Life Advocacy Briefing

Thomas F. Roeser, RIP

THE PRO-LIFE COMMUNITY HAS LOST A GIANT in the passing last week of Thomas F. Roeser, a Chicago civic leader and commentator whose career ranged from Congressional aide (to the late Minnesota GOP Rep. Walter Judd) to federal bureaucrat (under Pres. Richard Nixon) to public affairs at Quaker Oats Co.

Mr. Roeser devoted his retirement years to his zest for charity and for civic causes, for history and for political commentary both as a popular radio talk host and as a public speaker, newspaper columnist and blogger.

One of his principal standards in evaluating political candidates and officials was consistency in their commitment to the cause of Life, one of several reasons he has served on the board of Life Advocacy Resource Project, which seeks to equip pro-life candidates and build confidence in Life as a winning issue, for the past 19 years. Already, he is missed.

‘You Cut’ U.N.F.P.A. Out of the Budget

THE HOUSE G.O.P. LEADERSHIP TEAM HAS BOOSTED ITS PRIORITY on eliminating US taxpayer funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Freestanding legislation to that end, HR-2059, was filed last week by Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC), who submitted the proposed cut to Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) for his YouCut website (www.majorityleader.gov/youcut), at which Americans are invited to “vote” each week among three proposed cuts. Poised against two other proposed cuts, UNFPA defunding “won,” guaranteeing it would be considered by the House and backed by Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and his team.

U.N.F.P.A. is a particularly controversial U.N. agency, not only because its mission involves coercing governments around the world to limit or even diminish their population sizes – against all experience and common sense, as well as Biblical morality – but also because the outfit has been caught abetting Red China’s one-child policy enforced by Beijing’s local henchmen via forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations. Gross gender imbalance has resulted in the Communist country, as the cultural preference for boys is so strong that parents are known to kill their baby girls in a desperate desire to win permission to try again for a boy.

Rep. Ellmers issued an initial statement on learning of the people’s choice to defund UNFPA: “I’m happy,” she said, “to announce that the winning program of the first round of YouCut is the UN Population Fund, which will save $400 million in taxpayer dollars over ten years. This program, which is receiving funding from the Obama Administration but was not funded under the Reagan or George W. Bush Administrations, raises many concerns over potential funding for abortions and forced sterilizations in countries such as [Red] China. …

“In the 1980s,” she went on, “Pres. Ronald Reagan withheld all US contributions to the United Nations Population Fund after determining that UNFPA participated in the support and co-management of [Communist] China’s population control program. Under the George W. Bush Administration,” noted Rep. Ellmers, “the US withheld funds for the UNFPA from America’s annual contributions to the United Nations due to UNFPA’s complicity in China’s one-child policy.

“China’s one-child policy,” she said, “has been enforced over the years through coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization, but the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress resumed contributions to UNFPA.”

Stop Killing Your Little Girls!

REP. CHRIS SMITH (R-NJ) WAS FLANKED BY SOME UNUSUAL ALLIES last Wednesday in a news conference calling for an end to “gendercide” in Red China. The Washington news conference was staged on “Children’s Day in China,” a day of massive irony in a massive nation oppressed by a vicious one-child depopulation pogrom.

Appearing with the chairman of the House Human Rights subcommittee were spokesmen for Amnesty International and All Girls Allowed, as well as demographers from the American Enterprise Institute and Texas A&M University. Joining GOP Representatives Vicky Hartzler (MO), Joe Pitts (PA) and Frank Wolf (VA) in standing by Rep. Smith was Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee.

We will watch with enhanced interest the vote of Rep. Jackson-Lee on HR-2059, the legislation defunding the United Nations Population Fund and relieving the American taxpayer of complicity with an agency abetting Red China’s horrific pogrom.

Kudos to Some Senators

THE U.S. SENATE WAS IN RECESS LAST WEEK – except it wasn’t. Had Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) succeeded in officially recessing the Senate for the Memorial Day break, Pres. Obama (D) could have exercised his authority to appoint controversial nominees to posts for which they could not secure confirmation, always a danger when the Senate is recessed.

But the Senate is instead continuing in session via “pro forma” session days in which a single Senator shows up each day to open and close the session.

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins offers “thanks to pressure from Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Jim DeMint (R-SC) and 20 other conservatives” for preventing the Senate from official recess. We join him in offering thanks for the leadership of these creative Senators. Nice going!

