Life Advocacy Briefing

Demanding Facts, Leading to Justice?

A LETTER SIGNED BY “DOZENS OF REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS,” reports Ashley Sadler for LifeSiteNews, is calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland “to direct the Dept. of Justice and the FBI to investigate the deaths of … five nearly full-term aborted babies found in Washington, DC, last month.

“The move came as pro-life groups last week rallied outside the Washington, DC, medical examiner’s office,” writes Ms. Sadler, “where the bodies of the murdered babies are being held, demanding a full investigation into the infants’ deaths.” They are believed to be the victims of late-term abortions, and one may have been the victim of a partial-birth abortion, which has been banned by federal law since 2003. It is rare for the bodies of abortion victims to be recovered, but the remains of these five were retrieved from a medical waste disposal truck by pro-life volunteers.

“‘We demand that you conduct a comprehensive investigation,’” write the Senators and Congressmen, quoted by Ms. Sadler, “‘on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of each preborn baby.’” We list the signers of the Congressional letter near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

Spending Spree

THE BIDEN REGIME IS POURING OUR TAX DOLLARS into Planned Parenthood and other abortion purveyors through the Title X (Ten) family planning program, reports Carole Novielli for Live Action. According to a news release from the Dept. of Health & Human Services, reported by LA, “Out of the $256.6 million awarded by HHS in grant funding to 76 grantees, more than $14.6 million was given to Planned Parenthood in 12 states, with an additional $17.2 million going to a Maine abortion facility and a heavy advocate of abortion in Hawaii and California.

“In addition, President Biden’s 2023 budget,” notes Ms. Novielli, “seeks to increase spending to Title X from $286.479 million to $400 million.”

The Title X abortionist funding implements Mr. Biden’s reversal of Pres. Donald Trump’s rule disqualifying from Title X funding any outfit committing abortions or financially connected to abortionists.

Candidate Watch

• THOSE WHO PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to endorsements made in this year’s primary elections by former President Donald Trump will find what may be an anomaly in his choice in Pennsylvania’s hot Senate contest. He has endorsed television personality Mehmet Oz for the seat of retiring pro-life Sen. Pat Toomey (R). But though Pres. Trump asserted Mr. Oz “‘is pro-life,’” notes Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “As recently as 2019, [Mr. Oz] attacked abortion bans predicated on the presence of fetal heartbeats on the grounds that ‘they’re electrical charges at six weeks, but the heart’s not beating.’” And he “suggested,” writes Mr. Freiburger, “that Roe v. Wade saved women from largely-mythical ‘coat-hanger’ abortions and framed his ‘personal’ opposition to abortion as distinct from what the law should be.” The LifeSiteNews report also indicated, “In 2010, Oz emerged as a critical, early backer of ‘transitioning’ gender-confused children, running an hour-long special about ‘transgender children’ that promoted a 15-year-old girl who had undergone a double mastectomy at age 14 and an eight-year-old boy being raised as a girl … . The episode,” notes Mr. Freiburger, “also featured Chicago pediatrician and transgender activist Dr. Robert Garofalo, who encouraged parents to disregard medical professionals and give gender-confused kids highly dangerous, off-label drugs and ‘sex change’ surgeries before they turn 16. Garofalo,” adds Mr. Freiburger, “credits his Dr. Oz appearance as a breakthrough for his career that led him to shift his focus specially to experimental transgender drugs and surgeries for children.”

• ARIZONANS WILL WANT TO KNOW the view of their Secretary of State, gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs, on late-term abortion. In an early April interview with a CBS affiliate “about a bill signed last month by … Gov. Doug Ducey,” writes Joseph Summers, she “was asked if she supported time limits on abortions.” The new law bans abortions at or after 15 weeks. Her response, quoted by the LifeSiteNews reporter: “‘Well, women deserve access to abortion care,’ said Hobbs. ‘Abortion is health care. I’ve been very clear on my position on that throughout my career in the legislature.’ When pressed on the matter,” writes Mr. Summers, “Hobbs stated that, ‘Abortion is a personal decision between a woman and her family and her doctor, and that’s something that needs to be discussed in the medical exam room, not by politicians.’” In reviewing the Hobbs legislative record, Mr. Summer notes, “Hobbs also voted against a bill that required doctors to resuscitate babies who survive botched abortions, saying that ‘it is cruel and against medical ethics to administer that kind of resuscitative care that can actually harm the infant.’” That is, the infant who would otherwise be neglected in order to achieve the desired death.

