Sen. Orin Hatch went to battle again yesterday morning on behalf of preborn children. This second battle of the week involved a heroic effort to save President Bush’s policy of allowing preborn children to qualify for benefits under the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

That provision was created by an Executive Order in 2002, and is expected to be scrapped by President Obama. Over the past six years, 14 states have taken advantage of the opportunity to provide greater help to women faced with crisis pregnancies.

Unfortunately, Idaho is not one of them. We narrowly lost a fierce battle in the 2003 legislative session to expand protections of preborn children. With yesterday’s defeat of the Hatch Amendment, Idaho has lost the opportunity for the foreseeable future.

Sen. Hatch was supported by both of Idaho’s senators, Crapo and Risch, in trying to codify the preborn provision in federal statute. The amendment was defeated 39 – 59.

An honorable battle was waged yesterday morning on the floor of the United States Senate by pro-Life legislators hoping to save this nation from the ignominy of exporting abortion to foreign countries.

Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) offered an amendment to protect the Mexico City policy inaugurated by President Reagan but recently overturned by President Obama through an Executive Order. The Mexico City Policy prohibits the use of U.S. tax dollars from being used overseas to fund or promote abortions.

The Martinez Amendment was defeated on a 37-60 vote. Idaho’s pro-Life champions, Sens. Crapo and Risch, supported Sen. Martinez’ effort to protect America’s honor.

“Taxpayers should never be forced to pay for the destruction of human life, here at home or overseas,” said Sen. Jim DeMint. “President Obama campaigned on a platform of reducing abortions, yet one of his first official acts was to force millions of American taxpayers who find this practice immoral to pay for more abortions overseas.”

DeMint went on to observe that the new Obama policy may force countries with strong pro-Life laws to reduce their protection of preborn children in order to receive U.S. foreign aid.

We commend these senators for their willingness to resist the new order of moral tyranny.

The details are all too sketchy – an important enough outrage when talking about elected “representatives” spending public tax dollars – but it appears that Speaker Pelosi is about to give billions of dollars to her pals at Planned Parenthood under the guise of “economic stimulus”.

The first report of this scam came from Rep. John Boehner, who complained last week that Pelosi and President Obama were preparing to spend “millions on contraceptives” as part of their secret stimulus bill, now pending on the House floor. A search of various media on the internet produced little detail about exactly what Pelosi and Company are up to. How much money? How will it get spent? The best information we’ve discovered so far comes from an article in the San Francisco Chronicle (01.26.09.

That paper reports that we are not talking “millions” for Planned Parenthood – or even “hundreds of millions”, but probably billions. The specific provision at question is the one in the “stimulus” bill that would provide $87 billion in new money for the states to spend on Medicaid and expanded “Family Planning Grants”.

This money would be in addition to the roughly $350 million in current Congressional funding for Title X grants – most of which goes to Planned Parenthood.

It is difficult to nail down the specific numbers because Pelosi & Co. will, apparently, provide the $87 billion to the states in the form of a special block grant, with only general direction that it be spent on Medicaid and Family Planning services. Thus, President Obama can escape most of the political fall-out for providing a 200% - 500% windfall to his political allies at Planned Parenthood. The money will filter into Planned Parenthood’s coffers via one un-elected bureaucrat after the other in the various states, leaving Obama free to pursue his personal charm tour.

As bad as all this seems, Speaker Pelosi made matters worse with an interview over the weekend. George Stephanopoulos (of all people) challenged her on the notion that expanded access to contraceptives was somehow related to emergency economic development spending. Her answer reveals the contempt with which she holds human life:

“Well, the family planning services reduce cost …. [O]ne of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception will reduce costs to the states and federal government.”

Not only is there a not-so-subtle infusion of eugenic philosophy in that statement, Pelosi reveals a terrible grasp of economics. It is not stuff or government or raw materials which matter most in building a strong economy: It is people. An economy is built by and for people; we give value to those raw materials through our ingenuity and labor.

Just ask the Japanese, who are begging couples to have enough children to sustain their economy and culture. Things have gotten so precarious that Canon has announced two mandatory short days each week, so employees can go home to be with their families. Company leaders are explicit in their hope that more personal time will lead to bigger and stronger families.

A flickering hope was extinguished late Friday, when President Obama took his first decisive step toward imposing unrestricted abortion on America, and, indeed the world. His executive order allows US taxpayer dollars to be used in committing abortions against women and preborn children in other nations. It is heartbreaking to contemplate, but America is again an exporter of death.

As his first week in office passed, a flickering hope had kindled that perhaps Obama would not actually deliver all that he had promised the Abortion Lobby. But Friday’s action proves that thought more foolish than forlorn.

The first of many anvils has hit with a sickening thud. The deadly regime of Barack Obama has truly begun.

In one of his last acts as President of the United States, George Bush issued a Presidential Proclamation marking “National Sanctity of Human Life Day 2009”. It is the last such public declaration of pro-Life principles we are apt to see for quite awhile.

