Life Advocacy Briefing

Simple Question

WHAT IS ‘REPRODUCTIVE’ about the pre-birth elimination of an innocent, unborn human being?

A Sick Definition of ‘Freedom’

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE KAMALA HARRIS RELEASED a policy platform on Sept. 8 which included a section titled “Safeguard[ing] our Fundamental Freedoms.” Predictably, among those so-called “freedoms” she lists such leftwing goals as unlimited abortion and forcing Americans to embrace sexual deviance, according to a LifeSiteNews report by Calvin Freiburger.

“Harris’s ‘New Way Forward’ says,” writes Mr. Freiburger, “she ‘will never allow a national abortion ban to become law. And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, she will sign it.’ The platform adds that Harris will ‘fight to pass’ the pro-LGBT ‘Equality Act,’ which would force states and localities to accommodate nearly every aspect of the LGBT agenda across business, education and public spaces.

“The ‘Equality Act,’” warns Mr. Freiburger, “would grant ‘transgender’ males access to women’s private spaces, such as bathrooms, changing rooms and shelters, require employers and schools to use ‘preferred pronouns,’ allow gender-confused males to compete in female sports and force healthcare professionals to facilitate ‘sex changes,’ including for children, conservatives have warned.”

The Harris agenda also pushes for term limits for Supreme Court justices, a key agenda for the Left ever since the high court handed down its 2022 Dobbs decision reversing the deadly Roe v. Wade edict.

Publication of V.P. Harris’s official agenda, notes Mr. Freiburger, “follows the Democratic Party’s adoption of its latest party platform last month, which recommits to a host of left-wing goals such as unlimited abortion on demand.”

Senate Turns Back Trick IVF Bill

THE IN VITRO FERTILIZATION ISSUE IS COMPLICATED to some folks on the pro-life side of the abortion question, but the bill Senate Democrats tried to move last week did not cause much division among those who claim to respect Life. The “Right to IVF Act” advanced by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) went well beyond its title in an attempt to trap Republicans into voting against the deceptively popular baby engineering industry or voting in favor of highly objectionable sex engineering.

Last Tuesday was the second time since June that Senate radicals failed to secure cloture – ending of debate – on S-4445, garnering 51 votes but needing 60. The roll call in June on the same question was 48 to 47, also needing 60. We are publishing both voting records at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing and apologize for having missed the June 13 vote at the time. 

“‘Senate Republicans spent months tying themselves into knots claiming that they’re in favor of protecting IVF,’” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), quoted by Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews. “‘But when it mattered most – when it came time to vote – they showed their true colors and voted no,’” he said – “‘Twice.’”

Ah, but what were Senators Schumer and Duckworth actually asking Republican Senators to vote for? “The ‘partisan Democrat’ bill deliberately overturns the conscience protections of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,’ said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who back in May [unfortunately, in our view] proposed his own bill to make states allow IVF, albeit without forcing insurers to cover it. ‘It is unfortunate that Democrats have abandoned what used to be a bipartisan commitment to religious liberty,’” he said, quoted by Mr. Freiburger, “‘and they are now more than willing to overturn religious liberty protections.’”

That is not all that was wrong with the Duckworth/Schumer proposal, though it ought to be enough. Consider this assertion by Trump advisor Stephen Miller, posted on social media and quoted by LifeSiteNews: “‘The Schumer bill required taxpayers to fund IVF for “transgenders” who have castrated themselves with drugs and surgery – and created a civil right for “transgenders” to pursue gene editing, sex selection and cloning technology. Bill was filed,’” he said, “‘with poison pills.’”

Warns Mr. Freiburger: “The IVF process is unethical, as it entails the conscious creation of scores of ‘excess’ embryonic humans only to be killed and human lives being treated like commodities to be bartered over. It has been estimated that more than a million embryos are frozen in storage in the United States following IVF, and that as many as 93% of all embryos produced through IVF are eventually destroyed. A 2019 NBC News profile of Florida IVF practitioner Craig Sweet acknowledged that his practice has discarded or abandoned approximately a third of the embryos it places in cold storage. …

IVF’s profile as a national issue rose earlier this year when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children under the law. … With just a handful of exceptions, most national Republicans have rushed to declare their support for IVF, fearing the political ramifications of being branded as opposing the practice, including Trump and the National Republican Senatorial Committee,” concludes Mr. Freiburger.

But thankfully, most were not lured by the legislation’s title to vote to advance the radical Duckworth/Schumer IVF-plus proposal.

Infanticide in Minnesota?

