Life Advocacy Briefing

Welcome, Rep. Flores!

A SPECIAL ELECTION IN SOUTHERN TEXAS has brought a new pro-life Congresswoman to Washington. Mayra Flores took 51% of the votes, with her closest opponent, Democrat Dan Sanchez, taking 43.3%, according to election night returns last Tuesday. The district has sent a Democrat to Congress continuously since 1871. Her predecessor, now ex-Rep. Filemon Vela (D) had won this district in 2020 by 55%, and left office in the midst of his fifth term. Rep. Flores will serve until January and will be competing for re-election in the 2022 November election in a district somewhat modified by the 2021-22 decennial redistricting process.

Thinking our readers might be interested in the values put forth by Rep. Flores in her winning campaign, we reprint the “issues” segment of her campaign website at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing, an example of bold advocacy for values which voters hold dear.

Americans Are With Us

A RECENT POLL TAKEN FOR THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE (RNC) found, reports Patrick Delaney for LifeSiteNews, that “85% of American voters reject the abortion policies imposed upon the nation by the Roe v. Wade decision.

The RNC poll found, reports Mr. Delaney, “that only 15% of Americans agree with the Democrats on [their] agenda of demanding legal abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy without any restrictions. ‘When voters are engaged in the abortion debate and are asked about specific abortion policies, they reject Democrats’ extreme stances,’ the RNC release explained. ‘In fact, when describing their own position on the issue of abortion, 85% of voter support abortion limits.’ Even of those who self-identify as ‘pro-choice,’ the poll found,” reports Mr. Delaney, “that only 27% agree with the Democrat position of unrestricted abortion.’ …

“With the expected overturning of Roe v. Wade coming soon,” writes the LifeSiteNews reporter, “abortion policy will be returned to the authority [of] legislative bodies in states across the nation. According to a recent Rasmussen survey,” he notes, “this anticipated change would be welcome to 65% of Americans who want laws on abortion decided by voters and their elected representatives, with only 18% wanting them decided by the courts.”

Hear the Shoe Dropping Yet?

AS THE OVERTURNING OF ROE v. WADE APPEARS TO BE APPROACHING each day, various responses have echoed across America from elected officials and judges, as well as within the abortion cartel itself. We will catch our readers up today on a few of those responses, while we wait:

• ALASKA: A late-May report by Live Action’s Nancy Flanders indicates Planned Parenthood’s “abortion facility in Soldotna, Alaska” was set to close permanently on May 31. Customers were advised via the outfit’s Internet website “that patients can switch to the Anchorage clinic or schedule telehealth appointments. While it doesn’t commit surgical abortions,” notes Ms. Flanders, “it does distribute the abortion pill through the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.” By expecting customers to acquire their baby poisons by “telehealth,” the abortion behemoth is ensuring that abortion customers will not be examined by medical practitioners, a dangerous but increasingly dominant practice. “It appears that business may have been slow,” writes Ms. Flanders, citing comments by “pro-life activists. ‘We’ve had a sense for a while that this clinic was not a money-maker but a money-loser – a sink,’ said pro-life advocate Tony Burke, who has been praying outside the Soldatna clinic with his family for 17 years. ‘They kept abbreviating their hours. They were down to three days a week, and even those weren’t three full days.’”

• MARYLAND: Baltimore’s City Council reacted to the leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade by unanimously approving a resolution, reports LifeSiteNews writer Ashley Sadler, “to make their city a ‘sanctuary’ for women seeking to kill their unborn children.” The resolution sets up “a fund to bankroll organizations offering abortions and ‘other women’s health services,’” writes Ms. Sadler. One of the resolution’s sponsors, Councilman Zeke Cohen, said the fund “will consist of a combination of taxpayer dollars from the city and philanthropic donations, which will be funneled into pro-abortion organizations like The Baltimore Abortion Fund.”

