The Idaho House passed HB216 by a strong 48-21 vote this morning after vigorous debate.

Most Democrats opposed the bill, with many arguing against its passage. The theme of their opposition was that 1) this bill is unnecessary because pharmacists already are protected and 2) if we pass this bill, terrible things will happen.

Rep. Cliff Bayer hit a home run during his debate in support of the bill when he observed that such argumentation was circular: Either pharmacists are being compelled to violate their conscience now, or the dire predictions are unlikely to happen.

In other debate, we once again witnessed an Idaho legislator make the argument that if a pharmacist has a conscience issue, then he or she should leave the profession. This goes to the heart of the matter. The Abortion Lobby demands a conformity and submission to their views and agenda; the only people entitled to “freedom of choice” are those “enlightened” persons who agree with them. Regardless of your position on abortion, you should be troubled by this form of tyranny.

Our deep appreciation to Rep. Tom Loertscher for carrying legislation which protects freedom, rather than denying it; this is truly a rare moment for any modern legislative body.

Under the guise of enhancing the rights of Idahoans with disabilities, the Idaho Senate passed SB 1114. It was well on the way to becoming law until national author Wesley Smith (Culture of Death) became interested in its details.

He alerted a few friends in Idaho and the national Right to Life office. Within hours, work began to unravel the particulars of this legislation.

Without possible dispute, this is the most lethal piece of legislation ever considered by the Idaho Legislature. Within its many pages is a substantial rewrite of the “Medical Consent and Natural Death Act”. (This is the portion of Idaho Code empowering people to prepare “living wills”).

Under the proposed legislation, a single doctor would be empowered to withdraw life-sustaining medical treatment if he or she determined that such treatment was “futile” or “medically inappropriate”. (These terms are never defined). The bill's language would allow such withdrawal in violation of a patient’s expressed wishes in a “Living Will”. The patient (or authorized decision-maker) could not appeal the doctor’s ruling to a court. As written, the patient’s family would have fifteen days to move their loved one to another hospital – or be forced to stand by and watch her die.

The legislation is so draconian that one is initially overcome by disbelief. Yet a careful reading of Section 5 makes it clear that many presumptions of the Death Culture have worked their way into the mainstream of medical consciousness. In tandem with proposals by the Obama Administration to ration health care under the rubric of “reform”, we see this legislation as posing a dangerous threat to every Idahoan, not just “the disabled”. (After all, each of us is just one car accident or organ failure away from joining this precious class of persons).

We have spent some two weeks working on amendments with Right to Life and have participated in a series of meetings trying to fix this bill so that Idahoans have protections from the will of a single frustrated physician or an administrator looking to clear a bed for financial reasons. It is unclear whether any of these safeguards will be accepted by the bill’s proponents.

The safest course of action is for people to get up to speed on the bill and contact members of the House Health & Welfare Committee:

Sharon Block, Chairman sblock@house.idaho.gov
Pete Nielsen, Vice Chair pnielsen@house.idaho.gov
Janice McGeachin jmcgeach@house.idaho.gov
Tom Loertscher tloertscher@house.idaho.gov
Paul Shepherd pshepher@house.idaho.gov
Lynn Luker lluker@house.idaho.gov
Jim Marriott jmarriott@house.idaho.gov
Steven Thayn sthayn@house.idaho.gov
Judy Boyle jboyle@house.idaho.gov
Marc Gibbs mgibbs@house.idaho.gov
Jeff Thompson jthompson@house.idaho.gov
Fred Wood, M.D. fwood@house.idaho.gov
Branden Durst (D) bdurst@house.idaho.gov

We should ask them to oppose SB1114 unless pro-Life amendments are attached to the bill.

We would also welcome your prayers.

The Idaho House will give final consideration to HB 216 in the next day or two. It is important for legislators to hear from you about this valuable defense of health care professionals.

A lot of weird objections to the bill have been raised, with the Abortion Lobby hoping fear will drive folks into opposing the bill. But the truth is, very little will change if the Legislature moves to codify conscience protections for our pharmacists. Many observers believe they already have this right under the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. And, in fact, they do. As of now, Americans still enjoy the right to practice their religion and follow their conscience.

At the same time, we must recognize that pharmacists are under assault across the nation. As one Idaho legislator put it – if they want a conscience, they should get out of the profession.

And there is the key rub: the Abortion Lobby is engaged in a national campaign to force health care professionals, especially pharmacists, into submitting to their agenda. Even if you are not pro-Life, that should scare you.

It is essential that we are able to trust the corner pharmacist to look out for us. The integrity of the profession is vital to all of us. We need it stocked with the best and brightest, men and women of the highest moral character. One day, your very life may depend upon that gentle lady behind the counter.

