Life Advocacy Briefing

Dems Drop the Shoe on ‘Hyde’

THE U.S. HOUSE ON JULY 29 VOTED TO DITCH THE HYDE AMENDMENT barring taxpayer funding for abortions, which has, until now, been included in every Health & Human Services appropriation bill since the late Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) first introduced it in 1976.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-SanFrancisco) was so determined to put taxpayers on the hook for her allies in the abortion cartel that she actually cast a vote for the Hyde-less HHS spending measure’s final passage, though the Speaker only rarely votes on legislation. She followed the usual custom on related procedural roll calls, withholding her vote either way in those contests.

House Republicans attempted two procedural roll calls to stop the process, one to recommit the measure to committee to add back the excised language and one to reconsider the bill once it passed. We publish the “recommit” motion roll call in this week’s Life Advocacy Briefing and will publish the final passage and reconsideration voting records in future editions.

Besides dropping “Hyde,” the House Appropriations Committee, for the first time in decades, has excluded the Helms Amendment, which has annually protected taxpayers from funding abortion abroad; the Dornan Amendment, barring taxpayer funding of abortion in the nation’s capital (whose spending policies are overseen by the Congress); the Smith Amendment, which has long prohibited taxpayer funding of abortions in the federal employee health plan. And the panel, which is chaired by abortion fanatic Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), is putting taxpayers on the hook for abortions in federal prisons and in the Peace Corps.

This information comes from Family Research Council, which is asking Americans to contact home-state Senators and “tell them to vote against any appropriations bill that allows taxpayer funding for abortion.” We concur with that call to action. [Capitol switchboard: 1-202/224-3121]

Novel Approach

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX) HAS FILED A BILL he calls the “CADET Act,” an acronym for Candidates Afforded Dignity, Equality & Training Act of 2021, which, among other things, would bar military academies from forcing trainees who are expectant mothers to choose either dropping out or aborting their unborn children.

S-2376 has been assigned to the Senate’s Committee on Armed Services and is, curiously enough, co-sponsored by New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a committed abortion supporter.

A publication called Defense One interviewed Sen. Cruz about the bill, according to Cassy Fiano-Chesser, writing for Live Action (LA). In that interview, Sen. Cruz said the current policy “‘is unfair, antiquated and unacceptable.’” He called the CADET Act “‘a commonsense step to ensure the brave young women of our armed forces have the right level of support to continue their academy training and go on to fulfill their future service as commissioned officers while raising their family.’” 

Sen. Cruz could have a point when it comes to potentially deadly consequences of the current policy, which, notes the LA writer, “mandates that students at military academies can’t have dependents. This means,” writes Mrs. Chesser, “that women who become pregnant, or men who father a child, are given few choices. They can either have an abortion, put the baby up for adoption or drop out of school. If choosing the latter, they would be forced to repay the government for their education, because they won’t be permitted to serve in the military after graduation. This all but pushes pregnant students into having abortions,” opines the LA reporter.

According to Defense One, the Air Force Academy and Naval Academy both support the measure.

More Nonsense from the W.H.O.

IF AMERICANS DIDn’t ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH REASONS to distrust and dislike the so-called World Health Organization (WHO), another has been brought to our attention by the Center for Family & Human Rights (C-Fam), for which Alexis Fragosa, Esq., reports, “Abortion advocates are using WHO guidelines to promote at-home medical abortions, claiming they empower women and maximize ‘comfort and support,’ despite the known harms.

“The WHO released updated ‘self-care’ guidelines recommending the self-administration of abortion-inducing drugs without the direct supervision of a doctor,” warns Ms. Fragosa, citing a recent webinar presentation by Lilian Muchoki of Women First Digital, “a pro-abortion organization, providing WHO-approved instructions to women seeking abortions in countries where it is restricted or illegal.” In that Internet-based speech, Ms. Muchoki declared, reports C-Fam, “‘Women can manage their reproductive health,’” a strange declaration to be promulgated by an organization which purports to “promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.”

But, notes Ms. Fragosa, “The WHO has a long history of laying the groundwork for widespread access to abortion, including adding abortifacients mifepristone and misoprostol and the combination packing of the two [a.k.a. RU-486] to their Essential Medicines List.

