Life Advocacy Briefing

Happy to be Swamped!

NEWS COMING TO OUR ATTENTION since the June 24 Supreme Court Dobbs ruling is overwhelming. Please be patient with us as we seek to cull through it and offer it for your interest and for your equipping for the road ahead. It is a broad road, but it is not without pitfalls rapidly being dug by a cartel which has been set back on its high heels.

Closed!

REGULAR READERS OF LIFE ADVOCACY BRIEFFING might find familiar the abortuary name “Jackson Women’s Health Organization.” Some years ago, we reported on the horrific conditions of this shop and on the challenges the state of Mississippi was facing in trying to close it. And some years ago, too, we reported the abortuary in the state’s capital city was the only one still open in the entire state. More recently, the name might ring a bell as the plaintiff in the lawsuit that challenged Mississippi’s post-15-week abortion ban, the lawsuit which went all the way to the Supreme Court and is the case by which the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The “Dobbs” case in today’s headlines is Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Mississippi had enacted a trigger law in 2007, which proved to be immediately useful in the aftermath of its own case in Dobbs. Abortion is now illegal in Mississippi, and though a suit was brought to stay the trigger law, a state judge on July 6 ruled, reports Matt Lamb for LifeSiteNews, “that the Mississippi Constitution does not contain a right to an abortion and that the state has an interest in protecting human life.” The trigger law has taken effect, and a fall-back six-week abortion ban will take effect as well, notes Mr. Lamb.

On July 6, according to the LifeSite report, Jackson Women’s Health Organization closed its abortuary, presumably for good.

Gov. Tate Reeves (R) had so much to celebrate and be thankful for, declaring, writes Mr. Lamb, “‘This law has the potential to save the lives of thousands of unborn Mississippi children. It is a great victory for Life. … I also believe that it is critical that we showcase to every mother and child that they are loved and that their communities will support them,’ he stated. ‘We have much more work to do. Every life has inherent dignity, and Mississippi will continue to do everything it can to advance the fight for Life.’” We celebrate with him and thank Gov. Reeves and the adamant pro-life warriors in Mississippi for paving the way for justice and mercy within America’s states.

The Court Meant It

THE SUPREME COURT HAS FOLLOWED UP its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org. in an order to lower federal courts to vacate rulings, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “blocking a handful of state pro-life laws from taking effect. …

“By invalidating the 1973 precedent that forced all 50 states to allow most abortions,” notes Mr. Freiburger, “the ruling triggered the activation or restoration of laws in more than 20 states effectively outlawing abortion.

“It has also led to the restoration,” reports LifeSiteNews, “of milder laws regulating various aspects of abortion. Reuters reports that the nation’s highest court has thrown out rulings against Arizona and Arkansas laws that ban abortions sought on the basis of a fetal Down syndrome diagnosis, as well as an Indiana law strengthening parental notification rules for minors’ abortions.”

Push-Back

EVEN THOUGH THE STATE OF NEW YORK IS SHOUTING its eagerness to welcome aborting mothers from states which are expected to prosecute abortionists, not everyone in the state is so hospitable to the death industry.

The town board of Henrietta, New York – a suburb of Rochester – voted 3 to 2 in late June to deny a zoning application for an abortuary to be sited in this town of some 47,000 people.

“People immediately began protesting at the Henrietta Town Hall,” reports Cassy Fiano-Chesser for Live Action, “when they learned the nation’s largest abortion chain had filed a zoning request.

“‘This is an issue that goes beyond Henrietta,’ resident Dorothy Hayes said,” quoted by Mrs. Chesser. “‘Planned Parenthood is the hub for central, western New York,’” she said, adding, “‘They affect all the neighborhoods they get into.’

“Another resident, Barbara Sieber, added, ‘It’s just the amount of death, but it also concerns me that they are looking at university campuses. They are taking advantage of people who do not understand the consequences of sex.’

“Still another, Julie Rohn, also spoke out,” writes Mrs. Chesser. “‘Just morally, I’m against it, and I think citizens of the community have a right to say “No, we don’t believe in that in this community” and not support businesses we don’t like,’ she said.” Bravo, Ladies! We are hoping some gentlemen also stood up for mothers and children in this western New York community.

The abortion industry is anathema in dozens of US states, and those states’ laws are already reflecting that conviction, now that the Supreme Court has reversed nearly 50 years of national shame. Even in states where abortion is politically tolerated and even celebrated, citizens can stand up and speak out and protect their own communities. Bravo to the people of Henrietta and to the town-board majority who stood with them on the record.

Interesting Breakthrough

THE COMPANY WHICH OWNS FACEBOOK (“Meta”) is stepping out of character to label the abortion lobby’s recently surfaced militant action arm “Jane’s Revenge” as a terrorist organization, reports Clare Marie Merkowsky for LifeSiteNews, citing The Intercept as source.

