Life Advocacy Briefing

Iffy Schedule

JUST TO REITERATE what we first mentioned a few weeks ago: With Congress, the legislatures and even many courts out of session for now, and with even the political campaigns being somewhat muted by what we refuse to call “the new normal,” the editorial staff of Life Advocacy Briefing might take off a week here and there from publishing our weekly bulletin. Please do not worry about us; we are fine and are facing no challenge in continuing to carry out our mission of bringing you news you can use in the cause of Life – other than the dearth of such “news” these days. We do, of course, welcome your prayers for our health and strength and for our financial capacity, and we are grateful for those who have taken action to ensure our continued service.

WHO’s Kidding Whom?

WITH CONTROVERSY BUILDING around the seeming complicity of the World Health Organization (WHO) with the government of Communist China concerning all-things-COVID, the international outfit has added abortion to its own headaches.

In an April 4 statement to the Daily Caller, reports Mary Margaret Olohan in Pregnancy Help News, WHO said “that ‘services related to reproductive health are considered to be part of essential services during the COVID-19 outbreak.’”

In a dramatic demonstration of its own total lack of the perspective it is supposed to bring, WHO declared, quoted by Ms. Olohan, “‘Women’s choices and rights to sexual and reproductive health care should be respected, irrespective of whether or not she has a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection.’”

The objections raised against treating abortion as “essential” health care in this crisis have nothing to do with WHO’s distress that virus sufferers might be discriminated against in their pursuit of death for their children. Governors and attorneys general have defined elective abortion as “non-essential” during this health crisis, even if they customarily have to put up with the outrageous, 47-year-old edict of the Supreme Court opening America to the injustice of abortion on demand. They have included abortion in their shutdown orders in order to assure that their states’ healthcare resources are directed to the pandemic.

If WHO is to be accorded a scintilla of respect – which is doubtful anyway, in the wake of their partnership with the Red Chinese – this supposed “health” organization ought to recognize the competition for medical supplies during a pandemic, the drain on precious resources which the “elective procedures” ban are supposed to be alleviating, as well as the potential for virus spread in crowded waiting rooms which ought to be empty.

Who can respect such flagrant politicization of the pandemic which is gripping the world?

Perspective

AN OUTSTANDING LIFE ADVOCATE in Southeast Pennsylvania – Michael McMonagle of Pro-Life Development Project – sent us a chart which puts a fresh light on the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic; we believe it is worthy of your consideration. We are not seeking to diminish the pain being experienced by many families worldwide during this time; anyone’s death matters. We join Mike, though, in suggesting faith and societal repentance over fear.

Worldwide Deaths from Jan. 1 – March 25, 2020 – Source: www.worldometers.info

                21,297 – Deaths by Coronavirus (official count, not actual)
              113,034 – Deaths by Seasonal Flu
             228,095 – Deaths by Malaria
             249,904 – Deaths by Suicide
              313,903 – Deaths by Traffic Fatalities
             390,908 – Deaths by HIV/AIDS
              581,599 – Deaths by Alcohol
            1,162,481 – Deaths by Smoking
          1,909,804 – Deaths by Cancer
          2,382,324 – Deaths by Hunger
           9,913,702 – Deaths by Abortion

Pink Lady?

MICHIGAN GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D) HAS BEEN IN THE NEWS of late because of her draconian society-shutdown order in the age of COVID-19. It turns out the lady who okayed kayaking-but-not-motorboating is also an abortion ideolog.

Not only is she allowing lottery ticket sales and keeping marijuana shops open while shutting down even parking-lot purchases at garden centers in the dawn of spring, she is of course listing elective abortion as an “essential medical procedure” while suspending all other elective surgeries such as hip replacements.

In fact, she made news on a podcast with political maven David Axelrod on April 16, reported by Ed Morrissey for HotAir.com, when she declared in response to Mr. Axelrod’s question about the status of “‘abortion services’” in COVID-19 Michigan: “‘We stopped elective surgeries here in Michigan, and some people have tried to say that that type of a procedure is considered the same, and that’s ridiculous. You know, a woman’s health care, her whole future, her ability to decide if and when she starts a family is not an election, it is a fundamental to her life. It is life-sustaining,’” said this radical politician, “‘and it’s something that government should not be getting in the middle of.’”

