Life Advocacy Briefing

Nearing the Cliff?

WE CONFESS WE MISSED IT when it was happening, yet we do want to inform our readers about a valiant effort in the Senate, led in May by Senators Mike Braun (R-IN), Steve Daines (R-MT) and James Lankford (R-OK), to block the Biden Regime from feeding US tax dollars to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) research scientists for experiments splicing tissue from aborted human babies into animal cells, warns LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) writer Ashley Sadler, “to create mixed-species organisms called ‘chimeras.’” We publish the Senate roll call on the attempted amendment at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

Democratic Senate Leader Charles Schumer’s “US Innovation & Competition Act” passed the Senate on June 9 by a 68-32 vote after lengthy floor deliberation on more than 600 floor amendments, including the pro-life initiative led by Sen. Braun and his colleagues, which would, notes Ms. Sadler, have “criminalize[d] the creation of animal-human hybrid organisms,” a bridge too far which could never be retracted once crossed by anti-God Frankensteins in the biomed industry.

“‘We shouldn’t need to clarify in law that creating animal-human hybrids or “chimeras” is ethically unthinkable, but sadly the need for that very clear distinction has arrived,’ said Sen. Lankford,” in a Senate floor speech quoted by LSN.

Sen. Daines also spoke out. “‘In trying to compete with [Red] China, we shouldn’t become like them,’” he warned, reports Ms. Sadler. “‘It’s critical that we draw a bright line against unethical forms of research that fail to recognize the distinct value of humans over animals.’

“The NIH’s chimeric research plans had been stymied,” writes Ms. Sadler, “by a 2019 Trump Administration policy which had shut down the acquisition of human fetal tissue from elective abortions for research and instituted an ethics board to review any such research at labs and universities. But in April, 2021, the NIH announced it was reversing the policy, permitting the acquisition of new fetal tissue from abortions for research and abolishing the ethics board requirement.

“Just a month later,” reports LSN, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) “put out its much-anticipated new guidelines which explicitly allow and provide guidance for chimera research. The NIH is expected to adopt the new guidelines. …

“Chimeric research is actively underway in American universities, producing a number of disturbing results. In May 2020,” writes Ms. Sadler, “a mouse embryo composed of 96% animal cells and 4% human cells was created by researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. In April 2021,” notes the LSN reporter, “researchers with the Salk Institute in California injected 25 induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS cells) from humans into macaque monkey embryos in a grotesque Frankenstein-like chimeric experiment resulting in the creation of human-monkey embryos.

“‘Currently the NIH does not do this research, and we need to keep it that way,’ Sen. Lankford said,” quoted by LSN. “‘Researchers who are attempting these horrific once-science-fiction experiments should focus on valuing the dignity of human life, not trying to genetically merge and manipulate humans and animals.’”

Appealing to Reason

A LETTER HAS BEEN SENT to Health & Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, signed by 137 Congressional Republicans, reports Bettina diFiore for Live Action, urging him to reverse his decision to “shut down the National Institutes of Health’s Human Fetal Tissue Ethics Advisory Board, which was responsible for providing oversight for human fetal tissue research and experimentation … [and] had the ability to veto research proposals it found ethically questionable.”

The letter, writes Ms. diFiore, “highlights recent documents obtained … and published by Judicial Watch, which revealed the FDA’s routine ‘orders for eyeballs, livers, skin, brains, skulls and sometimes fully intact bodies of infants aborted in the second trimester’ from Advanced Bioscience Resources, which has acted as a fetal tissue procuring middleman between the federal government and Planned Parenthood … . The letter also mentions,” notes Live Action, “the Center for Medical Progress’s recent disclosure of horrific experiments on aborted children – including ‘scalping five-month-old aborted fetuses to stitch onto lab rats’ and ‘killing infants delivered alive for liver harvesting’ at the University of Pittsburgh – which were taxpayer-funded through Dr. Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases.

“‘These revelations raise numerous questions about the safeguards the federal government has in place to protect taxpayer dollars from being used for unethical or illegal research purposes,’ the letter reads,” notes Live Action. “It goes on to note that the ethics board Becerra has shut down ‘voted to recommend that the Secretary withhold funds for 13 of 14 proposals on account of serious ethical concerns.’

“The Biden-Harris Administration has also reversed the Trump-era prohibition against taxpayer funding for intramural fetal tissue research,” reports Ms. diFiore. “The combined effect of this reinstatement and the elimination of the Ethics Advisory Board is to create a Wild-West situation wherein researchers can abuse and desecrate the remains of innocent children killed by abortion in virtually any manner they please and without any kind of oversight – and it is being funded by American taxpayers, whether they agree with it or not. According to a 2019 Susan B. Anthony List poll,” concludes Live Action, “57% of US voters oppose taxpayer funding of experiments that involve the use of body parts procured from aborted children, with 41% strongly opposing.”