“Claiming that self-care interventions have the greatest potential to address unmet needs or demands in marginalized populations, the WHO guidelines promote the use of self-managed abortions ‘in countries where abortion is illegal or restricted,’” fostering disobedience to the law and subjecting women aborting alone to increased risk of complications and fear.

“Despite the evidence that self-managed abortions cause hemorrhaging and other dangerous effects,” writes Ms. Fragosa, “abortion advocates steadfastly assert that ‘self-care’ abortions empower women and maximize support, even though women are left to face the physical, psychological and emotional consequences of their abortions alone.”

Last-Ditch Effort?

July 21, 2021, End-of-Day commentary by Gary Bauer for Campaign for Working Families

             Many pro-choice [sic] Americans often take offense at the term “pro-abortion.” Sometimes I even hear from conservatives who think the phrase is unfair. It’s not. Sadly, much of the Left today is unapologetically pro-abortion.

             There’s an old saying in Washington that if you want less of something, you tax it and if you want more of something, you subsidize it. Makes sense, right? Well, House Democrats must want more abortions, because [they] are trying to force all Americans to subsidize them.

             It wasn’t that long ago when Democrat President Bill Clinton said abortions should be “rare.” But today’s Democrat Party is proudly pro-abortion. So much so that in order to secure his party’s nomination, Joe Biden had to flip-flop on the issue of taxpayer-funding of abortions, which is extremely unpopular among the American people.

             A few years ago, there was a big campaign on the Left to make abortion cool. It was called “Shout Your Abortion.” That’s pro-abortion.

             Here’s the latest example: The women’s magazine Marie Claire published a story recently calling on Hollywood to include more onscreen depictions of characters getting abortions in movies and TV shows because that’s just what America needs right now – more death.

             Amazingly, the story tries to spin abortion for mothers who already have children as “a serious act of love … to give the children they already have the best possible life.” That’s disgusting but clearly pro-abortion. I suspect that twisted idea would actually frighten most children.

             Glorifying acts of violence in the womb is a gross disservice to women. Far from a “serious act of love,” killing an innocent child is the most violent thing a family member can do to another family member.

             The good news is that the Left’s desperation to justify abortion shows that it knows it is losing this battle. They are fighting against the increasing evidence of the humanity of the unborn child. Science is pro-life. And anyone who claims to be an ally of justice should be all in on defending innocent life.

Is America Turning a Blind Eye?

July 23, 2021, The Point commentary by BreakPoint’s Timothy Padgett and John Stonestreet

             Recently, the world learned that researchers at the University of Pittsburgh were grafting the scalps of aborted infants onto the flesh of rodents. And now, pro-life group Live Action has uncovered that researchers at a California university has been trading in various body parts of aborted children, specifically genitalia, bladders and kidneys.

             Perhaps most unsettling is the indifference of the people involved to what in any other context would be considered barbaric. Emails uncovered included pleasantries about the weekend and hopes for a happy holiday, exchanged between the parties amidst logs of body parts bought and sold.

             This is what [author] Hannah Arendt called “the banality of evil.” The great crimes of history are often committed not by monsters but by ordinary folks in day-to-day life. And so, building a culture of life will involve not only passing laws and attending marches but exposing the scale of assault on human dignity that passes in the name of science.

Lifting the Curtain

Aug. 3, 2021, DailyWire.com report by Jon Brown

             The former director of three Planned Parenthood clinics in Arizona alleged Saturday that the organization pressures illegal immigrants to get abortions by threatening them with deportation. Mayra Rodriguez, who spoke at the Democrats for Life of America’s annual conference in Columbus, Ohio, over the weekend, claimed the abortion giant roped her in when she was undocumented herself, according to The Christian Post.

             “For 16 years I devoted my life to Planned Parenthood,” she said. “As an undocumented immigrant, Planned Parenthood opened the doors to the American dream. … They hired me knowing I was undocumented.”

             Explaining how she saw Planned Parenthood’s willingness to hire her despite her lack of citizenship as “the greatest and the most kind” thing they could do, Rodriguez said she later learned they had brought her on to attract other illegal immigrant women who didn’t know what Planned Parenthood is.

