New York and the Conscience of a Nation
For 40 years, America has had one of the most extreme abortion laws on the planet.
For 40 years, America has had one of the most extreme abortion laws on the planet. Babies in the womb — boys and girls, unwanted by their families, rejected as members of the human family, have been deprived of their human rights and legal protection until the moment of birth, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973. But rarely has there been the collective outrage we now see against the New York legislature and its governor, Andrew Cuomo.
What has awakened the outrage? Certainly the terms of the law itself are sick and horrific. A medical license or a medical degree is no longer needed to conduct an invasive procedure on a woman to kill her baby at any time up until birth. The would be abortionist need only claim that killing the baby will further the mother’s “health.”
“Health” is not defined, on purpose. In 1973 the Supreme Court defined late-term “health” abortions as abortions that further the “emotional, psychological, or familial” well-being of a woman. But the media have lied about this brutal reality ever since. A day after the Roe ruling, the headline in the New York Times read: “High Court Rules Abortions Legal the First 3 Months.” The original Fake News.
But last week, Cuomo didn’t lie about it, and the media didn’t hide it. We are in a new abortion era, where leftists “shout their abortions” and Democrat governors order light displays to celebrate the death of innocents.
It’s almost as if realities which for years have been concealed behind Soviet-style propaganda are now being revealed for all to see — and many are rightly outraged, especially as science and technology has been steadily moving the nation away from abortion on demand toward embracing the life in the womb. For as Dr. Ingrid Skop, an experienced obstetrician-gynecologist, explains in a new video series for FRC, it is a myth to claim that abortion does not destroy a human life. Basic science tells us that a life is in the womb. Abortion is killing these babies, and NY’s extreme abortion law only makes it worse. Dr. Skop lays this and other lies bare in this new video series and publication, available here.
Where are the self-proclaimed “human rights advocates” in all this? It is almost as if the womb which hides the baby from daylight also hides him or her from the advocates for the vulnerable. When a baby that can survive outside the womb is being killed inside of it simply because we can rationalize the killing, this is a human rights violation of the first order.
Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights both protect the “right to life.” The latter, which is a binding treaty, describes the protection as one’s “inherent right to life,” which amazingly, has still been distorted by abortion advocates to deprive the baby in the womb of human rights. Yet the right to life is right there in the text, and the nations agreeing to this treaty would have reasonably expected to be bound to protect all life, not some twisted pro-abortion interpretation of the treaty.
The United Nations — seated in the very city where this killing is now being celebrated — pays attention to extrajudicial killings, disappearances of journalists and others by governments, and matters like the current election-related violence in Venezuela. If it can concern itself with all these things, how can the UN so blatantly ignore this violence that is being perpetrated in wombs just down the street?
Polls have shown for years that most Americans believe in common sense restrictions on abortion, including gestational limits. Even those who self-identify as “pro-choice” believe in such restrictions. We are not divided down the middle about abortion as a nation — that’s an illusion, based on confusion about the law that the abortion lobby propagates.
No doubt the self-described progressives who have just embraced savagery are preparing for that day when the Supreme Court returns abortion policymaking to the people. Cuomo and his fellow politicians in New York want to be prepared so that they do not miss even one killing day.
Pro-lifers need to prepare for that day, too. We should pick up the phone and call our representatives, today, and ask them: Do you agree with Governor Cuomo or not? We must ensure that we never vote for a candidate or politician who will support the continued killing of unborn children. Facilitating ending the lives of unborn babies should be a career-ending move.
Originally published here.
Planned Parenthood: Flush with Taxpayer Cash
Planned Parenthood’s new president Leana Wen recently admitted that their core mission is “expanding access to abortion,” and Planned Parenthood’s new annual report proves just that. Our team has updated our annual analysis of Planned Parenthood’s culture of death to give you the facts on what is being done with your tax dollars. The bottom line? Over 900 babies are being aborted every day by Planned Parenthood.
In fiscal year 2017, Planned Parenthood increased abortions by over 11,000 over the previous fiscal year, while their other services for women have consistently decreased. Planned Parenthood also continues to tout the myth that abortion is only three percent of the “services” they provide. But a quick review of the numbers reveals that this is false. Planned Parenthood committed 332,757 abortions in 2017-2018 and saw 2.4 million people, and if the abortions were given to individual patients, then 13 percent of all their patients received abortions. While Planned Parenthood downplays its abortion statistics, it often highlights its non-abortion services by counting multiple services to a single client as separate services. What was actually only three percent was their services to keep babies alive — prenatal services.
Even though Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion supplier, and even though they traffic baby body parts and cover up the sexual abuse, they continue to get funding for political reasons and hide behind the shadow of doing “health care” to increase their funding eligibility. Here’s the facts: over the last eight years, cancer screening and prevention programs have consistently decreased by 66 percent, breast exams have declined by over 64 percent, and prenatal services have steadily dropped by 77 percent.
As abortions have gone up, and services to women have gone down, their government funding has increased. Planned Parenthood received $563.8 million in combined federal, state, and local government grants and contracts in FY 2017. That’s an increase of over $20 million from the previous year’s funding. On top of that, Planned Parenthood reported an excess of revenue over expenses of $244.8 million, an increase of $146.3 million in a year alone.
There’s no reason to continue to support an organization that profits off of taking innocent life while providing a steady decrease in the genuine “health care services” that the government originally gave them taxpayer money to do in the first place. Of all funding received by Planned Parenthood, 34 percent comes from taxpayers’ pockets. These government grants and contracts funded by our tax dollars can and should be put to better use. Our consciences know it, and the numbers prove it.
And oh by the way, the 2017-2018 report also shows $802.6 million in unrestricted net assets, funds which Planned Parenthood can use should it lose its government funding.
Originally published here.
Prayers for Karen Pence
Over the last couple of weeks the Vice President and Second Lady have endured more than their share of insults and harassment after Karen announced she was going back to teach part-time at Immanuel Christian School. While most people probably wouldn’t object to the teaching, they certainly objected to the “Christian” part.
When the liberal media threw rocks, tens of thousands of you joined us in sending our prayers to the Pences instead. More than 34,000 of you pledged to pray for the Second Family and stand with them as they live by their faith. At a Wednesday meeting at the White House with the president on the immigration crisis, I had an opportunity to deliver our prayer pledges personally to the vice president. I know he was encouraged by your support. More importantly, I know he has no intentions of backing down from the fight until every American has the ability to live and work by their faith.
Continue praying for him and for Karen, as well as President Trump and Melania as they work to bring a revival of freedom to this country!
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC Action senior writers.
