Life Advocacy Briefing

‘Humanitarian Aid’?

INTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD IS APPEALING FOR DONATIONS, reports Stephen Kokx for LifeSiteNews, “after its only abortion center in Gaza was inadvertently destroyed by Israeli forces on Oct. 8.” The abortuary was hit with collateral damage, rendering it “‘unusable’ following ‘an Israeli airstrike to an adjacent building.’”

The appeal is for “donations in order to assist thousands of women,” writes Mr. Kokx, “who will be ‘forced to give birth’ in the upcoming months.”

Declared the executive director of the Palestinian Family Planning & Protection Assn. (PFPPA), an affiliate of International Planned Parenthood Foundation, quoted by Mr. Kokx: “‘I can’t stress enough how dire the situation is and how desperately we need humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza.’

“An IPPF spokesperson told Newsweek that the organization is seeking a ‘safer location to relocate within Gaza’ to continue ‘delivering services.’”

No matter what is going on around them, Planned Parenthood and its associates are determined to carry on their dastardly mission.

We urge our Members of Congress to ensure that the humanitarian aid being sought by the Biden Regime for various parties in the war on Israel be expressly limited to life-giving – not life-taking – services. A tight restriction should be written into any such legislation, lest more US tax money than ever be deposited in the already swollen accounts of the abortion cartel.

There They Go Again

EVEN THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION (EEOC) is being used by the Biden Regime to further its war for unfettered abortion.

Two US Congresswomen, Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Mary Miller (R-IL) have sounded the alarm about a rule proposed by EEOC to force employers to cover abortions undergone by their employees. They have released to the media their Oct. 10 letter to EEOC Chairman Charlotte Burrows objecting to the agency’s proposed rule, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, requiring “employers [to] make ‘reasonable accommodations’ for pregnant employees,” noting that the regulatory proposal “contains language defining ‘pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions’ as encompassing ‘having or choosing not to have an abortion.’”

The proposed rule supposedly implements the 2022 Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, but, notes Mr. Freiburger, “the lawmakers who enacted it said they did so with the express understanding that it did not confer any requirement to facilitate, assist or accommodate a decision to abort. In 2022,” writes Mr. Freiburger, “Catholic Vote warned that if passed, the PWFA would allow pro-life groups to be ‘sued if they don’t provide their employees special leave to get abortions.’ … Nevertheless,” reports LifeSiteNews, “the US Conference of Catholic Bishops supported the PWFA legislation – and the EEOC mentioned this very support when introducing the proposed pro-abortion regulations implementing the now-passed law. The USCCB,” notes Mr. Freiburger, “supported the legislation alongside Planned Parenthood.”

Said Representatives Miller and Foxx, quoted by LifeSiteNews, “‘Congress intended the PWFA to address commonplace workplace needs of pregnant workers, such as access to water, additional bathroom breaks or provision of a stool or chair.’ …

“‘Either Chair[man] Burrows and the entirety of the EEOC have misplaced their reading glasses,’” commented Rep. Foxx in the report, “‘or they simply do not have a grasp on the English language.’”

The lady from North Carolina is being politely ironic.  Rep. Miller spoke more bluntly in the LifeSiteNews story: “‘The Biden Administration is committed to betraying the sanctity of life by pushing policies that undermine the rights of the unborn,’ declared [Mrs.] Miller. ‘As the mother of seven children and grandmother of 20, I am deeply committed to defending life. I will continue to fight against the Biden Administration and the radical abortion industry to protect vulnerable children from the pro-abortion agenda from the Left.’”

Auspicious Victory

A FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN HAS BEEN ELECTED GOVERNOR of Louisiana in the state’s unusual “jungle” primary, a “unique system,” notes LifeSiteNews writer Calvin Freiburger, “in which both parties appear on the same ballot.”

Jeff Landry, who has been serving as his state’s attorney general since 2016 after serving a term in the US House, “cleared 50% of the vote in [the Oct. 14] jungle primary, … eliminating the need for a run-off election.” In fact, according to his updated Wikipedia page, his vote totaled 52%, and his closest competitor, a Democrat, came behind him at just 25%. It is the first time, according to a Louisiana-based friend of Life Advocacy, that a Republican gubernatorial candidate has ever won without having to face a run-off.

“As the Pelican State’s attorney general,” writes Mr. Freiburger, “Landry pursued a number of conservative actions, including a leading role in challenging the Biden Administration’s coordination with social media companies on censorship decisions, inviting Louisiana’s parents to report age-inappropriate sexual books in libraries and ensuring that localities enforce pro-life laws.”

Gov.-elect Landry compiled a consistent pro-life voting record in Congress, consistent with his advocacy of conservative and pro-family governing principles. His inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 8.