             As The Christian Post reported:

             “After 16 years with the company, Rodriguez was promoted to abortion director at “the biggest [PP] clinic in the state of Arizona.” Rodriguez’s promotion made her aware of what she said is “the deception of Planned Parenthood” on the abortion issue.

             Rodriguez, who now resides in the US legally, noted that many illegal immigrant women who work in fields are raped by their foremen and then taken to Planned Parenthood.

             She said Planned Parenthood officials tell “immigrants that they’re welcome there: ‘We won’t deport you, we won’t call ICE on you. But if you carry your baby and go to the hospital and you live, for example, in Arizona or Ohio or other states where they have very strict anti-undocumented people laws, you may get deported.’

             “So, when you have that, what do women think?” she asked. “‘Oh, I cannot have a child because I might get deported, and I could get separated from my other three kids.’ … As an immigrant, I can tell you it is the worst feeling ever to know that you may have to leave this country.”

             Rodriguez noted how she eventually changed her mind about Planned Parenthood as she observed what goes on in their abortion clinics. “I noticed all the atrocities,” she said. “I noticed the irregularities. I noticed the malpractice. I noticed all the stuff the abortionists at Planned Parenthood hide from people. And I complained about it. That got me fired and got me set up,” she added. “Yeah, I was accused falsely of having narcotics in my office while I was out of my office.”

             After being fired in 2017 when she reported unsafe medical practices, Rodriguez sued Planned Parenthood for wrongful termination under the Whistleblower Protection Act and won $3 million in damages. She is now part of the nonprofit And Then There Were None, which encourages abortion clinic workers to leave the profession.

House Voting Record

HR-4502 – Motion to Recommit Appropriation for Health & Human Services – July 29, 2021 – Failed 208 – 217 (Democrats in italics)

Voting “yes”/pro-Life: Aderholt, Brooks, Carl, Moore, Palmer, Rogers/AL; Young/AK; Biggs, Gosar, Lesko, Schweikert/AZ; Crawford, Hill, Westerman, Womack/AR; Calvert, Garcia, Issa, Kim, LaMalfa, McCarthy, McClintock, Nunes, Obernolte, Steel, Valadao/CA; Buck, Lamborn/CO; Bilirakis, Buchanan, Cammack, Diaz-Balart, Donalds, Dunn, Franklin, Gaetz, Gimenez, Mast, Posey, Rutherford, Salazar, Steube, Waltz, Webster/FL; Allen, Carter, Clyde, Ferguson, Greene, Hice, Loudermilk, A.Scott/GA; Fulcher, Simpson/ID; Bost, R. Davis, Kinzinger, LaHood, Miller/IL; Baird, Banks, Bucshon, Hollingsworth, Pence, Spartz, Walorski/IN; Feenstra, Hinson, Miller-Meeks/IA; Estes, LaTurner, Mann/KS; Barr, Comer, Guthrie, Massie, Rogers/KY; Graves, Johnson, Letlow, Scalise/LA; Harris/MD; Bergman, Huizenga, McClain, Meijer, Moolenaar, Upton, Walberg/MI; Emmer, Fischbach, Hagedorn, Stauber/MN; Guest, Kelly, Palazzo/MS; Graves, Hartzler, Long, Luetkemeyer, Smith, Wagner/MO; Rosendale/MT; Bacon, Fortenberry, Smith/NE; Amodei/NV; Smith, VanDrew/NJ; Herrell/NM; Garbarino, Jacobs, Katko, Malliotakis, Reed, Stefanik, Tenney, Zeldin/NY; Bishop, Budd, Cawthorn, Foxx, Hudson, McHenry, Murphy, Rouzer/NC; Armstrong/ND; Balderson, Chabot, Davidson, Gibbs, Gonzalez, Johnson, Joyce, Latta, Turner, Wenstrup/OH; Bice, Cole, Hern, Lucas, Mullin/OK; Bentz/OR; Fitzpatrick, Joyce, Keller, Kelly, Meuser, Perry, Reschenthaler, Smucker, Thompson/PA; Duncan, Mace, Rice, Timmons, Wilson/SC; Johnson/SD; Burchett, DesJarlais, Fleischmann, Green, Harshbarger, Kustoff, Rose/TN; Arrington, Babin, Brady, Burgess, Carter, Cloud, Crenshaw, Fallon, Gohmert, T. Gonzales, Gooden, Granger, Jackson, McCaul, Nehls, Pfluger, Roy, Sessions, Taylor, VanDuyne, Weber, Williams/TX: Curtis, Moore, Owens, Stewart/UT; Cline, Good, Griffith, Wittman/VA; Herrera-Beutler, Newhouse, Rodgers/WA; McKinley, Miller, Mooney/WV; Fitzgerald, Gallagher, Grothman, Steil, Tiffany/WI; Cheney/WY.

