Life Advocacy Briefing

March 20, 2023

Mark Crutcher, RIP / Clarification / Not Too Soon to Weigh In
Another Shop Closes / Nice Try! / Wyoming Waiting for the Governor
Unprofessionalism on Display / Ominous Choice of Words / Another Take

Mark Crutcher, RIP

WHAT A BLESSING our brother-in-arms Mark Crutcher has been throughout his professional life. On March 9, at 1:22 a.m., he went home to his Savior, having suffered a heart attack at the age of 74.

Mark Crutcher founded Life Dynamics in 1992 to promulgate his strategies for penetrating the consciences of Americans with the truth about abortion, across a spectrum of perspectives.

His groundbreaking book Lime 5 shocked many Americans with true stories of the abuse of aborting mothers by abortion racketeers. His powerful video Maafa 21 nailed the abortion industry’s persistent racism. His investigations uncovered the abuse of teens by abortionists. The rhetorical tactics he employed always, always put the abortion advocate on defense and opened minds of those who have fallen for the abortion cartel’s euphemisms and distortions.

Mark Crutcher has gone to his reward, but his life work lives on via the Life Dynamics website, where the books and videos and exposes are available to the public: https://lifedynamics.com. A wealth of information and resources can be found there. We urge our readers to check it out. And to pray for Mark’s family and many friends and admirers in this unexpected loss.

Among his friends is Live Action’s Carole Novielli, who worked for Life Dynamics several years and who authored an extensive report on the news of his passing. In that report, Ms. Novielli writes, “Mark left the movement with words of encouragement from his book Siege: ‘We will do these things because it is right that we do them and because we know that any price we pay is of no consequence compared to the price being paid by those we have vowed to save. We also know that our faithfulness and sacrifices will not be spent without result. And a day is coming when the fog of this war will burn off and the fields where it has been fought will fall silent. It will be a breathtaking moment during which we are suddenly made aware that the war is over and God’s promise has been fulfilled.’”

We commend to our readers Mrs. Novielli’s entire report of Mr. Crutcher’s passing. It is rich in wisdom and in useful history. Find it on the Internet at https://www.liveaction.org/news/mark-crutcher-pro-life-dies.

 

Clarification

WE HAD AN INQUIRY late last week about an item in last week’s Life Advocacy Briefing, so we are eager to restate something we wrote last week in a manner that cannot be mistaken: Walgreens has stated the pharmaceutical retailer will not sell abortion drugs in states where chemical abortions are outlawed. Unfortunately, their assurance does not extend to states which have not made such sales illegal. So pro-life citizens who are engaging in activities to persuade major pharmacy companies – such as Walgreens, Rite-Aid and CVS – to drop their plans to sell RU-486 should persist if they are acting in states without laws protecting distressed mothers and their babies from this poison. Thank you for the opportunity to make that clear; we regret any confusion which might have arisen from last week’s edition but are grateful that our readers call when they may be uncertain about something they have seen in Life Advocacy Briefing.

 

Not Too Soon to Weigh In

NOW THAT THE BIDEN REGIME HAS RELEASED its massive budget proposal, pro-life citizens will have much to say to our respective Members of Congress. [Capitol switchboard: 1-202/224-3121] We’ll outline just a few of the items, reported by Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews.

“The budget,” he writes, “which calls for funding gender transitioning for veterans and putting more than $1 billion toward the next pandemic response” – yes, the next pandemic response – “calls for repealing the longstanding Hyde Amendment, which forbids most taxpayer dollars from funding abortions except for rape, incest or threats to a mother’s life; the Dornan Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortions in the District of Columbia; and the Aderholt Amendment, which prohibits the creation of gene-edited embryos for medical experimentation, such as three-parent embryos.

“It also calls for $512 million for the Title X [Ten] family planning program, $57.5 million [for] the United Nations Population Fund [UNFPA] and increased spending for other programs used to direct taxpayer dollars to the abortion industry at home and abroad – a fact that Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is celebrating.”

Said Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), “‘The President’s budget took my breath away. His numbers are extraordinary. We’re going to run out of digits here,’” he said, quoted by Mr. Freiburger. “‘The only way I know how to improve the President’s budget is with a shredder.’

“Regardless,” writes Mr. Freiburger, “the White House budget is as much a declaration of political priorities as a blueprint for Congress’s final product, an affirmation of Biden’s commitment to effectively unlimited abortion on demand and at taxpayer expense.

“Biden has also called on Congress to codify a ‘right’ to abortion in federal law,” notes Mr. Freiburger, “which would not only restore but expand upon the 50-year status quo of Roe v. Wade by making it illegal for states to pass virtually any pro-life laws. Democrats do not currently have the votes to pass that legislation either but are signaling to their allies in the abortion lobby,” he warns, “what they would do if they are allowed to keep the White House and given additional legislative seats in the 2024 elections.”

