We can’t really feign surprise – but the world really would be a better place if there was a closer connection between the public rhetoric and real world actions. Planned Parenthood has made a fortune through its bumper sticker claims that it is all about women and their "rights". They, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, are all about "freedom" and "choice".

These folks will, nevertheless, oppose our efforts to make forcing a woman to get an abortion a crime in Idaho.

Planned Parenthood has been circulating a letter through the Legislature, claiming that HB464 is "unconstitutional" because it might create an "undue burden" on a woman’s "right to choose". At first glance, this argument is very confusing: Legislation which would protect a woman’s right to choose is actually a threat to her right to choose. If you are not a liberal, this circular logic will be hard to follow… but we’ll try to translate.

It turns out that HB464 might be bad for abortionists, because it would focus attention on the fact that they are not supposed to perform abortion on women who under coercion to abort their babies. There cannot, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, be informed consent in such circumstances. So the key to understanding Planned Parenthood’s position is that anti-coercion legislation might be good for women, but bad for business. The "undue burden" mantra is actually a complaint that HB464 might place an "undue burden" on Planned Parenthood – not upon women.

And the truth is that HB464 does not change one whit the responsibility upon abortionists to ensure that women and girls are not submitting to an abortion because of coercion. What it will do, we hope, is reduce the number of women and girls so abused.

And as long as we are talking about public cynicism, it was rather startling to read in the Idaho Statesman yesterday that Rep. Phyllis King – a freshman Democrat from Boise – that she would bring her own anti-coercion bill. Her version would protect women and girls who might be coerced into giving their babies life. But she will only move her bill if Rep. Bob Nonini is successful at moving HB464.

Obviously, Rep. King is not worried about women or any supposed coercion – she is looking for political points with her friends at Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and NOW.

It is too bad these folks can’t get past their own ideology to help support authentic pro-woman legislation like HB464. Even Planned Parenthood’s national office admits that violence against pregnant women is a very grave problem; yet they will waste time and money trying to kill HB464.

We need you, the common sense folks of Idaho, to contact your legislators and urge their support for HB464.

Honestly: What in the world is a "pro-Life conservative" doing in bed with these people? The spin masters at the RNC ought to get on this little problem ... immediately.

In a time when global warming has been declared by various social prophets to be the great challenge facing the world, a coalition of groups has produced a new video on "the catastrophic consequences of rapidly falling birthrates."

The video is entitled, "Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family".

The group’s website points to Europe as the most endangered region of the developed world. The European Union estimates that, because of declining birthrates across the continent, Europe will face a shortfall of 20 million workers by the year 2030. Population stability requires a birthrate of 2.1 babies per woman; Europe’s average birthrate is just 1.3 babies per woman. According to the groups sponsoring the website, no European country is giving birth to enough children to maintain its population.

The group cites demographic studies which show that Russian will lose one-third of its population by 2050.

America is teetering on the edge of population stagnation, with some demographers predicting that the nation's economy will be increasingly dependent upon immigrants.

Demographic Winter is produced by a collation of pro-family organizations, including the Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council, World Congress of Families and the Latin American Alliance for the Family.

In the section of their website which details the explanations for this worldwide population decline, the sponsors do not specifically use the word abortion. Rather, they point to the decline of the family and the widespread indoctrination of children in the 60s and 70s regarding the dangers of "population explosion" as primary causes for decisions to avoid bearing children.

"…[E]very aspect of modernity works against family life and in favor of singleness and small families or voluntary childlessness," the website explains.

Visit the website: http://www.demographicwinter.com

Last week’s CPAC convention was headlined by John McCain’s decision to show up and Mitt Romney’s decision to withdraw. But a remarkably important part of that conservative gathering was George Bush’s address to the backbone of the Republican Party.

A good portion of the president’s speech involved the fight for Life – a value that Bush has consistently advanced during his seven years in office.

LifeNews.Com quotes the president as proudly reminding the faithful that, "On matters relating to America’s moral compass, we have defended human life."

And as attitudes sort out vis-à-vis McCain’s likely nomination as the Republican standard bearer, President Bush urged conservatives to bear in mind that "…we need judges who respect our values, do not follow the political winds and revere the plain meaning of our Constitution."

There is plenty of room to challenge the Bush record – but America owes him a great debt for his steadfast defense of the most vulnerable among us.

As we last reported, abortionist George Tiller and his attorneys refused to comply with a judge’s order that they turn over medical records to a grand jury investigating his operation in Kansas. Tiller’s attorneys went to the Kansas Supreme Court and begged them for protection from the order.

As they have done before, the justices agreed to hold a formal hearing and temporarily blocked a lower court from getting Tiller’s records. Attorneys for the grand jury and Tiller have until next Monday to submit legal briefs. According to LifeNews.Com, the Supreme Court of Kansas is supposed to issue a ruling in the matter by February 25th.

The pro-Life website quotes Mary Kay Culp, Director of Kansans for Life as saying,

"It continues to be heartening to see the Wichita grand jury ask for evidence, and it continues to be amazing how the powers that be are determined to keep that evidence away from them."

While the Supreme Court’s rather extraordinary intervention in a grand jury investigation is disheartening, there is good reason to believe that they will eventually allow the grand jury to review Tiller’s records – so long as the identities of the women are protected. This is, after all, a rehash of the battle waged over a two year period by former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline.

The Family Research Council reported yesterday on a little-known phenomenon – college athletes being forced into choosing between their athletic scholarships and giving their babies life.

The situation is so common and egregious that the NCAA Management Council has been driven into taking action. ESPN uncovered a scandal at Clemson University in which seven young women had been coerced into abortions from the Athletic Department – or face losing their scholarships, and their hopes for a degree. A similar situation was exposed at the University of Memphis.

On a 46-5 vote, the Council enacted a new rule, effective August 1, which will treat pregnancy as a "temporary disability", and allow recovery time from a pregnancy so that a student’s eligibility to play sports is not jeopardized.

This is certainly a step forward, but one wonders how many girls have faced this awful choice.

We believe that such coercion ought to be made illegal in this country. No woman should be driven into committing abortion, and we will be presenting groundbreaking legislation to the Idaho Legislature this week.

Despite being ordered by Judge Paul Buchanan to provide medical records on late term abortions by noon yesterday, Dr. George Tiller refused to comply without public comment. The judge’s order to produce records is central to a grand jury’s investigation into Tiller’s operations.

Judge Paul Buchanan responded by setting a hearing for this morning. One can only hope he intends to deliver a contempt order to Dr. Tiller.

Tiller’s lawyers are pinning their hopes on an emergency appeal of the judge’s order with the Kansas Supreme Court. This was the same strategy used by Planned Parenthood during their long battle with former Attorney General Phill Kline over medical records. Eventually the high court upheld Kline’s right to seek the redacted records, which in turn has led to the filing of over 100 criminal charges against Planned Parenthood of Kansas. (That trial is now underway).

Tiller is receiving legal aid from the national Center for Reproductive Rights – an organization with which we have wrestled in Idaho courts.

If the courts force delivery of thousands of abortion records, the consequences could be enormous for America’s abortion industry. Tiller is undoubtedly the most infamous abortionist in the country, specializing in killing late-term babies. Kansans for Life believes that more than 90% of Tiller’s work is done on babies from outside Kansas, which alone makes this a national case.