Given the oppressive actions of the Obama Administration, we need to defend these professionals by securing their constitutional rights in Idaho Code. That is the same reasoning which led the Idaho Legislature to protect doctors and hospitals from being forced to participate in abortions back in 1973.

Please take a moment to contact your house members: idleginfo@lso.idaho.gov.

Or you can pick up the phone and leave a message: 332-1000, or 1-800-626-0471.

Thanks for your help!

Labels: conscience protections

In yet another bid to reimburse the Abortion Lobby, President Obama signed an Executive Order this morning allowing human embryos to be treated as a “cash crop” by bio-medical research firms and universities. He will even use federal tax dollars to make us all stock owners in the macabre enterprise.

Under the new regime, the federal government will finance embryonic stem cell research – which necessarily means the wholesale destruction of human embryos in order to harvest stem cells from these most vulnerable members of our species. In doing so, Obama continued to hold up the lantern-like hope that miracle cures will ensue. The far more certain result is that he has led us into a darker moral tunnel, where moral approval has been given to cannibalizing the weak.

Obama took pains to assure star-struck listeners in the media that he would demand “ethical” guidelines to assure us that human cloning does not follow; but this is merely the latest example of Obama’s patented slip-and-slide dance routine. The cloning of human embryos will be a certain outcome of his new policy. (This is known as “clone-and-kill”).

What he will not allow, at least not yet, is the cloning of an embryo who is allowed to live. That, by the president’s light, would be immoral.

This radical policy shift was expected, as President Obama made clear during the campaign.

If there is any upside to this development, it is that Obama has, we believe, reached the end of his easy gift list to the Abortion Lobby. From here on out, Executive Orders will not be sufficient to expand the scope and depth of the Death Culture Obama seeks to build. He will necessarily have to engage members of Congress as accomplices.

And that will allow the American people many opportunities to defend the preborn child -- and themselves.

Labels: abortion, embryos, obama, president

Well, I have to admit I was partially wrong. I predicted last month that no criminal charges would ever be filed in the horrific murder of a baby born alive in Miami some two-and-a-half years ago. But under intense public pressure, the local DA has finally charged one of the abortion clinic workers with two felonies:

The first is “unlicensed practice of a health care profession”; the second, “tampering with physical evidence”. The accused, abortuary manager Belkis Gonzalez, faces a minimum penalty of $1000 and one year in prison.

To recap for our readers, this is the case in which a 19 girl went in for a late-term abortion. While waiting for the official abortionist to arrive, the woman gave birth. Ms. Gonzalez grabbed the baby from the floor, cut the umbilical cord with office scissors, and stuffed the baby into a garbage bag. For good measure, the baby was tossed up on the building’s roof.

What is incomprehensible here is why several players are not being charged with murder.

Numerous press reports have indicated that two autopsies proved the baby had air in her lungs before dying – the most common legal definition of “born alive”. Why isn’t the federal prosecutor using the Born Alive Infants Protection Act to prosecute this case correctly?

Obviously the politics of Dade County and the ideological bent of the DA are determinative in this awful case. What better proof could be offered that, in the era of Roe v. Wade, some people are more equal than others?

Labels: abortion, born alive infants, Miami, Roe vs. Wade

It is almost like President Obama is working his way down the “Planned Parenthood Christmas Now List”. As bad as Tom Daschle would have been for preborn children – Kathleen Sebelius is an even worse pick for Health & Human Services.

This is a supposed-Catholic who has received a public, written reprimand from the Archbishop of Kansas City for her rabid commitment to abortion. This is a woman who has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from notorious late-term abortion specialist George Tiller. She has returned the favor many times, playing a behind-the-scenes role in protecting Tiller from various criminal investigations – especially the one led by Phill Kline.

Despite those best efforts, Tiller is about to stand trial on 19 criminal counts of violating Kansas law prohibiting late term abortions.

Disregarding the outrage surrounding Tiller, Governor Sebelius went so far as to host a private party at the governor’s mansion for Tiller and his staff.

Obama knows full well that he is playing with fire in picking her. Yesterday’s press conference announcing his nomination was designed to downplay her critical role as well as her disturbing devotion to abortion-on-demand. Press reports suggest that he spent more time talking up his other health appointment (Nancy DeParle) than Sebelius.

His people have also been working overtime to make sure a “grassroots” effort is in place to defend Sebelius from her radical history. The pro-abortion group calling itself, “Catholics United”, has already announced an off-shoot, “Catholics for Sebelius”. They have even issued a press release claiming that she led efforts to reduce abortion in Kansas while governor.

The truth is no obstacle to these people: Abortions actually increased in Kansas by 6.5% between 2005 and 2006.

Sebelius will have tremendous power over the fate of preborn children and health care providers as she assumes control over the nation's largest civilian department, which spends something like one-quarter of the federal budget.

It is a horrific prospect.

Labels: abortion, health and human services, Sebelius