Life Advocacy Briefing

June 29, 2020

200th Trump Judge Confirmed / High Court Ruling Pending
The Great Divide? / Stateside / Confused?
Life-Related Plank of 2016 G.O.P. National Platform
A Staggering Abortion Toll / Senate Voting Records

200th Trump Judge Confirmed

THE SENATE LAST THURSDAY CONFIRMED Cory Wilson as Circuit Judge to serve in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans. The vote to invoke cloture was 51-43 and to confirm was 52 to 48, giving President Trump his 200th successful judicial confirmation.

Judge Wilson is considered a controversial appointee based on his background as a vocal state legislator in Mississippi. Among the objections raised by Nan Aron of the leftwing Alliance for Justice is this statement: “Wilson supports overturning Roe v. Wade and has advocated for passage of anti-abortion legislation, including “heartbeat bills” and “fetal pain bills.”

We publish the voting records on cloture (bringing the nomination forward) and on confirmation at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

 

High Court Ruling Pending

THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IS EXPECTED TO RULE any day now on June Medical Services v. Russo, a challenge by an abortuary outfit to Louisiana’s law requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the killing chamber.

The Louisiana law is intended, notes Nancy Flanders for Live Action, to “ensur[e] that any woman injured during an abortion can receive proper continuity of care at a hospital within 30 miles. … All surgeons in the state’s outpatient surgical centers are required to have such admitting privileges,” notes Ms. Flanders. Not just abortionists. “Yet the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights, the Hope Medical Group for Women and two abortionists sued the state over the law – and won. Now it has reached the Supreme Court,” writes Ms. Flanders, “and the decision could change the abortion landscape.”

The Live Action writer quotes a group called Secular Pro-Life, which, she reports, “explained that many abortion businesses use ‘[literal] fly-by-night abortionists, who come into town for abortions, fly back to their homes out of state and leave the local ER to deal with any complications that arise.’”

An amicus curiae brief filed with the Supreme Court outlines an example of the dangers which the statute seeks to avert. “One woman who sought an abortion in Louisiana from Dr. David Lee Golden,” writes Ms. Flanders, “discussed how she was abandoned by staff and had to take herself to the ER.” Quoting the amicus brief: “‘[Golden] callously abandoned a woman named Audrey D. when she experienced excruciating pain following a surgical abortion. “He told her he had to go somewhere” but “did not return,” so he had “the nurses give her some Tylenol” and instruct her to “go home and lie down.” … Dr. Golden suspected that “the fetal skull remained in the uterus,” yet he “released her without performing an additional pelvic examination,” … or telling her that “he suspected the abortion to be incomplete.”’” Such an error could endanger the abortive mother’s life.

Ms. Flanders adds a further caution: “Abortion businesses in Louisiana have admitted they don’t run background checks on abortionists. Leroy Brinkley, the president of two of Louisiana’s three existing abortion facilities – Delta Clinic in Baton Rouge and Women’s Healthcare Clinic in New Orleans – testified, ‘If they have a license and the state gave the license, it’s not for me to determine if they are capable.’ The director at June Medical – at the center of the current Supreme Court case – said he doesn’t perform background checks or even look into a doctor’s previous training. This lack of concern for patients’ wellbeing,” writes Ms. Flanders, “allowed Louisiana abortion facilities to hire an ophthalmologist (eye doctor) and a radiologist to commit abortions on patients.” Let us pray.

 

The Great Divide?

ONE OF OUR READERS ASKED US THIS WEEK for a reminder of the Life-related platform statements of the respective major parties, as they stand now. Though party platforms will be refigured at the national conventions this summer, a reminder of the standing platforms from 2016 could be of interest, especially because national platforms are frequently based in part on the documents they are replacing. We publish the Life-related segments of the Republican Platform from 2016 near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing and expect to publish the Democratic Party’s 2016 Platform planks on Life-related issues in our next edition. As candidates are guided – though not bound – by such documents, we hope our readers find these reminders of interest.

