Life Advocacy Briefing

Chalk Up Another Win!

AS REPORTS CONTINUE TO COME IN compiling more pro-life/GOP victories in close US House contests, we welcome today the certification last Monday of the winner in Iowa’s 2^nd District, where Mariannette Miller-Meeks has edged Rep. Dave Loebsack’s presumed Democratic successor, Rita Hart, by an official margin of six votes.

Rep.-elect Miller-Meeks is the 18^th new lady Member backed for election by the increasingly powerful pro-life PAC, Susan B. Anthony List, joining 11 pro-life GOP lady Members who were re-elected in November.

What is more, she is a pro-life physician and a colonel in the US Army Reserves. A battle-hardened veteran in the political sense, she had challenged Rep. Loebsack unsuccessfully three times in 2010, 2012 and 2014, according to LifeSiteNews.com reporter Patrick Delaney. We look forward to her leadership for the cause of Life.

Get Ready

IN THE EVENT THAT JOE BIDEN BECOMES PRESIDENT IN JANUARY, his Administration will likely represent a 180-turn from the pro-life policies of the past four years.

“Documents allegedly leaked from the Glover Park Group, which is said to be working with the Biden campaign,” reports Cassy Fiano-Chesser for Live Action, “outline what his priorities will likely be. They include a number of policy issues, including climate change, immigration and the Covid-19 pandemic, but also included,” she writes, “is a plan to ‘reverse Trump actions on abortion and reproductive health care.’

“These claims are echoed in reports from the Washington Post and the Associated Press,” she notes. “‘Biden supports abortion rights and has said he will nominate federal judges who would uphold Roe v. Wade,’ the AP reported. ‘He will rescind Trump’s family planning rule, which has prompted many clinics to leave the federal Title X program that provides birth control and basic medical care for low-income women. In a switch from his previous stance,’” AP reports, quoted by Mrs. Fiano-Chesser, “‘Biden now says he supports “repeal” of the Hyde Amendment, opening the way for federal programs such as Medicaid to pay for abortions.’

“Biden has additionally vowed,” reports Live Action, “to make Roe v. Wade ‘the law of the land.’”

Brace Yourself

PRO-LIFE CITIZENS NEED TO BE DEEPLY CONCERNED by revelations from the Biden camp regarding personnel who are being slated for significant policy positions in a presumptive new Administration. Of particular interest right now – particularly in view of the power and policies Americans have already seen flowing from such an entity – is the Covid-19 advisory board the supposed new President plans to enlist for America’s response to the pandemic.

Named already to co-chair such an entity is David Kessler, who tragically headed the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for six years of the Clinton regime in the 1990s. It was under Mr. Kessler that the FDA rushed approval for marketing of the French abortion drug, RU-486, in the US, and Mr. Kessler was instrumental, according to Live Action’s Carole Novielli, in transferring US marketing of the drug from its controversial European developers “to the eugenics-founded Population Council,” whose sub-licensee Danco Laboratories ultimately took over distribution here.  Mr. Kessler’s role was so pivotal in releasing the deadly drug across America that he, notes Ms. Novielli, “was given a lifetime achievement award by NARAL Pro-Choice America” early in 2005. He has continued his association with the abortion industry, “listed by NARAL,” writes Ms. Novielli, “as one of its ‘Choice Sponsors’ for a 2019 luncheon,” and addressing a NARAL fundraising luncheon in California in 2006. “In 2017,” notes Live Action, “the abortion pill accounted for approximately 40% of US abortions reported to the Guttmacher Institute.”

And then there is another disturbing name on the Covid-19 Biden Advisory Panel roster: notorious healthcare-rationing advocate Ezekiel Emanuel. The so-called medical ethicist, according to Live Action’s Nancy Flanders, “co-authored ‘Principles for allocation of scarce medical interventions,’ in which he makes the case for The Complete Lives System. This system of ‘allocating health care’ … favors ‘younger people who have not yet lived a complete life … .’ He wrote,” reports Ms. Flanders, “that this system ‘also supports modifying the youngest-first principle by prioritizing adolescents and young adults over infants.’” Thus, he is an equal-opportunity discriminator – putting both the youngest and the oldest of Americans last in line for medical care. Currently, notes Ms. Flanders, “the plan for the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine when it becomes available will prioritize healthcare workers, people with pre-existing conditions and older people, especially those living in nursing homes. This is the opposite of how The Complete Lives System works,” she warns. “Given Emanuel’s writings supporting this system, it is disturbing to consider that he may be in a position to advocate for the current plan to be altered, putting the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions at the bottom of the list.” We could go on for pages about the frightening prospect of Ezekiel Emanuel occupying any position of influence in a Biden Administration – let alone as a member of a Covid-19 Advisory Panel. Those readers who wish to look more deeply into his record and publicly revealed beliefs are advised to check out the Flanders report at https://www.liveaction.org/news/ezekiel-emanuel-rationed-health-care-biden-covid.

