Life Advocacy Briefing

Playing Hooky?

IT IS AUGUST. Congress is in recess; state legislators are as well, in nearly every state; even courts are on slow schedules. News – of the sort which we publish – is in short supply. Your editorial staff would like to take a few days off as well. So do not be surprised if Life Advocacy Briefing is missing next week or some week soon. We will, though, continue to pay attention, so we will be in your “mailbox” if news warrants. Do expect us back soon; we are grateful for the opportunity to serve in this vital cause and grateful for your understanding of our need for a small spot of down-time.

Meanwhile, August offers opportunities for pro-life citizens to visit with their Members of Congress in person, to thank those who have been voting – and especially speaking up – for the victims of the violence of legalized abortion and to get personally acquainted with candidates who are beginning to pop up in various election contests in order to assess those candidates and make decisions about volunteering. Happy hunting!

Remarkable but Unsurprising Poll Results

A POLL CONDUCTED FOR THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION’s ACTION ARM shows, reports Mary Margaret Olohan for The Daily Caller, “The vast majority of likely voters support requiring doctors to provide medical care for babies who are born alive during botched abortions.” Somebody please tell the Democratic Members of Congress, only a handful of whom have signed the discharge petition to bring the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to the House floor for a vote. (In the House, the bill is numbered HR-962 and sponsored by GOP Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri and co-sponsored by 190 Members; in the Senate, the bill was filed by GOP Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska and is co-sponsored by 48 Senators.)

“‘Our polling shows that the Democratic Party is out of step with American voters and the values that have made this country great,’ Heritage Action for America executive director Tim Chapman told the Daily Caller News Foundation [DCNF],” notes Ms. Olohan. 

Mr. Chapman “told the DCNF that the high percentage of Americans who support protecting babies born alive does not surprise him,” writes Ms. Olohan. “‘If anything,’” he said, “‘it seems low.’” The percentage supporting “requiring doctors to provide medical care to infants who survive an abortion procedure” was 76%, with just 10% opposing. “‘The American people know,’” said Mr. Chapman, quoted by DCNF, “‘that providing health care to infants who survive an abortion is basic human decency.’”

Confused?

A REPORT SURFACED last week of “confusion,” notes Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews.com, in communication strategy at the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), one of the principal voices in the pro-abortion political cadre.

The report stemmed from an e-mail, notes Mr. Freiburger, which was published in Splinter, an Internet news outlet which fashions itself a source of “news coverage for a new America.” The e-mail was from a NARAL deputy director “warning” field staffers “not to say or write ‘Abortion should be/is safe and legal,’ ‘Abortion is health care,’ ‘Abortion is normal’ or ‘Abortion rights are human rights.’”

The NARAL staffer, reports Mr. Freiburger, “didn’t give a rationale but said the organization would be organizing staff training sessions to explain why ‘extensive poll and focus group testing of messaging to voters and the general public’ weighs against such terms.”

The LifeSiteNews story notes that NARAL itself has used such language in “tweets” and “Twitter ads” during the past month. One of the “tweets” quoted by the pro-life news service was of particular interest to us because of the gender-inclusive language used on July 29, shortly after Planned Parenthood’s board fired the outfit’s CEO in part, reportedly, because she refused to use language taking “women” out of their abortion messages. Though on July 13, NARAL “tweeted” “1 in 4 women will have an abortion in their lifetime,” according to LifeSiteNews, the July 29 NARAL tweet reads, “It doesn’t matter why someone chooses to have an abortion. It’s between them and their healthcare provider.” That phrase has always been “between the woman and her doctor” in the past.

Like Planned Parenthood’s board, NARAL is evidently backpedaling from their attempted appeal to women voters in their alliance with the more radical elements of the homosexual political movement. It will be interesting to see what gobbledegook NARAL’s communications theorists come up with to attempt to appeal to Americans while abandoning their own Madison Avenue pitches of the past 40-plus years.

‘Heartbeat’ Bill Filed Again

THE ‘HEARTBEAT’ BILL HAS BEEN FILED ANEW in the US House, this time by Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX), with Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) as the sole co-sponsor to date. HR-3985 has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee, where it joins its twin, a bill filed in January by Rep. Steve King (R-IA), whose intemperate comments on another issue have prompted his shunning by the House Majority Leadership. The King bill had 89 co-sponsors.

Both measures would prohibit abortion on a baby whose heartbeat can be detected, effectively banning the killing of babies who have gestated six to eight weeks.

The ‘Heartbeat’ bill “could be a potent issue going into next year’s elections,” writes Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews.com. “In April,” he writes, “pollster Scott Rasmussen released survey results finding that, upon being informed that a ‘fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy,’ 56% of registered voters support a Heartbeat Abortion Ban.”

