Life Advocacy Briefing
July 30, 2018
Easy, Quick Action to Protect our Youth
Calls Needed Now & Again to U.S. Senators / Starting to Get Desperate?
Alabama Setting It Straight? / Help Is on the Way in Missouri
A Spot of Good News for David Daleiden? / Battle Stations
R.N.C. Taking Up the Cause for Our Children
Easy, Quick Action to Protect our Youth
TOMORROW – JULY 31 – IS THE FINAL DAY for public comments to be submitted to the Dept. of Health & Human Services endorsing the HHS rule change that would disqualify abortion outfits – such as Planned Parenthood – from Title X (Ten) “family planning” grants and contracts, reallocating the funding to organizations that neither commit nor refer for abortions.
Comments on proposed rule, which pro-life activists call the “Protect Life Rule” may be filed via the Internet at https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=HHS-OS-2018-0008-0001.
Calls Needed Now & Again to U.S. Senators
IT IS NOT TOO EARLY – by any means! – to call your home-state US Senators and request a “yes” vote on confirming Judge Brett Kavanaugh. (Capitol switchboard: 1-202/224-3121)
Though Judge Kavanaugh is superbly qualified for a seat on the Supreme Court, the political maelstrom in which we are living means anything can happen. Our Senators must be informed as to the wishes and opinions of their constituents, now as much as ever. The vote on his nomination is expected this fall, and Senators are lining up now as “yes” or “no” votes.
Judge Kavanaugh has been nominated to fill the High Court vacancy which opens tomorrow, July 31, the effective date of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s announced retirement. As Justice Kennedy has so often turned out to deliver the deciding vote on so many issues before the Court, the selection of Judge Kavanaugh as successor to the Court’s “swing vote” is seen as especially critical, including in the arena of abortion law rulings.
Though the nominee is not expected to state in public hearings or even private conversations how he would rule on a particular matter coming before the Court, his record as an appellate court judge and as an attorney shows a commitment to the text and original meaning of the Constitution, whose 5th Amendment provides, in part: “No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
Judge Kavanaugh’s name came to the attention of the President via a comprehensive list of Constitution-devoted potential judges screened and offered by the respected Federalist Society, whose Internet website declares it is “founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.” The website goes on to define the Federalist Society as seeking to “reorder priorities within the legal system to place a premium on individual liberty, traditional values and the rule of law.”
Starting to Get Desperate?
THE NATIONAL ABORTION RIGHTS ACTION LEAGUE (N.A.R.A.L.) LAUNCHED an initiative in late July “to get lawmakers to commit,” reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews.com, “to federal legislation forcing states to accept abortion on demand.
“Specifically, the pro-abortion group,” Mr. Freiburger explains, “wants both incumbents and candidates for the US House of Representatives to sign a statement declaring, ‘If the Senate confirms this or any Supreme Court Justice who will end Roe v. Wade, criminalize abortion and abolish the ACA [ObamaCare], I commit to support legislation that will make abortion available in all 50 states.’” (We at Life Advocacy are not surprised at this development, but we do think our readers should know about it, and we do note with interest the desperate embrace of ObamaCare within a pledge which purports to be about abortion; hmmm.)
“The commitment NARAL seeks,” notes Mr. Freiburger, “is already the official position of the Democratic Party. In 2016, the Democratic National Convention adopted a platform affirming that the party not only opposes but ‘seek[s] to overturn’ state as well as federal laws limiting ‘access’ to abortion.”
NARAL’s demand of the candidates likely signals the abortion lobby’s intent to massively intensify its involvement in the 2018 Congressional elections and could seep into state-level legislative campaigns as well. Fasten seat belts, pro-life citizens, pay close attention and get involved.
Alabama Setting It Straight?
AS THE RETIREMENT OF SUPREME COURT JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY has set the abortion lobby into panic over the potential end of their death grip on America, state lawmakers are beginning to prepare for the possibility that abortion policy could some day – even soon? – be remanded to the states, restoring the patchwork of abortion policies through state legislation.
One of the states which is preparing for the potential end of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton is Alabama, where the state’s lawmakers have posted on the November ballot an initiative for a state constitutional amendment which, reports Claire Chretien for LifeSiteNews.com, would “declare … ‘it is the public policy of this state to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, most importantly the right to life in all manners and measures appropriate and lawful; and to provide that the constitution of this state does not protect the right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.’”
Said amendment sponsor GOP State Rep. Matt Fridy, quoted by Ms. Chretien, “‘What it does is, it states very clearly that the public policy of the state is to recognize the rights of children who are still in the womb,’ he said,” in the LifeSiteNews report. “‘And it calls for the passage of legislation that would protect preborn life. The legislation itself would drill into the specifics of that, and that remains to be seen what shape and form the legislation would take.’”