Dismemberment Abortion Ban Takes Effect in Nebraska

A DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION BAN IS NOW LAW in Nebraska. Passed by the legislature earlier this year, it has now taken effect without legal challenge.

Dismemberment abortion, carried out via a procedure called “dilation and evacuation” is, notes Cassy Fiano-Chesser for Live Action, “a violent procedure that takes several days to complete and results in the dismemberment of a child who is often still alive.” It is by far the most common method of child-killing used on babies who have passed their first three months of gestation.

The description of the method is disturbing, and those who expose it in order to inform the uninitiated are advised to warn listeners that what they are about to hear is painful to consider but far more painful for the victim targeted for death. Here is the description, quoted from Mrs. Fiano-Chesser and, according to other reports Life Advocacy Briefing has read, painfully accurate:

“On the first day, the abortionist inserts laminaria into the mother’s cervix to begin dilation. After one to two days, the abortionist uses a speculum to open her cervix further and vacuums amniotic fluid from the mother’s uterus. The abortionists then uses an instrument with sharp “teeth,” called a sopher clamp, to literally rip the preborn baby limb from limb. The final part of the procedure is finding and crushing the baby’s head. This procedure is committed in the second trimester, after the preborn baby can almost certainly feel pain.” [The unfamiliar term “speculum” is defined in dictionary.com as “an instrument for rendering a part accessible to observation, as by enlarging an orifice.”]

Appellate Court OKs States’ Disqualification of Planned Parenthood

THE 5^th CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS UPHELD, late last month, upheld the power of Texas and Louisiana to disqualify Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding. The ruling overturned a preliminary injunction which had barred the two states’ duly adopted policy.

5^th Circuit Chief Judge Priscilla Owen wrote the opinion for the 11-to-5 majority, declaring, “Medicaid beneficiaries have an ‘absolute right’ … to receive services from a provider whom the state has determined is ‘qualified,’ but beneficiaries have no right under the statute to challenge a state’s determination that a provider is unqualified.”

And in Texas and Louisiana, Planned Parenthood is unqualified to serve as a Medicaid provider. The ruling also applies to Mississippi, because that state, too, is within the 5^th Appellate Circuit.

Louisiana was the first state to disqualify Planned Parenthood; Texas did so in 2016 after release of videos by the Center for Medical Progress, which documented the abortion behemoth’s involvement in trafficking of fetal tissue.

‘Stay in the Fight’

Excerpts from Nov. 14, 2020, address by Vice Pres. Mike Pence to the Council for National Policy

            … We all remember, in the last Administration, the Little Sisters of the Poor being hauled into federal court, demanding them to compromise their Catholic faith under the strictures of ObamaCare. We – we saw doctors and nurses’ conscience rights compromised. And two years earlier, when Judge Barrett was going through her confirmation process [for her appointment to the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals], we – we saw that same religious intolerance writ large, didn’t we – where the Democratic leader on the Judiciary Committee actually expressed concern about Judge Barrett’s sincere Catholic faith, saying, and I quote, “The dogma lives loudly within you.”

            Well, I made a point as we traveled around the country this last fall, before crowds large and small, to say to the Democrats in Washington and all their Hollywood friends: That dogma lives loudly in me. That dogma lives loudly in you. And the right to live and worship according to the dictates of our faith lives loudly in the Constitution of the United States of America.

            So the legacy of those judicial appointments – men and women – is going to, going to help secure the foundation of those liberties – those God-given liberties that are enshrined in our Constitution and our founding documents. And it’s something of which we should all be incredibly proud, but it’s also why we fight for every single vote for four more years, because the stakes are so high.

            But never higher – never higher than the progress that we’ve made in one last category. You know, we’ve rebuilt our military, we revived our economy, we stood for law and order and our ideals. But I have to tell you, for the last four years, I couldn’t be more proud to serve alongside a President who has stood without apology for the sanctity of human life. …

            And it’s been all along the way, I have to tell you. We were in office a couple of days when the President reinstituted the Mexico City Policy, banning taxpayer funding from being used to promote abortion anywhere around the world, and then he actually expanded it within a year.

            And I’ll never forget, in our first month in office, when the March for Life came along, the President was – was actually hosting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom that day, so he wasn’t going to be able to participate. I remember standing beside the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, and the President said, “Oh, so I’m not going to be able to do it. Can we just send them a message or something?” And I – you know, I was still getting my legs under me. And I said, “Well,” I said, “You know, they, they invited me too.” And the President looked up at me from the desk. He said, “They invited you to the March for Life?” And I said, “Yeah.” And he said, “Do you want to go?” And I said, “Well, I mean, our family has gone for years when I was in Congress. I mean, we’d bundle the kids, and we’d go down to the National Mall.” And he said, “Well, you should definitely go.” And I got to be the first Vice President in American history to ever address the March for Life in person. And one year later, President Donald Trump did it himself. Isn’t that great? …

            You know, I’ve been President of the Senate the last four years. I don’t know if that impresses you at all. But … I don’t know if I had a greater honor – I got to cast the tiebreaking vote in about 15 different bills. But I never had a greater honor than the day I got to cast the tiebreaking vote on a bill that allowed every state in America to defund Planned Parenthood. And President Trump signed it into law. President Trump is the most pro-life President in American history. That is why we fight. …

            Right after the election night was over, somebody sent me a quote from Corrie tenBoom: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to known God.” I don’t know what the future holds. But like all of you, I know Who holds the future.