 

Stateside

  • THE TENNESSEE LEGISLATURE has passed a comprehensive pro-life bill, which disallows abortions on babies whose heartbeats can be detected (as early as six weeks’ gestation), bars sex-or-race-based abortions, abortions disposing of unborn babies motivated by a Down syndrome diagnosis, and removal of a judicial bypass of the state’s parental involvement law when a pregnant minor is in state custody. The legislation also requires abortuaries to post signs in the waiting room and in “patient rooms,” reports Natalie Allison for the Nashville Tennesseean, “informing people that it may be possible to reverse a chemical abortion;” the sign-posting provision includes a potential $10,000 fine for failing to post the pill-reversal option. The bill, which is expected to be signed by Gov. Bill Lee (R), also provides, notes Ms. Allison, “The physician must … determine and inform the mother of the gestational age of the fetus; allow the woman to hear the fetal heartbeat and explain the location of the unborn child within the uterus; conduct an ultrasound and display the images to the mother; [and] provide an explanation of the fetus’s dimensions and which external body parts and internal organs are present and visible.” Protested Democrat Sen. Brenda Gilmore of Nashville, quoted by Ms. Allison, “‘But poor mothers, we’re going to be pushing them into the alleys like it was years and years ago and still endangering them.’” Sure.

  • IOWA LAWMAKERS have sent a 24-hour-waiting-period bill to the desk of Gov. Kim Reynolds (R). The House passed the bill 53 to 42 late on a Saturday night, according to a DesMoines Register report by Stephen Gruber-Miller and Ian Richardson, and the State Senate passed it 31 to 16 the next morning at 5:30 a.m. “as lawmakers rushed to adjourn the legislative session. … A news release sent by Reynolds’ office after the session adjourned,” reports the Register, “listed the passage of the bill as a key legislative priority. The bill says,” report Messrs. Gruber-Miller and Richardson, “a woman could not have an abortion for at least 24 hours after an initial appointment. At that appointment, the woman would have to be given the opportunity to view an ultrasound scan of the fetus and information about abortion and other options, including adoption.”

  • MISSISSIPPI’s LEGISLATURE has sent to GOP Gov. Tate Reeves a bill banning abortion, reports Emily Wagster Pettus for Associated Press, “based on the race, sex or genetic anomalies of a fetus. … The state House voted 91 to 25 [last] Tuesday,” reports AP, “to pass the final version of the bill, which cleared the Senate by a wide margin” the previous week. “Supporters,” writes Ms. Pettus, “said the bill would prevent abortion for Down syndrome or other conditions. Opponents said it would interfere with private medical decisions in a state with one abortion clinic.” Violations could be punished by imprisonment up to 10 years.

  • THE CITY OF AUSTIN, capital of Texas, has found a loophole in the state law barring cities from funding abortionists. The city council June 11 “unanimously approved a $150,000 contract for Jane’s Due Process,” reports Daniel Friend in The Texan, “an organization that assists pregnant minors in obtaining abortions. The funding,” he writes, “is ‘to provide logistical support services for abortion access, for a term of one year.’”

 

Confused?

Note from June 22, 2020, End-of-Day Memo from Reagan domestic policy chief Gary Bauer

            Over the weekend, Joe Biden wrote that climate change was endangering unborn babies in the womb. No word on whether he dropped by Planned Parenthood after issuing that statement to pick up another check for his campaign.

 

Life-Related Plank of 2016 G.O.P. National Platform

            The Fifth Amendment: Protecting Human Life. The Constitution’s guarantee that no one can be deprived of life, liberty or property deliberately echoes the Declaration of Independence’s proclamation that “all are endowed by their Creator” with the inalienable right to life. Accordingly, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed.

            We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the 14th Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth.

            We oppose the use of public funds to perform or promote abortion or to fund organizations, like Planned Parenthood, so long as they provide or refer for elective abortions or sell fetal baby parts rather than provide health care.