Abortion advocates are “sounding the alarm about the proposed amendment,” notes Ms. Chretien, “with the director of communications and marketing for Planned Parenthood Southeast warning this ‘would pave the way to ban abortion in all cases.’”
The prospect of voter approval of such an amendment on the November ballot should make for an interesting campaign season in Alabama and encouraging legislative sessions to ensue, as the hegemony of the abortion lobby over American politics and jurisprudence increasingly falters.
Help Is on the Way in Missouri
PREGNANCY CARE CENTERS & MATERNITY HOMES in Missouri will soon see benefits from a law recently signed by Gov. Mike Parson (R) which renews and increases personal and business income tax credits for gifts to the Life-affirming service providers.
The legislation, which was fiercely opposed by the abortion industry and its apologists, increased from $2.5 million to $3.5 million the cap on the monies allocated through tax credits and renews the taxpayer benefit for six years, according to Gayle Irwin in Pregnancy Help News.
The Maternity Home Tax Credit and Pregnancy Resource Center Tax Credit, now combined as the “Benevolent Tax Credit,” “have been on the books for years, requiring renewed passage by the Missouri General Assembly every six,” writes Ms. Irwin, crediting Campaign Life Missouri lobbyist Samuel Lee as source.
“Because of these tax credits,” reports Ms. Irwin, “Missouri has experienced an increase in its number of maternity homes and pregnancy centers. There are also more mobile medical units traveling the state providing free ultrasounds,” she notes. “Additionally, more brick-and-mortar pregnancy centers are able to purchase ultrasound machines and train medical staff in their use.”
Opposition to the benefit failed in the legislature, notes Mr. Lee, as reported by Ms. Irwin, “because two-thirds of the Senate and of the House are pro-life, and many Members are familiar with the work of pregnancy centers.”
The comprehensive nature of the tax credits, prioritizing both pregnancy centers and maternity homes, is considered unique to Missouri – so far.
A Spot of Good News for David Daleiden?
IN LEGAL MANEUVERING only lawyers can assess, the National Abortion Federation has withdrawn seven of the 11 claims it has been pressing in court against pro-life champion David Daleiden and his Center for Medical Progress. The move comes as part of a multi-track lawsuit NAF filed in 2015 against Mr. Daleiden and CMP for their release of undercover videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s involvement in the trafficking of aborted baby body parts.
Among the CMP videos are several recorded at an NAF conference which Mr. Daleiden and his team attended.
Whatever the purpose of NAF in withdrawing some of the elements of the punitive lawsuit, we quote Charles LiMandri, chief counsel for Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, who is representing Mr. Daleiden and said in an FCDF news release on the NAF action, “Seven down, four to go.”
Battle Stations
July 21, 2018, The Bridgehead blog column by Jonathan vonMaren
Caution: Not to be read by children
The resignation of Justice Anthony Kennedy from the Supreme Court of the United States has been, in many ways, a clarifying moment. As progressives begin to realize that there is a discernable path to the overturn of Roe v. Wade, they have abruptly abandoned any semblance of nuance on the abortion question. Abortion, it is now clear, is not simply a matter of “women’s health” or even a “necessary evil.” Abortion is essential to the survival of the Sexual Revolution and is a fundamental necessity for those who wish to live precisely as they please.* Sex makes babies, but babies are inconvenient, and so the right to kill those babies must be maintained at all costs. Abortion guarantees people the ability to use their reproductive organs for recreational purposes, so long as the inevitable but unwanted children can be swiftly disposed of.
With Roe under threat, progressives are laying this out in the starkest terms. LGBT activist Viva Ruiz, who recently created a massive float for a Pride parade featuring a blasphemous backdrop reading “Thank God for Abortion,” gave an expletive-laden interview to the appropriately named media outlet Jezebel explaining why abortion was so essential. “If people with uteruses don’t have access to abortion, we’re not having a sexual liberation,” she explained, “and we’re all f—ing, and we’re past the binary.” Queer people need abortion, too, she added. After all, if they can’t access abortion, how can they get rid of the babies they make while living their liberated lives? Alleged comedienne Michelle Wolf recently summed it up in her Netflix “Salute to Abortion” sketch: “God bless abortion!”
