Following Phill Kline’s actions against Planned Parenthood in Kansas, the Christian Medical Association issued a call for increased oversight of abortion clinics across the nation.

Dr. David Stevens, in a press release from CMA yesterday, said, “This case raises larger questions we should be asking about abortion clinics nationwide. If just 29 records from one Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Kansas have produced 107 criminal charges, isn’t it possible that similar abuses are also occurring at other of the 860 Planned Parenthood facilities nationwide? With our tax dollars supporting Planned Parenthood, the public has a right to know.”

The Chief Executive Officer of the CMA went on to express his concerns about late term abortions and the impact on preborn children.

“A key allegation in [the Kansas] case is that the abortion clinic staff consistently failed to accurately determine the age of the unborn baby, and thereby broke the law that disallows late-term abortions except in exceptional cases.

“Aborting an unborn baby after 22 weeks not only poses increased risks to the mother, but also inflicts pain on the developing baby. Testimony before Congress by Dr. KJS Anand noted that hunger and pain may be the earliest emotions to develop in the fetus,” Dr. Stevens said.

Dr. Anand has also testified that a partial birth abortion procedure beyond 20 weeks would involve “prolonged and excruciating pain” to the preborn child.

The American Life League reports that the first court hearing on charges filed by Phill Kline in Johnson County, Kansas is scheduled for November 6th. If convicted on all counts – which include 23 felonies – Planned Parenthood could face fines of over $2.5 million.

The Family Research Council sponsored a summit conference this past weekend to consider the various candidates for president. As has been widely reported in the media, there is growing unrest among rank-and-file Christian voters over the narrowing choices being foisted upon us. A number of prominent pro-family leaders have been carping about the lack of leadership coming from national groups historically at the forefront of the pro-Life movement.

It appears that this weekend’s summit was, at least in part, a response to that criticism.

Most of the Republican candidates for president participated in the summit – which drew some 1000 activists from across the nation. Following the official program, leaders of various groups were scheduled to meet in a closed door session to revisit the question of whether they could unite behind a single pro-Life candidate with the object of blocking Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton from winning the Republican nomination and/or the presidency.

We have yet to hear news about the outcome of those discussions.

The Family Research Council is, however, publishing results of a straw poll on its legislative website. Participants at the conference were allowed to vote – as well as folks across the nation via internet balloting.

Of those attending, Huckabee received 51% of votes cast. He was followed by Romney at 10%, Fred Thompson at 8% and Duncan Hunter at 6%.

But the numbers for Romney jumped dramatically when off-site votes are included:

* Huckabee 27%
* Romney 27%
* Paul 15%
* Thompson 10%
* Undecided 6%

Given the discomfort many pro-Lifers feel about Romney’s historical support for abortion rights, this published straw poll suggests that people like Don Wildmon, Tony Perkins and James Dobson may start pushing the grassroots to lock in behind Mike Huckabee as the strongest pro-family candidate.

But that strategy is fraught with problems – not least of which is the fact that Huckabee has only $400,000 in the bank, according to a different section of this same FRC website. (By contrast, Giuliani is reported to have $18 million, followed by Romney at $12 million.) The former governor also has substantial problems among fiscal conservatives for his record in Arkansas.

We began a discussion yesterday about the essential linkage between economics and the abortion holocaust. Many in the media perennially argue that abortion is some weird “social issue” without a serious constituency or material impact on the business interests which dominate the Republican Primary. This debate recurs with vigor around presidential politics.

Yesterday also brought news that the first “Baby Boomer” has applied for early Social Security benefits.

If one needed monumental evidence that unbridled abortion carries an overwhelming economic impact, one needs look no further. David Walker, Comptroller General of the Government Accounting Office spells out a harsh economic future:

“We face a tsunami of [government] spending due primarily to the retirement of the baby boom generation and rising health care costs,” Walker told FoxNews. “So what’s happened is we’ve gone from 16 workers paying into Social Security for every person drawing benefits in 1950, to 3.3 today, and we’re going down to two to one by the time the boomers retire in big numbers. That’s where it will stay over the long run.”