But what can be expected from a politician who, in 2018, while seeking election to her term as governor, posted on the Internet, a photo of herself, notes Cheryl Sullenger in a report for Operation Rescue, “in a pink t-shirt and matching ballcap with white words emblazoned across it that read, ‘Planned Parenthood Makes America Great.’”

Exploiting the Crisis

THE ATTORNEYS GENERAL OF 21 STATES HAVE SOUGHT A WAIVER from the Dept. of Health & Human Services of certain Food & Drug Administration rules which require prescribers of the RU-486 abortion drug to register with the FDA’s safety program. The allegedly “‘onerous and medically unnecessary’” FDA rules also require abortion pill prescribers, reports Nancy Flanders for Live Action, “to tell patients about the possible side effects of mifepristone and hand the patient mifepristone at the facility.”

The overture, led by radical California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra (D), is an effort to expand the availability of telemed abortion nationwide as part of the expanding implementation of telemedicine during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Telemedicine is a remote, computer-driven method of “patient” interviews which does not require actual examination of a medical patient. The abortion cartel has been attempting to cut the costs and expand the marketing of the abortion drug through telemedicine for the past several years but has met strong opposition from many state legislatures, beginning with Iowa’s.

“For years, the abortion industry has claimed that women doing their own abortions would be dangerous,” notes Ms. Flanders. “Suddenly their tune has changed, since DIY abortion by pill has become a revenue stream for abortion businesses, while they absorb none of the risk.

“Why are the FDA’s safety requirements needed?” asks Ms. Flanders. “Because without having an ultrasound prior to taking the abortion pill, an abortionist is unable to properly date the pregnancy. The abortion pill is meant to be taken only during the first 10 weeks. After that, the risk of complications increases, and there is a higher chance the abortion will fail. In addition, if a woman with an ectopic pregnancy is prescribed the abortion pill, she is at an increased risk of hemorrhaging and dying. Without an ultrasound,” she notes, “there is no way an abortionist can determine if a woman is experiencing an ectopic pregnancy. …

“‘The radical abortion lobby,’” said Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) president Marjorie Dannenfelser, quoted by Ms. Flanders, “‘is shamelessly exploiting the fears of women and families during this national crisis to promote a dramatic expansion of chemical abortion, just when protective FDA regulation of these dangerous drugs is needed most.’”

Good News from the 9th Circuit

THE THOMAS MORE SOCIETY pro-life/pro-bono law firm, based in Chicago, has issued a news release reporting on an appellate court ruling which was partially favorable to pro-life investigative journalist David Daleiden. The case stems from Mr. Daleiden’s request for documents related to the University of Washington’s involvement in fetal tissue research, a case which is less well known than the California civil and criminal prosecutions of Mr. Daleiden and his Center for Medical Progress.

We publish the Thomas More Society news release below as a good original-source report on the recent ruling of the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Readers who wish to contribute to the defense of Mr. Daleiden in his expose of the abortion industry’s fetal tissue trafficking scandal may contact TMS at 309 W. Washington St. # 1250, Chicago, IL 60606 or may donate online at https://secure.anedot.com/thomasmoresociety/donatenow.

A Victory for David Daleiden

March 31, 2020, news release from Thomas More Society

            The US Court of Appeals for the 9^th Circuit reversed in part a District Court ruling that had blanket-concealed identifying information in public documents relating to the University of Washington’s purchase, processing and sale of organs and tissue from aborted human fetuses. The court battle began when investigative journalist David Daleiden requested documents from the school’s taxpayer-funded Birth Defects Research Laboratory about trafficking in aborted fetal parts and organs.

            The public information request was met with a lawsuit from staff of Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics, along with researchers and others, to force heavy redaction of these government documents.

            Peter Breen, vice president and senior counsel at the Thomas More Society, observed, “Facilitating fetal tissue buying and selling is in no way an expressive activity nor is it protected under the First Amendment.”

            Breen added that the State of Washington Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the First Amendment cannot be used to shield public records from disclosure. He noted that issuing and discussing purchase orders and invoices is not a protected activity and that, even if it were, there are no research findings in the documents, nor does the lawsuit seek to redact any research findings. Breen also explained that the lawsuit is not seeking to obtain names or other personal identification, merely that job titles and assigned roles remain open for inspection by the media and the public.

