Life Advocacy Briefing

Miss Us?

APOLOGIES TO OUR READERS for our absence last week without advance notice. Our editor suffered injury from a parking lot ramp and needed to take time to recover. We thank God it was not more serious than it was, and we’re glad to be back.

Update on Texas Controversy

NEWS ABOUT THE TEXAS HEARTBEAT ACT continues to attract attention from the media – and certainly from “court watchers.” We will offer here a brief compilation of such news and then move on to other news impacting the right to Life enshrined in our Declaration of Independence and acknowledged in the Constitution.

• The Biden Justice Dept. has filed suit against the Texas law; the complaint was filed in a federal district court in West Texas, claiming, writes Matt Hadro for LifeSiteNews.com, “the state acted ‘in open defiance of the Constitution’ in restricting ‘most pre-viability abortions.’” The suit “seeks a permanent injunction,” notes Mr. Hadro, citing Bloomberg News as source, “on state officials and ‘private parties who would bring suit under the law, from implementing or enforcing’ the law.” Problem: the enforcement mechanism provided in this particular Heartbeat Abortion Law does not involve the state. And the “private parties” can be anyone in the United States, with the one exception, notes LSN, of “those who impregnate women who then have abortions,” who are excluded “from bringing lawsuits in those cases” – a hugely broad, unspecific class of potential litigants.

• It is that unique enforcement approach that the Supreme Court acknowledged in refusing in late August to enjoin the Texas Heartbeat Law. Though the abortion lobby has hit the hysteria alarm – and perhaps rightly so, in the end – the Supreme Court’s action did not signal the Court’s ultimate intention. Writes Skyler Lee in Pregnancy Help News: “The majority voted not to block the [law] not on the basis of constitutionality but due to the ‘complex and novel antecedent procedural questions.’ They noted,” reports Ms. Lee, “‘it is unclear whether the named defendants in­ this lawsuit can or will seek to enforce the Texas law against the applicants in a manner that might permit our intervention.’ In other words,” explains Ms. Lee, “because the plaintiffs – in this case the abortion providers – couldn’t prove the defendants were the proper people to sue, the law was allowed to stand, which was exactly the goal of those who penned the legislation.”

• One lawsuit so far has prevailed in the battle over enforcement of the Texas Heartbeat Act. Texas Right to Life has been temporarily enjoined from bringing any lawsuits under the creative Act to financially punish any abortionists for killing unborn children. The temporary injunction was issued within three days of the law’s Sept. 1 effective date. The judge issuing the emergency order is the presiding judge of the 459^th District Court – a state court based in Austin, Texas – Maya Guerra Gamble, elected as a Democrat in 2018; her term expires Dec. 31, 2022, pending a re-election that November. Texas Right to Life, reports Catherine Livingston for Live Action, responded, “‘We expect an impartial court will dismiss Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit. Until then, we will continue our diligent efforts to ensure the abortion industry fully follows the life-saving provisions of the Texas Heartbeat Act.’”

• Texas’s Heartbeat Act appears already to be spurring lawmakers into action Reports Pregnancy Help News’s Skyler Lee: “As of Thursday, Sept. 2, Florida, Arkansas and Mississippi, as well as North Dakota and South Dakota had already announced intentions to follow Texas’s lead. “In fact,” she notes, “the original sponsor of the first Heartbeat bill to pass in America, Arkansas State Sen. Jason Rapert, ordered a bill be filed in Arkansas to update its law ‘to mirror the Texas SB-8 bill.’” And South Dakota’s governor, Kristi Noem (R), “has directed her Unborn Child Advocate ‘to immediately review the new Texas law and current South Dakota laws’ and make sure South Dakota has the ‘strongest pro-life laws on the books.’”

• The Texas Heartbeat Act has fueled the usual flurry of hysteria from left-leaning media, public officials and corporations. Ridesharing competitors Uber and Lyft have both announced they will “support any of their drivers who may be subject to a lawsuit for transporting a woman to an abortion facility” in the state, reports Live Action’s Bridget Sielicki, rather than advising their drivers to avoid such lawsuits by not providing such rides. Indeed, Uber, according to Live Action, “was already reported to have transported minors for abortion appointments and even fired one of its drivers for refusing to transport a woman to Planned Parenthood.” And Lyft’s CEO announced a $1 million donation to Planned Parenthood. Tech company Salesforce, which has 2,000 employees based in Texas, according to CNBC, reports LifeSiteNews writer Matt Lamb, has “told thousands of its employees on Sept. 10 that it would help them move out of Texas if they are concerned” about the Heartbeat Act. Mr. Lamb quotes Turning Point USA youth leader Charlie Kirk, “‘In the end, these corporations will blink first when they feel real economic pain. … If we don’t cave to the cowards at companies like Salesforce, we will win.’” And his prediction might already be coming true. Though the City of Portland, Oregon, announced it would no longer purchase goods produced in Texas, Fox News reported just days later that it has retracted its boycott.