Planned Parenthood of New York City has launched an equally blunt fundraising campaign, which they have dubbed “#FreedomtoFck.” Without mentioning the horrifying fact that New York City’s abortion rate is one of the highest in the world, they announced that New York residents “have more sex than anyone else in America (Woo! We did it!),” and thus abortion services are extremely important. Planned Parenthood, their campaign explains, helps to “make sure everyone has access to the sexual and reproductive healthcare services they need.” In short, New Yorkers need to support their local abortion industry to “Protect our freedom to f—!” Pro-lifers on the front lines in NYC have stories to tell about the sad consequences of Planned Parenthood’s success; one activist told me of a girl he met who had already had 22 abortions.
Every revolution claims victims, and the Sexual Revolution has been the bloodiest in all of human history. Tens of millions of pre-born babies have already been butchered to sustain our culture’s addiction to coitus without consequences, and if progressives get their way, that kill count will continue to climb. They are not concerned with the pre-born children who never see the light of day – although one magazine did publish an article on “What you need to know about having sex after an abortion” earlier this year. The battle lines have been clearly drawn: Progressives will fight with everything they have to preserve their ability to offload their offspring at abortion clinics and carry on with their lives. Sexual freedom, it seems, comes with a cost – and in post-Roe America, the youngest and most innocent members of our society have been forced to pay the bloody price.
* Life Advocacy note: Life Advocacy has long held that pro-life front-liners ought to recognize and explain to voters – especially voters who tend toward disdaining pro-life candidates as somehow opposed to the interests of women – that those who benefit most from legalized abortion in America are irresponsible men who use abortion access to exercise sexual liberty without having to worry about being burdened with child support.
R.N.C. Taking Up the Cause for Our Children
July 23, 2018, Washington Update commentary by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins
Caution: Not to be read by children
What kind of country would fund a group whose best advice is “F— everyone”? Ours. Last week’s ad from Planned Parenthood was the perfect example of the pornographic messages conservatives are fighting to stop in America’s sex ed curriculum. Every day, the headlines are full of horror stories about what students are learning with – or more likely, without – their parents’ knowledge. And at least one political party is doing something about it.
From Fairfax County to East Penn Schools, moms and dads are flooding districts with complaints for glamorizing dangerous sex acts, gender confusion and the LGBT agenda. In some cases, like Pennsylvania, parents are suing just for the right to see the videos their kids are watching. In others, moms and dads have absolutely no idea what’s being taught, because the school refuses to tell them. That needs to end now, the Republican National Committee has declared. In its summer meeting that wrapped up this weekend, the RNC passed a unanimous resolution demanding that state legislators do more to protect kids from the outrageous curriculums sweeping the nation.
It’s time, said Virginia’s National Committeewoman Cynthia Dunbar, to put sex-ed decisions back where they belong – in parents’ hands. Under the RNC’s new language, the party will put its energy into “parents’ rights” provisions that would force school districts to get moms’ and dads’ written permission before moving forward with any sex-ed material. “I’m thrilled this resolution passed,” Cynthia said after the vote. “This should not be a partisan issue. Parents everywhere deserve the right to know what their children are being taught and afforded an opportunity to consent to it.”
Of course, Americans’ frustrations over sex ed have been boiling over for quite some time. When “Activist Mommy” Elizabeth Johnston floated the idea of a protest, she was overwhelmed by the response. Thousands of people from around the world joined in her Sex Ed Sit Out in April, a sign of the growing irritation over how states are handling such a sensitive topic.
For the last several years, FRC’s Cathy Ruse points out, liberal school boards have tried to use “opt out” provisions to shield themselves from criticism. (“Hey, we don’t force it on anyone – you can always opt out!”) But in reality, most parents have no idea that they can pull their kids out of class – or worse, that they’d even need to. A lot of parents trust their local schools – and the districts have taken advantage of that trust by misleading them about the true content of sex ed. In Fairfax County, for example, some of the lessons labeled “abstinence” weren’t about abstinence at all!
Forty years ago, when sex ed was two hours on the basics of human development and reproduction, the opt-out system might have worked. But it’s completely inappropriate for today’s radical, graphic and age-inappropriate sex ed. Thank goodness the Republican National Committee agrees! It’s time to stop letting schools exploit parents, who would never dream that their son’s eight-grade teacher would give him a lesson with 18 mentions of “anal sex” or tell their seventh-grade daughter that she was born in the wrong body because “biological sex is meaningless.”
The Republican National Committee made sure to address these “family planning” sex-ed programs in its 2016 [convention] platform. Together, the delegates called for sexual risk avoidance (abstinence) education that makes saving sex until marriage the responsible and respected standard. But this is the first time the RNC has directly taken on the tactics of the far-Left, so our hats go off to the RNC for joining us in this fight and demanding parents have a say!