Commentary

One of George Soros’ favorite “charities” is Planned Parenthood. He sees the organization as a key player in his drive to impose his radical socialist agenda on the world.  We ran across a story recently which details his most recent gift of $350,000 to the organization to aid in its work in Virginia.  At all costs, President Trump must not be allowed to carry the state of Virginia in 2020.

And speaking of Planned Parenthood, the national organization announced this week that it will spend $45 million to elect abortion advocates to the House and Senate in next year’s national election. That is a massive amount of money.  If used correctly, it could tip some close elections.

Of course, Planned Parenthood will need all of that and more.

The simple truth of the matter is that we are winning this cosmic struggle. Data came out a week ago showing that the number of abortions has dropped by some 800,000 each year.  That is 800,000 babies alive.  800,000 women who don’t have to carry the painful burden of knowing they chose wrongly.

We have much work yet to do. And pro-Lifers must begin preparing now for the election season which is thrust upon us.  Donald Trump must be re-elected and we must retake the U.S. House from the clown show which daily denigrates that proud institution.  Let us begin with prayer.

The annual Life Chain is coming up this next Sunday (October 6^th).  It is an event that has been held since the 1980s to publicly challenge our nation’s slide into barbarity.  The event has grown to over 900 cities, held on the first Sunday in October.

Many churches mark that Sunday as “Pro-Life Sunday”, in which congregations are reminded of what the Lord thinks about the sacrifice of preborn children. Prayers for His help and mercy in ending this barbarous practice are lifted up.  In some churches, this commemoration led Christians into realizing that more had to be done.  It was not enough to talk to each other.  We had to take the Gospel outside of the meeting house and into the community.

The notion of Life Chain was born.

Pro-Life signs were printed, or hand made. Groups of pro-Lifers gathered on a busy street to hold up the signs while they spent time praying.  Messages like, “Adoption, the Loving Option” or “Abortion Kills Children”, or “Stop Abortion Now” confronted people on their way to shop or spend a nice fall afternoon in the park.

For just a moment, or maybe quite a few, our neighbors were made to recall that the lives of vulnerable babies were being snuffed out on an industrial scale, each and every day. An uncomfortable moment to be sure, but one that could lead to action.  Action that not only saves a baby – but a nation as well.

The Treasure Valley Life Chain will be held again on the 6^th, from 2-4 pm.  Miracles often happen.  Several times we have had pregnant women intent on aborting their babies drive through the Life Chain, turn around and come to the table, asking for help in finding a better answer.  All they needed was to be reminded of what they already knew in their hearts.

We pray that you might take some time to join us. Join us on the line to rebuild the walls of protection around preborn children.  Give voice to your faith; action to your pro-Life convictions.

A new prophetess has appeared on the world stage, a Swedish girl by the name of Greta Thunberg. This teenager was just given a platform at the United Nations to share her vision of an environmental holocaust with the leaders of nations.  Her demand for immediate and drastic climate “action” was rewarded with enthusiastic applause.

The Left, which nowadays includes major media outlets, has sung her praises.  Some have even compared her to the Virgin Mary.

Hollywood’s elites are simply gushing. Alyssa Milano wrote that “we are blessed to have this warrior of the human spirit”.  Debra Messing wants her to get a Noble Peace Prize.  Mia Farrow added her approval and applause on her Twitter account.

The foolishness on display is simply astounding. And rather foreboding.

Over the years, many people have casually predicted that the Lord will one day judge America and the world for its embrace of industrialized slaughter. Surely they are right – but they miss the fact that God is judging America and the world for the abortion holocaust.  And Miss Thunberg is a perfect example of that judgment.

In the book of Isaiah, we read of God’s harsh dealings with Israel because of their rebellion and sin:

“The Lord …shall take away from Jerusalem … support and prop, hero and warrior, judge and prophet…. I will make striplings their princes; the fickle shall govern them…. The child shall be bold toward the elder, and the base toward the honorable.” (Isaiah 3: 1-7).