Feds to Indiana: Fund Abortionists or Else

THE HEAVY HAND OF THE FEDERAL ‘HEALTH’ BUREAUCRACY is falling upon the State of Indiana and, by implication, on any state that exercises the conscience of taxpayers in excluding abortionists from reimbursement under Medicaid.

One of ObamaCare’s chief bureaucrats, Donald Berwick MD, who directs the Medicaid agency re-established by the President’s massive healthcare overhaul legislation, sent a letter to Indiana’s Medicaid administrators threatening to shut down Indiana’s participation in Medicaid if the state persists in its new statute excluding “any entity that performs abortions or maintains or operates a facility where abortions are performed” other than hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. The exclusion is typically characterized as “defunding Planned Parenthood,” since Planned Parenthood is the chief single purveyor of abortions and is the loudest protestor to the new law.

“Obviously this Administration will go to great lengths – including overreaching its own authority – to protect abortion,” commented Family Research Council president Tony Perkins in his June 2, 2011, Washington Update. “Clearly the multi-million-dollar investment [Planned Parenthood chief Cecile] Richards and her allies poured into the Obama campaign is paying off in hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds” both at the federal and state levels.

The Berwick threat is dated six days after a letter sent by all Indiana Congressional Republicans (including Senators Dan Coats and Richard Lugar) to Mr. Berwick’s boss, Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. In that letter, the Hoosiers asked the Secretary for “ready consideration” of Indiana’s request for approval of the state’s new Medicaid policies.

“As you weigh issues of grave consequence,” reads the GOP Congressional letter to the Secretary, “we draw your attention to three essential facts:

“First, the Indiana legislature has prudently fulfilled Medicaid’s commitment to provide non-abortion services. Despite persistent claims to the contrary, Indiana’s law does not change Medicaid recipients’ benefits. It would only change where Hoosiers receive their benefits. … As hundreds of facilities will still provide the same non-abortion services, we believe that the Indiana plan meets its obligation to provide care.

“… We also note that the Medicaid Act declares that “In addition to any other authority, a state may exclude any individual or entity [from participation in the state’s Medicaid program] for any reason for which the Secretary could exclude the individual or entity from participation in [Medicare].” We believe that the Hyde Amendment provides a sufficient and time-honored foundation for such an exclusion.

“Second, by passing HEA-1210 and revising the State Plan to reflect that change, Indiana enforced a philosophy that is enshrined in the federal restriction commonly known as the Hyde Amendment. Since 1976, this bipartisan legislation has sought to prevent federal funding of abortions. However, Planned Parenthood, the single largest abortion provider in the nation, still receives funds for non-abortion services. In reality, by paying for total operational costs, these subsidies free other funds for abortions. Passage of HEA-1210 has effectively closed any potential loophole and committed Hoosiers to the true intent of the Hyde Amendment.

“Finally, let us clearly assert that HEA-1210 does nothing to prohibit Hoosiers from seeking abortions from an unsubsidized affiliate. If a healthcare provider firmly believes that abortions are an indispensable part of its business model, it is free to pursue that model. The people of Indiana simply demand that they do so without taxpayer support.”

The Congressional letter concludes by asking the Secretary to “affirm each state’s ability to structure its own Medicaid program.” In reality, the Obama Regime clearly rejects that position and revels in sending a warning, through its threat to Indiana, to the other states whose lawmakers are seeking truly to defund taxpayer complicity in baby killing.

Indiana Holding Firm?

‘STATE OFFICIALS SIGNALED they would not accept HHS’s decision” to reject Indiana’s new Medicaid plan over its exclusion of abortionists, reports Henry C. Jackson for Associated Press (AP).

A spokesman for the state’s Family & Social Services Administration said, reports Mr. Jackson, “the state’s attorneys have told his department that it must continue to comply with the law passed by the Indiana General Assembly” and signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels (R). “‘We will seek guidance from the Indiana attorney general on how to proceed forward,’ he said.”

And it appears the attorney general is preparing to stand firm. A spokesman for Atty. Gen. Greg Zoeller “said the letter was being reviewed to determine the state’s options,” reports AP, “but that ‘we will continue to defend the statute.’”

Though Medicaid administrator Berwick advised Indiana in his letter to revise its Medicaid Plan within 60 days in order to continue participation, the Plan submitted to the ObamaCare bureaucrat faithfully reflects Indiana law, and the Indiana legislature has adjourned.

Though the Berwick letter “does not state it explicitly,” writes Mr. Jackson, “Indiana could face penalties if it does not comply. In the past,” the AP writer notes, “state Medicaid Plans that did not conform with federal law have been changed by states before HHS enforced any penalties.”

