘Thanks to action by Congress, Nebraska can now take new steps to protect unborn life by ensuring that these dollars are not used to fund abortion.’”

The report quotes Tom Venzor, executive director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, “applaud[ing] the governor’s efforts to separate Title X funding from abortions: ‘This provision in our state budget will finally end the use of Title X money to prop up and help finance the abortion industry in Nebraska. … The policy will ensure that organizations and facilities that perform, counsel for or refer for abortion will no longer receive state money through Title X, until they separate their abortion activity from their Title X services.’”

This is the “second consecutive year,” reports CNA, “that [Mr.] Ricketts has attempted to separate Title X funding from abortions. Last year, … the proposal was in the governor’s original budget plan, but it was dropped by the time it reached the full state legislature.” This year, thanks to Congressional action, there ought to be no concern over the potential loss of federal funding, so the lieutenant governor reinforced the reform move by issuing a statement Jan. 8, quoted by CNA, “‘strongly urg[ing] State Senators to enact this recommendation and … look[ing] forward to working with them to help Nebraska’s budget reflect our pro-life values.’”

March for Life Chicago Draws 6,000

THOUGH CHICAGO’s PRO-LIFE COMMUNITY ALWAYS SENDS a strong delegation to the DC March for Life, Chicago streets draw their own crowd of marchers demonstrating for an end to abortion and restoration of America’s embrace of the paramount right.

This year’s March for Life Chicago – the 13th annual such demonstration – brought a record-breaking crowd of 6,000 to rally in the city’s Federal Plaza, followed by a trek around the city’s famed Loop on Sunday, Jan. 14.

Among those participating in the rally were US Representatives Peter Roskam (R) and Dan Lipinski (D), both serving Chicago-area districts, Chicago Bears co-owner Pat McCaskey and Wheaton State Rep. Jeanne Ives, who is challenging Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner in the state’s March GOP primary.

Keynoting the rally, reports LifeSiteNews.com, was former Planned Parenthood director

Ramona Trevina, who told the crowd: “‘The deadliest thing in the world is indifference. … It is love that brings us here today,’ she said,” reports LifeSiteNews. “‘It is love that reaches out to a woman in crisis, that says, I’m here for you, to help you.’ [Ms.] Trevino added,” notes LifeSiteNews, “that love is what is needed to counter the indifference that ‘makes it possible for Planned Parenthood to perform over 300,000 abortions a year and for politicians to fund Planned Parenthood to the tune of half-a-billion dollars of our money.’”

Ms. Trevino managed a Planned Parenthood abortion-referral facility in Sherman, Texas, according to LifeSiteNews. She “told the rally, ‘I walked away from that Planned Parenthood seven years ago, knowing that their days are numbered and that Roe v. Wade’s days are numbered. To Planned Parenthood I say,’” declared Ms. Trevino, “‘Stop perpetuating the lie that we need abortion!’”

In a December interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation, quoted by LifeSiteNews writer Doug Mainwaring, Ms. Trevino “described America’s largest abortion business as ‘demonic,’ adding, ‘There’s no other word you can use for what takes place. … I knew what I was doing was wrong,’” she told the Daily Caller interviewer, “but ‘it took a few years after working at Planned Parenthood to recognize my part in abortion even through referrals.’”

What is more, reports Mr. Mainwaring, citing the Daily Caller as source, “she slowly started to recognize other problems with the way the abortion business was run, especially the way teenage girls were viewed who came to her office. … Young girls ‘are being groomed as future abortion patients,’” she explained, “‘because Planned Parenthood promotes a promiscuous lifestyle. … We’re not discouraging them from having sex at a young age. [Planned Parenthood staff] have monthly quotas to meet. They’re just numbers. … I started to connect the dots and realize that it all goes together.’”

These days, Ms. Trevino, writes Mr. Mainwaring, “counsels those who still work for the abortion provider to start asking themselves some serious questions. ‘Really just look at the truth and ask if you want to be involved in illegal practices like baby body parts,’ she said.”

Reality Check

Jan. 16, 2018, Washington Update by Tony Perkins, president, Family Research Council

            Plenty of movements have tried to hitch their wagon to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For years, people across the political spectrum have claimed him as one of their own – in part because it’s convenient and in part because he isn’t here to dispute it. But no cause is more antithetical to King’s than Planned Parenthood’s. And yesterday, when the group founded by an open racist tried to suggest otherwise, we weren’t the only ones who noticed.

People across the social media spectrum lashed out at Cecile Richards’s group for daring to suggest that they were carrying on King’s vision. The idea that Dr. King would have stood by – let alone embraced – Margaret Sanger’s legacy is outrageous. Yet still, “@PPact” [Planned Parenthood] had the audacity to tweet: “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated his life to the idea that racial and economic justice are foundational to our democracy. Today we honor his courageous vision and radical action – and commit to furthering his dream by continuing the fight for justice.”