The designation came in an internal bulletin, explains Ms. Merkowsky, which circulated within the company on the day following the Supreme Court’s handing down of the Dobbs ruling which overturned Roe v. Wade.

“According to the company,” writes Ms. Merkowsky, “Jane’s Revenge is ‘a far-left extremist group that has claimed responsibility on its website for an attack against an anti-abortion group’s office in Madison, Wisconsin, in May 2022. The group is responsible for multiple arson and vandalism attacks on pro-life institutions.’

“The label ‘terrorist group,’ reserved for the most dangerous and violent entities, including hate groups, drug cartels and mass murderers,” notes Ms. Merkowsky, “subjects Jane’s Revenge to Facebook’s strictest ‘Tier 1’ speech limits,” which could curb some of the group’s rallying communiques.

“As a result” of the new designation by Meta, reports LifeSiteNews, “posts by or in support of Jane’s Revenge will be treated with the same speech restrictions against ‘praise, support and representation’ applied to the Islamic State and Hitler.”

The LifeSiteNews reporter notes, “There have been over 20 attacks on pregnancy centers across the US since the draft of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked in May.” Several of those have been claimed by “Jane’s Revenge” or have borne the marks of the terror group.

The Fight Goes On

A FLORIDA JUDGE TEMPORARILY BLOCKED the state’s new 15-week abortion ban but then reinstated its enforceability after the state’s attorney general appealed the injunction.

The judge claimed the state constitution’s “privacy right” covers abortion, a claim which was swiftly refuted by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). “‘The Florida constitution does not include – and has never included – a right to kill an innocent unborn child,’ his office stated,” quoted by Matt Lamb for LifeSiteNews. “‘We will appeal the ruling and ask the Florida Supreme Court to reverse its existing precedent regarding Florida’s right to privacy. The struggle for Life is not over.’”

Quick Reaction

JUST DAYS AFTER THE U.S. SUPREME COURT sent abortion law back to the states, Delaware Gov. John Carney (D) demonstrated that the state-by-state patchwork approach will give some states the option of building their death tolls of aborted children.

He signed legislation, reports Matt Lamb for LifeSiteNews, “to further expand abortions in the state, including allowing midwives to kill babies in the womb. The legislation ‘authorizes’ a physician assistant or midwife to commit an abortion before ‘viability.’”

The new law expands on authority signed by Gov. Carney in April to authorize “physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses to prescribe abortion-inducing [drugs] including mifepristone and misoprostol,” the RU-486 cocktail, Mr. Lamb notes.

And the law signed on June 29 “also includes various legal protections for abortion providers and patients, including out-of-state residents receiving abortions in Delaware,” writes Mr. Lamb. Those provisions, he explains, “include protections from civil actions in other states relating to the termination of a pregnancy and the protection of individuals from extradition to other states for criminal charges related to terminating a pregnancy.” Clearly, the abortionistas in Delaware are creative thinkers.

Resistance, Soros Style

WHILE LEGISLATORS GRAPPLE with crafting new laws to protect babies from abortion, the left-wing lawyers who have been taking over the prosecutors’ offices in recent elections are plotting how to thwart the will of their states’ lawmakers when it comes to enforcing pro-life laws.

An association of the rogues known as “Fair & Just Prosecution,” explains Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, is “a project of the left-wing nonprofit The Tides Center (which is financed by various left-wing foundations including George Soros’s Open Society Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.” FJP, he reports, “issued a statement signed by 90 state attorneys general and district attorneys declaring that they will ‘decline to use our offices’ resources to criminalize reproductive health decisions and commit to exercise our well-settled discretion and refrain from prosecuting those who seek, provide or support abortions.’” [They know perfectly well that the statutes criminalizing abortion do not put the aborting mother at risk of prosecution.]

The signers of the declaration are based in 29 states, one territory (the Northern Mariana Islands) and, notes Mr. Freiburger, “the nation’s capital of Washington, DC. While some are purely symbolic, hailing from blue states where abortion will remain legal for the foreseeable future,” predicts Mr. Freiburger, “12 are in newly pro-life states where their refusal to enforce the law will have an impact.

“The Washington Times adds,” continues Mr. Freiburger, “that, on top of Soros’s support for Tides, at least 20 of the prosecutors have received campaign support from Soros. Electing local district attorneys to ensure left-wing outcomes at the grassroots level has been a priority of Soros for years.”

Abortion on the Ballot in Michigan?

