Life Advocacy Briefing

Question of the Week

JUST WHAT ABOUT ‘REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE’ promotes health?

The Long Night Is Over, Now What?

OUR READERS KNOW BY NOW, former President Donald Trump is now President-elect Donald Trump. Pres. Joe Biden is preparing to fold his presidency into the annals of history. Vice Pres. Kamala Harris has declared her fight – for whatever that’s worth – will go on. Election day 2024 was a stunning rejection by the American people of the march to socialism and of control by social-agenda radicals.

We wish we could be jubilant, but “relieved” is a better word. We live to fight another day, but the fight clearly goes on, and we will take great interest in the social orientation of the 47^th President’s cabinet picks.

Pro-life citizens must be vigilant and vocal in addressing our – in many cases – new Members of Congress and the Senate, as well as persisting in advocating Life within the coming Administration. Though the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling relieved our nation of the burden of abortion-by-fiat, it failed to herald the right to life in our nation’s Declaration of Independence and the 5^th and 14^th Amendments to the Constitution. The Trump campaign’s defensive posture on abortion policy does not assure us of the victories we ought to be able to secure, given the American people’s rejection of the constant abortion drumbeat from the Harris apparatus. We must hope the dominance of abortion in the rejected Harris campaign will spur the new Trump/Vance Administration to look for ways to restore the right to Life rather than to shelve the long-standing GOP commitment to its principle.

Fitting within the Trump punt to the states on abortion policy can still be such federal propositions as barring federal funding of abortion and federal abetting of the abortion lobby. Examples:

• Making permanent the Hyde Amendment with respect to Health & Human Services spending;

• Barring the Veterans Administration and the Defense Department from their Biden-era abetment of abortion;

• Restoring and making permanent President Reagan’s Mexico City policy blocking US foreign aid from organizations promoting or committing abortion;

• Ending US spending on the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other UN agencies complicit with the abortion cartel;

• Legislation barring interstate escorting or other means of promoting abortion tourism;

• Enforcing long-standing federal law barring use of the Postal “Service” to deliver death-dealing chemicals including such baby-killing poisons as RU-486.

The list can go on much longer. We invite our readers to contact their Members of Congress with ideas, suggestions and proposals of your own. (Capitol switchboard: 1-202/224-3121)

Let’s Help Get the Job Done!

LIFESITE NEWS HAS POSTED A PETITION TO INCOMING PRES. TRUMP imploring him to use his clemency power by granting “a full pardon,” notes the LSN staff, “to all imprisoned pro-lifers,” noting that “in September 2023 the [now] President-elect promised to ‘review the cases of every political prisoner … unjustly prosecuted by the Biden Administration’ and ‘sign their pardons or commutation on Day One.’” Those wishing to sign the petition to Pres. Trump can find it online at https://lifepetitions.com/petition/fullpardon.

On the day after Mr. Trump was elected to a second term, the pro-life news service “call[ed] upon Pres. Trump to remember his promise and set the captives free,” recalling a statement by Pres. Trump at the 2023 Pray Vote Stand Summit on Sept. 15 of that year: “‘Marxists and Stalinists in the Administration got a Washington, DC, jury to convict five pro-life activists,’” he said, quoted in last Wednesday’s LifeSiteNews report, “‘who are now facing up to 11 years in prison for simple acts of protest.’ … He was referring to pro-life activists Lauren Handy, John Hinshaw, William Goodman, Heather Idoni and Herb (Rosemary) Geraghty, who were charged and found guilty on Aug. 29, 2023, of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and conspiracy against rights for blocking access to the Washington Surgi-Clinic abortion mill in Washington, DC, in October 2020 in their effort to save children from abortion.

“On the day of Trump’s speech,” notes LifeSiteNews, “pro-life rescuers Joan Andrews Bell, 74, Jonathan Darnel, 40 and Jean Marshall, 72, were found guilty of the same charges in connection to their involvement in the same rescue.”

According to the LifeSiteNews report, Mr. Trump, during his 2023 speech, “alluded to the fact that pro-lifers and conservatives in general have faced a barrage of unjust prosecution under the Biden Administration.

“‘Under Biden, others are being sentenced to 10, 15 and even 20 years in prison,’” said Pres. Trump in 2023, “‘for retribution for their political beliefs, while Antifa and other groups burn down cities like Portland, like Minneapolis. … They kill people, they loot, they plunder and they go free,’ Trump said. ‘To reverse these cruel travesties of justice,’” he said, quoted in last Wednesday’s LifeSiteNews report about his 2023 speech, “‘tonight I’m announcing that the moment I win the election, I will appoint a special task force to rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner who’s been unjustly persecuted by the Biden Administration … so that I can study the situation very quickly and sign their pardons or commutation on Day One. … Never again will the federal government be used to target religious believers.