            We urge all states and Congress to make it a crime to acquire, transfer or sell fetal tissues from elective abortions for research, and we call on Congress to enact a ban on any sale of fetal body parts. In the meantime, we call on Congress to ban the practice of misleading women on so-called fetal harvesting consent forms, a fact revealed by a 2015 investigation.

            We will not fund or subsidize health care that includes abortion coverage.

            We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.

            We oppose the non-consensual withholding or withdrawal of care or treatment including food and water, from individuals with disabilities, newborns, the elderly or the infirm, just as we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide.

            We affirm our moral obligation to assist, rather than penalize, women who face an unplanned pregnancy. In order to encourage women who face an unplanned pregnancy to choose life, we support legislation that requires financial responsibility for the child be equally borne by both the mother and father upon conception until the child reaches adulthood. Failure to require a father to be equally responsible for a child places an inequitable burden on the mother, creating a financial and social hardship on both mother and child. We celebrate the millions of Americans who open their hearts, homes and churches to mothers in need and women fleeing abuse. We thank and encourage providers of counseling, medical services and adoption assistance for empowering women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy to choose life. We support funding for ultrasounds and adoption assistance.

            We salute the many states that now protect women and girls through laws requiring informed consent, parental consent, waiting periods and clinic regulation. We condemn the Supreme Court’s activist decision in Whole Women’s Health vs. Hellerstedt striking down commonsense Texas laws providing for basic health and safety standards in abortion clinics.

            We applaud the US House of Representatives for leading the effort to add enforcement to the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act by passing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which imposes appropriate civil and criminal penalties on healthcare providers who fail to provide treatment and care to an infant who survives an abortion, including early induction delivery whether the death of the infant is intended. We strongly oppose infanticide.

            Over a dozen states have passed Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Acts prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks, the point at which current medical research shows that unborn babies can feel excruciating pain during abortions, and we call on Congress to enact the federal version. Not only is it good legislation, but it enjoys the support of a majority of the American people.

            We support state and federal efforts against the cruelest forms of abortion, especially dismemberment abortion procedures, in which unborn babies are literally torn apart limb from limb.

            We call on Congress to ban sex-selection abortions and abortions based on disabilities – discrimination in its most lethal form.

            We oppose embryonic stemcell research. We oppose federal funding of embryonic stemcell research. We support adult stemcell research and urge the restoration of the national placental stemcell bank created by Pres. George H.W. Bush but abolished by his Democrat successor Pres. Bill Clinton. We oppose federal funding for harvesting embryos and call for a ban on human cloning.

            The Democratic Party is extreme on abortion. Democrats’ almost limitless support for abortion, and their strident opposition to even the most basic restrictions on abortion, put them dramatically out of step with the American people. Because of their opposition to simple abortion clinic safety procedures, support for taxpayer-funded abortion and rejection of pregnancy resource centers that provide abortion alternatives, the old Clinton mantra of “safe, legal and rare” has been reduced to just “legal.”

            We are proud to be the party that protects human life and offers real solutions for women.

 

A Staggering Abortion Toll

Report from June 27, 2020, World magazine, posted online June 11

            61,628,584 – The total number of abortions in the United States between 1973 – when the US Supreme Court forced states to legalize abortion – and 2017, according to a calculation by National Right to Life using data from the Guttmacher Institute. While the number of abortions per year has been dropping fairly steadily since peaking at over 1.6 million in 1990, the death toll still reaches several hundred thousand every year. National Right to Life noted that the share of chemical abortions rose from 16.4% of all abortions in 2008 to 39.4% in 2017.

            1,608,600 – The number of reported abortions in the United States in 1990, according to National Right to Life (using data from the Guttmacher Institute). That year saw the highest number of abortions since the 1973 Roe decision. The number of abortions had been 744,610 in 1973.

            1,312,990 – The number of reported abortions in the United States in 2000.

            1,102,670 – The number of reported abortions in the United States in 2010.

            899,500 – The number of reported abortions in the United States in 2015.

            862,320 – The number of reported abortions in the United States in 2017, a decline of almost 50% since 1990.

[Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: We received this note from a Christian missionary, pertinent to the listing above: “As many as have perished as the result of the Covid pandemic, it doesn’t come close to the number of innocent babies aborted!”]

 

Senate Voting Records

Cloture motion to close debate on nomination of Cory Wilson to 5th Circuit Court of Appeals – June 22, 2020 – Adopted 51-43 (Democrats in italics; “Independent” marked “I”)

Voting “yes” / pro-life: Shelby/AL; Sullivan/AK; McSally/AZ; Boozman & Cotton/AR; Gardner/CO; Rubio & Scott/FL; Loeffler & Perdue/GA; Crapo & Risch/ID; Braun & Young/IN; Ernst & Grassley/IA; Moran & Roberts/KS; McConnell & Paul/KY; Cassidy & Kennedy/LA; Hyde-Smith & Wicker/MS; Blunt & Hawley/MO; Daines/MT; Fischer & Sasse/NE; Burr & Tillis/NC; Cramer & Hoeven/ND; Portman/OH; Inhofe & Lankford/OK; Toomey/PA; Graham & Scott/SC; Rounds & Thune/SD; Alexander & Blackburn/TN; Cornyn & Cruz/TX; Lee & Romney/UT; Capito/WV; Johnson/WI; Barrasso & Enzi/WY.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Jones/AL; Feinstein & Harris/CA; Bennet/CO; Blumenthal & Murphy/CT; Carper & Coons/DE; Hirono & Schatz/HI; Duckworth & Durbin/IL; Collins & King(I)/ME; Cardin & VanHollen/MD; Markey & Warren/MA; Peters & Stabenow/MI; Klobuchar & Smith/MN; Tester/MT; Cortez-Masto & Rosen/NV; Hassan & Shaheen/NH; Booker & Menendez/NJ; Udall/NM; Gillibrand & Schumer/NY; Brown/OH; Wyden/OR; Casey/PA; Reed & Whitehouse/RI; Leahy/VT; Kaine & Warner/VA; Cantwell/WA; Manchin/WV; Baldwin/WI.

Not voting: Sinema/AZ; Heinrich/NM; Merkley/OR; Sanders/VT; Murray/WA.

Confirmation of Cory Wilson to 5th Circuit Court of Appeals – June 24, 2020 – Confirmed 52-48 (Democrats in italics; “Independent” marked “I”)

Voting “yes” / pro-life: Shelby/AL; Murkowski & Sullivan/AK; McSally/AZ; Boozman & Cotton/AR; Gardner/CO; Rubio & Scott/FL; Loeffler & Perdue/GA; Crapo & Risch/ID; Braun & Young/IN; Ernst & Grassley/IA; Moran & Roberts/KS; McConnell & Paul/KY; Cassidy & Kennedy/LA; Hyde-Smith & Wicker/MS; Blunt & Hawley/MO; Daines/MT; Fischer & Sasse/NE; Burr & Tillis/NC; Cramer & Hoeven/ND; Portman/OH; Inhofe & Lankford/OK; Toomey/PA; Graham & Scott/SC; Rounds & Thune/SD; Alexander & Blackburn/TN; Cornyn & Cruz/TX; Lee & Romney/UT; Capito/WV; Johnson/WI; Barrasso & Enzi/WY.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Jones/AL; Sinema/AZ; Feinstein & Harris/CA; Bennet/CO; Blumenthal & Murphy/CT; Carper & Coons/DE; Hirono & Schatz/HI; Duckworth & Durbin/IL; Collins & King(I)/ME; Cardin & VanHollen/MD; Markey & Warren/MA; Peters & Stabenow/MI; Klobuchar & Smith/MN; Tester/MT; Cortez-Masto & Rosen/NV; Hassan & Shaheen/NH; Booker & Menendez/NJ; Udall & Heinrich/NM; Gillibrand & Schumer/NY; Brown/OH; Merkley & Wyden/OR; Casey/PA; Reed & Whitehouse/RI; Leahy & Sanders/VT; Kaine & Warner/VA; Cantwell & Murray/WA; Manchin/WV; Baldwin/WI.