Is Mr. Berwick setting up the Obama Regime for a politically dicey confrontation? Indiana’s lawmakers are not signaling fear, and denying a state’s indigent residents Medicaid just to protect abortionists would not be a popular step for a President facing the electorate in under 18 months.

“‘Indiana’s on solid legal ground,’ said State Sen. Scott Schneider, an Indianapolis Republican who sponsored the measure to strip Planned Parenthood’s funding,” writes Mr. Jackson. “‘There’s no reason for us to change course at this time. It’s up to them,’” he said, “‘to prove that this is not legal.’”

Jack Kevorkian Meets Ultimate Justice

CONVICTED MURDERER & NOTORIOUS SUICIDE ADVOCATE JACK KEVORKIAN died Friday at age 83 in a Detroit area hospital, reports Sindya Bhanoo in the Washington Post, citing Associated Press as source.

“[Mr.] Kevorkian spent decades campaigning for the legalization of euthanasia,” reports the Post. He was arrested often between 1990 and 2000 after it was discovered he was personally abetting suicides involving the deaths of more than 130 Americans. He spent eight years in prison after getting a little too bold; he videotaped his involvement in the suicide of a Michigan man and was arrested and convicted of second-degree murder after permitting the tape to air on CBS television’s “60 Minutes.”

“‘Medical service is exempt from certain laws,’” the killer declared. But it seems not when the “service” comes to killing born people. Sentenced to 10 to 25 years imprisonment, Mr. Kevorkian was paroled in June 2007 “for good behavior,” reports the Post, “after he promised not to assist in any more suicides.”

It was in the early 1950s, according to the Post’s admiring write-up, that his “peculiar obsession with death began. In the 1950s,” writes Ms. or Mr. Bhanoo, “he received the nickname ‘Dr. Death’ when he began photographing patients’ eyes to determine their exact time of death. He also,” notes the Post, “campaigned to use the bodies of death-row inmates for medical experimentation.” Another manifestation of his death-infatuation was the weird, dark “art” which he painted as a hobby.

Now he knows the truth about what he spent his adult life promoting.

March for Life Speeches

Congressional speeches delivered at the Jan. 24, 2011, March for Life, transcribed by Life Advocacy Briefing from C-SPAN.org videocoverage; more to follow in future editions.

Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL): Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Randy Hultgren from Illinois. It is great to be with you today. I am one of almost a hundred new freshmen that have been sent here on mission. We have been sent with a mission to fight for Life, to fight for truth. Almost ninety percent of us are pro-life. That is exciting. I’m here to follow in the great footsteps of one of my mentors from Illinois, Henry Hyde. I’m going to fight for him, fight for Life. And together, standing together with God’s help, we will come back here one day and celebrate victory. God bless you all.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA): I’m Steve King from Iowa, and we are pro-Life America! For thirty-eight years, Americans have come here to pray and march for Life. Thomas Jefferson said a generation is nineteen years. That’s two generations of Americans that have been here. Millions of Americans come here, make friends, march and pray for Life, and deploy back across America to do the same. We will see the end of Roe versus Wade in our time. You’ve elected a pro-Life Congress, and now we need to elect a pro-Life President, and we need a pro-Life Supreme Court. And we’re coming back here to celebrate the end of Roe versus Wade and the respect for the sanctity of Life. God bless you.

Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE): Good afternoon. I’m Lee Terry from Nebraska, the Big Red state. And I just want to thank you for being here. When I see you here, I see that the values of America are represented. We all know that the greatest civilizations have a moral code that recognizes humanity, and humanity is recognizing Life from conception to natural end. That’s what we need. And I want to thank you for being here to fight the fight. We know you’ve got our backs when we’re up here, and we’ve got yours when you’re home. Thank you.

Rep. James Lankford (R-OK): I’m James Lankford from Oklahoma, and I’m honored to be pro-Life. I can tell you that as freshmen – and I’m one of them – we did not come here just to have the title. We came here because there is work to be done. We stand with you and represent you, and we’ll be standing up to say, This country is inherently pro-Life, and we need to speak like it is. And let’s start moving things forward and show that it really is. The next major thing that we’ve got to do is be able to communicate to a generation that is so careful not to throw away a plastic water bottle but is so willing to throw away an infant. To be able to say to them, We should have common sense in the way that we look into the womb and to say, That’s not a chicken embryo, that’s not just a fetus, that’s a baby. And we need to stand with them and say, That’s Life. So stand with us on this. It’s an honor to stand with you.