THE TIMING OF THE LEAK in early May of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade seems to have turned out to be a boon to the abortion cartel in Michigan. It came during the wrap-up of a several-months process of collecting signatures on a Planned Parenthood-backed petition to put a proposition on the November ballot to add a state constitutional amendment authorizing the killing of innocent preborn children. Though most observers had believed the petition passing was unlikely to meet the 425,059-signature requirement by the early July deadline, it now appears the revived abortion controversy has put the circulators over the top. Signatures must be submitted to a state panel to assess whether sponsors have met the threshold with sufficient valid signatures, but the Michigan pro-life community is gearing up for a robust campaign opposing the proposition.

Michigan is one of 13 states, notes Emily Mangiaracina in LifeSiteNews, “with a pre-Roe abortion ban, under which illegal abortions can result in penalties of up to four years in prison.” A Michigan Court of Claims judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of the 1931 law in the wake of Dobbs, after refusing to recuse herself on account of her past involvement with Planned Parenthood. Some local prosecutors in Michigan have said they would consider prosecuting abortionists regardless of the temporary injunction.

A citizens group formed to campaign against the constitutional amendment proposition, Citizens to Support Michigan Women & Children (CSMWC), together with the Michigan Catholic Conference, reports Ms. Mangiaracina, “have decried the [proposed] amendment as ‘dangerous,’ not only for unborn children but for women and girls, considering its wide scope. The amendment would also,” explains Ms. Mangiaracina, “enshrine a right to decisions regarding ‘contraception’ and ‘sterilization,’ without imposed age limits.”

Because of vague wording of the proposed constitutional amendment, none of the popularly supported limits on abortion – such as parental notice and banning partial-birth abortion – would survive state constitutional tests if the amendment were adopted. And it would, of course, block enforcement of the state’s long-standing ban on abortion itself.

In Steps George Soros

June 30, 2022, report by LifeSiteNews writer Calvin Freiburger

             As the fall of Roe v. Wade sends pro-abortion activists scrambling for strategies to ensure the continuation of as many legal abortions as possible, far-left financier George Soros is stepping in to bankroll efforts for blue states to serve out-of-state abortion seekers.

             Last week, the US Supreme Court handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., which declared it was “time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” The long-awaited overturn of the notorious 1973 precedent allowed the elected branches of government to decide abortion policy directly, resulting in abortion automatically becoming mostly or entirely illegal in more than 20 states so far, thanks to a combination of older pro-life laws that had been blocked by the courts as well as trigger laws to take effect after Roe.

             In response, Democrats have called for codifying the “right” to abortion in federal law (which would require retaining the House of Representatives this fall and expanding their Senate majority enough to either eliminate legislative filibuster rules or overcome them with 60 votes), increasing distribution of abortion pills by mail and providing financial assistance for abortion-minded women in pro-life states to travel to states where abortion is still legal.

             One such state is Maryland, where the Baltimore Sun reports that Baltimore’s Democrat Mayor Brandon Scott and the Baltimore chapter of Soros’s Open Society Initiative (OSI) have pledged $300,000 and $250,000 respectively to the Baltimore Civic Fund, which will provide grants to abortion organizations preparing for an influx of out-of-state abortion seekers.

             “It is our obligation to arise up to meet the needs of women across the nation,” [Mayor] Scott said Tuesday at a press conference with OSI officials at his side. “I promise to ensure Baltimore City is doing its part to maintain safe access to abortion service for our residents and those women who come here seeking care.” He pledged to make Baltimore an abortion “haven.”

             “Abortion was legalized when I was a child, and I grew up thinking it would be so forever more, and I also believed when I had a daughter that my daughter would be safe to move around the United States of America and live wherever she chooses and maintain her rights,”* OSI’s Karen Weber added. “That is no longer the case.”

             Among the initiative’s beneficiaries will be the Baltimore Abortion Fund, which offers travel, lodging and scheduling assistance for out-of-state abortion seekers.

             On June 24, Soros’s national Open Society Foundation (OSF) called the Dobbs ruling an “assault on women’s rights, human rights and democracy that will have a damaging impact around the world” and declared itself “proud to invest in grassroots and national reproductive rights organizations who are fighting back at this moment, both in the United States and globally.”

             Unless and until Congress enacts a national abortion ban, there may be little pro-life states can do to prevent their residents from aborting their babies in other jurisdictions. But the Washington Post reports that groups such as the Thomas More Society and National Assn. of Christian Lawmakers are exploring options for addressing the problem, such as drafting model legislation that would “allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a resident of a state that has banned abortion from terminating a pregnancy outside of that state.”

*Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: This sort of rhetoric is increasingly dominating the rhetoric being advanced by abortion advocates. It rings phony to the ear of committed pro-life citizens but can sound appealing to people who have no firm position on abortion. It represents a challenge to pro-life communicators and underscores, in our view, the importance of pro-life communicators declaring and reiterating: Abortion is not health care; rather, it is the intentional, brutal killing of an innocent, developing human child.