Life Advocacy Briefing

Thank You, Leader Boehner

WE WON ONE. Last week, we remarked that if the Planned Parenthood bailout earmark in the “stimulus” bill did not become “politically radioactive,” it would mean someone was not doing his or her job.  House GOP Leader John Boehner (OH) went out and did his job before a bank of cameras and microphones after meeting with the President.

He cited “spending on contraceptives” as a prime example of outrageous spending in the huge measure. That got the ball rolling. ABC-TV’s George Stephanopoulos picked up the issue Sunday morning on his This Week magazine program, challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to explain how spending tax dollars on contraceptives qualified as a stimulus to the economy.

The exchange popped onto the Internet as banner news on www.TheDrudgeReport.com: “‘Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services,’” said Mr. Stephanopoulos. “‘How is that stimulus?’

“‘Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost,’ [Mrs.] Pelosi responded. ‘The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now, and part of what we do for children’s health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those – one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception – will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.’

“‘So no apologies for that?’ [Mr.] Stephanopoulos asked. ‘No apologies. No,’ the Speaker responded.”

Matt Drudge’s report, posted Sunday evening, was picked up by talk radio hosts and their callers and made the earmark “politically radioactive” indeed. (In an editorial Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal commented, “Whatever one’s views on taxpayer subsidies for contraception, as economic stimulus the idea is loopy.”) By Monday the White House was distancing the President from the provision, and on Tuesday, according to news reports, Pres. Obama himself called key House Democrats and insisted on removal of the offensive provision. It was gone well before the “stimulus” bill passed the House.

The Fight Persists

THOUGH THE FIRST ROUND ON THE PLANNED PARENTHOOD BAILOUT went to the pro-life side (Praise the Lord!), the fight is far from over. We have reported previously on Sen. Harry Reid’s introduction of S-21 to “expand access” to outfits like Planned Parenthood; now its anticipated companion measure has been filed in the House as HR-463, sponsored by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and 118 co-sponsors. The Slaughter bill has been referred to the House Committees on Energy & Commerce, Ways & Means and Education & Labor.

Notes Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, in FRC’s Jan. 27 Washington Update, “The Prevention First Act … would infuse millions of dollars into the same contraception campaign. Unlike the stimulus bill,” Mr. Perkins notes, “this legislation would go further in using taxpayer funds to push Plan B and also mandate abortion referrals.

“Make no mistake,” cautions Mr. Perkins. “The Left will use absolutely any opportunity to push its radical social platform – even if it means cloaking their agenda as ‘stimulus.’”

Indeed, the National Abortion Federation trade group has not even given up on the removed “stimulus bill” earmark, betraying that the “family planning” bonus money is really about the abortion racket itself, not just supplying contraceptives to so-called family planning programs. NAF – whose membership consists of abortionists themselves – has sent an electronic mail message to its contacts, reports John-Henry Westen for LifeSiteNews.com, urging calls to the White House “at 202/456-1111 to express your support for the Medicaid Family Planning State Option” in the stimulus package.

The Shoe Drops

HE WAITED UNTIL FRIDAY, Jan. 23, but Pres. Barack Obama did, as expected, repeal the executive order disqualifying outfits committing, abetting or promoting abortion overseas from foreign aid grants disbursed via the Agency for International Development (USAID). The Bush executive order reinstated in 2001 the “Mexico City Policy” executive order first issued by Pres. Ronald Reagan at an international population control conference in Mexico City, which was revoked by Pres. Bill Clinton in 1993. During the years of its operation, the order denied millions of US taxpayer dollars to such outfits as International Planned Parenthood Federation. The Obama action will divert such funds from family planning groups which eschew abortion.

Said Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, “We are disgusted, but we are not surprised.” He added, “The way in which the President signed this order is telling. It was pure cowardice,” said Fr. Euteneuer. “Friday afternoons are when politicians release decisions that they know are embarrassing or shameful.  Pres. Obama knows that this is shameful, but he needs to placate those who got him into office.”

Priests for Life director Fr. Frank Pavone issued the following statement: “When Pres. Obama takes money out of taxpayers’ pockets to abort children, he can no longer claim with any legitimacy that he wants to reduce the number of abortions performed here or abroad. Forcing Americans to pay for the killing of innocents will not ‘bring us together,’” said Fr. Pavone. “There can be no common ground when the ground is soaked with innocent blood.”

Just before the order was issued, Alliance Defense Fund attorney Matt Bowman posted comments on the ADF Alliance Alert website, titled “Real ‘Abortion Reduction’ Agendas Don’t Fund Abortions.” Notes Mr. Bowman: By issuing the Mexico City Policy repeal order,  “Pres. Obama [is] illustrating just how hardcore and extreme he is in favor of killing unborn children. In an economic crisis, his top priority is to issue an executive order that not only helps send federal funds overseas but that channels those funds directly into abortion groups. This is the first bailout of 2009 – a bailout for the international abortion industry.”