• MICHIGAN: In May, a Michigan judge issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of a 1931 state law outlawing abortion. The judge, Elizabeth Gleicher, notes Ashley Sadler for LifeSiteNews, “previously faced calls to recuse herself from the case after she admitted she has donated money to Planned Parenthood.” The lawsuit had been brought by Planned Parenthood of Michigan against the state’s attorney general, radical Dana Nessel (D), who “affirmed,” notes Ms. Sadler, “that her office has ‘no plans to appeal’ the decision,” declaring, “‘The judge acted quickly in the interest of bodily integrity and personal freedom to preserve this important right … .’ Michigan’s radically pro-abortion Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer,” writes Ms. Sadler, “hailed the ruling as a victory that provides ‘critical relief’ for residents of the state.”

• NEBRASKA: Though he won’t act until the ruling comes down, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) announced in mid-May, reports LifeSiteNews writer Ashley Sadler, “he plans to call a special legislative session to immediately outlaw all abortions, without exceptions for rape or incest, if the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. ‘Nebraska is a pro-life state,’ [Gov.] Ricketts told CNN’s Dana Bash on the network’s ‘State of the Union’ show May 15. ‘I believe life begins at conception and those are babies, too. If Roe v. Wade, which is a horrible constitutional decision, gets overturned by the Supreme Court, which we’re hopeful of here in Nebraska, we’re going to take further steps to protect those preborn babies.’ Asked whether the intended pro-life legislation in the Cornhusker State would also ban abortions in cases of rape or incest, [Mr.] Ricketts replied, ‘They’re still babies, too. Yes.’” Way to go, Gov. Ricketts! May his response stand as a model for those front-liners confronted with the discriminatory question of whether the killing of preborn babies conceived in sex crimes should be excused.

• NEW HAMPSHIRE: Planned Parenthood was reported in mid-May to have scheduled the mid-June closing of several shops in New England, according to National Right to Life (NRL) News. “‘On June 12^th, the Planned Parenthood clinics in Hyde Park, Bennington, St. Albans, Middlebury and Claremont, New Hampshire, will be closing their doors for good,’ Rachel Mann reported,” indicating the Planned Parenthood spokesman had told her “the closures ‘are to protect their sustainability. [?] She cited staffing shortages, political divisiveness and underfunding,’” reports NRL News.

• OKLAHOMA: Confronting a complicated question about sovereignty, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) responded to the news about the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade by “warn[ing] Native American tribes not to exploit their sovereignty to set up abortion facilities on reservations,” reports Matt Lamb for LifeSiteNews, “as a way to avoid the state’s laws against abortion.” He had “heard ‘rumblings’ that some reservations may try to host abortionists,” writes Mr. Lamb. “‘Oklahomans will not take – will not think very well of that if the tribes try to start up abortion clinics, abortion on demand in eastern Oklahoma,’” he said in the LifeSiteNews report, “‘because the expansion of tribal lands includes the city of Tulsa.’” Oklahoma is currently in litigation over the state’s “ability to prosecute crimes committed by non-Native Americans on tribal lands,” notes Mr. Lamb. “A ruling that affirms [that power] would make it more difficult for tribes to set up abortion facilities.’” Oklahoma’s tribes, according to Gov. Stitt, reported by Mr. Lamb from a Shannon Bream interview on Fox News, “‘are super liberal. They go to Washington, DC. They talk to Pres. Biden at the White House. They kind of adopt those strategies,’ [Mr.] Stitt told [Ms.] Bream,” writes Mr. Lamb. “‘They think that you can be 1/1000^th tribal member and not have to follow the state law,’” he said. “‘And so, that’s something that we’re watching.’” What a tragedy if America’s Indian tribes were to welcome abortionists to conduct business on their reservations, a surefire way to further depress the populations of tribes which traditionally complain about population suppression. A perfect illustration of the self-destructive heart of the abortion lobby. That irony was applied, also in Oklahoma in mid-May, by a GOP candidate for the US Senate in a commentary published by Fox News and quoted by LifeSiteNews reporter Clare Marie Merkowsky, in which T.W. Shannon “asserted that the abortion industry targets black women and black babies. ‘Their officially sanctioned regime of murder is especially effective in snuffing out the lives of black and brown babies,’” declared Mr. Shannon, reports Ms. Merkowsky. “‘Big Abortion, led by Planned Parenthood, puts profit over principle and lies over life. … Every single year since 1973, over 400,000 black babies have been exterminated by the abortion industry,’ he asserted. ‘That’s more than 19 million boys and girls. And Planned Parenthood has received billions in taxpayer dollars from Democrats who control Congress and the White House.’” Shannon is a former Speaker of the Oklahoma House.