In the Courts

• FLORIDA CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE ANGELA DEMPSEY on April 14 upheld the state’s 2015 law requiring a 24-hour waiting period for abortion customers. Reports Ashley Sadler for LifeSiteNews, the judge turned back a lawsuit brought by a so-called women’s clinic in Gainesville, and in her ruling “‘highlight[ed] the fact that other medical procedures and important decisions, from getting married to purchasing a firearm, have even longer waiting periods,’ the Associated Press

• THE IDAHO STATE SUPREME COURT last week suspended enforcement of the state’s new Heartbeat Abortion Ban, reports Bruce Hausknecht for Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen. The law was set to take effect April 22, but Planned Parenthood immediately challenged it in court, using “a rare legal procedure,” notes Mr. Hausknecht, “to bypass the state’s lower courts” in asking the state’s high court to intervene. “The state Supreme Court granted that request,” writes Mr. Hausknecht, “although it is only temporary for now.” The state has 28 days to respond. The Idaho law is modeled after the unique Texas approach, which is rooted in civil enforcement via lawsuits brought against abortionists, rather than enforcement through state authorities. “Idaho’s … ban is slightly different that Texas’s,” Mr. Hausknecht reports, “in that only certain close relatives of a child killed in an abortion can bring a lawsuit, whereas in Texas any member of the public may bring such a lawsuit. And the damages that can be awarded in Idaho are twice that of Texas’s law – $20,000. … Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit is no slam dunk for the abortion seller,” opines Mr. Hausknecht. “Writs of prohibition [as sought here by Planned Parenthood] are normally only granted to block existing lawsuits from proceeding in the lower courts. In Idaho, the law is not even in effect yet, so no lawsuits have been initiated against an abortionist. Because of those facts,” he writes, “the relief requested by Planned Parenthood may not be available, and the Idaho Supreme Court may ultimately dismiss the case.” Illustrating again the unusual, inspired uniqueness of the Texas civil-suit approach. The Idaho skirmish is happening, what is more, during the run-up to what may become a landmark US Supreme Court ruling in which the Roe v. Wade wall is in jeopardy of crumbling at last. the view of their Secretary of State, gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs, on late-term abortion. In an early April interview with a CBS affiliate “about a bill signed last month by … Gov. Doug Ducey,” writes Joseph Summers, she “was asked if she supported time limits on abortions.” The new law bans abortions at or after 15 weeks. Her response, quoted by the LifeSiteNews reporter: “‘Well, women deserve access to abortion care,’ said Hobbs. ‘Abortion is health care. I’ve been very clear on my position on that throughout my career in the legislature.’ When pressed on the matter,” writes Mr. Summers, “Hobbs stated that, ‘Abortion is a personal decision between a woman and her family and her doctor, and that’s something that needs to be discussed in the medical exam room, not by politicians.’” In reviewing the Hobbs legislative record, Mr. Summer notes, “Hobbs also voted against a bill that required doctors to resuscitate babies who survive botched abortions, saying that ‘it is cruel and against medical ethics to administer that kind of resuscitative care that can actually harm the infant.’” That is, the infant who would otherwise be neglected in order to achieve the desired death.

Stateside

• CONNECTICUT LAWMAKERS HAVE DEFEATED a bill to legalize abetted suicide. According to a LifeSiteNews report by Kennedy Hall, the defeat of SB-88 – after approval by the Public Health Committee – was the tenth time such a measure has lost in the Connecticut legislature. Opposition was led by a citizen group called Second Thoughts Connecticut, “dedicated,” writes Mr. Hall, “to protecting the rights of disabled people in light of the push for assisted suicide.” A group called The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition also weighed in. Proponents are expected to try again next year.

