Life Advocacy Briefing

Biden Pulls Trigger on ‘Mexico City’ Policy

THE FIRST DAYS OF THE BIDEN REGIME HAVE BECOME NOTORIOUS for executive orders and actions, on matters ranging from opening America’s borders to canceling the building of the Keystone pipeline from Canada (and the jobs related thereto). Less well ballyhooed but at least as grievous have been the new President’s reversals of policies related to the cause of Life.

On Jan. 28, 2021, Pres. Biden affixed his signature to a “memorandum” which included this phrase: “The Presidential Memorandum of Jan. 23, 2017 (The Mexico City Policy), is revoked.” The memorandum goes on to direct: “The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Health & Human Services, the Administrator of USAID and appropriate officials at all other agencies involved in foreign assistance shall take all steps necessary to implement this memorandum, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.”

Those “necessary steps” include “immediately waiv[ing] … conditions” which were attached to current grants in enforcement of the Mexico City Policy, which bars the use of taxpayer funds for international organizations which commit abortions or promote legalization of abortion in foreign countries whose current laws are more protective of human life. And the grantees are to be notified “as soon as possible” that they are now free to engage in abortion without fear of losing their USAID and other US foreign aid-related grants. And, of course, “immediately cease imposing these conditions in any future assistance awards.”

All regulations adopted under the Mexico City Policy are to be “suspend[ed], revise[d] or rescind[ed] immediately.”

But that’s not all. The Jan. 28 Presidential Memorandum also directs the Secretary of State to “take the steps necessary to resume funding to the United Nations Population Fund.” Seemingly, it does not matter that when Congress enacted the current State Dept. appropriation package, the spending policy of the US excluded funding the UNFPA, which is notoriously complicit in the Red Chinese depopulation schemes.

And the State Dept. is to “work with the Administrator of USAID and across US government foreign assistance programs to ensure that adequate funds are being directed to support women’s health needs globally, including sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.”

Biden Picking on Title Ten, Too

MANY NEWS OUTLETS HAVE REPORTED the Biden wipe-out of the Mexico City Policy, but we have not noticed as much coverage of his effort to reopen taxpayer subsidization of the abortion cartel under Title X (Ten), though it was incorporated in the same Presidential “memorandum.”

The Jan. 28 memorandum opens with this statement: “Policy. Women should have access to the health care they need. For too many women today, both at home and abroad, that is not possible. Undue restrictions on the use of federal funds have made it harder for women to obtain necessary health care. The federal government must take action to ensure that women at home and around the world are able to access complete medical information, including with respect to their reproductive health.”

The policy prescription next takes up Title X (Ten) of the Public Health Services Act, which “provides federal funding for family planning services that primarily benefit low-income patients.”

The memorandum acknowledges that “the Act specifies that Title X funds may not be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning, but,” the Biden memo states, the law itself “places no further abortion-related restrictions on recipients of Title X funds.”

Pres. Biden next acknowledges that the Secretary of Health & Human Services – in 2019 – “finalized changes to regulations governing the Title X program … prohibit[ing] recipients of Title X funds from referring patients to abortion providers and impos[ing] other onerous requirements on abortion providers.

“The Title X Rule,” states the Biden Memorandum, “has caused the termination of federal family planning funding for many women’s healthcare providers,” and, it claims, “puts women’s health at risk by making it harder for women to receive complete medical information.”

And then the Memorandum states, “It is the policy of my Administration to support women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States as well as globally.”

From there on, the memo focuses on shredding the Mexico City Policy related to foreign aid. But the incorporation of hits on the Trump Administration’s Title X regulatory reform strongly signals Pres. Biden’s intent to apply taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood and other abortion outfits under the guise of “family planning.”

To the Rescue?

A D.C. CONSERVATIVE THINK TANK – the Ethics & Public Policy Center – last week announced formation of EPPC’s “HHS Accountability Project,” reports LifeSiteNews.com, and the appointment of a former top HHS official as its “senior fellow.”

Roger Severino joins EPPC, notes LSN, “after nearly four years as director of the Office of Civil Rights at the US Department of Health & Human Services.” His service in the Trump Administration followed “previous positions,” reports LSN, “at the Heritage Foundation, the US Dept. of Justice Civil Rights Division and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.”