If you know anything about Planned Parenthood, you know that it was built on the back of Sanger’s eugenics. Years later, her legacy lives on in the group’s business model, which intentionally preys on minority women. How do we know that? Simple: the majority of Planned Parenthood’s facilities have been built in urban areas within walking distance of African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods. And that’s no coincidence. Richards knows better than anyone that black babies are aborted at a rate five times higher than white babies. So, while she likes to say “black lives matter,” she’s not telling the whole story. They matter because it’s a part of her business model.

Despite making up just 13% of the US population, the CDC’s 2016 report points out, black babies made up a whopping 35% of the total abortions reported in 2013. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood, the group that profits most from that statistic, continues its scam as a defender of African Americans.

“Please tell us more about how you’re honoring his courageous vision,” one of many pro-lifers fired back. “Are you going to plant yet another abortion clinic in a black neighborhood or something?” Alexandra DeSanctis piled on. “Your group was founded by a eugenics enthusiast who peddled birth control in black and impoverished neighborhoods. Today, more black babies are aborted than born alive in NYC, your headquarters. You have no business co-opting MLK to push your propaganda.” Alexandra is right. With just a 40% survival rate, the womb is one of the most dangerous places for New York City’s African Americans. Yet Planned Parenthood will cover up that statistic with the same proficiency that it’s covered up years of abuse, organ trafficking, partial-birth abortions, fraud and countless other crimes against humanity.

The only connection Richards’s group has to MLK is its butchering of the basic civil rights for which Dr. King died. “It’s not so much about labels – liberal, conservative and all of that,” his niece Alveda has said. “But he was someone who lived and gave his life to help all humanity. And so that definitely would include conception until natural death.” As she told reporters last December, “Martin Luther King Jr. never accepted the agenda of Planned Parenthood. They lie … . They put their abortion mills on or near streets that are named after Martin Luther King, and they want to attach that to the civil rights movement of the 20th century – but it doesn’t belong.”

House Voting Record

HRes-694 – Rule for Consideration of HR-4712, Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act – Jan. 18, 2018 – Adopted – 228-189 (Democrats in italics; new Member in ALL CAPS)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Aderholt, Brooks, Byrne, Palmer, Roby, Rogers/AL; Young/AK; Biggs, 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, Diaz-Balart, Dunn, Gaetz, Mast, Posey, F.Rooney, T.Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Ross, Rutherford, Webster, Yoho/FL; Allen, Carter, Collins, Ferguson, Graves, Handel, Hice, Loudermilk, A.Scott, Woodall/GA; Labrador, Simpson/ID; Bost, R.Davis, Hultgren, Kinzinger, LaHood, Lipinski, Roskam, Shimkus/IL; Banks, Brooks, Bucshon, Hollingsworth, Messer, Rokita, Walorski/IN; Blum, 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, Peterson/MN; Harper, Kelly, Palazzo/MS; Graves, 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; Bridenstine, Cole, Lucas, Mullin, Russell/OK; Walden/OR; Costello, Dent, Fitzpatrick, Marino, Perry, Smucker/PA; Duncan, Gowdy, Rice, Sanford, Wilson/SC; 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, CURTIS, Love, Stewart/UT; Brat, Comstock, Garrett, Goodlatte, Griffith, Taylor, Wittman/VA; Herrera-Beutler, McMorris-Rodgers, Newhouse, Reichert/WA; Jenkins, McKinley, Mooney/WV; Duffy, Gallagher, Grothman, Sensenbrenner/WI; Cheney/WY.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Sewell/AL; Gallego, Grijalva, O’Halleran, Sinema/AZ; Aguilar, Barragan, Bass, Bera, Brownley, Carbajal, Cardenas, Chu, Correa, Costa, 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, DeLauro, Esty, Himes, Larson/CT; Blunt-Rochester/DE; Castor, Crist, Demings, Deutch, Frankel, Hastings, Lawson, Murphy, Soto, Wasserman-Schultz, Wilson/FL; Bishop, Johnson, Lewis, D.Scott/GA; Gabbard, Hanabusa/HI; Bustos, D.Davis, Foster, Gutierrez, Kelly, Krishnamoorthi, Quigley, Rush, Schakowsky, Schneider/IL; Carson, Visclosky/IN; King, Loebsack/IA; Yarmuth/KY; Richmond/LA; Pingree/ME; Brown, Delaney, Hoyer, Raskin, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes/MD; Capuano, Clark, Keating, Kennedy, Lynch, McGovern, Moulton, Neal, Tsongas/MA; Dingell, Kildee, Lawrence, Levin/MI; Ellison, McCollum, Nolan, Walz/MN; Thompson/MS; Clay, Cleaver/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, DeFazio, Schrader/OR; Boyle, Brady, Cartwright, Doyle, Evans/PA; Cicilline, Langevin/RI; Clyburn/SC; 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; Moore, Pocan/WI.

Not Voting: Gosar/AZ; Scalise/LA; Cummings/MD; Bonamici/OR; Barletta, Kelly, Meehan, Rothfus, Shuster, Thompson/PA; Norman/SC; Noem/SD; Kind, Ryan/WI.