Life Advocacy Briefing

The Most Sacred Cow

CRAMMED INTO THE LATEST ‘CORONAVIRUS RELIEF BILL’ which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-SanFrancisco) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NewYork) are seeking to jam through – to the tune of nearly two trillion taxpayer dollars – is the spending of taxpayer monies for the abortion industry.

Provisions include, according to a LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) report by Doug Mainwaring, “$750 million for global health activities and billions in funding for community health centers without applying the Hyde Amendment” and similar traditional limits on health spending overseas.

Also, he reports, the bill holds “a $50 million funding increase for the Title X [Ten] program. On the heels of Pres. Biden’s order directing the US Dept. of Health & Human Services to begin rolling back Pres. Trump’s Protect Life Rule, Title X would once again become a slush fund for abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood,” and this Wuhan-flu “relief package” is just the must-have vehicle in which to tuck the bonus cash.

The bill would also grant “Planned Parenthood access to small business funding,” according to the LSN writer. And it expands “taxpayer-funded abortion coverage via ObamaCare and a new initiative that would fund abortion-covering COBRA insurance.”

We have seen no other coverage of these details in the media, but we are thankful LSN picked up on a video message by Rep. John Joyce (R-PA), a medical doctor, notes Mr. Mainwaring, “who is a member of the US House Commerce Committee,” commenting on the massive package, “‘As we discuss these issues that are central to our nation’s recovery, it’s difficult to comprehend why the Covid-19 Relief Bill that we are considering today [gives] millions of dollars for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. … If passed,’” he said, “‘this funding won’t get kids back into the classrooms, it won’t get vaccines into arms and it won’t get Americans back to work.’”

Rep. Joyce next said, reports Mr. Mainwaring, “‘As millions of Americans are struggling with health, economic and educational ramifications of this pandemic, this is not the time to play politics.’” And Mr. Joyce added “that Democrats are pushing ‘extreme anti-Life provisions masquerading as Covid-19 relief … a blatant disregard for all pro-life Americans.’”

Rallying Support for Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection

PRIESTS FOR LIFE NATIONAL DIRECTOR FRANK PAVONE issued a call to action last Wednesday asking pro-life citizens to contact their home-state/district Senators and Representatives urging support for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which has been filed in the Senate by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rick Scott (R-FL) as S-61 and in the House by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) as HR-1080. (Capitol switchboard: 1-202/224-3121)

We are listing the co-sponsors of both bills at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing so that readers can thank those who have already publicly subscribed to the respective bill and ask others to sign on.

Forcing the Senate to Face Reality

SENATOR JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK) TOOK TO THE SENATE FLOOR in late January for what LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) writer Dorothy Cummings McLean calls a “gripping 20-minute speech … contrasting the anger people feel at parents who thoughtlessly leave their infants in mortally hot cars with their indifference to the ones who go to abortuaries to have their slightly younger babies killed.”

After getting his colleague’s attention – and that of viewers of the Senate debate on C-SPAN cable network – Sen. Lankford gave the Senate an unforgettable lesson in biology.

“Reproductive care, the Senator made clear,” writes Mrs. McLean, “means paying someone in a clinic to reach into a mother’s womb with tools and ‘pull the arms and legs off a child … so they will bleed to death in the womb. … And I don’t understand why that’s normal but leaving a child in the backseat of a hot car is a tragedy,’ [Mr.] Lankford said in a level voice,” reports the LSN writer. “The Senator then presented the chamber with a placard with photographs of an unborn child at 24-, 25- and 26-weeks’ gestation.

“‘Some people are afraid to answer the most obvious question,’ [Sen.] Lankford said. ‘Is that a baby?’ He pointed to the face, eyes, nose and chin of the photographed unborn infant. ‘That’s really the only question,’ he continued. ‘Is that a child?’

“[Sen.] Lankford also asked the Senators if all children were valuable – ‘or only some?’ He observed,” notes Mrs. McLean, “that they could all agree that gold was valuable but not that all children are valuable. The Senator opposed the idea,” she writes, “that the value of children lies only in whether or not their mom or dad want them. Parents shouldn’t get to decide,” he said, “‘who’s precious and who’s medical waste.’”