 

Another Shop Closes

THE LARGEST ABORTUARY IN DALLAS HAS CLOSED, some 50 years after its baby-killing business was launched. According to LifeSiteNews writer Jean Mondoro, “the facility had not been committing abortions since the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade” last June.

“‘Over its tenure, Southwestern Women’s Center killed thousands of children whose lives can never be replaced,’ Texas Right to Life wrote in a blog post,” quoted by Ms. Mondoro. TRL “added,” writes Ms. Mondoro, “that the facility was ‘owned by long-time late-term abortionist Curtis Boyd, who is an ordained Baptist minister and bragged, “Am I killing? Yes, I am.”’”

More than 100 pro-life pregnancy centers are serving expectant mothers within 15 miles of the now-closed Boyd shop.

Further quoting TRL, Ms. Mondoro reports, “‘It is important to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the pro-life community in Dallas, who tirelessly ministered outside Southwestern Women’s Center. Their prayers, peaceful witness and outreach to women in need have made a real impact on the community.’” And their work will go on, but, praise God, Southwestern’s assaults will not.

 

Nice Try!

THOUGH THE ABORTION CARTEL IS SYSTEMATICALLY TAKING STEPS to surround pro-life governed states with cross-border abortion magnets, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte is having trouble siting its proposed new abortuary in West Wendover, Nevada, to lure customers from Utah, where the GOP Governor, Spencer Cox, has said he will sign a bill to limit abortions to hospitals and cut “clinics” out of the business.

Though Nevada does not have such a law, West Wendover does have a city council, and that council in mid-March voted 4 to 1 against approving a permit for the Planned Parenthood outfit.

Though the pro-abortion mayor, Jasie Holm, vetoed the board’s action, the veto, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “does not clear a path for the new abortion mill; rather,” he writes, “it essentially resets the approval process back to the beginning, meaning that local government is at a stalemate on the question. In the meantime, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte cannot build its new facility.” Bingo!

 

Wyoming Waiting for the Governor

IN ADDITION TO THE ‘LIFE IS A HUMAN RIGHT ACT’ pending awaiting the governor’s signature, as we reported last week, the Wyoming legislature has also singled out the chemical abortion business which is increasingly dominating the cartel’s strategic focus.

Wyoming legislators have advanced to the governor a bill, reports Kelcie Mosely-Morris in National Right to Life News, “prohibiting the use of medications that are used with the intention of terminating a pregnancy, including mifepristone, misoprostol, mifeprex, mifegyne ‘or any substantially similar generic or non-generic or chemical dispensed for purposes of causing an abortion.’

“The proposed law,” writes Mrs. Morris, “includes prohibitions on manufacturing, distributing, prescribing, dispensing, selling, transferring or using the drugs in the state for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion. Those who violate the law,” she notes, “would be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison and a maximum $9,000 fine.”

We, along with thousands of Wyoming citizens, eagerly await news of approval of both these bills by Gov. Mark Gordon (R), who has just a few more days to act.

And while we wait, we will add a quote from the Life is a Human Right Act – HB-152 – passage of which we reported last week. The NRL/News story this week quotes a section we were not aware of in our first report of the signature-still-pending bill. We ask our readers to examine it carefully, as our editor (a former state legislator) believes this language would be a good addition to any pro-life bill: “‘It is within the authority of the state of Wyoming to determine reasonable and necessary restrictions upon abortion, including its prohibition,’ the bill states. ‘In accordance with (the Wyoming Constitution), the legislature determines that the health and general welfare of the people requires the prohibition of abortion as defined in this act.’”

 

Unprofessionalism on Display

March 16, 2023, The Point commentary by John Stonestreet and Jared Eckert

             The ideological takeover of American medical institutions continues. Last month, pro-life doctors were banned from setting up an exhibit at an annual medical education conference hosted by the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG). The pro-life group, American Assn. of Pro-Life Ob-Gyns (AAPLOG), was notified of the ban just days before the conference began.

             ACOG denies that unborn children can feel pain prior to 24-25 weeks and claims that using terms like “baby” and “unborn child” wrongly “center[s] the language on a future state of a pregnancy,” as if there isn’t a baby in a womb throughout a pregnancy. Oh, they also reject the word “womb” since it could be used to “apply emotional value.”

             Ironically, the theme of their conference this year was “Building Bridges.” Instead, they chose to silence critics.

             ACOG’s exclusion of pro-life professionals is an example of Romans 1: Those who “by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

 

Ominous Choice of Words

March 10, 2023, The Washington Stand commentary by Joy Stockbauer

             Friday morning, on the infamously progressive talk show, The View, 85-year-old actress Jane Fonda made a disturbing recommendation for dealing with pro-lifers: murder. The remarks came amid a conversation regarding Fonda’s pro-abortion activism, particularly in the months following the Dobbs Supreme Court decision last June. As hosts Sonny Hostin and Joy Behar simpered sweet nothings about Fonda winning a Nobel Prize, the conversation quickly turned awkward when Behar asked Fonda how to extend pro-abortion activism beyond merely marching and protesting.