Voting “no”/anti-Life: Sewell/AL; Gallego, Grijalva, Kirkpatrick, O’Halleran, Stanton/AZ; Aguilar, Barragan, Bass, Bera, Brownley, Carbajal, Cardenas, Chu, Correa, Costa, DeSaulnier, Eshoo, Garamendi, Gomez, Harder, Huffman, Jacobs, Khanna, Lee, Levin, Lieu, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Matsui, McNerney, Napolitano, Panetta, Peters, Porter, Roybal-Allard, Ruiz, Sanchez, Schiff, Sherman, Speier, Swalwell, Takano, Thompson, Torres, Vargas, Waters/CA; Crow, DeGette, Neguse, Perlmutter/CO; Courtney, DeLauro, Hayes, Himes, Larson/CT; Blunt-Rochester/DE; Castor, Crist, Demings, Deutch, Frankel, Lawson, Murphy, Soto, Wasserman-Schultz, Wilson/FL; Bishop, Bourdeaux, Johnson, McBath, D.Scott, Williams/GA; Case, Kahele/HI; Bustos, Casten, D.Davis, Foster, Garcia, Kelly, Krishnamoorthi, Newman, Quigley, Rush, Schakowsky, Schneider, Underwood/IL; Carson, Mrvan/IN; Axne/IA; Davids/KS; Yarmuth/KY; Carter/LA; Golden, Pingree/ME; Brown, Hoyer, Mfume, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes, Trone/MD; Auchincloss, Clark, Keating, Lynch, McGovern, Moulton, Neal, Pressley, Trahan/MA; Dingell, Kildee, Lawrence, Slotkin, Stevens, Tlaib/MI; Craig, McCollum, Omar, Phillips/MN; Thompson/MS; Bush, Cleaver/MO; Horsford, Lee, Titus/NV; Kuster, Pappas/NH; Gottheimer, Kim, Malinowski, Norcross, Pallone, Pascrell, Payne, Sherrill, Sires, Watson-Coleman/NJ; Leger-Fernandez, Stansbury/NM; Bowman, Clarke, Delgado, Espaillat, Higgins, Jeffries, Jones, C.Maloney, S.Maloney, Meeks, Meng, Morelle, Nadler, Ocasio-Cortez, Rice, Suozzi, Tonko, Torres, Velazquez/NY; Adams, Butterfield, Manning, Price, Ross/NC; Beatty, Kaptur, Ryan/OH; Blumenauer, Bonamici, DeFazio, Schrader/OR; Boyle, Cartwright, Dean, Doyle, Evans, Houlahan, Lamb, Scanlon, Wild/PA: Cicilline, Langevin/RI; Clyburn/SC; Cohen, Cooper/TN; Allred, Castro, Cuellar, Doggett, Escobar, Fletcher, Garcia, V. Gonzalez, Green, Jackson-Lee, Johnson, Veasey, Vela/TX; Welch/VT; Beyer, Connolly, Luria, McEachin, Scott, Spanberger, Wexton/VA; DelBene, Jayapal, Kilmer, Larsen, Schrier, Smith, Strickland/WA; Kind, Moore, Pocan/WI.

Not voting: Pelosi/CA, Boebert/CO, Higgins/LA, Raskin/MD, Levin/MI, Smucker/PA, Norman/SC.