Life Advocacy Briefing

Call for Justice & Mercy

WHILE CALLING FOR UNITY IN HIS STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS last Tuesday, President Donald Trump (R) did not hesitate to call out the Democratic Party on its own near-unified advocacy of baby killing.

“‘There could be no greater contrast,’” he declared, as reported by LifeSiteNews.com, “‘to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our nation saw in recent days. Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth,’ he said. ‘These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world. And then, we had the case of the governor of Virginia, where he stated he would execute a baby after birth.’

“[Pres.] Trump was referring to video that went viral last week,” writes LifeSiteNews’s Calvin Freiburger, “of Democrat Del. Kathy Tran admitting her bill to liberalize Virginia’s late-term abortion laws would allow abortion just as a woman is about to give birth, followed by Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam suggesting that a born-alive ‘infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired.’”

Then Pres. Trump went on, in his annual, Constitutionally-prescribed speech, to press for passage of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, filed in the Senate by Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) as S-160, with 44 co-sponsors, and filed in the House by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) as HR-784, with 119 co-sponsors.

“‘To defend the dignity of every person,’” Pres. Trump said, quoted by Mr. Freiburger, “‘I am asking Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb.

“‘Let us work together,’” Pres. Trump urged, “‘to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: all children – born and unborn – are made in the holy image of God.’”

Standing Up for Abortion Survivors

SEN. BEN SASSE (R-NE) HAD HIS OWN PRIORITY last Monday for responding to the Virginia governor’s shocking callousness toward newborn abortion survivors. He attempted to advance for an immediate vote his legislation to require medical personnel to provide life-saving care for newborns whose arrival signifies a botched abortion.

Though federal legislation was signed by Pres. George W. Bush to establish such policy in federal law, the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act contained no penalty provisions – whether criminal or civil – and is seemingly being ignored by medical providers. Sen. Sasse’s legislation, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, tightens the original legislation and adds both criminal and civil penalties.

S-311, which has 46 co-sponsors, was brought before the Senate last Monday without reference to committee. Sen. Sasse presented a motion to bring it up by unanimous consent. His motion was objected to by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), leaving his proposal, for the time being, on the Senate calendar for later action. We anticipate it will need 60 votes to be called up, and we urge readers – especially those whose Senators are Democrats (and those who live in Maine and Alaska) – to call their US Senators now and urge an “aye” vote for cloture and final passage on S-311. (Capitol switchboard: 1-202/224-3121) We thank GOP Senators Joni Ernst (IA), James Lankford (OK) and Josh Hawley (MO), as well as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) for publicly speaking out against Sen. Murray’s heartless blocking of last Monday’s vote.

Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser was quoted by LifeSiteNews in reaction to the President’s call and to the Senate’s next-day refusal to act: “‘The contrast between Pres. Trump’s vision for the future and that of the Democratic Party, now dominated by abortion extremists, is stark. … Senate Democrats had the chance yesterday,’” said Mrs. Dannenfelser, quoted by reporter Calvin Freiburger, “‘to prove they are not the party of infanticide, and instead they doubled down on a radical agenda of abortion on demand through birth and even beyond. That position,’” she declared, “‘is simply irreconcilable with the values of the American people.’”

The pro-life political action leader also advocated passage of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a major goal of the pro-life movement for this Congress. “‘We ask Congress to heed Pres. Trump’s request and to send the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act to his desk without delay,’ she continued,” reports Mr. Freiburger. “‘This popular, compassionate legislation would protect unborn babies after five months – more than halfway throughout pregnancy and a point at least by which these children can feel the pain of abortion.’”

The “Pain-Capable” late-term abortion ban is pending in the Judiciary Committee of each chamber.