Writing in the American Thinker on the publication’s website, Ed Kaitz expressed two principal objections: “In his inaugural address, [Mr.] Obama lectured Americans on the merits of ‘responsibility’ as well as on the need to overcome our ‘childish’ proclivities. By sanctioning abortion as a family planning policy, [Pres.] Obama has demonstrated some confusion about what constitutes personal ‘responsibility,’” writes Mr. Kaitz, “as well as ignorance about what it means to grow up.

“Second, in light of our frightening national debt and in a time of serious economic hardship, what the heck does Obama think he’s doing,” asks Mr. Kaitz, “by signing an order that siphons off American dollars to fund abortions in other countries? Just what part of the ‘national interest’ is being served here? His move is purely ideological,” he notes, “a bone tossed out to his radical base. … Is this the kind of ‘change’ we’re supposed to embrace?”

Reaction came even from Britain, where the leader of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), John Smeaton, saw the Mexico City move as just the beginning of a radical agenda and issued a statement declaring, “The Obama phenomenon will affect political decision-making worldwide. All our lives will be affected. Pro-life people must organize and encourage powerful, peaceful resistance at every level in society. The right to Life must be made the top priority issue at general elections in every country by all right-minded citizens,” said Mr. Smeaton. “The great US election party is over. The first killings have been ordered by America’s new abortion President, and we’ve all got a lot of work to get on with.”

Seeking to Reverse Obama Move

SEN. MEL MARTINEZ (R-FL) RESPONDED TO THE PRESIDENT’s ACTION with an amendment to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) seeking to place the Mexico City Policy into law. The amendment, which failed 37 to 60 (see below for roll call), was just the first legislative bid to reinstate the protection for lives and for taxpayers’ integrity.

In the House, four Members have filed HR-708 to restore abortion neutrality to US foreign policy. The 25-year-old Mexico City Policy, which HR-708 would codify, “establishes a wall of separation between abortion and family planning,” notes a joint news release from chief sponsors Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI). The now-revoked policy did so, states the release, “by ensuring that US international family planning funds directed to foreign non-governmental organizations could not be used to actively promote or perform abortion as a method of family planning.”

Joining the two Republicans as original co-sponsors on the legislation are Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). The bill has been referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Other co-sponsors are Representatives Trent Franks (AZ); John Boozman (AR); Connie Mack (FL); Timothy Johnson (IL); Dan Burton (IN); Todd Tiahrt (KS); Rodney Alexander & Steve Scalise (LA); Roscoe Bartlett (MD); Vernon Ehlers (MI); Michele Bachmann (MN); Todd Akin & Roy Blunt (MO); Virginia Foxx (NC); Jim Jordan (OH); Tom Cole (OK); Todd Platts (PA); Bob Inglis & Joe Wilson (SC); Marsha Blackburn (TN); Michael Burgess, John Carter, Kenny Marchant, Michael McCaul & Lamar Smith (TX); Randy Forbes (VA); and Paul Ryan (WI). And Democratic Rep. Travis Childers (MS).

If your House Member is not listed within this item, please call him or her at 1-202/224-3121 and urge co-sponsorship of HR-708.

Excluding “the Least of These”

WHEN THE SENATE DEBATED HR-2, the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), last week, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) offered an amendment to codify into law a 2002 Bush Administration regulation to clarify that unborn children are eligible for coverage. His amendment failed 39 to 59; we publish the roll call at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

Calling Pennsylvania Pro-Lifers!

SEN. ROBERT CASEY (D-PA) IS GETTING OFF TO A ROCKY START in the 111th Congress, with a 50% record on the first two recorded Senate votes on Life (see “Senate Voting Records” below), unfortunately reflecting his decidedly mixed record in the 110th.

Given his heritage as son of the late pro-life Democrat who, as Pennsylvania governor, was widely recognized as fearless in standing above his party in the cause of Life, the youngish senator trades on a pro-life name and image but is not living up to his constituents’ hopes.

Making matters worse, Cybercast News Service (CNSNews.com) writer Mark Hadro reports Sen. Casey “would not specify” whether he would support a Senate filibuster blocking a vote on the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), while indicating he would not vote for the radical measure. Should FOCA achieve the 60 votes required to clear the hurdle of the filibuster, it will likely receive well more than the 50 votes needed to pass. It is on the motion to end the filibuster that vulnerable little children and their defenders in the pro-life community need Sen. Casey to vote “yes.” On final passage, Sen. Casey’s vote is a cynical waste, and he knows it.

His office telephone numbers are: Philadelphia, 1-215/405-9660; Pittsburgh 1-412/803-7370; Harrisburg (tollfree) 1-866/461-9159.

They Call this ‘Choice’?

THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES [sic] UNION HAS FILED A LAWSUIT on behalf of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Assn. and Planned Parenthood, seeking to overturn the Bush Administration’s new regulation protecting the consciences of health care providers who object to participating in the killing of prenatal boys and girls.