             “Well, I’ve thought of murder,” Fonda asserted, repeating the word “murder” as the women gathered around her laughed uncomfortably.

             Despite the audience’s amusement and assurances from the show’s hosts that the actress was simply joking, viewers were left to wonder – does Fonda really believe that advocating for life in the womb is justification for someone to be murdered? And in a culture where progressives are keener than ever to claim that mere words can be violence, how can Fonda get away with literally suggesting murder?

             Perhaps Fonda’s comments wouldn’t hit home for pro-lifers so acutely were it not for the barrage of terrorism that the pro-life community has suffered in the last year. Family Research Council has tracked over 125 instances of pro-abortion violence against pro-life pregnancy resource centers, churches and individuals in the past year; just this week, a pregnancy resource center in Minneapolis was vandalized with the same familiar message that pro-lifers have learned to expect: “If abortions aren’t safe, neither are you.”

             In many instances, pro-abortion harassment has gone far beyond vandalism and threats. A CompassCare pro-life pregnancy resource center in Buffalo, New York, was firebombed in June of 2022; the attack caused $500,000 in damages and forced the center to spend the next 52 days rebuilding. Despite the violence already occurring against these charity centers, radical abortion lover Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) accused pregnancy resource centers of “torturing” women and called for their doors to be closed – a move that, were the partisan tables turned, would certainly have been characterized as an incitement of violence.

             In light of Fonda’s incurable enthusiasm to do harm to those who advocate for the life of the unborn, it’s important to consider her personal background on the issue. Fonda’s mother, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and eventually died by suicide, aborted nine of Jane’s older siblings before finally giving birth to her. Both Fonda and her mother suffered sexual assault and childhood sexual abuse. While there is certainly zero excuse for her abortion advocacy, much less her calls for violence against pro-lifers, understanding Fonda’s background helps paint a fuller picture of why she is so desperate to preserve social acceptance and celebration of abortion as a moral good rather than as the affront to human dignity that it truly is.

             Just last week, conservative pundit Michael Knowles was accused of advocating genocide against people who identify as transgender because of a statement he made during a speech at CPAC. Even White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slanderously accused Knowles of calling for the “eradication of transgender people.”

             What Knowles actually said was, “For the good of society and especially for the good of the poor people who have fallen prey to this confusion, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely, the whole preposterous ideology – at every level.”

             While Knowles’s circumstances are more akin to misrepresentation, given that he never actually proposed violence against human beings, the incident still serves to prove a significant cultural point: Progressives can’t have it both ways. Either words must be chosen with extreme delicacy and sensitivity because they will be construed as calls to violence – or not. And, if calls for political violence against other human beings are something to be condemned, then they must be universally condemned – even when the call is coming from inside the house.

             A final (and significant) point to consider is that, even when pro-abortion advocates are not calling for murder against born people, they are nevertheless fighting desperately to perpetuate the shedding of innocent blood. Every “successful” abortion ends the life of a unique, unrepeatable human being. There can be no peaceful or nonviolent support of abortion, because to support abortion is inherently a promotion of violence.

             Thankfully, given what the pro-life movement has demonstrated the willingness to withstand in the last year for the sake of protecting unborn children, it’s clear that the thoughtless snark of a Hollywood celebrity will do little to deter pro-life activism.

 

Another Take

Excerpt from March 10, 2023, Live Action report by Nancy Flanders

             In an appearance on The View on Friday, actress and liberal activist Jane Fonda suggested that in order to fight back against pro-life laws, she has considered resorting to “murder.” When host Joy Behar insisted Fonda was kidding, Fonda did not appear to agree and also implied that laws protecting preborn humans from direct, intentional killing should be ignored.

             “We have experienced many decades now of having agency over our body, of being able to determine when and how many children to have; we know what that feels like, we know what that’s done for our lives,” Fonda said “We’re not going back. I don’t care what the laws are, we’re not going back.” (emphasis added)

             Host Sonny Hostin responded, “That’s the activist speaking. She probably will get a Nobel Prize.” Fonda replied, “But it’s the truth. It is the truth. We’re not gonna do it. We’re gonna fight.”

             Asked by host Joy Behar what can be done to stop pro-life laws besides marching and protesting, Fonda replied, “Well, I’ve thought of murder.” When asked by actress Lily Tomlin to repeat herself, Fonda again stated, “Murder.” Tomlin responded, “Don’t say that.” Behar quickly added, “She’s just kidding. Wait a second … They’ll pick up on that and just run with it. She’s just kidding.” Fonda then shot Behar a look that indicated she was not kidding. …