• IDAHO GOV. BRAD LITTLE (R) SIGNED A NEW LAW on March 21, reports Bridget Sielicki for Live Action, “to encourage and support families that receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome.” It provides for development of an information guide for such families to give them a plan and a hope for rearing such a child, offering reassurance they need to resist pressure to abort.

• MARYLAND LAWMAKERS HAVE OVERRIDDEN a veto by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) of a measure that allows non-physicians to commit abortions without the supervision of a licensed doctor. It further, notes Louis Knuffke for LifeSiteNews, “provides millions of taxpayer dollars for the training of nurses, midwives and physician assistants in abortion procedures and requires most private health insurance companies to cover the cost of abortions by removing co-pays.” The override vote in the House was 90 to 46 and in the Senate, 29-15.

• ALREADY NOTORIOUS FOR OVERREACHING her executive authority during the Chinese-flu pandemic, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) announced April 7, reports National Right to Life (NRL) News, “she is using her executive authority to file a lawsuit asking the Michigan Supreme Court to find a right to abortion within the ST constitution.” Michigan Right to Life President Barbara Listing promptly called the move “‘a frivolous lawsuit,’” notes NRL News, adding, “‘Gov. Whitmer is ignoring the voices of Michiganders by bypassing all lower courts and court precedent, just as the US Supreme Court did when they decided on Roe v. Wade.’ In 1997, the Michigan Supreme Court,” notes NRL News, “declined to hear an appeal in Mahaffey v. Attorney General, thereby affirming that there is no right to abortion found in the Michigan Constitution.” On the books in Michigan is a long-standing statute criminalizing abortion, which has been unenforceable since Roe v. Wade but would – without court intervention – come back to life in the event the US Supreme Court vacates its Roe v. Wade ruling via the Dobbs case this summer.

• MISSOURI’s HOUSE PASSED A BILL April 6, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “to ban taxpayer dollars from funding abortion providers and their affiliates, the dispensation of abortion-inducing drugs and the donation of fetal tissue obtained from abortions, as well as mandate basic medical care for newborns who survive attempted abortions.” HB-2012, which must yet be taken up by the State Senate, also has a “born-alive provision,” notes Mr. Freiburger, which “empowers family members including children (but not perpetrators of sexual assault) to bring wrongful death suits against abortionists for abortion survivors who later die.”

• REAL DISAPPOINTMENT IN NEBRASKA could lead to some hot political contests in November. Eight hours of debate on a pro-life trigger law in the unicameral legislature ended April 6 in defeat of the Human Life Protection Act by just two votes. The score was 31 to 15, but 33 votes were needed to end the filibuster which the abortion cartel’s legislator allies had mounted. Nebraska pro-life lawmakers were seeking to make their state the 14^th to enact a trigger law, notes Louis Knuffke for LifeSiteNews, which “would make abortion illegal upon a Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade, a lightning strike which the pro-life community anticipates could happen this summer with the Supreme Court’s decision on the Dobbs case testing a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi. We are publishing quotes from a speech in the debate near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

• OKLAHOMA GOV. KEVIN STITT (R) last Tuesday signed a “Life at Conception” law, reports Ashley Sadler for LifeSiteNews, “making it a felony to kill an unborn baby at any gestational age except in cases of ‘medical emergency.’” That exception is limited to saving the life of the mother. Penalties include fines up to $100,000, notes Ms. Sadler, “and/or 10 years in prison.” The law cannot be used to prosecute an aborting mother. “‘I promised Oklahomans that I would sign every pro-life bill that hits my desk, and that’s what we’re doing today,’ [Gov.] Stitt, a Christian father of six, said … as he signed the legislation,” writes Ms. Sadler. “‘We want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country. We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma.’

• WEST VIRGINIA’s GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R) HAS SIGNED the Unborn Child with Down Syndrome Protection & Education Act, calling the targeting of Down Syndrome children for abortion “‘just terribly discriminatory in my book,’” reports June Leffler for West Virginia Public Broadcasting. The law takes effect June 10 and requires abortionists to ask each customer, notes Ms. Leffler, “if they are choosing to terminate a pregnancy based on a potential disability. Providers will then have to submit a statement to the state confirming that is not the reason. Medical practitioners that don’t comply with this law,” she writes, “could lose their license. Patients would face no penalties.” Abortionists in the state complained the law, in Ms. Leffler’s words, “will undermine the trust between patients and doctors and further limit abortion access.”