‘Surprise Attack’

IT IS NOT UNUSUAL for a Democratic Member of Congress from a “safe” district to cater to voters who cherish “abortion rights” as their highest value. But Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) has taken his abortion advocacy a step further, making an unprovoked verbal attack on a pregnancy resource center in his district.

The Congressman, who won his fourth term in 2022 with 55% of the vote, fashions himself a “common-ground” moderate who chairs what he calls a “problem solvers” caucus in the House. But apparently when he is at home in the Hackensack area, he chooses instead to be seen as an extremist, finding it appropriate to stage a news conference across the street from the Lighthouse Pregnancy Center to, states his official website, reports Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen, “kick off a campaign to ‘shut down deceptive anti-choice clinics.’”

The Lighthouse Center’s executive director told the Daily Citizen, “‘Lighthouse Pregnancy Resource Center was shocked and saddened by this surprise attack on our Hackensack center by a Congressman committed to serving our community.’” But she went on to say, “‘Rep. Gottheimer never took the time to learn about our center and instead made untrue and inflammatory statements about Lighthouse, other pregnancy centers and even our supporters.’”

The pro-life non-profit, reports the Daily Citizen, “has four locations in New Jersey, and,” according to what the center director told the publication, “are actively serving women, men and children in the community with ‘free medical services and ongoing educational, emotional and spiritual support.’”

Perhaps his fellow “problem solvers” in Congress could provide him a better dose of education about the true nature of the life-savers in his district than the propaganda he has swallowed from the truth-threatened lobby of the abortion cartel.

Closed!

ANOTHER PLANNED PARENTHOOD SHOP HAS CLOSED ITS DOORS, reports Jean Mondoro for LifeSiteNews, this one in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The closing follows a sustained prayer vigil by the 40 Days for Life sidewalk counseling organization.

In a blog post on Oct. 13, the 40 Days for Life organizers declared, reports Ms. Mondoro, “‘Planned Parenthood is reeling in Iowa, as nine of the abortion giant’s facilities in the Hawkeye State have closed forever following a 40 Days for Life campaign. … The Council Bluffs Planned Parenthood closed earlier this week – just months after the Cedar Falls location went out of business,’ the post continued,” writes Ms. Mondoro, “making it ‘the 146^th abortion facility to go under following a 40 Days for Life vigil. After many years of prayers and hard work, Council Bluffs is finally abortion-free!’”

Employment Insurance

THE OHIO ABORTION REFERENDUM HAS DRAWN A MAJOR DONATION from a deeply notorious source.

Ohio abortionist Martin Haskell – the inventor of the detestable partial-birth abortion technique by which late-term developing babies are partially delivered and then stabbed in the neck – has invested $100,000 of his dirty money into the campaign to promote Ohio’s ballot measure seeking to cement legalized abortion – along with other anti-family, anti-science doctrines – into the state constitution.

The proposition is on the ballot in a Nov. 7 referendum, and pre-election-day voting is now underway. Let us pray.

The proposal was drafted by Ohio’s chapter of the ACLU, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, and is “backed by the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights advocacy arm Protect Choice Ohio.

“The Washington Examiner reported,” writes Mr. Freiburger, “that campaign finance reports have revealed that Haskell, the director of Dayton-based Women’s Med Center (which has a history of patient injuries and medical violations), who has been credited with inventing the partial-birth abortion procedure, made a $100,000 donation to the amendment campaign in March.

“‘By allowing abortion-on-demand through all nine months of pregnancy and eliminating commonsense health and safety protections for women, Issue 1 gives free rein to late-term abortionists like Martin Haskell,’ reacted Amy Natoce, spokesman for the group Protect Women Ohio, which opposes the amendment. ‘No Ohioan wants to bring that type of extremism and tragedy to our state.’”

Good News from North Carolina

Oct. 16, 2023, news report by Matt Lamb for LifeSiteNews

             A new report from a pro-abortion think tank shows North Carolina’s ban on abortions after 12 weeks’ gestation and other pro-life protections reduced the number of babies killed by 31% in a one-month period.

             “This 31% decline in facility-based abortions provided in one month – the largest of any state – follows the July 1 implementation of severe new abortion restrictions in the state, including a ban on abortions occurring after 12 weeks’ gestation and an in-person requirement for state-mandated counseling,” the Guttmacher Institute wrote in its analysis.

             However, the new Guttmacher report shows that 2,920 innocent babies were still killed in the womb in the month of July, though that represents a 31% decrease from June. The state’s new limits on surgical and so-called “medical” abortions went into effect on July 1.