In the Courts

• AN OUTFIT CALLING ITSELF THE ‘SATANIC TEMPLE’ has filed suit against Missouri’s informed consent law requiring a 72-hour waiting period for abortion customers to consider information about the medical risks entailed in abortion and about the human nature of preborn children. The lawsuit purports to represent the interests of an alleged “member,” reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews.com, “who was subjected to [the law’s] provisions while seeking an abortion. … The law’s affirmation of preborn life is a statement of fact backed by science,” states Mr. Freiburger, “but the [so-called] Temple claims it was actually ‘religious content,’ the requirement of which was deemed constitut[ing] ‘impermissible state adoption of a theory when life begins’ by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1989.” But Mr. Freiburger quotes Missouri’s then-Attorney General Chris Koster (D) noting in 2015, in response to another such lawsuit, “that the Temple could not ‘cite a single opinion from any state or federal court holding that a state’s expression of a value judgment about abortion constitutes an establishment of religion,’ and that the ‘8^th Circuit decision on which they rely was reversed by the Supreme Court 26 years ago.’”

• PLANNED PARENTHOOD & THE A.C.L.U. HAVE FILED SUIT to overturn Missouri’s new law, set to take effect this month, banning abortion after eight weeks. The law, according to Mary Margaret Olohan, reporting for The Daily Signal, “allows for abortions after eight weeks only in cases of medical emergency and does not make exceptions for rape or incest.” It also “prevents minors from obtaining an abortion without written parental consent,” reports Ms. Olohan, “and prevents doctors from performing abortions if they know the mother wants to terminate her pregnancy because her unborn child has Down syndrome.” Violations subject the abortionist to up to 15 years in prison. Upon passage of the new pro-life law in May, Gov. Mike Parson (R) told reporters, notes Ms. Olohan, “‘My administration will execute the laws the Legislature passes. … And this pro-life administration will not back down.’” He also issued a “tweet” at the time of the bill’s signing, quoted last week by Ms. Olohan, “‘By signing House Bill 126 …, we are sending a strong signal to the nation that, in Missouri, we stand for life, protect women’s health and advocate for the unborn. All life has value and is worth protecting.’” Planned Parenthood’s acting CEO, Alexis McGill Johnson, issued a statement upon filing the lawsuit, according to Ms. Olohan, citing CNN as source: “‘These dangerous and illegal bans put people’s health and lives at risk. … We will fight to ensure that every person can still access reproductive health care, no matter what.’” [Note the inclusive terms “people’s” and “person,” carrying through Planned Parenthood’s apparent new policy of separating abortion from the supposed interests of women.] According to Operation Rescue’s Cheryl Sullenger’s report on the lawsuit, the challenged law is Missouri’s version of the Heartbeat Abortion Ban and sets “prohibitions against abortions at eight weeks, 14 weeks, 18 weeks and 20 weeks. This was done as insurance,” she writes, “in the event a court struck down the earlier gestational limits,” so that “the later limits would stand.”

• THE FLORIDA 1^st DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS on Aug. 1 reversed a trial court’s ruling which struck down the state’s 24-hour abortion waiting period law. “Abortion advocates, with the help of the ACLU,” stated Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Denise Harle, commenting on the victory, “sought to strike down this commonsense protection for women, even though the US Supreme Court already upheld a similar law. The appeals court noted evidence from medical experts that the standard of care for significant, non-emergency medical procedures is that they are not and should not be done on a drop-in basis. The court also described evidence of the ‘mental health effects and negative outcomes’ – including suicide – associated with women who undergo abortions without adequate time to process the serious consequences and come to a place of certainty.”

Candidate Watch

• KENTUCKY’s PRO-LIFE GOV. MATT BEVIN (R) has “leveled a blistering critique,” writes Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews.com, “against Attorney Gen. and Democratic gubernatorial opponent Andy Beshear … for refusing to defend Kentucky’s pro-life laws in court, suggesting that [Mr.] Beshear was essentially bought off by the abortion industry.” The governor’s opponent, writes Mr. Freiburger, “identifies as ‘pro-choice.’” He has defended Kentucky’s ultrasound-offer law, notes Mr. Freiburger, “but has refused to do the same for stronger abortion restrictions.” The governor “intensified” his criticism of his opponent at a news conference Aug. 1, reported by the Lexington Herald-Leader. “‘This is a state where we value the sanctity of human life,’ [Gov.] Bevin said,” quoted by Mr. Freiburger citing the Herald-Leader as source. “‘It is the job of the attorney general to defend those laws, whether it’s a heartbeat law, dismemberment law, the eugenics bill, whatever they are.’”  Gov. Bevin went on to decry “maxed-out” political donations to his opponent from a couple who own the Louisville abortuary EMW Women’s Surgical Center. “‘Four days later, after they max out to him,’” charged Gov. Bevin in the LifeSiteNews/Herald-Leader report, “‘he removes himself from the lawsuit. These people are funding their very profitable abortion clinic by funding Andy Beshear’s campaign. … This is blood money, straight up,’ [Gov.] Bevin declared. ‘There’s no other term for it. This is the exact definition of it. They are using monies that they have earned from killing Kentuckians to fund a guy whose job it is to defend the laws of this state but refuses to do so.’” The LifeSiteNews report cites ratings by Cook Political Report and Inside Elections showing the 2019 Kentucky gubernatorial election is “a toss-up,” but LifeSiteNews reports political analyst Larry Sabato “maintains that the race still leans Republican. In June,” notes Mr. Freiburger, “a Gravis poll found [Gov.] Bevin leading [Mr.] Beshear by six points.”