Radical Confirmed to Head Personnel Office

THE U.S. SENATE HAS VOTED TO CONFIRM the Biden appointee as Director of Personnel Management a radical whose “credentials” include “support for abortion rights,” according to Washington Post writers Lisa Rein and Seung Min Kim, and “her past emphasis on the concept of systemic racism known as ‘critical race theory.’”

Both the confirmation and the cloture vote to bring her nomination to a vote were tied among Senators, requiring a vote by the Vice President in her role as “president of the Senate” to deliver the confirmation. The votes came in June, and the roll calls are published near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

Born-Alive Discharge Petition Just 6 Signatures Short

NOW THAT REP. DAN CRENSHAW (R-TX) HAS RETURNED TO WASHINGTON after recovering from eye surgery, he has signed the discharge petition for HR-619, becoming the 212^th to sign; 218 are needed to force a vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

The bill requires medical providers to take the same measures they would take for a wanted born child in the event a baby targeted for abortion survives the doctor’s assault.

A discharge petition in the US House, notes National Right to Life News editor Dave Andrusko, is “a way around hostile committees. If 218 signatures are secured, the legislation – in this case, HR-619 – would be brought directly to the floor for a vote. At that juncture,” he noted, “there would be a real debate over how abortion survivors should be treated (or not treated).” Six more Members of Congress are needed to come forward to sign the petition.

The legislation is a needed follow-up to the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, enacted in 2002. Needed because while existing law defines an important principle, it contains no enforcement provisions. “There is no federal law,” explains Mr. Andrusko, “criminalizing the actions of abortionists who deny care to babies who survive abortions. Abortion survivors are left,” he asserts, “to the tender mercies of the guy who just tried to kill them.”

Grisly Discovery

OHIO PRO-LIFE CITIZENS ARE RAISING AN ALARM with law enforcement authorities after discovery last month, reports Operation Rescue (OR), of “the remains of a 16-to-18-week dismembered aborted baby … discarded in an unsecured dumpster.”

Those seeking justice for the victim include Right to Life of Northeast Ohio, Ohio Right to Life and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society.

“Infectious medical waste and items with patient names,” notes OR, “were also discovered illegally dumped along with the baby’s body, representing state and federal violations.”

Abortion is not health care. It is a criminal act, which cruelly takes the life of a developing baby.

‘Life Focus’ at Focus on the Family

FOCUS ON THE FAMILY IS EMBARKING on a series of Life-focused conversation videos available on the Internet beginning this Friday, July 16, and culminating in a live SeeLife2021 rally event in the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday, Aug. 28.

Information and web-based registration for the series can be found on the Internet at https://www.focusonthefamily.com/see-life.

What’s at Stake in Supreme Court’s Mississippi Case

May 25, 2021, Washington Update by Family Research Council’s Human Dignity Center director Mary Szoch

         Instead of political party leaders setting the agenda for the mid-term elections, the Supreme Court decided to take over that role. The Court’s decision to review Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and answer whether all pre-viability abortion bans are unconstitutional, placed overturning Roe v. Wade at center stage heading into mid-terms. The problem is, most Americans do not know what Roe did, and consequently, as Scott Rasmussen points out on [FRC’s] “Washington Watch,” most Americas do not know what overturning Roe would do. Education surrounding Roe v. Wade will have a major impact on how the issue plays out politically.

         When Roe v. Wade and its companion case Doe v. Bolton were decided in 1973, the Supreme Court’s rulings overturned nearly every state law regarding abortion. The Roe decision prevented states from limiting abortion in the first trimester, allowed for state regulation in the interest of a woman’s health in the second trimester and allowed states to outlaw abortion in the third trimester except when necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother; however, the decision handed down in Doe has been interpreted to say that Roe’s health exception must include mental health. As a result, unless a state passes laws stating otherwise, abortion through all nine months of pregnancy is the default state law.

         Even in the 1970s, when it was virtually impossible for an average person to recognize an unborn child in an ultrasound, 79% of Americans disagreed with Roe’s findings. Today, as Rasmussen mentioned, “A large number of people believe that it’s too easy to get an abortion in America. In fact, that’s the plurality position. So, the idea of tightening some restrictions is not, as people on the political left would have you believe, something that is greatly opposed by the American people. There is a desire to place some restrictions.”

         In fact, 76% of Americans including 55% who identify as pro-choice, want abortion restricted to the first three months of pregnancy – indicating that Americans want abortion laws significantly more restrictive than the one the Supreme Court is reviewing in Dobbs, which restricts abortions after 15 weeks.

         Though 76% of Americans disagree with Roe’s findings because of confusion over what overturning Roe would do, 70% of Americans say they do not want Roe overturned. As Rasmussen mentioned, “A majority of voters do not know what would happen if Roe v. Wade was overturned. Thirty percent think that abortion would be outlawed everywhere in the country. Twenty-six percent simply don’t know what would happen.”