• OKLAHOMA, TARGETED: Oklahoma’s version of the “Heartbeat Act,” modeled after Texas’s groundbreaking civil statute, was attacked by President Joe Biden’s new Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, in late May, reports Calvin Freiburger of LifeSiteNews, as “an ‘extreme’ and ‘absurd’ attack on ‘fundamental rights.’”  Apparently not concerned about such criticism from such a lofty arena, Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed HB-4327 on May 27. The new law “bans any procedure,” writes Mr. Freiburger, “which ‘cause[s] the death of an unborn child.’” Unfortunately, there are exceptions for the killing of an unborn child whose conception is achieved via a sex crime. But that concession makes no impression on the White House (nor probably on any other advocate for killing unborn children). “‘The President believes that women have the fundamental right to make their own reproductive health choices,’ [Ms.] Jean-Pierre said,” quoted by Mr. Freiburger. “‘Today’s action by the Oklahoma legislature is the most extreme effort to undo these fundamental rights we have seen to date,’ she continued. ‘In addition, it adopts Texas’s absurd plan to allow private citizens to sue their neighbors for providing reproductive health care and helping women to exercise their constitutional rights. This is part of a growing effort by ultra-MAGA officials across the country to roll back the freedoms we should not take for granted in this country,’ [Ms.] Jean-Pierre claimed,” notes Mr. Freiburger. Aww.

Political ‘Investment’

A RECENT STORY IN POLITICO, picked up by Live Action and by the newsletter of the Illinois Federation for Right to Life, reports an announcement by “three pro-abortion organizations” to “collectively spend $150 million in just nine states”: Arizona, California, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. “Six of those states,” notes IFRL News, “are holding competitive Senate races, and all nine have gubernatorial elections. …

“According to Politico,” IFRL News reports, “the spending will fund ‘paid ads, field programs, messaging research and polling.’”

Finally Stepping Up?

May 20, 2022, LifeSiteNews blog commentary by Jonathan VanMaren

             It is unsurprising that, as the Biden Administration braces for the possible overthrow of Roe v. Wade, Vice Pres. Kamala Harris is front and center. This week, she hosted a virtual conversation with abortionists from Kansas, Texas, Missouri and Montana. If Roe falls, Harris said, “It would be a direct assault on the fundamental right of self-determination, to live and love without interference from the government.”

             Harris has a long record of being an abortion extremist. As attorney general for the state of California, she launched an investigation into David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress after he released undercover videos that revealed the abortion industry is harvesting body parts from aborted babies and selling them to medical researchers. Daleiden’s apartment was even raided and his property seized.

             In response to revelations that Planned Parenthood – of which Harris is a long-time supporter – is engaged in grotesque crimes against society’s most vulnerable members, Harris chose to investigate the journalist rather than the criminals. (Incidentally, the pro-life movement is one of the [few] human rights movements that faces near-universal opposition from a media participating in the coverup. Daleiden had to investigate Planned Parenthood because the New York Times never will.)