In the States

• NEW YORK’s NEW DEHUMANIZATION LAW HAS CLAIMED its first victim. Besides authorizing abortions to the moment of birth, the New York law has, notes Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews.com, “erase[d] the state’s recognition of preborn babies as potential homicide victims.” In the stabbing death of an expectant mother in New York City last weekend, the state now acknowledges only one victim, especially ironic since a neighbor of the victim, according to Fox News, reports Mr. Freiburger, “told police he saw a man ‘dragging her down the stairs’ and heard her screaming, ‘He’s got a knife! He’s going to kill the baby!’” So New York’s law excludes as a victim the very intended victim in the tragic killing.
• THOUGH RHODE ISLAND IS CONSIDERING A NEW YORK-STYLE ABORTION BILL, the national outcry against the New York extremism may be beginning to have an effect. A Democratic lawmaker who was co-sponsoring the “Rhode Island Reproductive Healthcare Act” has withdrawn his name, claiming, reports LifeSiteNews.com, “he failed to examine what the law would actually do before putting his name to it.” Pro-life analysts in the state, according to LifeSiteNews, warn that the measure “would eliminate any restrictions on abortion methods and late-term abortions, require the state to fund abortions for women eligible for Medicaid or covered by the ‘Payer of Last Resort’ program and repeal the state’s recognition of viable preborn children as potential assault or homicide victims.” In other words, a model bill for the death lobby. We commend the startled lawmaker and urge that Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) emulate his reticence. The self-identified “Catholic” governor, so far “vocally supports it as a way to ‘codify women’s access to reproductive health care’” in her state, notes LifeSiteNews.
• VIRGINIA IS NOW CONSIDERING a bill to strip the words “mother” and “father” out of its laws on parenthood, and, sadly, HB-1979 has already passed the GOP-controlled House of Delegates. Notes Katy Faust, founder of Them Before Us, writing for LifeSiteNews.com, the proposal “deserves serious attention, because it turns children into products, all in the name of ‘progress.’ … Repeat this phrase over and over,” she advises Virginia lawmakers: “‘Children are not commodities. Children are not commodities. Children are not commodities. And then act – and vote – accordingly.” Her full commentary on the proposal – which sets forth heartbreaking quotes from children born through surrogacy and from those being reared by persons of the same sex claiming parenthood – will soon be available on the home page of our Internet website at www.lifeadvocacy.com.
• MARYLAND HAS BECOME A PRINCIPAL TARGET of the euthanasia lobby, according to Baltimore Sun reporting by Pamela Wood. “Dozens of people – many of them senior citizens – descended [last week] on Annapolis, wearing yellow t-shirts from Compassion & Choices. … Del. Shane Pendergrass, who has sponsored the [abetted suicide] bill for the past several years, said she believes ‘this is the year’ for the measure.”
• NEW MEXICO IS DELIBERATING on a bill “that would repeal a 50-year-old state law that makes it a felony for providers to perform abortions except in rare cases,” reports Samantha Gobba for World magazine. “Though the law has been largely unenforceable since the US Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, the bill’s sponsors have argued for repeal in case the high court overturns Roe.” As of Feb. 2, the bill had cleared committee on a 10-to-4 vote and now moves to the House for consideration. Included in the measure is a repeal of the state’s current medical conscience protection.
• ILLINOIS HAS A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO, now that the Animal League Defense Fund has released its 2018 US Animal Protection Laws Rankings Report. Of the “best five states for animals,” Illinois ranks No. 1. “Among its tough animal protection laws,” notes IllinoisReview.com, “Illinois holds felony penalties for animal cruelty, neglect, fighting, abandonment and sexual assault. Illinois also allows courts to restrict ownership of animals after conviction. In comparison,” notes the popular online source for news and opinion, “Illinois abortion advocates boast the access the state allows for abortion as being the most lenient in the Midwest.” Congratulations are not in order.
• PERHAPS LOOKING TO ILLINOIS WITH ADMIRATION, Virginia Delegate Kathy Tran – author of her state’s now-defeated abortion-till-birth bill – filed a second bill on the same day as her bill died. The liberal crusader introduced a bill, reports Live Action, citing The Daily Caller as source, “to prevent spraying for certain pests such as ‘gypsy moths’ and ‘fall cankerworms’ during certain months.”
• NORTH DAKOTA’s HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HAS PASSED a bill requiring that chemical abortion customers be informed, writes Dave Andrusko for National Right to Life News Today, that “it may be possible to save her baby should she change her mind.” The House vote on HR-1336 was 73 to 16; the measure now goes to the State Senate. Hundreds of babies have been saved, Mr. Andrusko reports, by the reversal regimen.

Quick Takes

• JUST SO EVERYONE GRASPS how the Democratic Party is reacting to the American people’s shock over their support of late-term abortion and even infanticide, guess who attended the State of the Union speech as guest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? Of course! Planned Parenthood CEO Leana Wen.
• A THREE-JUDGE PANEL for the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals “gave pro-life activist David Daleiden a small victory this month,” reports Samantha Gobba for World magazine. The panel “ruled that videos released by his [Center for Medical Progress] were ‘authentic and not deceptively edited,’” despite claims by Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation in defending against his unveiling of their trafficking in baby body parts.
• A CALIFORNIA STATE MAGISTRATE HAS ORDERED four Planned Parenthood affiliates, reports Catherine Short for Life Legal Defense Foundation, “to respond to questions about their profit margin from procuring organs and tissue from aborted babies and selling them to fetal tissue procurement companies.” The discovery order comes amid a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood against David Daleiden and his Center for Medical Progress. The order responds to evidence produced by the US House Select Panel investigating Planned Parenthood’s involvement in fetal tissue trafficking, that the abortion outfit’s retrievable costs “were nominal to non-existent. In the face of this evidence,” writes Ms. Short, “Planned Parenthood continued to deny that their revenues exceeded their expenses but flatly refused to explain the discrepancy. Life Legal Defense Foundation then sought an order from Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu of the Northern District of California, compelling the abortion providers to explain themselves. … On Thursday [Jan. 24], the court granted the Life Legal’s motion and ordered Planned Parenthood to provide their responses by Jan. 31.” We regret we do not have an update yet on this report, but it was nice to see Planned Parenthood lose a round in a California court.