The Heartbeat Act is having a significant impact on the abortion cartel’s business operations in Texas. Live Action’s Catherine Livingston reports, Planned Parenthood has issued a news release “admitt[ing], ‘SB-8 is already decimating abortion access across the state, as providers are forced to turn people away under the six-week abortion ban. Historically, the overwhelming majority – 85 to 90% – of Texans who obtain abortions in the state are at least six weeks into pregnancy.’”

A Crack in the Courts

A 6^th CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS JUDGE WROTE IN A PARTIAL DISSENT that the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade. The opinion was expressed in a case enjoining Tennessee’s Heartbeat Act, explaining that as a lower court judge, Judge Amul Thapar is compelled to base rulings on the Supreme Court’s precedents but declaring, reports Matt Lamb for LifeSiteNews.com (LSN), “‘Roe and [Planned Parenthood v. Casey] are wrong as a matter of constitutional text, structure and history. … He criticized Roe for creating a separate approach to law than what is generally recognized by the courts. ‘There are rules for most cases, and then there are rules for abortion cases,’” wrote Judge Thapar. “‘This case proves the point.’”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) “praised [Judge] Thapar’s dissent,” reports Mr. Lamb. “‘Students of the law – and anyone who cares about the Constitution – should read Judge Amul Thapar’s dissent today,’ he tweeted. ‘He explains in unanswerable detail why abortion is not a constitutional “right” – and why court’s efforts to overrule the people’s voice are wrong.’”

Said Roger Severino, former director of the Office of Civil Rights in the Health & Human Services Dept. under Pres. Donald Trump, quoted by LSN, “‘For those wondering what a decision overturning Roe can and should look like, see Judge Amul Thapar’s separate opinion … . Thapar’s a legal rock star that should be on [the] Supreme Court of the United States.’”

Oklahoma Governor Celebrates Life

OKLAHOMA GOV. KEVIN STITT (R) ON SEPT. 9 SIGNED a package of eight pro-life laws, celebrating their enactment with a formal signing ceremony. He had already signed Oklahoma’s Heartbeat Law last April; it is slated to take effect Nov. 1.

In wielding his pen early this month, Gov. Stitt said, reports Kennedy Hall for LifeSiteNews.com (LSN), “‘I promised Oklahomans I would sign every piece of pro-life legislation that came across my desk, and I am proud to keep that promise. As a father of six, it’s an honor to be the most pro-life governor in the country, and I will always step up to protect the lives of unborn children.’”

The new laws, reports LSN, include: restoration of Oklahoma’s pre-Roe prohibition of abortion, effective Nov. 1, 2021, and contingent on the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Another new law, notes Mr. Hall, “adds committing an abortion to state statutes for ‘unprofessional conduct,’ with exceptions for the life or significant physical impairment of the mother, effective Nov. 1, 2021.”

Another law taking effect Nov. 1 will “require abortionists to be board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology.” Currently, notes Mr. Hall, “often abortion-inducing drugs are provided by people who aren’t medical doctors” in Oklahoma. And, he reports, two other new laws “further restrict use of abortion drugs.”

Another new law relates to abandonment of newborns, directing the state’s Health Dept. to award grants for a baby-box system and, reports Mr. Hall, “extending the time frame they can be relinquished to rescuers from seven to 30 days.”

Oklahoma has also now enacted legislation prohibiting fetal trafficking and in yet another new law “requires birthing centers and other medical facilities to keep a written policy to allow for the family to direct the disposition of the remains of [a] child who was stillborn or miscarried.”

Accompanying the governor at the signing ceremony was Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser, as well as an Oklahoma State Senator, Julie Daniels (R-Bartlesville), who declared in the LSN report, “‘It is a particular honor to join my colleagues in passing legislation to protect the lives of our unborn children. It’s the most important work I do as a legislator.’”

A Win in the 7th Circuit

THE 7^th CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS early this month “ruled in favor of Indiana’s bid to enforce several pro-life laws,” reports Matt Lamb for LifeSiteNews.com, “including a prohibition on chemical abortion drugs being dispensed through telemedicine as well as establishing health and safety standards for abortion facilities.”

The rulings reversed a stay of enforcement issued by a district judge, allowing the laws to be effective while litigation against them could continue.