The Senator from Oklahoma took time also to reflect on the just-passed anniversary of Roe v. Wade, observing, as quoted by LSN, “‘Forty-eight years ago this week, the Supreme Court made a decision that has now resulted in the death of 62 million children. … That is hard to fathom.’

“The Senator observed,” writes Mrs. McLean, “that America has never forgotten that particular Supreme Court judgment.” He “paid tribute” to the throngs of Americans who have come to Washington, DC, to remind Americans of the Roe v. Wade tragedy every year since Roe’s first anniversary in 1974.

Sen. Lankford next, according to Mrs. McLean, “contrasted the pro-life response to Roe v. Wade with Joe Biden’s. He noted that soon after taking the Presidential office, [Mr.] Biden celebrated the 1973 Supreme Court decision by ‘declaring that he wants to pass a federal law requiring abortion to be provided in every single state in America’ and also requiring taxpayers to pay for it. The Senator,” notes LSN, “recalled that [then-]Senator Biden had previously said taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for abortion. [Then-]Senator Biden had also said abortion should be ‘safe, legal and rare,’ but now as President he’s ‘moving as fast as he can to promote abortion and demand taxpayers pay for it.’”

He then turned back to the photo posters on display showing the humanity of the unborn child. “‘Facts are facts, especially when those facts have a face,’ he said. ‘How can you look at that picture and say, “That’s not a human child?”’

“The Senator then pondered the difficulties of those lawmakers who have fought for abortion to admit the humanity of the unborn, for then they would have to admit that the deaths of millions of children have happened ‘on their watch.’ But,” writes Mrs. McLean, “he had some choice words for them, all the same.

“‘Please don’t tell me you follow the science wherever it goes, because some facts are obvious, and the science is clear,’ he stated. ‘Is that a child or not? Because everything flows from that.’”

Stateside

• SOUTH CAROLINA LAWMAKERS HAVE SENT A HEARTBEAT ABORTION BAN to the desk of GOP Gov. Henry McMaster, who is expected to sign it. The measure passed the Senate Jan. 28 and the House last Wednesday by what Associated Press writer Jeffrey Collins termed an “overwhelming” vote. The bill provides for enforcement in the event the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and would require abortionists “to perform ultrasounds,” notes Mr. Collins, “to check for a heartbeat in the fetus. If one is detected,” he writes, “the abortion can only be performed if the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest or the mother’s life is in danger.” The abortionist who violates the soon-to-be-signed law, AP notes, “could be charged with a felony, sentenced up to two years and fined $10,000. … Nearly all members of the Democratic caucus walked out in protest at one point,” reports Mr. Collins. “A few Democrats stayed behind as Republicans wiped out more than 100 proposed amendments. … Nearly all House members were later present for the vote, which was 79-35 in favor.”

• CONNECTICUT’s LEGISLATURE IS CONSIDERING a Senate Bill (SB-835) to govern the advertising of pregnancy care centers. The proposal was heard in the legislature’s Joint Public Health Committee on Feb. 10. The unconstitutional proposal, writes Mary Szoch for Family Research Council’s Feb. 15 Washington Update, “is an attack on one of the foundations of American liberty [and] … harms women in need.”

• A BILL HAS BEEN FILED IN THE ILLINOIS HOUSE to repeal one of the state’s few remaining vestiges of pro-life legislation, the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995. The repeal bill number is HB-1797; it in the House Rules Committee as of this writing and is sponsored by Rep. Anna Moeller (D-Elgin), with the new House Speaker, Rep. Chris Welch (D-Westchester), as chief co-sponsor.

Planned Parenthood Hooking Gender-Confused Kids on Our Dime

Feb. 12, 2021, Washington Update commentary by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins

            They come with other girls, a woman inside the clinic explains, giggling like they’re at the mall. Only they aren’t at the mall. They’re shopping for another gender. And Planned Parenthood is more than willing to oblige.

            It started in 2016, when then-President Cecile Richards – fresh off the baby-body-parts scandal – decided the organization needed to make money another way. This time, the group announced, it was getting into the transgender treatment business, announcing that the nation’s largest abortion network wasn’t just content destroying lives – it wanted to ruin the younger ones too. “We’re expanding access to care – from pioneering research on self-injectable birth control to offering new services for our transgender patients,” Richards wrote in the intro of the organization’s annual report.