Former Democrat Congressman Tim Penny (a pro-Lifer, by the way) explains the impact:
“By 2017, just ten years from now, we will no longer be collecting enough payroll taxes to pay Social Security benefits.”

We’re talking about an annual budget shortfall (in current dollars) of something close to $300 billion. Over the next 75 years, the federal government will be in debt to the tune of $50 trillion – just to cover Social Security and Medicare obligations.

Peter Weisbach, national radio talk show host, did a program last week on the “Pyramid Scheme”. He argued that both national parties are sorely compromised by their understanding of Social Security’s potential to bankrupt the national economy. The system demands greater and greater numbers of contributing workers to keep the cash flowing; given the nation’s high abortion rate – that means a profound dependence on immigrants to fill the gap.

Let’s put the abortion numbers in context. Estimates are that some 50 million American citizens have been legally slaughtered since 1973. Yesterday began the retirement of 75 million “baby boomers” – the same people who have been systematically killing their own future.

Those 50 million babies would, for the most part, be productive workers and middle managers in the American economy. It doesn’t take much imagination to realize the huge, and missing, contribution these folks should now be making to Social Security and the economy as a whole.
So we can see that there are profound national security and economic impacts of the abortion holocaust.

Leaders of the national economy, leaders of the Republican Party, would do well to confront the abortion epidemic for its moral, economic and national security implications.

Columnist Deroy Murdock writes about Rudy Giuliani in his most recent entry at Human Events (“Rudy and the Religious Right’s Denial”). He argues that social conservatives should “not make the perfect the enemy of the outstanding”. In other words, we should “grow up” and support someone who can beat Hillary.

Murdock quotes some guy named Greg Alterton, apparently a Christian activist of some sort, who in turn contends that “the most important traditional value in this upcoming election is keeping the Clintons out of the White House”. They take people like James Dobson to task for publicly committing themselves to opposing both Hillary and Giuliani.

This debate may strike some as novel, peculiar to the 2008 presidential sweepstakes. But it is a fight which has been raging within the two major parties for the last forty years.

Basically it is the perennial struggle over definitions and vision. What does it mean to be a Republican or Democrat? How do the moral issues fit into a scenario of international terror and economics?

We face that battle all the time here in Idaho. Some Republicans openly defy the party’s platform on social issues (e.g., Senator Joe Stegner’s consistent fight for abortion and homosexual rights). Many others pray we would just go away so they can concentrate on the “important” issues like taxes, expanding corporate welfare and generally taking care of their pet special interests. In this thinking, legislators are often manipulated by powerful lobbyists – who want complete control of the Capitol agenda.

Generally, we continue to win this struggle over definitions, building on the coalition built by Ronald Reagan. Those victories are, it seems to me, the result of certain indisputable facts, facts which Mr. Murdock and Mr. Giuliani would do well to remember.

First, many voters care deeply about these so-called “social issues”. The great common sense and vitality of the American Experiment survives in the homes of hard-working folks who care about their community more than the machinations of Wall Street. They want good neighborhoods where they can raise their kids right, without the struggle of fending off government’s often-corrupting influences. In other words, they recognize that moral values are essential to the functioning of families, communities and even the nation as a whole. To abandon these voters, to insult their intelligence and values – is to court both political and real disaster.

Secondly, the swarm of “social conservative gnats” which continue to harass the GOP Establishment are actually doing those folks a big favor. Allowing the Wall Street Gang to control the GOP courts the very real likelihood that this great institution will be consumed by nothing greater than greed. A political party without a moral vision is nothing more than a gaggle of self-seeking individuals without the capacity to lead a nation in greatness. There is nothing wrong with making money and delivering product. But human beings are so much more than economic units.

Thoughtful business leaders recognize that the so-called dichotomy between “fiscal conservatives” and “social conservatives” is a false one, largely created by moderate Republicans as a propaganda effort designed to accommodate their libertine impulses.One does not need to be a rocket scientist, for example, to recognize that legalized abortion has seriously damaged the American economy through the wanton destruction of talent, workers, taxpayers and consumers.

I would contend that allowing Rudy Giuliani to lead the Republican Party next fall is about the most certain path to ensuring Hillary Clinton’s election.