Please take a moment to savor these words from a national hero:

“All human life is a gift from our Creator that is sacred, unique and worthy of protection. ..[O]ur country recognizes that each person, including every person, waiting to be born, has a special place and purpose in this world.”

As we await the onslaught of destruction stemming from the next President’s rabid commitment to abortion-on-demand, it is well to pause and give thanks for the extraordinary leadership offered by George Bush during these last eight trying, productive years.

The critical evaluation of Bush’s presidency has just begun; certainly there are failings which continue to trouble conservatives. But some, like Fred Barnes, have already attempted to quantify Bush’s successes as president; on his top-ten accomplishments list, however, Barnes fails to acknowledge Bush’s most important contribution to America.

Without doubt, Bush is America’s greatest pro-Life president. His only real competitor is Ronald Reagan, who is first in the hearts of pro-Lifers. But Bush’s record of accomplishment is actually wider and deeper – perhaps even more long-lasting than Reagan’s.

Foremost among his accomplishments is the failure to fail to betray his expressed principles for the sake of political expediency. That probably sounds like a back-handed compliment – but the truth is, we have come to expect the need to explain away certain actions by endorsed presidential candidates. Not so George Bush.

Still ranking among his most extraordinary moments as president is the national TV address (in prime time, we remind you) in August, 2001 when President Bush proudly defended his pro-Life value system and refused to be cowed by the Abortion Lobby and their pals in the national media into supporting the destruction of human embryos for their stem cells.

But there are other precious moments.

Bush led efforts to finally secure the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. He appointed pro-Life justices to the Supreme Court and beyond. He signed the national Unborn Victims of Violence Act. And he took aggressive steps to get America out of the business of exporting abortion like wheat and Hollywood mores.

Thank you so much Mr. President for your faithful leadership. You have well-earned our love and a season of rest for you and your family.

May God save the United States of America as we turn the page of history.

The Idaho Values Alliance issued a press release earlier this week, raising serious questions about a Planned Parenthood staffer who transferred here after being accused of covering up the sexual abuse of a teenage girl in Ohio.

Ms. Julia Piercey serves as the Director of Education & Training for Boise Planned Parenthood.

She used to have the same job in Ohio until she was named as a defendant in a civil suit for failing the abuse of a 16 year old girl at the hands of her father.

Attorneys for the girl presented a note to Ohio staffers, written in the hand of Ms. Piercey, informing them that the Planned Parenthood had adopted a policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” when confronted with girls seeking abortion or contraceptive services. This note serves as prima facie evidence that Planned Parenthood of Ohio willfully determined to violate Ohio Law – which requires medical personnel to report suspected cases of abuse to law enforcement.

In his Monday press release, Bryan Fischer, Executive Director of IVA, observed “Ms. Piercey evidently teaches Planned Parenthood staff to operate like this with young, pregnant, teenage girls: ‘We won’t ask if you if you’ve been sexually abused by an older male, we hope you won’t tell us if you have, and even if you do, we will do our best to find a way to cover it up.”

Pastor Fischer called on the media and public to demand an accounting from Planned Parenthood of Idaho: Is Ms. Piercey still training staff to cover up the abuse of teenage girls?

But his plea for protection and accountability went ignored by the state’s major media.

Perhaps they had bigger stories; after all, what are a few dozen, or few hundred, victimized girls?

But, more likely, the big TV and newspaper outlets simply don’t want to further damage the reputation of Planned Parenthood. (Don’t forget the fact that the Statesman is a big donor to Planned Parenthood of Idaho).

This brewing scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. All across the country, Planned Parenthood operates largely outside of the law which applies to others. And they are almost never brought to account.

Long before Ms. Piercey arrived in Idaho, there was strong evidence to believe that Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers were systematically avoiding their responsibilities under Idaho’s Child Protective Act (IC 16-1619) to report the sexual abuse of Idaho girls.

Research we began several years found a disturbing discrepancy between known cases of teenage pregnancy/abortions and reported cases of teenage girl sexual abuse. In 2000, for example, there were 822 pregnancies among Idaho girls under 17; yet only 106 cases of suspected sexual abuse were reported to Idaho law enforcement. Even more disturbing, we estimated that only 7 of those reports came from medical personnel. (And these figures don't even begin to touch the number of girls being preyed upon by an adult male, but who did not become pregnant due to contraceptives provided without question by Planned Parenthood).


Granted, these figures are only estimates – the shroud of “privacy” around abortion makes it very difficult for an organization like ours to get to the truth. Officials like Attorney General Lawrence Wasden would have to find the will to use their power to subpoena records and demand accountability from the “missionaries of misery” at Planned Parenthood.

But we DO know from numerous national studies that a large proportion of teenage pregnancies are the result of older sexual predators.

At this point, we can only wonder how long Idaho’s media will serve as co-conspirators in the widespread victimization of Idaho’s vulnerable teenage girls.