A majority opinion signed by two of the three judges on the appellate panel declared, reports Mr. Lamb, “‘Existing precedents provide strong grounds for concluding that Indiana is likely to prevail on the contested issues.’”

The majority found, notes Mr. Lamb, “the district court had erred in overturning laws requiring pregnant women be informed about fetal pain, prohibiting telemedicine abortions, ensuring abortions only happen in hospitals or surgical centers in the second trimester and requiring only doctors dispense the RU-486 chemical abortion drugs. State officials can also require an in-person physical exam before a woman has an abortion.”

Facing Reality

LIVE ACTION HAS PUBLISHED A REPORT showing abortion data from various states which documents the reality of late-term abortions. Two charts from Kentucky, for example, list abortions committed in the years 2017 and 2019, for example, breaking down the data to disclose the numbers of abortions by weeks of gestation, and showing abortions as late as 38 weeks from conception.

Michigan’s reports, writes LA’s Carole Novielli, “recorded multiple abortions committed at ‘over 28 weeks’ but did not specify the gestational age beyond this. Two of these abortions were committed in 2020, one in 2019, one in 2018, three in 2017, eight in 2016, 21 in 2015 and 18 in 2014.

“Tragically, Minnesota’s 2020 abortion report also recorded one abortion committed at 35 weeks gestation,” Ms. Novielli writes. “The same pattern appeared in the state in 2018, when the clinical estimated fetal ages of babies aborted (up to birth) were as follows: two at 31 weeks, one at 36 weeks and one at 39 weeks gestation.”

Such data could be helpful to the Supreme Court this fall in its consideration of a post-15-week abortion ban enacted by Mississippi. More detail can be found by checking out the full story at https://www.liveaction.org/news/state-reports-babies-aborted-days-due-date.

Pushing Back

THE ABORTION FIGHT IN WASHINGTON, D.C., THESE DAYS happens every so often in actual recorded votes in the Congress but arises also when pro-life lawmakers stand up to set the record straight in the face of relentless abortion advocacy from a variety of bureaucrats and Administration spokesmen. An example of this is seen in an Aug. 9 Live Action report by Anna Marie Williams in which she highlights a push-back by US Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) against misstatements (to put it politely) by Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.

The Secretary – a member of Pres. Biden’s cabinet – “called the [VA] abortion prohibition a ‘policy decision,’ and a ‘regulatory matter,’” writes Ms. Williams, “intimating that the policy could be reversed or the regulation removed.

“[Sen.] Moran noted,” reports LA, “that the VA’s prohibition on abortion provision or counseling is no mere ‘policy decision’ – it is enshrined in federal law.” He went on to spell out the history of the prohibition, which includes enactment of the abortion prohibition in 1992, a statutory prohibition which has not been revoked or revised.

We thank Sen. Moran for standing up for Life, and we invite readers to read the entire report at https://www.liveaction.org/news/senator-corrects-va-secretary-federal-committing-abortions.

Disproportionate Priorities

Aug. 11, 2021, Memo to American Values supporters by Gary Bauer

             America right now is dealing with two deadly diseases that target people on the margins of life.

             The first one – Covid-19 – is in the headlines every day. It has consumed our attention for 18 months since it probably leaked from a Chinese Communist lab in Wuhan. The second – abortion on demand – is a disease of the heart. And sadly, it rarely makes headlines. We have been dealing with this since 1973 when the Supreme Court claimed it found a right to kill the unborn in the Constitution of the United States.

             So far, over 600,000 Americans have died of Covid. A disproportionate number of them were elderly people and those with pre-existing conditions. So far, abortion on demand in America has taken the lives of over 60 million unborn children.

             On this very day, 500 people will sadly die of Covid, but abortion will claim a much larger toll of several thousand of our most defenseless children.

             Thankfully, Covid does not kill 99% of people who contract it. But 99.9% of abortion victims die. It’s rare indeed for an unborn child to miraculously escape death from the abortionist’s knife.

             We’re spending billions of dollars to fight Covid and to overcome the damage it’s doing to our society. At the same time, we’re spending billions of dollars to subsidize abortion while pro-abortion politicians try to compel everybody to participate in the slaughter.

             While we disagree on strategy, most of us understand the importance of fighting Covid. And – with God’s help – we’re well on our way to defeating it. Today, the new Delta strain of Covid appears to have already peaked in the ‘hot spots” of the last couple of weeks. I pray that we will defeat abortion soon and that all of our children will some day be welcomed into the world and protected under the law.

             But we remain deeply divided over whether the destruction of nearly a million unborn children a year is something to be stopped or celebrated. [We] will continue to do everything we can to save our innocent unborn children.