The Provider Conscience Rule, shaped by then Health & Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, “den[ies] federal funding for federally funded entities that force their staff to take part in morally objectionable practices like abortion,” explains Tony Perkins, Family Research Council president, in FRC’s Jan. 16 Washington Update. “FRC had lobbied HHS for this change for years,” notes Mr. Perkins, “arguing that health care workers shouldn’t have to choose between their personal beliefs and their jobs. Most liberals disagreed,” he states, “saying that a woman’s ‘right’ to kill her unborn child should trump any moral objections by clinic staffers.”

Joining the abortion racket in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of seven states: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island.

Stay Tuned for March Speeches

WE STILL HAVE MANY MORE SPEECHES TO GO, transcribed from the Jan. 22 March for Life rally. So stay tuned. We simply did not have room to run that feature in this Life Advocacy Briefing.

Senate Voting Records

Martinez Amendment to HR-2, to reinstate and codify the suspended “Mexico City Policy” barring US foreign aid to organizations which commit, abet or promote abortion in countries overseas – Jan. 28, 2009 – Failed – 37 to 60 (Democrats in italics; “independents” marked “I”; new Senators in ALL CAPS)

Voting “yes” / pro-life: AL/Sessions & Shelby, AZ/Kyl & McCain, FL/Martinez, GA/Isakson, ID/Crapo & RISCH, IN/Lugar, IA/Grassley, KS/Brownback & Roberts, KY/Bunning & McConnell, LA/Vitter, MS/Cochran & Wicker, MO/Bond, NE/JOHANNS & Nelson, NV/Ensign, NH/Gregg, NC/Burr, OH/Voinovich, OK/Coburn & Inhofe, SC/DeMint & Graham, SD/Thune, TN/Alexander & Corker, TX/Cornyn & Hutchison, UT/Bennett & Hatch, WY/Barrasso & Enzi

Voting “no” / pro-abortion: AK/BEGICH & Murkowski, AR/Lincoln & Pryor, CA/Boxer & Feinstein, CO/BENNET & UDALL, CT/Dodd & Lieberman (I), DE/Carper & KAUFMAN, FL/Nelson, HI/Akaka & Inouye, IL/BURRIS & Durbin, IN/Bayh, IA/Harkin, LA/Landrieu, ME/Collins & Snowe, MD/Cardin & Mikulski, MA/Kerry, MI/Levin & Stabenow, MN/Klobuchar, MO/McCaskill, MT/Baucus & Tester, NV/Reid, NH/SHAHEEN, NJ/Lautenberg & Menendez, NM/Bingaman & UDALL, NY/GILLIBRAND & Schumer, NC/HAGAN, ND/Conrad & Dorgan, OH/Brown, OR/MERKLEY & Wyden, PA/Casey & Specter, RI/Reed & Whitehouse, SD/Johnson, VT/Leahy & Sanders (I), VA/WARNER & Webb, WA/Cantwell & Murray, WV/Byrd & Rockefeller, WI/Feingold & Kohl

Not voting: GA/Chambliss & MA/Kennedy; Vacancy: Minnesota

Hatch Amendment to HR-2, to codify Bush-era regulations specifying an unborn child is eligible for the State Child Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) – Jan. 29, 2009 – Failed – 39 to 59 (Democrats in italics; “independents marked “I”; new Senators in ALL CAPS)

Voting “yes” / pro-life: AL/Sessions & Shelby, AZ/Kyl & McCain, FL/Martinez, GA/Chambliss & Isakson, ID/Crapo & RISCH, IN/Lugar, IA/Grassley, KS/Brownback & Roberts, KY/Bunning & McConnell, LA/Vitter, MS/Cochran & Wicker, MO/Bond, NE/JOHANNS & Nelson, NV/Ensign, NH/Gregg, NC/Burr, OH/Voinovich, OK/Coburn & Inhofe, PA/Casey, SC/DeMint & Graham, SD/Thune, TN/Alexander & Corker, TX/Cornyn & Hutchison, UT/Bennett & Hatch, WY/Barrasso & Enzi

Voting “no” / pro-abortion: AK/BEGICH & Murkowski, AR/Lincoln & Pryor, CA/Boxer & Feinstein, CO/BENNET & UDALL, CT/Dodd & Lieberman (I), DE/Carper & KAUFMAN, FL/Nelson, HI/Akaka & Inouye, IL/BURRIS & Durbin, IN/Bayh, IA/Harkin, LA/Landrieu, ME/Collins & Snowe, MD/Cardin & Mikulski, MA/Kerry, MI/Levin & Stabenow, MN/Klobuchar, MO/McCaskill, MT/Baucus & Tester, NV/Reid, NH/SHAHEEN, NJ/Lautenberg & Menendez, NM/Bingaman & UDALL, NY/GILLIBRAND & Schumer, NC/HAGAN, ND/Conrad & Dorgan, OH/Brown, OR/MERKLEY & Wyden, PA/Specter, RI/Reed & Whitehouse, SD/Johnson, VT/Leahy & Sanders (I), VA/WARNER & Webb, WA/Cantwell & Murray, WV/Byrd & Rockefeller, WI/Feingold & Kohl

Not voting: MA/Kennedy; Vacancy: Minnesota