Can there be any more striking example of this same holy judgment upon our modern culture than a teenage girl berating and leading morally bankrupt heads of state? Or, for that matter, a Speaker of the U.S. House catering to the childish tantrums of an AOC?

The criminal trial against pro-Life champions David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt is underway in San Francisco. We’ll circle around to the chilling impact this trial will have on the First Amendment; but let’s start with this startling fact:

Everything we saw and heard in those infamous videos about the cold-hearted trafficking in aborted baby parts is true. Planned Parenthood and their partners in crime, StemExpress, initially denied that the videos and documents were accurate.  They claimed that the videos had been doctored, edited, to make them look bad.  The documents that Daleiden had uncovered were “fabricated”.  The MSM was all too happy to carry their message and help Planned Parenthood ride out the public storm.

Yet this week, when under oath, officials for StemExpress confessed that the documents and videos were accurate. They bought baby parts, included intact brains and even baby heads to allow some Dr. Jekyll to conduct “medical experiments”.

In open court doctors working for StemExpress even confessed to buying “beating hearts” from Planned Parenthood for studies underway at Stanford University.

Truly. This is truly horrific.

And yet, this criminal and barbaric operation remains free. None of those officials at Planned Parenthood or StemExpress are being held criminally accountable.  Instead, the young people who documented this assault on civilization itself face some 15 felony charges.

Can any reader seriously contend that this situation does not prove, beyond rational debate, that our legal system has been tragically compromised in order to accommodate the slaughter of innocent babies? Is it not heart-breakingly obvious that Kamala Harris, in accepting massive campaign donations from Planned Parenthood and their devotees, traded her integrity when she brought these charges against Daleiden while she was California AG?

And if that is not enough to drive you to your knees to plead for justice from the Father of Lights – we’ll mention this: This criminal trial represents the first time in California history that journalists have faced criminal prosecution for practicing their craft and defending the public’s right to know.

During the recent “presidential” debates between a crowded stage of Democrats-who-would-be-king, socialist Bernie Sanders outdid them all by acknowledging that his support for unrestricted abortion is rooted in the dark world of eugenics.

Sanders did not use the word, of course.

But he explicitly supports abortion, especially in the Third World, to reduce the world’s population. It just so happens that the majority populations in the less developed world are black, brown and yellow.  No matter.  These races represent an existential threat to “Mother Earth” and must be culled.

Sanders is truly a “child” of the 1960’s, though he was actually a young adult. The ideas he brings to the public table are rooted in the various radical fantasies of his youth.  Some of those fantasies are relatively harmless, even charming.  But most are dark and dangerous.

His views of managing the population were developed in an era when college students absorbed the dark propaganda of books like “The Population Bomb”. Published in 1968 by Professor Paul Ehrlich, the book contended that the earth simply could not support a growing population.  It predicted widespread famine and social destruction as we ran out of natural resources.

Those dire predictions failed to materialize. But never confuse a good liberal with facts; it complicates the story. Obviously, Bernie Sanders is not alone.  We see an almost religious adherence to the notion of global warming/cooling/climate change – regardless of scientific evidence to the contrary.  Mankind is seen as something akin to a disease, a threat to the Goddess Earth.

This environmental religiosity is imbued with a racism and elitism that can be traced directly to historical socialists like Margaret Sanger. The solution to poverty was not capitalist production, but elimination of the poor and oppressed.  Sanger called these people “human weeds”.  Bernie Sanders is a bit smoother, but his philosophy is fundamentally the same.

The fruit of such thinking is always the same – death. In this particular case, the death of vulnerable preborn children.

It is simply outrageous that a person like Bernie Sanders would be regarded as a respectable and reasonable voice in the public square, let alone a potential president of the United States.

The nation’s largest abortion chain suffered a serious body blow this week, as the 9^th Circuit upheld President Trump’s new rules about Title X “Family Planning” funds.  They had already lost an appeal to a three judge panel of the liberal court last month; they then asked for an en banc hearing.  That ruling was issued yesterday – and Planned Parenthood lost on a 7-4 vote.