March for Life Speech Transcripts

Speeches by Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) at the March for Life Rally at the National Mall in Washington, Jan. 18, 2019, transcribed by Life Advocacy Briefing

Rep. Lipinski: Thank you. Thank you all for coming out here today. It’s great, always great to see so many young people here because you are the pro-life generation. I know that we’ve got some, a couple of busloads of kids from my high school, St. Ignatius. Wherever they are, somewhere out there. We’ve got a huge group from my university of Notre Dame, and how many people here are from the Chicago area? Where are you at? We’ve got people from all over. We have a great, diverse crowd. We have people who come here because of their faith, some people who have no faith, that are here. We have all kinds of different ideas on all kinds of different issues. We don’t agree on everything. We’ve got Republicans, Independents, Democrats, but we’re all here because we all agree on one thing: Every life is sacred and needs to be protected. No one is expendable, and our highest priority has to be to defend life from the first moment, because everyone is unique from day one.

            Now, how do we know this? We know it through science. I’m an engineer; I used to be a college professor. I’ve done a lot of work in Congress for science and scientific research. I know that pro-life is pro-science, and don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

            We all have a lot of work to do. You just heard from Chris Smith what we’re working on in the House of Representatives to protect Life. We also need to change hearts and minds. And we do this with hard work, education, prayer and everyday acts of love for women and their children, because that is what the pro-life movement is all about.

            So, I know the road is sometimes rough, but we will never, ever give up. Together we’ll march until one day, life – especially the most vulnerable women and children – are all protected. Thank you for marching, and God bless.

Sen. Daines: Well, thank you so much, Jeannie, and thanks to each one of you for being here to show the world how strong and important the life movement really is. Let me tell you something, It’s not just the grandparents, it’s the grandkids who are here today. It is especially great to see so many young people here, these young faces in the crowd. You are leading this fight, and it is truly my privilege to stand with you because this is a fight worth having.

            Now as Congressman Lipinski just said, he’s an engineer, I’m the only chemical engineer in Congress. If you want to have a debate on the science, I’m ready to have it. The science is clear: Life begins at conception. And because of that, every life must be valued, and every life must be protected.

            And it’s been a great afternoon already. Today we are grateful to have a pro-life President, President Donald J. Trump. Under President Trump’s leadership, and your Republican-led United States Senate, we have delivered the strongest pro-life results in history. Think about this for a moment. Just last Congress, this Republican-led Senate confirmed 85 conservative judges. Now that includes a record setting – never before in the history of this country has a President in his first two years working with the Congress moved forward 30 new lifetime appointment circuit judges. We also confirmed 53 district court judges and two new Supreme Court Justices. And the best news of all – you know, laws can change here and there – guess what: These judges are lifetime appointments. We can thank God for that.

            But our work, our work doesn’t stop here. I have a very exciting announcement to share with you here today: I’m very proud to announce that I have founded the very first ever pro-life caucus in the United States Senate. This pro-life caucus and our new expanded pro-life majority – Thank God, in November we sent more pro-life Senators to the United States Senate, and that’s thanks to you – that will allow us to accelerate the momentum of the past two years in protecting and defending Life.

            And just this week, I was very grateful to see 48 of my US Senate colleagues join me in sending a letter to President Trump urging him to stop any legislation coming out of the House that erodes pro-life protections. And as you just heard, he received that letter, and President Trump is standing with us and our pro-life colleagues in the House, fighting back against Nancy Pelosi and her reckless pro-abortion war on children and her liberal agenda. We will continue to stand with President Trump in protecting our pro-life achievements.

            And most importantly, we’ll be standing with all of you. This is a battle that, by God’s grace, by God’s grace, we are winning, starting with the hearts and the minds of every American, and it is a battle that we must win. May God bless each one of you, and may God bless this great United States of America. Thank you.

[Also appearing at the March rally but not speaking were US Sen. James Lankford(R-OK) and GOP Representatives Jim Banks (IN), Jack Bergman (MI), Andy Biggs (AZ), Michael Cloud (TX), Dan Crenshaw (TX), Warren Davidson (OH), Ron Estes (KS), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Russ Fulcher (ID), Andy Harris (MD), John Joyce (PA), Bob Latta (OH), Roger Marshall (KS), Dan Meuser (PA), Lloyd Smucker (PA), Greg Steube (FL), Brad Wenstrup (OH), as well as Sen. Jim Lankford (R-OK).]

Perspective

Jan. 31, 2019, The Point commentary by John Stonestreet & G. Shane Morris

            Progressive Christians often criticize the pro-life movement for only caring about babies before they’re born and not enough about “social justice” issues after they’re born. They don’t spend enough time or energy on so-called “whole life” issues, like poverty and racism and climate change.

            Here are two responses: First, a movement can only do so much. Of course we should care about every injustice, but pro-life organizations should not be expected to spend their already thin budget on every problem in society, especially when other organizations are called to those issues.

            Second, are social justice advocates living up to their own demand? So many who are vocal on after-birth issues are silent about nothing less than the taking of innocent, pre-born human lives.

            As blogger Samuel Sey recently wrote on Twitter, “One of the biggest indictments against the social justice movement within evangelicalism today is that it hasn’t produced a greater passion against the biggest human rights violation of our time – abortion. In fact, it’s producing more apathy and support for abortion.” Well said.