Said EPPC’s new president Ryan Anderson, quoted by LSN, “‘No one has done more than Roger Severino over the past few years to protect good health care and authentic civil rights.’”

And the report quotes Mr. Severino himself: “‘As a government official, I advocated for timeless principles protecting the most vulnerable among us from discrimination and will continue this work with gusto alongside top-notch colleagues at EPPC,’ said Mr. Severino. ‘I spent nearly four years building government institutions to ensure that conscience, life and religious freedom would never again be treated as second-class rights.

“‘I will not stay silent,’” declared Mr. Severino in the LifeSiteNews report, “‘as the Biden Administration threatens to undo that legacy by indulging the secular Left’s worst impulses.’”

Heartbeat Bill Moving in South Carolina

SOUTH CAROLINA’s SENATE HAS PASSED A HEARTBEAT ABORTION BAN BILL, which is expected to be taken up by the state’s House of Representatives. The vote in the Senate was 30 to 13, reports Calvin Freiburger of LifeSiteNews.com, citing The State as source, “with one Republican and one Democrat each breaking ranks to vote opposite their party.”

The state’s GOP governor, Henry McMaster, “has already declared his support,” writes Mr. Freiburger, and “the bill is expected to clear the GOP-controlled House without difficulty.”

The measure outlaws aborting of developing babies whose heartbeats can be detected, typically at about six weeks’ gestational age. A quick lawsuit is expected, likely from Planned Parenthood.

But though it is unlikely to be enforced in the short run, the increasingly popular proposal serves two critical purposes: to move the consciences of disengaged Americans as to the human nature of the unborn child and to provoke a legal battle, notes Mr. Freiburger, “that would hopefully reach the US Supreme Court and instigate a review of Roe v. Wade, thereby potentially overturning decades of pro-abortion legal precedent and freeing the states to set their own abortion laws.”

South Carolina Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey was quoted in the LifeSiteNews report: “‘Today was many years in the making and was the result of hard work and a lot of teamwork,’” he said, calling the bill’s Senate passage “‘a big victory. If this gets upheld by the courts,’” he declared, “‘we will have saved thousands of lives in South Carolina every year.’”

Selective Enforcement?

Jan. 26, 2021, Washington Update commentary by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins

            Bishop Robert Brennan of Columbus, Ohio, celebrated a Respect Life Mass last Friday on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Catholic parishioners gathered at St. Joseph Cathedral to peacefully worship and pray for the unborn and an end to abortion. However, an angry and incredibly disrespectful group of pro-abortion protesters interrupted the Mass to shout their support of abortion and protest the liturgy. The mob stormed the cathedral with signs bearing messages like “Abortion on Demand Now” and “Defund the Police. Fund Abortion.” And chanted, “Two, four, six, eight, this church teaches hate.”

            The church’s message was one of love and life – far from hate. The protestors’ actions, on the other hand, were an attack on the parishioners’ ability to freely practice their faith. It should concern everyone – Catholic or not – that an angry, woke mob felt entitled and empowered to interrupt a Catholic Mass. Although the police intervened and ushered the protestors out of the church, the protestors should be held responsible.

            Here, Pres. Biden has an opportunity to defend the First Amendment and show the country that he supports his fellow Catholics’ ability to live out their faith and peacefully attend Mass. His administration should respond to this incident by enforcing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance (FACE) Act against these liberal activists. The 1994 measure was designed to protect entrance to abortion clinics but was amended to also protect houses of worship. The law prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates or interferes with a person’s ability to exercise their right of religious freedom.

            Intimidation and interference were exactly what the pro-abortion protestors did when they marched through St. Joseph Cathedral’s doors with their signs and shouted in the middle of Mass.

            The abortion supporters violated the FACE Act, and the Dept. of Justice should enforce the civil provisions of the FACE Act. DOJ has enforced the FACE Act many times before in protecting abortion centers, and here the President has an opportunity to protect the 1^st Amendment and signal that he will be a President that honors religious liberty.

            Biden’s administration has no problem offering support and protection when it furthers the Administration’s own interest. The Biden Administration has thousands of troops in Washington, DC, for an extended amount of time, because they are worried about conservatives disrupting and protesting. Yet, there has not been a single word condemning disruptions at the church, and certainly no protections for religious adherents who now have to wonder if their religious services will be interrupted by the woke Left.