THOUGH THE HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN HAS REPEATEDLY INSISTED that there are no states in which abortion survivors are allowed to die unaided upon their unintended births, it turns out that in the home state of Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz, where he has been governor since January of 2019, state health department statistics show, reports Life News, quoted by Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen, “that there were at least six abortions in the ninth month and that 19 babies were born alive and left to die between 2015 and 2021.”

The Life News report goes on to state, “According to data from the state’s 2021 report, five babies were born alive where in all five instances no life-preserving measures were taken and in only two instances were ‘comfort care’ measures taken.”

Former President Donald Trump, as the current GOP Presidential nominee, likes to remind Americans that Virginia’s Democratic Governor, Ralph Northam MD, acknowledged – and clearly endorsed – the medical profession’s practice of consulting with the aborting mother about any care for an infant who survives the deadly procedure. Evidently Gov. Northam was not alone within his party in embracing infanticide, as Gov. Walz appears, at the least, willing to look the other way while the practice goes on during his stewardship of Minnesota.

This note from Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen for Sept. 11 may more fully outline where Mr. Walz is on the topic of infanticide: “Abortion bills were passed and signed into law by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in 2023. [Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: Only a year ago!] One of the many existing regulations on abortion that were repealed was the requirement to provide ‘life-saving’ medical care to infants born alive in a failed abortion, allowing the infant to be left to die without care.” Bingo.

Parents & Taxpayers, Beware

PLANNED PARENTHOOD IS NOW BOASTING on its website, according to Ben Johnson for The Washington Stand (TWS), of its “ability to reach children with a controversial sex education curriculum one expert says does ‘a horrible and deadly disservice’ to kids.

“Planned Parenthood’s sex-ed lessons teach children under the age of 10 about prostitution,” writes Mr. Johnson. Read that again – children under the age of 10. “They also,” he notes, “cover gender identity, LGBTQ ‘skills’ and how to get an abortion without parental consent or notification.”

The outfit claims to reach “‘1.2 million people a year through education and outreach.’”

The report centers on the indoctrination scheme of a Planned Parenthood affiliate called “Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky (PPGNHAIK) – which also,” writes Mr. Johnson, “covers western Washington State. …

“‘Notably absent is any mention of chastity, expectant motherhood, fetal development or parenting,’” said American Life League national director Katie Brown, in a statement, writes Mr. Johnson, “emailed to The Washington Stand. … ‘Planned Parenthood teaches children to be sexually promiscuous,’” she said, “‘so they will then need its abortion and birth control services later on.’ …

“Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest (PPPSW)’s ‘Sex Ed To-Go’ program has curricula aimed at everything from abortion to lessons aimed at children as young as fourth grade. It offers three courses on abortion (at no charge),” writes Mr. Johnson. “Its course on ‘How Abortion Works’ describes abortion as ‘a common medical procedure.’ A course on ‘Barriers to Abortion Care’ includes a section titled ‘What Is Judicial Bypass?’, which informs teens about how to obtain an abortion without parental involvement. The unit on ‘logistical barriers’ includes a section on pregnancy resource centers. … Its lesson on ‘Supporting Abortion Access’ teaches teens how they can serve Planned Parenthood’s financial interests by becoming ‘a strong advocate for abortion access in your community.’

“Public schools are allowing the organization that killed almost 393,000 preborn children by abortion in 2023 unfettered access to thousands of elementary, middle and high school students in their classrooms and is spending taxpayer dollars to do so,’ [Ms.] Brown told TWS.”

Mr. Johnson goes on to quote former abortionist and long-time pro-life advocate Carol Everett, saying she “has explained how ‘sex education sells abortions’ to underage girls. ‘You have to break down the natural modesty,’” she said, quoted by TWS. “‘You have to become the experts in their lives, and you have to separate them from their parents and their values.’

“The first lesson, taught in kindergarten, aims to undermine parents as a competent source of authority and establish the abortionist as the trusted partner on sexual issues, [Ms.] Everett revealed,” writes Mr. Johnson. “That sets up children, especially young girls, as lifelong customers.”

Fanatic In-Chief

Sept. 12, 2024, LifeSiteNews blog by Jonathon VanMaren

             Kamala Harris has few policies and few political passions. But when it comes to abortion, she shines. The subject clearly animates her – when she speaks about feticide, she lights up, she grows assertive, and her nervousness disappears.

             During her speeches, at the Presidential debate against former Pres. Donald Trump, and in her campaign ads, Harris makes it abundantly clear her platform rests on the corpses of America’s unwanted unborn. The Harris campaign has released three TV ads on abortion this week alone.