“‘It was God-fearing patriots like you who built this country, and it is God-fearing patriots like you who are going to save our country,’ Trump added. ‘Americans of faith are not a threat to our country; Americans of faith are the soul of our country.’”

And he added, “‘The radical Left is coming after all of us, because they know that our allegiance is not to them; our allegiance is to our country and to our Creator.’”

Congratulations, Rep. Wagner!

WE HAVE BEEN PARTICULARLY CONCERNED about pro-Life champion Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), because her district has shown itself deeply challenging for a Republican nominee in recent past elections. And because Rep. Wagner is the lead sponsor – every year – on the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, which penalizes those “abortion escorts” who transport pregnant minors across state lines to procure the killing of their unborn child without even notification to the grandparents of those targeted developing babies – a proposal which cannot effectively be enacted at the state level but must be addressed by Congress.

Pro-lifers across our country can be thankful to the voters of Missouri’s 2^nd District in the St. Louis suburbs. They have re-elected their outstanding Congresswoman by nearly 55%, the same as two years ago after her squeaker election of 52% in 2020. Here is hoping that the Left will now move on. And here’s hoping she will resume her fight for parents, their minor daughters and their helpless grandchildren as soon as the 119^th Congress takes office.

In the States: Mixed Referendum Results

VOTERS IN 10 STATES acted last Tuesday on statewide propositions – chiefly to amend their respective state constitutions – related to abortion. The results are mixed, which is an improvement over the abortion-cartel sweeps of such referenda in 2022. We publish, at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing, a compilation published by The Washington Stand, news-and-views publication of Family Research Council; though it focuses chiefly on the victory in the Florida referendum – thank you, Gov. DeSantis! – it does present the results in all 10 states where abortion was on the ballot directly via referenda. We encourage our readers to review it with the understanding that referendum results of today can be reversed some day down the road, but only with extraordinary, principled and strategic advocacy for the sanctity of Life and Family.

You Do Win Some!

Nov. 6, 2024, Daily Citizen commentary by Nicole Hunt

             The pro-life community stopped the abortion industry in their tracks on Tuesday night as abortion amendments in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota were defeated. … In what felt like a David-vs.-Goliath moment, radical abortion policy was rejected by the voters of those states, even though the abortion industry had a major funding advantage. According to campaign filings, contributions to the abortion campaigns across the country were over six times greater than contributions to pro-life efforts. … Abortion activists had more than $234 million in contributions, compared to pro-life advocates, whose contributions totaled around $37 million collectively.

             The successes in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota are pivotal to the pro-life movement’s future. Here’s why:

1. These wins are the first wins for the pro-life effort since the reversal of Roe v. Wade. … A win in these three states is truly a win for the entire pro-life movement. Prior to Tuesday, we saw seven losses for the pro-life movement in statewide ballot measures. And last night, we saw another seven states adopt radical abortion policy into their state constitutions. While there is still much more work to do, the wins in [the three states] were critical for the pro-life movement. Pro-life advocates needed these wins. … Momentum has been on the abortion industry’s side since 2022, but not [entirely] any more.

2. The wins in these states show that there are three different pathways to victory for states who may be faced with an abortion initiative in the future. In Florida, the heightened threshold of 60% approval was a game changer. Ultimately the amendment failed because it only got 57% of the vote. In Nebraska, the pro-life community brought forward a pro-life initiative to compete against the abortion measure. In both of those states, political leaders fearlessly advocated for Life and helped raise money for the pro-life cause. In South Dakota, we saw a naturally more conservative base that wasn’t influenced by big abortion money. According to state filings, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood didn’t even put money into the South Dakota campaign.

3. Finally, because Life won in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota, it is estimated that more than 51,000 babies will be saved from abortion every year. There’s nothing that motivates and inspires the pro-life community more than saving babies and mothers from the tragedy of abortion, and that’s exactly what they’ve accomplished by protecting Life in these three states.

             So, take a moment to celebrate these wins. They offer hope and a path to victory for the pro-life cause.

Rundown on the Referenda

Nov. 6, 2024, report by Dan Hart for The Washington Stand

             In the ongoing aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the 2024 election saw an unprecedented 11 ballot initiatives in 10 states that mostly attempted to codify a “right” to obtain an abortion into state constitutions. Perhaps the most highly contested initiative took place in Florida, where the pro-abortion Amendment 4 failed to pass.

             The initiative fell short of the 60% threshold needed for passage on Tuesday night, garnering around 57% of the vote, while votes against the measure amounted to roughly 43%. The amendment’s failure leaves in place Florida’s six-week pro-life protections.