            And so, stay in the fight. Stay in the fight and have faith. …

Stunning Reality

­Dec. 2, 2020, Washington Update commentary by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins

            No one could have predicted the twists and turns of this election, but Donald Trump was certainly right about one thing: his deeply religious base was going to rewrite the record books. Back in January, talking to a group of evangelicals, he predicated that as high as their turnout was in 2016, Christian conservatives would “blow those numbers away in 2020.” And boy, did they.

            Four years ago, researcher George Barna would be the first to tell you that he never thought he’d see a stronger statistic. SAGE Cons, those Americans he carefully segments out as spiritually-active, governance-engaged conservatives, nearly maxed out their turnouts at the polls. Ninety-one percent of them, driven by their dislike of Hillary Clinton, showed up to vote – shattering ever record ever set. “We thought, ‘Well, we’re never going to see that again in our lifetimes,” George remembers. “You really can’t get much higher [turnout] than that.”

            He was wrong – and couldn’t be happier about it. This election, these voters showed up in “staggering, mind-blowing” numbers. A whopping 99% of SAGE Cons turned out to vote. No one else, George explains, even came close.

            They cast 23 million votes – that’s a third of the President’s total. And what makes that so impressive, Barna explained on Washington Watch, is that they only make up 9% of the population! And yet, this 9% of motivated Christians accounted for 14% of the vote! Talk about impact.

            “It’s pretty astonishing,” he said in amazement. “When you look at, ‘Where did [Trump] get his vote?’ ‘Where did he get his support from?’ This is – without a doubt, without any qualifications – the most enthusiastic and united group of votes he received from the 80 different segments of the population that we studied.” And that includes Democrats, Republicans, women, liberals, blacks, conservatives – no other voting bloc has rallied behind a candidate with so much solidarity. “I think we’re pretty much seeing the ceiling,” Barna marveled, “of what any particular voting segment could ever achieve.”

            So what drove them in such high numbers to vote? When George surveyed them, he found that the biggest motivation was the track record of Pres. Trump. “You have to remember back [in] 2016, the SAGE Cons who voted for him in huge numbers were essentially voting against Hillary Clinton. In 2020, they were voting for Pres. Trump because of what he’s done over the last four years.” But, Barna pointed out, a close second was “his position on various social issues that matter to them, as well as his positions on several fiscal and economic issues.” Several of them told George, “I never thought that I would say that I appreciate Donald Trump’s leadership,” but after four years of it, that’s where a large proportion of them have landed.

            Of course, none of this has made its way into the media’s analysis – in part, I’m sure, because they don’t want to admit how much political influence Christian conservatives have. It conflicts with their 40-year narrative that the religious right is a dying breed. And it also goes against their phony storyline that evangelicals turned against Trump in 2020 – an absurd myth that Barna’s research thoroughly debunks. Not only did Christian conservatives stick with Trump almost unanimously; they made up the strongest Presidential support base in history!

            Part of the problem, Barna explains, is how the media defines “evangelical.” “They don’t understand religion or care about religion. They just ask people, ‘Hey, do you consider yourself to be an evangelical or a born-again Christian? … [A]nd they lump those two groups together.” Almost 90% of the US House call themselves “Christian,” but how many of their ideologies actually line up with what the Bible teaches? In politics, especially, there can be a big difference between how people define themselves and how they act. Joe Biden says he’s Catholic, but his actual agenda is stuffed full of the most radical anti-faith, anti-life, anti-family policies our country has ever seen. So if the press wants to make some grand declaration about a religious group like evangelicals, fine. But it would help if they were actually talking to the real ones!

            Barna’s data drills much deeper. Instead of letting people label themselves, he studies what people believe spiritually and what they [do] as a result of those beliefs. Because of that he says, “Our research shows a very different outcome among evangelicals even than what you would hear from the mainstream media.” And even that’s different from the group he calls SAGE Cons.

            SAGE Cons are unique because their worldview “compels them to be involved,” George says. “They believe that the Bible teaches if you’re going to represent Christ, you don’t pick and choose where you represent [Him]. You represent Him everywhere. So that means in your community, in the voting booths, in your schools, in your churches, in your place of work, no matter where you go, you represent Christ.” When it comes to voting, these people understand that “at some point, they’re going to stand before God and account for [these choices]. … So, they’re one of the most politically attentive groups or segments in our population.”

            To them, Barna says: Don’t give up the fight. Engaging the culture around us is one of the most important things Christians can do. It’s also, as this election shows, one of the most impactful. So be encouraged. What you’re doing is making a difference – and it will continue to make a difference in the critical days ahead.