            What she didn’t say is that surgical abortions across the US were dropping, and Planned Parenthood was looking for ways to make up the shortfall. Five years later, they’ve done that – and more. According to Abigail Shrier, the group that already enjoys more than a half-billion of your hard-earned tax dollars a year has gone from 26 clinics that offer testosterone to an astonishing 210. Believe it or not, Planned Parenthood is not only the largest killer of unborn babies in America, it’s also the second largest provider of “gender-affirming hormone care.” And employees on the inside are having a hard time watching the consequences.

            One, a whistleblower in a small town of 30,000, says her office saw one to two new biologically female teen patients looking for hormone treatments every day. According to her, “the girls would often arrive to the clinic with a group of friends,” Shrier wrote. “It smacked more of the gleeful trips teen girls once took to the mall for ear piercings than the sober medical treatment of a genuine mental health disorder.” When Abigail asked her what the mood in the waiting room was for these friends, the worker replied, “Super cheerful … [like it was] a fun thing.”

            But it was far less enjoyable for staff, who struggled to watch as Planned Parenthood helped these teenagers on the path to self-destruction. “I’ll tell you,” the woman admitted, “I struggle with the morality and reconciling of our actions in giving these kids testosterone and estrogen and stuff. I struggled with that more that I did being in operating room for like a 20-week abortion.” Asked if other staff members felt the same and worried about what the organization was pushing, she replied soberly, “Yeah. Every day.”

            Making matters worse, “There were no doctors at the clinic where she worked. Nurse practitioners were the professionals with the highest medical training, she said. The clinic employed a gender counselor who had ‘no actual professional credentials or formal training other than’” identifying as a transgender himself. The “clinic manager” – who wrote the prescriptions that could harm these teenagers for life – spent her last job “managing a Wendy’s.” In fact, the whistleblower explained, she had no medical experience whatsoever. That hasn’t mattered at Planned Parenthood headquarters, who sees these kids are nothing but “cash cows.”

            And unlike abortion, they become lifetime patients, “kept on the hook for the foreseeable future for follow-up appointments, bloodwork, [drugs] and meetings … .” In other words, this is one lucrative service – and Planned Parenthood is never going to let caution or patient safety get in the organization’s way. And worse, these irreversible treatments are being funded by people like you and me. Americans who would never consent to these devastating life choices are bankrolling these gender factories in at least 38 states. “Gender-Affirming Care,” as they call it, is a state-by-state policy, but most Medicaid programs use taxpayer dollars to fund it. As of 2019, only 12 states specifically banned this type of coverage. The other 38 either explicitly cover it or default to covering it.

            And if you think these profit-first radicals are going to involve parents – think again. Just like abortion and radical sex ed and everything else Planned Parenthood offers, “you can walk into a clinic at 15 in some states – without your mom or dad’s permission, without so much as a therapist’s note,” Abigail warns, “and get a course of testosterone that day.” (The same testosterone, incidentally, that can cause “deepened voice, enlarged clitoris, increase in red blood cell count and  greater risk of heart attack, infertility, vaginal and uterine atrophy, endometrial cancer – as well as all the unknown risks” that come with a dangerous and radical puberty intervention.)

            Family Research Council’s Mary Szoch is sickened by the organization’s greed and negligence but not surprised. “For years, Planned Parenthood has exploited women and killed unborn babies for the sake of making money. They’ve denied the scientific fact that abortion takes the life of an unborn child.” Now they’re rejecting the fact that “a child with XX chromosomes is a girl, and a child with XY chromosomes is a boy. This isn’t much of a stretch for an organization that profits off denying a human being is a person who inherently has the right to life.”

            But it’s a stretch for taxpayers to fund it. Contact your state leaders and urge them to introduce legislation that ends this outrageous forced partnership between Americans and Planned Parenthood.