Mere irony or ringing bell of alarm?

An evangelical preacher uses the fall to conduct a series of sermons in major cities on the need for repentance and God’s mercy. Pastor Michael Marcavage often includes abortion in his sermons as a prime example of the nation’s growing tolerance for evil. Unfortunately for Marcavage, he chose to deliver one of his sermons to tourists gathering in front of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia – which claims for itself the distinction of being “Liberty’s Birthplace”.

Agents of the federal government have another view: They arrested Marcavage, claiming he violated their new policy on public speech in front of Liberty Hall.

Apparently the Park Service has created a “free speech zone” in the park behind the building – at which no visitors can be seen. Such zones have been repeatedly declared unconstitutional by federal courts.

As agents bullied Pastor Marcavage into moving, a group of breast cancer activists carried on a demonstration on the sidewalk nearby. These folks endured no hassle from the Park Service.

This incident may seem like a strange moment of little consequence. That may be. But we think it is a portent of things to come. As we’ve seen with the homosexual issue – there is a concerted effort on the Left to close down public debate around abortion.

It is more than ironic that this sordid censorship would occur in front of the Liberty Bell, which is inscribed with the Scripture, “Proclaim liberty throughout the Land.”

Idaho's Lt. Governor, James Risch, announced his candidacy for the United States Senate on Tuesday. He will run for the seat now held by Sen. Larry Craig.

Governor Risch was introduced Tuesday morning by Sen. Mike Crapo - who will also serve as a co-Chairman of the Risch Campaign.

During his long public career, Risch has amassed a sterling pro-Life record. He was recognized earlier this year by Idaho Chooses Life for his long service to Idaho's preborn citizens, and given our "Friend for Life" Award. Past recipients include Congressmen Helen Chenoweth-Hage and Bill Sali.

Many prominent Republicans, including Governor Butch Otter, attended the press conference. This strongly suggests that Risch will not face a serious challenge for the Republican nomination next May.

Risch will, however, face Democrat Larry LaRocco in the 2008 General Election.

LaRocco has long been committed to defending the "right" to an abortion. We anticipate, therefore, that abortion will be a defining issue in this crucial contest.

With all attention focused on raising money this month for liberal groups “to find a cure”, Karen Malec of the Abortion/Breast Cancer continues her campaign to share the truth.

Her organization issued a national press release yesterday pointing to yet more scientific evidence demonstrating a linkage. The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons published a study this week entitled, “The Breast Cancer Epidemic”.

The study, by Patrick Carroll, showed that countries with higher abortion rates, such as England and Wales, could expect a substantial increase in breast cancer incidence. He also found that higher income women in those nations suffered inordinately from breast cancer. Carroll suggests that higher abortion rates among this class of women – combined with a strong tendency to delay first pregnancies – might explain the disproportionate breast cancer rates.

Abortions before the birth of a first child are thought by many medical researchers and physicians to be highly carcinogenic.

“It is time for scientists to admit publicly what they already acknowledge privately among themselves – that abortion raises breast cancer risks ….” said Malec.

To see the extensive study yourself: http://www.jpands.org/vol12no3/carroll.pdf

The Chicago Tribune says that Planned Parenthood has been granted a permit to open its abortion mill in Aurora. The $7.5 million, 22,000 square foot abortuary will be one of the largest killing centers in the nation.

Aurora City officials announced Monday that they had found no state or local laws violated by Planned Parenthood – despite the fact that Planned Parenthood successfully deceived city officials about Planned Parenthood’s role in, and plans for, the facility.

Mayor Tom Weisner said the city had no legal basis for denying an occupancy permit:

“As elected officials, we are sworn to uphold the law regardless of our personal, emotional or even religious beliefs.”

The Tribune says that local pro-Lifers will continue to battle the abortuary through large scale protests, and even legal action. The Pro-Life Action League intends to file a lawsuit, arguing that Planned Parenthood needs a special-use permit in order to conduct abortion operations at the “medical clinic”.

In a demonstration of the newspaper’s ignorance, the article includes the following startling sentence:

“Reciting the Lord’s prayer, Chicago area protesters carried signs likening abortion procedures to murder….”