            The case was heard by the same three-judge panel who previously remanded it back to a lower court for review. Of the decision that three of the involved research workers connected to the taxpayer-funded program were not entitled to privacy, Breen said, “We were glad to see the order was vacated in part. And we are heartened that the 9^th Circuit ruled that there must be an expressly demonstrated, particularized and personal link between the individual trying to cloak public documents and a recognized First Amendment activity.”

            Of particular concern in this case, Breen explained, is the fact that the workers who sought to hide their identities are in taxpayer-funded jobs: “First Amendment privacy has never been used to cloak government workers on government time. Controversy is reason for sunlight, not for cloaking government activity.”

Putting Self First, Always

April 14, 2020, Washington Update commentary by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins

            It’s the very emergency that governors like Greg Abbott (R-TX) have been trying to avoid. While hospitals burst at the seams with virus patients, the last thing first responders need is to be called to the scene of a completely avoidable tragedy. And yet, that’s exactly what happened two Saturdays ago, thanks to an overflowing abortion clinic in Illinois that was racing through procedures so fast that it botched one.

            It was one of the rare places [in] the state – and maybe the country – where the parking lot was completely full. The Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City had “packed them in like sardines,” one pro-lifer said, noticing there wasn’t a single parking spot left in the whole place. But for at least one patient, the booming business took a horrible turn when an ambulance pulled in, loaded her onto a gurney and sped away to a nearby hospital.

            This is exactly the scenario state leaders were worried about. Not only are packed waiting rooms a breeding ground for the virus, but abortion clinics aren’t exactly bastions of health and safety. And when the procedures go wrong (as they often do), these women end up in hospitals that are already overwhelmed. For Gov. Abbott, John Bel Edwards (D-LA) and others, the whole point behind banning non-essential medical procedures was to spare the country from dilemmas like this one that take up beds we should be using for the current crisis.

            None of that seems to matter to groups like Planned Parenthood, who are suing in states like Texas to keep their killing offices open – no matter the cost to their health, their patients’ health or society’s at large. If a single choir practice, where singers were practicing social distancing and hand-sanitizing, could infect 75%, just imagine the outbreak when moms are jammed into clinics that have been exposed to dozens of people a day.

            It’s such a serious threat to public health that in Louisiana, Gov. Edwards actually launched an investigation to see who’s violating the non-essential order. Headed up by state Attorney Gen. Jeff Landry, he’s sent teams to three abortion clinics to follow up on complaints that these businesses are defying the order and ending pregnancies anyway. These violators, Landry explained, “not only put patients and staff at risk, they also divert much-need [equipment] away from the brave medical professionals currently treating Louisiana’s coronavirus patients.”

            Our supply chain, he pointed out, “has been affected by this global pandemic. And, of course, the responsible thing is [to do like a lot of other doctors’ offices have done and] donate their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to nearby hospitals to make sure they have enough to deal with COVID-19.” Dentists seems to understand this, Landry shook his head. Others do too. But “for some reason, the abortion industry believes they’re above the law. That they’re in a different class of health care than everyone else. And you know, it’s really disappointing.”

            In places like Baton Rouge and New Orleans, eyewitnesses have reported a lot of traffic in and out of abortion clinics. That’s problematic, Landry argued. “What we want to do is ensure that, again, all healthcare clinics don’t create a superhighway that is conducive for communicable diseases. …”

            His team is making the same argument in court, where abortion groups have sued to overturn bans on non-essential procedures in states like Texas and Oklahoma. “Health care,” Landry insisted, “is part of the policing power of the state.” There should be no special treatment for abortion, Alliance Defending Freedom president Mike Farris agreed. “The normal rules of law are supposed to apply to everybody equally. And the 5^th Circuit did a great job of saying, ‘No, the governor is within his prerogatives here and is treating you equally … .’”

            The 10^th Circuit Court disagreed, reversing Oklahoma’s hold on abortion and creating a split in appeals that could force the Supreme Court to weigh in. If they do, there’s a big chance the abortion industry won’t like it. The last thing they want is for the Justices to rule that abortion isn’t an essential medical procedure – a decision that could haunt them on every case moving forward. “They’re taking a pretty big risk for a very short period of time,” Mike [Farris]agreed. But unfortunately, the risk isn’t just to them. As long as they keep operating, it’s to everyone.”

Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: The “risk” is absolute for the little victims of the killing cartel.