Model Communication

April 8, 2022, LifeSiteNews report by Louis Knuffke

             Nebraska State Sen. Julie Slama spoke out proudly in defense of human life during [her state’s] heated eight-hour legislative debate over LB-933, “The Human Life Protection Act.”

             Slamming opposition for obscuring the issue of abortion with “identity politics,” [Sen.] Slama, a Republican, said, “We’ve had a few people get up on the mic today and say, ‘As a woman, I oppose this bill, and here’s why.’ If the opposition is going to bury themselves in obscurities and identity politics, I’ll hop in.

             “As the only young woman under the age of 35 in this legislature,” she declared, “I’m proud to stand in support of women, both born and preborn, by supporting Sen. (Joni) Albrecht’s pro-life LB-933. See, I’m 25,” she went on. “I’m 10 years younger than any other woman on the floor, and I’m proud to be pro-life.”

             Lamenting the loss of an “entire generation” in the 62 million deaths caused by abortion since Roe v. Wade, [Sen.] Slama declared, “My generation, which has suffered the greatest losses from abortion, is the pro-life generation.

             “We can’t get those 62 million lives back,” she continued, “or even the tens of thousands of lives we’ve lost to abortion here in Nebraska. But here in 2022, heaven have mercy on us if we know the science decisively proves that life begins at conception and we fail to take action.”

Lawmakers Signing Letter Seeking Probe

Senator Mike Lee (UT) was joined by GOP Senators John Boozman (AR), Marco Rubio (FL), Mike Crapo & James Risch (ID), Mike Braun & Todd Young (IN), Joni Ernst (IA), Roger Marshall & Jerry Moran (KS), Roger Wicker (MS), Josh Hawley (MO), Steve Daines (MT), Ben Sasse (NE), Thom Tillis (NC), Kevin Cramer (ND), James Inhofe & James Lankford (OK), Lindsey Graham (SC), John Thune (SD), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Ted Cruz (TX) and Mitt Romney (UT).

Representative Chris Smith (NJ) was joined by GOP Representatives Mo Brooks (AL); Andy Biggs & Paul Gosar (AZ); Doug LaMalfa (CA); Lauren Boebert & Ken Buck (CO); Michael Waltz (FL); Andrew Clyde, Marjorie Greene & Barry Loudermilk (GA); Russ Fulcher (ID); Mary Miller (IL); Larry Bucshon & Jackie Walorski (IN); Randy Feenstra (IA); Ron Estes (KS); Andy Harris (MD); Jack Bergman, Bill Huizenga, Lisa McClain, John Moolenaar & Tim Walberg (MI); Michelle Fischbach (MN); Michael Guest & Steven Palazzo (MS); Dan Bishop, Madison Cawthorn & Richard Hudson (NC); Markwayne Mullin (OK); John Joyce (PA); Jeff Duncan & Ralph Norman (SC); Jim Burchett (TN); Brian Babin, Michael Burgess, Michael Cloud, Louie Gohmert, Ronny Jackson, Chip Roy (TX); John Curtis (UT); Ben Cline & Bob Good (VA); David McKinley (WV); and Glenn Grothman & Thomas Tiffany (WI).

Senate Voting Record

Motion to Discharge the (Tied) Senate Judiciary Committee – Nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to Justice of the Supreme Court – Adopted – April 4, 2022 – 53-47 (Democrats in italics; “Independent” marked “I”)

Voting “no”/pro-Life: Shelby & Tuberville/AL, 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, 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/UT, Capito/WV, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Lummis/WY.

Voting “yes”/anti-Life: Murkowski/AK, Kelly & Sinema/AZ, Feinstein & Padilla/CA, Bennet & Hickenlooper/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Carper & Coons/DE, Ossoff & Warnock/GA, Hirono & Schatz/HI, Duckworth & Durbin/IL, Collins & 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, Romney/UT, Leahy & Sanders/VT, Kaine & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Manchin/WV, Baldwin/WI.