             It isn’t just her targeting of pro-life journalists – Harris’s record is one of total dedication to the abortion industry all the way down. She has a 100% pro-abortion voting record from NARAL, supports codifying Roe v. Wade in law (another attempt to do so this month failed), wants to repeal the Hyde Amendment and rarely misses an opportunity to speak out in defense of America’s bloodiest business.

             And so, after months of bumbling around the Biden Administration and embarrassing herself by somehow managing to come off as less articulate than her geriatric boss, Harris has finally found an issue that she can throw herself into with passion: abortion. She’s giving media interviews, speaking to abortion groups, championing a get-out-the-vote campaign to save abortion in America and meeting with abortionists. She comes off as focused and angry. That’s because this time, her vampiric passion is real. She genuinely does care about the “right” to kill unborn babies. She doesn’t have to fake it.

             Instead of meeting with abortionists, Harris should meet with Melissa Ohden. Or Claire Culwell. Or Josiah. They are members of an incredibly rare group: People who survived the abortion procedures intended to kill them. Melissa soaked in a saline solution injected into her mother’s womb by an abortionist for days but was miraculously born alive. Claire survived, but her twin sibling did not. The abortionist killed the baby next to her but missed her. Every day, she says, she looks in the mirror and realizes she is also seeing the face of the twin she never got to meet – the one who died beside her.

             These people – and many more – survived the industry that Kamala Harris champions. The abortionists that Harris met with on behalf of the Biden Administration are not healthcare providers. They are professionals who kill children like Melissa, Josiah, Claire – and her twin. They are in the business of ending lives for money in a nation where it has been legal to kill viable children since Roe v. Wade was imposed on the entire country in 1973. Roe has more than sixty million tiny faces, and there are just a few that lived to tell the tale.

             No thanks to ghoulish politicians like Vice President Kamala Harris.

Mayra Flores’s Winning Platform

Copied by Life Advocacy from the “issues” page of www.mayrafloresforcongress.com

             Pro-God > My Christian faith is a core part of who I am. My parents raised me to be a strong woman of faith, and defending individuals’ religious liberties will always be a priority of mine.

             Pro-Life > I will always fight for the unborn and advocate for pro-life policies in Washington.

             Pro-Family > My family is the most important thing in my life. I was raised with strong family values and work to instill them in my own children. Family values are one thing that make our community in South Texas so special.

             Pro-America > America is the greatest country in the world, and it has afforded me the life I have today. Through hard work anything is possible in America. I will ALWAYS put America first.

             Pro-Second Amendment > The right to bear arms is something I hold near and dear. Americans should always be able to protect themselves and their families. I will always fight for our Second Amendment rights.

             Pro-Law Enforcement > I am married and a proud US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) wife. Law enforcement will always have a fierce advocate if I am elected to Congress.

             Pro-Border Security > Illegal immigration encourages and funds human/child trafficking. I legally immigrated to America when I was six years old. Living in South Texas offers a unique perspective on illegal immigration and how it affects the livelihood of American citizens. We MUST secure our border to keep bad individuals out and to encourage LEGAL immigration.

             Veterans > My goal is to fight for every veteran; to fix the current health and medical issues at the VA, to address the amount of homeless vets on the streets, to get additional funding and resources so they can overcome any mental issues they face. I love all our men and women in uniform, both past and present.

             Pro-Jobs > Texas is the economic engine of America because of its low regulation and pro-business mindset. Texans know that when you get the government out of the way and let the private sector create jobs, the economy will flourish. I am an advocate against socialism and will always promote capitalism.

             Pro-Oil & Gas > The oil and gas industry is critical to the success of our State and Nation. The industry has been hit hard in recent years, but I will always work to help the oil and gas industry and stand firm against radical policies that would undermine it.

             Pro-Affordable Health Care > As a healthcare worker, I speak to residents of Congressional District 34 day in and day out and understand that having access to affordable health care is the most important issue facing residents of South Texas. In Congress I will always strive to improve our healthcare system and work to find solutions that will lower the cost of prescription medicine.