             Harris reminds me of a female “pastor” who recently went viral for preaching the demonic gospel of abortion while wearing a Planned Parenthood stole. Rebecca Todd Peters has had two abortions for which she felt “no guilt,” and inverted the Sermon on the Mount for her congregation. “If Jesus were giving His sermon today, He might say, Blessed are those who end pregnancies, for they will be known for their loving kindness.” [Ugh!] Peters advocates celebrating child sacrifice as an objective good rather than a necessary evil, and does so in the most blasphemous way possible.

             Harris, however, has a similar story. “I come from a long line of tough, trailblazing and phenomenal women,” she told one audience recently. “My grandmother would go into villages in India, because she was Indian and lived in India, and she would go to the villages – it was a famous story in our family – my grandfather would say she was going to be the end of his career – but my grandfather [sic] would go into the villages with a bullhorn, talking with the women about the need to have access to reproductive health care.”

             For Harris, apparently, abortion advocacy is an intergenerational family legacy, passed down from mother to daughter. In her telling, her grandmother was an abortion evangelist, going from village to village to share the news that their children could be killed in the womb.

             In India, incidentally, there are a staggering 6.4 million abortions every year, and an estimated 6.8 million fewer baby girls will be born by 2030 due to sex-selective abortion, which is used to weed out unwanted females. Harris is thus carrying on her grandmother’s bloody legacy here in the United States and, if she has her way, as the leader of the free world.

             As Catholic philosopher Ed Feser observed: “This is the woman the so-called Catholic Joe Biden characterizes as having ‘the moral compass of a saint.’ In reality, Harris is the antithesis of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who truly loved India and rightly characterized abortion as the greatest destroyer of peace.”

             Indeed, this month the Harris campaign has kicked off a 50-stop “reproductive freedom” bus tour across a series of battleground states to emphasize that a vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz is a vote for abortion whenever you want, through all nine months of pregnancy.

             It is telling that in the Sept. 10 Presidential debate, Harris refused to respond to Donald Trump’s demand that she state her position on late-term abortion because she believes in not only late-term abortion, but in permitting babies born alive after surviving an abortion attempt to be left to die.

             So does her running mate, Tim Walz.

             Harris’s closing argument at the debate included a Cruella de Vil-like pitch for abortion on demand. Together with Walz, the duo makes up the most radical abortion ticket in the history of the United States. They are not average pro-choice Democrats. They are all in. They have never met an abortion they didn’t like. They are actually passionate about feticide. If elected, they will be a truly disturbing force for evil unlike anything America has ever seen.

Senate Voting Records

Cloture motion to end debate & vote on S-4445 – IVF Promotion – Sept. 17, 2024 – Failed 51-44, needing 60 (Democrats in italics; “Independents” marked “I”; new Senator in ALL CAPS)

Voting “no”/pro-Life: Britt & 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, Hawley & Schmitt/MO, Daines/MT, Fischer & Ricketts/NE, Budd/NC, Cramer & Hoeven/ND, Lankford & Mullin/OK, Graham & Scott/SC, Thune/SD, Blackburn & Hagerty/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Lee & Romney/UT, Capito/WV, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Lummis/WY.

Voting “yes”/anti-Life: Murkowski/AK, Kelly & Sinema (I)/AZ, Butler & 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, HELMY/NJ, Heinrich & Lujan/NM, Gillibrand & Schumer/NY, Brown/OH, Merkley & Wyden/OR, Casey & Fetterman/PA, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Sanders(I) & Welch/VT, Kaine & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Baldwin/WI.

Not voting: Booker/NJ, Tillis/NC, Vance/OH, Rounds/SD, Manchin(I)/WV.  

Cloture motion to end debate & vote on S-4445 – IVF Promotion – June 13, 2024 – Failed 48-47, needing 60 (Democrats in italics; “Independents” marked “I”)

Voting “no”/pro-Life: Britt & 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, Hawley/MO, Daines/MT, Fischer & Ricketts/NE, Schumer*/NY, Budd & Tillis/NC, Cramer & Hoeven/ND, Vance/OH, Lankford & Mullin/OK, Graham & Scott/SC, Rounds & Thune/SD, Blackburn & Hagerty/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Lee & Romney/UT, Capito/WV, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Lummis/WY.

Voting “yes”/anti-Life: Murkowski/AK, Kelly/AZ, 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/NJ, Heinrich & Lujan/NM, Gillibrand/NY, Brown/OH, Merkley & Wyden/OR, Casey & Fetterman/PA, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Welch/VT, Kaine & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Manchin(I)/WV, Baldwin/WI.

Not voting: Sinema (I)/AZ, Butler/CA, Schmitt/MO, Menendez/NJ, Sanders(I)/VT.

*The Majority Leader, Mr. Schumer, voted “no” in order to reserve an opportunity to make a motion to reconsider, at a later date.