            For far too long, the Left has attempted to silence religious adherents. Often, they told us we could keep our religion so long as it was kept private and out of the public square. The recent actions of the Columbus pro-abortion protestors prove that even keeping to our churches will not satisfy the cancel culture. If Pres. Biden is serious about unity, he can start by protecting those that the Left seeks to cancel because of their religion. The pro-abortion protestors violated the FACE Act, and the Dept. of Justice should act accordingly by enforcing the FACE Act’s civil provisions, as it has done many times before.

Carrying on the Fight to Inform the American People

Feb. 1, 2021, Washington Update commentary by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins

            For someone who came late to his party’s extremism, Joe Biden is already very good at it. The man who used to walk in the March for Life came full circle late last week, prying Americans’ wallets open so that he could fund abortions overseas. To his supporters, it was good – but not enough. To his critics, it was even more motivation to fight back.

            And fight back pro-lifers did – introducing more than 20 bills to beat back the attacks on the unborn with policies that would clean up clinics, demand better reporting, end abortion funding in Title X, offer tax credits to pregnant moms, stop sex-selection and Down syndrome abortions, defund Planned Parenthood, outlaw baby organ harvesting and fetal body part sales, protect babies born alive, and the list goes on and on. Republicans in the House and Senate may not control the gavel, but as each pro-lifer will tell you, they can still control the public debate – and they intend to.

            On Friday, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, conservative leaders took the opportunity to show the sharp contrast between the two parties. While Joe Biden was trying to make abortion America’s biggest export, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) was pushing to make the Mexico City Policy he overturned permanent. “Hard-working moms and dads in America who spend many weeks, if not months, out of every year just to pay their federal taxes,” should not have to work to pay for this culture of death, he said on Washington Watch. “Regardless of their own religious views or their own views more broadly about abortion, I think the overwhelming majority of those people don’t want their taxpayer dollars going to fund or promote abortions in a foreign country. That’s just evil, and it’s ridiculous.”

            But don’t take Republicans’ word for it. New polling out late last week showed that majorities of Democrats and “pro-choicers” – supposedly this President’s base – were overwhelmingly opposed to spending millions destroying innocent life in other countries. And tragically, as Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) explained, it isn’t just surgical abortion that’s doing the most damage – but chemical abortions as well.

            It’s an issue, unfortunately, that’s under the radar for a lot of people, but one reason the world has seen a decline in the number of [surgical] abortions is because of this tactical shift to abortion drugs. As Bob and I talked about, this is a trend that doesn’t just pose a threat to unborn children but [to] women as well. “About 39% of the abortions now are chemical,” he explained. “And it’s really frightening what we’ve seen happening out there … because they’re self-managed [abortions] physician oversight.”

            With COVID, Latta pointed out, that’s only going to get worse. “What the pro-choice side out there is trying to do is have these drugs out there – through the mail, the Internet and through telemedicine [where doctors never even see the patient].” His goal, with the Support & Value Expectant Moms & Babies Act, is to make sure there’s stronger regulatory oversight of these dangerous chemical abortion drugs. He pointed to the spike in emergency room visits and complications. They’re prescribing it like a simple cold medication, but “we’re talking about taking a life” and jeopardizing the mothers’.

            Like Mike Lee and the dozens of other bill sponsors, he understands that it’s an uphill climb to get these bills on the table. After all, Latta said, it was impossible to even find a Democratic co-sponsor who was willing to agree that we need to make the process a safe one. “There are very few of these so-called Blue Dog Democrats left, and they’re pretty much controlled by the liberal socialists.” Still, he’s not giving up. Republicans may not have the votes now, but at the end of the day, this isn’t just about passing a law. It’s about educating the American people and casting a vision for conservatives when they do retake the House.

            Former Cong. Trent Franks would introduce a Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act every year, knowing it didn’t have a chance in the GOP minority. But his persistence started a national conversation about the issue that trickled down into the states. And ultimately, a lot of those leaders acted locally to do what Franks was advocating nationally. Then, when conservatives finally did win back the House, his Pain-Capable bill was one of the first proposals the Republicans passed.

            “With the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats already gunning to roll back abortion restrictions,” Cong. Ron Wright (R-TX) told reporters about his party’s flood of legislation, “it’s more important than ever that we continue to be a strong voice for the voiceless.”

            Pro-lifers have always been good at the long game – and after four years of Joe Biden, the nation will reward them for it.