             While the drop in the total number of abortions in one month is a step toward the complete elimination of the killing of preborn babies and indicates that laws actually can stop abortion, the report does not capture abortions outside of the “formal healthcare system.” Recent data, however, shows that birth rates have risen in states that have restricted abortion since the reversal of Roe v. Wade and that many women in those states have not resorted to “self-managed” abortions, such as with illegal abortion pills.

             The Guttmacher report found that neighboring states did not see a comparable increase in abortions, suggesting that some North Carolina residents did not travel for abortions elsewhere or otherwise used illegal pills. “Guttmacher’s new data show no increases in abortions provided in neighboring or nearby jurisdictions (South Carolina, Virginia, the District of Columbia or Maryland) that would offset the more than 30% decline in North Carolina,” the analysis stated. “This could indicate that some people who would otherwise have obtained an abortion within the formal healthcare system in North Carolina may have self-managed their abortion (for instance, by procuring abortion pills by mail)” or they remained pregnant.

             “North Carolina’s requirement of two in-person visits, at least three days apart, is likely a major barrier that many people who would otherwise come from out of state to get an abortion are unable to overcome,” said the Guttmacher analysis.

[Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: Dave Andrusko of National Right to Life News adds this historical note, which we find offers hope to pro-life state lawmakers and citizen advocates: “Pro-abortion Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) vetoed The Care for Women, Children & Families Act,’ but the Republican-led legislature overrode his veto on May 16. The Senate voted 30-20 to override the veto, and the House followed with their vote to override the veto with a vote of 72-48.”]

It’s Not ‘Just Politics’

Oct. 13, 2023, LifeSiteNews report by Calvin Freiburger

             The sponsor of a Kansas law requiring basic medical care for newborns who survive botched abortions says he knows such legislation is necessary because, contrary to the abortion lobby’s narratives, he personally witnessed a baby survive an abortion attempt.

             Earlier this year, the Kansas legislature enacted HB-2313 over a veto from Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly. The law requires that, in the event of an infant being delivered alive after an attempted abortion, the abortionist must “[e]xercise the same degree of professional skill, care and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious healthcare provider would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age” and “ensure that the child who is born is immediately transported to a hospital.”

             It also requires failure to do so to be “immediately” reported to law enforcement. Those who commit abortions anyway would be guilty of a “severity-level-1, person felony” and would potentially be liable for civil damages if brought by the mother. Facilities that fail to report violations would be subject to fines.

             On Oct. 9, Republican State Rep. Ron Bryce, who is a doctor, appeared in the Wichita Eagle with an op-ed detailing an incident he witnessed in 1988 as a medical resident at John Peter Smith Hospital in Texas. He was called to a Code Blue, typically an alert for medical emergencies, yet when he arrived in the room, neither the female patient nor the attending surgeon showed any signs of an emergency situation. Bryce then heard the cry of a premature infant who “accomplished the seemingly impossible – survived his abortion. Though strong enough to live briefly outside the womb, he was still too young to survive very long separated from his mother.” Bryce transferred the baby boy to the Neonatal Intensive Care, where he died after several hours of difficult breathing.

             “This was the first I knew of an infant surviving an abortion attempt. I assumed it was rare,” he writes. “But then our county health department investigated infant mortality cases and found 27 of these babies born alive over a three-year period.

             “It has been an honor for me to serve in the Kansas House of Representatives and to join with 50 of my colleagues in the 2023 session to co-sponsor the Born Alive Infants Protection Act,” he adds, encouraging other states to do the same.

             Abortion defenders have attempted to discredit the need for such laws by claiming that infanticide is a myth and that existing laws already suffice to deter it. But several abortion industry insiders and policy scholars have told Congress or admitted under oath that it still happens and that many cases of infanticide are not captured by official numbers.

             Further, while killing such babies is technically illegal under the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, that law does not contain criminal penalties that would provide for meaningful enforcement.

             Over the past several years, Congressional Republicans have repeatedly attempted to address that issue with a new bill, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, that requires basic medical care for such infants. But in January, all but two Democrats voted against it, and when in leadership, Democrats repeatedly blocked such legislation from even coming up for a vote.

             “Although the United States fails to record reliable data on abortion survivors, we have estimated, through Canadian government extrapolations, that 1,734 infants are born alive after a failed abortion procedure every year in the United States,” according to the Abortion Survivors Network. “In other words, about two out of every 1,000 abortions result in a live birth. After 49.5 years of Roe v. Wade, 85,817 babies lived through an abortion procedure.”

             According to Family Research Council, 38 states have born-alive laws of some kind, but only 18 of those laws have what the group considers adequate requirements backed by meaningful enforcement mechanisms.