There Is No ‘Safeguard’ in Abetting Suicide

Aug. 8, 2019, The Point commentary by John Stonestreet & David Carlson

            Supporters of assisted suicide always make the case for legalized killing by talking about “proper safeguards.” It’s a lie.

            We’ve seen it over and over. In Belgium and the Netherlands and even here in the United States, the merely depressed – not just the terminally ill – are being euthanized. Families pressuring medical staff to end Granny’s life. And, as one Nevada doctor reports, insurance companies denying palliative care, because death is cheaper.

            Now one of its only safeguards in the State of Oregon has been eliminated: the 15-day waiting period. That’s right; if a physician decides you have less than 15 days to live, you can end your life immediately.

            As one National Right to Life spokesperson told World magazine, “Unrestricted access is likely the assisted suicide advocate’s real goal.” Of course it is. Why else, for instance, would doctors and so-called “ethicists” in Canada call for the killing of minors and the mentally ill?

            Safeguards? Don’t buy it. And don’t let your legislator buy it either.

Standing for Truth & Justice

July 17, 2019, LifeSiteNews.com report by Martin M. Barillas

            A US National Day of Mourning is planned for late August to draw attention to the deaths of more than 20 million black lives snuffed out by abortion. The event will also draw attention to abortion giant Planned Parenthood’s targeting of black babies under what organizers of the event say is a “plan of extermination” called “The Negro Project.”

            These black lives do matter,” said Catherine Davis to LifeSiteNews. Davis is spearheading efforts by allied pro-life organizations Civil Rights for the Unborn, the Douglass Leadership Institute and the Restoration Project to host the Day of Mourning. Davis, the Christian founder of the Restoration Project, has been active in the pro-life movement for decades as a post-abortive woman. She has testified before Congress on the eugenic goals of Planned Parenthood to eliminate blacks. Among her projects is to ultimately charge Planned Parenthood with the crime of genocide, as defined by US federal statute.

            The Day of Mourning will begin with a procession in Richmond, Virginia, on Aug. 30 and will end on Aug. 31 in Birmingham, Alabama, with stops in Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia. Women joining the event are asked to wear white to mourn the loss of the lives of black babies. Men are asked to wear black. The Day of Mourning will end with a prayer rally.

            Noting the history of “skin-color politics” in Virginia, Davis said a particular concern is the planned construction of an abortion facility in Church Hill, a majority-black district in Richmond, the capital city. According to the National Day of Mourning website, Planned Parenthood referred to mortality rates for black infants and mothers in its 2012 statement of need that sought to justify spending $5 million on a 10,000-square-foot facility in the neighborhood. It is being built close to Mount Olivet Church, a majority-black congregation. Members of the congregation, Davis said, have demanded that the “facility” be moved elsewhere.

            In a 2018 interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia Planned Parenthood League CEO Paulette McElwain said that a new abortion facility will be built by this summer. She told the newspaper that Planned Parenthood is targeting Richmond’s East End because of its supposed “dearth of access to reproductive care.” The planned facility will have five more examination rooms than Planned Parenthood’s other location in the city.

            Davis’s website asserted that Planned Parenthood performed 37% of the abortions in Virginia in 2017, while 39% of those were performed on black women. According to the US Census, 19.39% of Virginians are black.

            The National Day of Mourning website states that Planned Parenthood is targeting black communities in: Richmond, Virginia; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Birmingham, Alabama. In Birmingham, for example, an abortion clinic is due to be built just blocks away from the 16^th Street Baptist Church, where Ku Klux Klan terrorists set a bomb that killed four little girls in 1963.

            Davis and the other organizers are asking for prayers for the success of the Day of Mourning.

            The website makes the following appeal: “Father, we ask that You would allow black women especially, and men and women around our nation, to have a burden to gather in mourning, peace, protest and solidarity for the National Day of Mourning processional.” It adds, “Thank You that men, women, churches and leaders will boldly stand and contend for Life as a declaration of agreement to protect the unborn.”