             Amendment 4 would have enshrined abortion through birth into Florida’s constitution, removed protections for unborn children after viability, eliminated parental consent laws, and allowed abortions to be referred and carried out by non-doctors, among other provisions.

             The ballot initiative failed despite immense funding from pro-abortion activists, who poured over $85 million toward advertisements and campaigns in favor of the measure.

             Bucking the trend of other prominent Republicans who have largely avoided discussing the abortion issue in the leadup to the 2024 election, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) took a leading role over the last two months in the movement against the amendment, as he held press conferences with pro-life doctors and held rallies with celebrities like former NFL coach Tony Dungy.

             “Let’s just be clear,” DeSantis remarked recently regarding the measure, “You have no definitions in this amendment. You have no doctors required to be involved under this amendment, and you have really, really extreme policies, such as the lack of meaningful limits. That is not something that belongs in any state’s constitution, much less the state of Florida.”

             “I think an important point is in Florida, we did see politicians step up,” remarked Mary Szoch, Family Research Council’s director of the Center for Human Dignity, shortly following the amendment’s failure. “We saw the [former] President [Florida resident Donald Trump] say he was voting no on the attempt to enshrine abortion until birth. We saw Gov. DeSantis lead the charge, saying, ‘No, this is ridiculous. This is too extreme for Florida. Life is sacred.’ We did see a victory.  So, we need to see more of that.”

             John Stemberger, senior counsel of Liberty Counsel and president of Liberty Counsel Action, concurred. “[I]t’s because of … Governor Ron DeSantis. He’s just been an absolute horse leading the battle. He’s fearless. You know, when you get the issue, you communicate right on it and you’re unapologetic, you win, right? It’s when you hide and run – that’s when you lose. And we’re not losing, because Ron DeSantis has led with great strength, and he was very articulate. He was fearless.”

             Stemberger went on to credit pro-life canvassers on the ground. “[W]e’ve also had a great ground game. … The other side had no signs, really, no door-knockers, and so we really killed that aspect of the campaign. … We got outspent seven-to-one, and we’re still here victorious tonight.”

             Leaders in the pro-life movement extolled the demise of Florida’s Amendment 4. “The demise of pro-abortion Amendment 4 is a momentous victory for Life in Florida and for our entire country,” SBA Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser observed. “The law that safeguards more than 50,000 lives annually will remain.”

             “Amendment 4 has failed in Florida! Incredible victory for Life!” added Live Action President Lila Rose on X.

             As of 7 a.m. EST Wednesday, one pro-life initiative passed, three pro-abortion initiatives failed and seven pro-abortion initiatives prevailed. Here is how voters responded to the [other] ballot measures across the country.

• Arizona’s pro-abortion Proposition 139 was projected to win, with over 61% voting in favor of the measure with 60% of votes counted. The measure creates a fundamental right to abortion under Arizona’s constitution.

• Colorado’s pro-abortion Amendment 79 passed with over 61% voting in favor of the measure. The amendment places the right to abortion in Colorado’s constitution and repeals the current ban on state and local funding for abortion services [sic].

• Maryland’s pro-abortion Question 1 passed overwhelmingly in the deep-blue state, garnering roughly 75% of the vote in favor of the measure. The measure enshrines abortion through birth for any reason into Maryland’s constitution.

• Missouri’s pro-abortion Amendment 3 passed, garnering almost 52% of the vote in favor of the measure. The amendment enshrines abortion until birth into Missouri’s constitution.

• Montana’s pro-abortion Constitutional Amendment 128 passed, with approximately 57% voting in favor of the measure. The amendment enshrines abortion through birth for any reason into Montana’s constitution.

• Nebraska’s pro-life Initiative 434 passed, with over 55% voting in favor of the measure. The measure amends Nebraska’s constitution to protect the unborn from abortion in the second and third trimesters. Nebraska’s pro-abortion Initiative 439 failed, with over 51% voting against the measure. The measure would have amended Nebraska’s constitution to allow abortions through birth.

• Nevada’s pro-abortion Question 6 is projected to pass, garnering over 63% of the vote with an estimated 83% of votes tallied. The measure enshrines abortion until birth into Nevada’s constitution.

• New York’s pro-abortion Proposal 1 passed easily in the deep-blue state, garnering over 61% of the vote in favor of the measure. Proposal 1 enshrines abortion through birth for any reason into New York’s constitution.

• South Dakota’s pro-abortion Constitutional Amendment G overwhelmingly failed, with almost 60% voting against the measure. The amendment would have enshrined abortion until birth into South Dakota’s constitution.