Senate Co-Sponsors of Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

With Senators Lindsey Graham (SC) and Rick Scott (FL), GOP Senators Richard Shelby & Tommy Tuberville (AL), Dan Sullivan (AK), John Boozman & Tom Cotton (AR), Marco Rubio (FL), Mike Crapo & James Risch (ID), Mike Braun & Todd Young (IN), Joni Ernst & Chuck Grassley (IA), Roger Marshall & Jerry Moran (KS), Mitch McConnell & Rand Paul (KY), Bill Cassidy & John Kennedy (LA), Cindy Hyde-Smith & Roger Wicker (MS), Roy Blunt & Josh Hawley (MO), Steve Daines (MT), Deb Fischer & Ben Sasse (NE), Thom Tillis (NC), Kevin Cramer & John Hoeven (ND), Rob Portman (OH), James Inhofe & James Lankford (OK), Pat Toomey (PA), Tim Scott (SC), Mike Rounds & John Thune (SD), Marsha Blackburn & Bill Hagerty (TN), John Cornyn & Ted Cruz (TX), Mike Lee & Mitt Romney (UT), Ron Johnson (WI) and John Barrasso & Cynthia Lummis (WY).

House Co-Sponsors of Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

With Rep. Chris Smith (NJ), GOP Representatives Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks, Jerry Carl, Barry Moore & Mike Rogers/AL; Don Young/AK; Andy Biggs, Debbie Lesko & David Schweikert/AZ; French Hill, Bruce Westerman & Steve Womack/AR; Doug LaMalfa & Kevin McCarthy/CA; Lauren Boebert, Ken Buck & Doug Lamborn/CO; Gus Bilirakis, Neal Dunn. Scott Franklin, Matt Gaetz, Brian Mast, Bill Posey, John Rutherford, Gregory Steube & Michael Waltz/FL; Rick Allen, Earl Carter, Andrew Clyde, Jody Hice, Barry Loudermilk & Austin Scott/GA; Michael Simpson/ID; Mike Bost, Rodney Davis, Darin LaHood, Adam Kinzinger & Mary Miller/IL: Jim Banks, Larry Bucshon, Trey Hollingsworth & Jackie Walorski/IN;

Also GOP Representatives Randy Feenstra & Ashley Hinson/IA; Ron Estes, Jake LaTurner & Tracey Mann/KS; Andy Barr, Brett Guthrie, Thomas Massie & Harold Rogers/KY; Garret Graves, Clay Higgins, Mike Johnson & Steve Scalise/LA; Andy Harris/MD; Jack Bergman, Bill Huizenga, Lisa McClain, John Moolenaar & Tim Walberg/MI; Tom Emmer, Michelle Fischbach, Jim Hagedorn & Pete Stauber/MN; Michael Guest, Trent Kelly & Steven Palazzo/MS; Sam Graves, Vicky Hartzler, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Jason Smith & Ann Wagner/MO; Matthew Rosendale/MT;

And Republican Representatives Don Bacon & Jeff Fortenberry/NE; Yvette Herrell/NM; Chris Jacobs & Tom Reed/NY; Dan Bishop, Ted Budd, Madison Cawthorn, Virginia Foxx, Richard Hudson, Patrick McHenry, Gregory Murphy & David Rouzer/NC; Kelly Armstrong/ND; Tony Balderson, Warren Davidson, Bob Gibbs, Anthony Gonzalez, Jim Jordan, Robert Latta, Steve Stivers & Brad Wenstrup/OH; Stephanie Bice & Kevin Hern/OK; John Joyce, Mike Kelly, Fred Keller, Daniel Meuser, Scott Perry, Guy Reschenthaler, Lloyd Smucker & Glenn Thompson/PA;

Finally, GOP Representatives Jeff Duncan, Nancy Mace, Ralph Norman, Tom Rice & Joe Wilson/SC; Dusty Johnson/SD; Tim Burchett, Diana Harshbarger, David Kustoff & John Rose/TN; Jodey Arrington, Brian Babin, Michael Burgess, Michael Cloud, Tony Gonzales, August Pfluger, Chip Roy, Pete Sessions, Van Taylor, Randy Weber & Roger Williams/TX; Blake Moore,  Burgess Owens & Chris Stewart/UT; Bob Good, Morgan Griffith & Robert Wittman/VA; Jaime Herrera-Beutler, Cathy McMorris-Rodgers & Dan Newhouse/WA; Glenn Grothman & Bryan Steil/WI; David McKinley, Carol Miller & Alex Mooney/WV; Liz Cheney/WY.