         Regardless, Rasmussen says, if abortion becomes a bigger issue (and the Supreme Court is certainly helping to make it one), the slight edge that Republicans have in their pro-life enthusiasm could come in to play in a major way in 2022. “The [intensity] is generally on the pro-life side.” So, Scott said, depending on what happens, “I think it helps get Republican turnout even stronger. We’re already seeing Republicans more fired up about the midterm elections than Democrats. Obviously, there’s a very long way to go. But for many Democrats, the primary reason that turnout was [so high was] to get Donald Trump out of office. So that would remove [him] from the equation.” If the Supreme Court drops a bombshell, he acknowledged, all bets are off.

         If Roe is overturned, state legislatures will make their own abortion laws. It would “allow states to … identify themselves as either pro-life or pro-abortion. And … if people feel strongly about it, they can move to another state,” Tony Perkins stated. If this year’s 536 pieces of state level pro-life legislation including 146 abortion bans, are any indication, people certainly feel strongly about abortion, and they are electing legislators who will reflect their views.

         Of course, that was the intention behind the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. There is no “right” to an abortion listed in the Constitution. As such, the power to rule on the constitutionality of abortion should never have been in the hands of the Supreme Court.

         Right now, America’s laws on abortion are some of the most barbaric in the world, putting the US on equal footing with human rights violators like China and North Korea. If the Supreme Court rules to overturn Roe in Dobbs, states will have the opportunity to change that. The future of pro-life legislation should be at the forefront of voters’ minds during the upcoming midterm elections – and during every election. Electing pro-life state legislators will result in pro-life laws, and for unborn babies in America, the stakes have never been higher.

Senate Voting Records

Cloture motion on Confirmation of Kiran Ahuja as Director of Personnel Management – June 22, 2021 – Adopted 50-50 (Vice President adding the 51^st affirmative vote) (Democrats in italics; “Independent” marked “I”)

Voting “no” / pro-Life: Shelby & Tuberville/AL, Murkowski & Sullivan/AK, Boozman & Cotton/ AR, Rubio & Scott/FL, Crapo & Risch/ID, Braun & Young/IN, Ernst & Grassley/IA, Marshall & Moran/KS, McConnell & Paul/KY, Cassidy & Kennedy/LA, Collins/ME, 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, Blackburn & Hagerty/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Lee & Romney/UT, Capito/WV, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Lummis/WY.

Voting “yes” / anti-Life: Kelly & Sinema/AZ, Feinstein & Padilla/CA, Bennet & Hickenlooper/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Carper & Coons/DE, Ossoff & Warnock/GA, Hirono & Schatz/HI, Duckworth & Durbin/IL, 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, Heinrich & Lujan/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.

Confirmation of Kiran Ahuja as Director of Personnel Management – June 22, 2021 – Adopted 50-50 (Vice President adding the 51^st affirmative vote) (Democrats in italics; “Independent” marked “I”)

Voting “no” / pro-Life: Shelby & Tuberville/AL, Murkowski & Sullivan/AK, Boozman & Cotton/ AR, Rubio & Scott/FL, Crapo & Risch/ID, Braun & Young/IN, Ernst & Grassley/IA, Marshall & Moran/KS, McConnell & Paul/KY, Cassidy & Kennedy/LA, Collins/ME, 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, Blackburn & Hagerty/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Lee & Romney/UT, Capito/WV, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Lummis/WY.

Voting “yes” / anti-Life: Kelly & Sinema/AZ, Feinstein & Padilla/CA, Bennet & Hickenlooper/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Carper & Coons/DE, Ossoff & Warnock/GA, Hirono & Schatz/HI, Duckworth & Durbin/IL, 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, Heinrich & Lujan/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.

Braun Amendment to Bar NIH Appropriation for Human-Animal Chimera Experimentation – May 26, 2021 – Rejected 48-49 (Democrats in italics; “Independent” marked “I”)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Shelby & Tuberville/AL, Murkowski & Sullivan/AK, Boozman & Cotton/ AR, Rubio & Scott/FL, Crapo & Risch/ID, Braun & Young/IN, Ernst & Grassley/IA, Marshall & Moran/KS, McConnell & Paul/KY, Cassidy & Kennedy/LA, Collins/ME, Hyde-Smith & Wicker/MS, Blunt & Hawley/MO, Daines/MT, Fischer & Sasse/NE, Burr/NC, Cramer & Hoeven/ND, Portman/OH, Inhofe & Lankford/OK, Toomey/PA, Graham & Scott/SC, Rounds & Thune/SD, Hagerty/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Lee & Romney/UT, Capito/WV, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Lummis/WY.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Kelly & Sinema/AZ, Feinstein & Padilla/CA, Bennet & Hickenlooper/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Carper & Coons/DE, Ossoff & Warnock/GA, Hirono & Schatz/HI, Duckworth & Durbin/IL, 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, Heinrich & Lujan/NM, Gillibrand & Schumer/NY, Brown/OH, Merkley & Wyden/OR, Casey/PA, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Leahy & Sanders/VT, Kaine & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Baldwin/WI.

Not voting: Tillis/NC, Blackburn/TN, Manchin/WV.