The bottom line here is that Planned Parenthood will either have to give up Title X monies – or completely separate their abortion business from their “family planning” operations. The new rules require separate facilities, separate staff and a hard line which bans elective abortion as a legitimate method of birth control.

Planned Parenthood has already stated that it has no intention of complying with the Trump Rules.

Based upon the court ruling yesterday, it now seems likely that Planned Parenthood will lose upwards of $60 million each year in Title X funds. The only recourse they have is to file an appeal with the Supreme Court – which will almost certainly fail.

This is an historic pro-Life victory – made sweeter by the fact that it came via the 9^th Circuit.

Planned Parenthood will continue to receive hundreds of millions in tax dollars through the Medicaid program; in fact, this is their big cash cow. But even Planned Parenthood will feel the blow of losing $60 million in guaranteed annual revenue.

America’s pro-Life community was profoundly disappointed by Friday’s announcement by the U.S. Supreme Court that it would not hear an appeal of a court ruling which prevents the state of Alabama from enforcing its ban on “dismemberment” abortions.

The law, passed by Alabama’s legislature in 2016, would prohibit the Abortion Industry from destroying babies by tearing them apart, piece by piece, while still in the womb. This horrific procedure is the most commonly used method for killing preborn children in the 2^nd trimester.  Alabama’s law requires that an abortionist use some other, more humane, procedure to end the baby’s life before removing it from the womb.

But the Abortion Industry claims that such a requirement is “unconstitutional” because it is inconvenient and there are no equally-reliable methods for killing a baby in the womb.

There are at least nine other states which have enacted similar statutes. Idaho’s Legislature briefly considered a ban on dismemberment abortions in the 2016 Session, but determined to await the court challenges from around the country before testing the 9^th Circuit.

However, Idaho was one of 21 states which filed a “Friend of the Court” brief with the Supreme Court in the Alabama case, urging the high court to consider Alabama’s appeal.

Hopes have been high among pro-Life voters since President Trump was able to secure the appointment of two pro-Life justices that the Court was about to turn the corner on Roe. Upon learning that all nine justices rejected even the consideration of Alabama’s appeal – disappointment is palpable in churches and living rooms all across the nation.

We can only speculate as to the reasons why the pro-Lifers on the Supreme Court determined that this was not a case to consider. But certainly it involves a calculation as to the odds of securing a majority of votes to uphold a ban on dismemberment abortions.  No doubt there was fear of laying down additional bad precedent.

We must continue to persevere in prayer that this Court will find the will to act. It is just a moral abomination that the tortuous dismemberment of innocent babies – particularly on an industrial scale – is being protected by America’s most cherished Constitution.  How can this nation claim to be a civilized people when we treat our children with such barbarous contempt?

This is an amazing turn of events.

President Trump won an historic victory in his drive to eliminate taxpayer support for Planned Parenthood. Since taking office, his Administration has been working to advance the protections for pro-Life Americans and preborn children at a pace never seen before in the Roe era.

Last year, the President reviewed the laws governing Title X – a program which puts the federal government in the business of helping people indulge their sexual appetites without having to worry about the natural consequence; a program Democrats like to call “family planning”. (How this came to be a federal taxpayer burden is a whole scandalous story in itself).

His review came at the urging of Senators Risch and Crapo, who wrote him a detailed letter explaining the clear intent and history of the Title X program, which was revised by Congress in the 1980’s. The clear letter of the law is that “family planning” monies should not involve abortion in any way, shape or form.  Risch and Crapo argued that Congress intended that monies provided to an organization like Planned Parenthood for genuine birth control efforts needed to be rigorously separated from that entities abortion activities.

President Ronald Reagan issued rules to implement Congressional intent- and was promptly sued by Planned Parenthood. However – that case was ultimately settled by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case known as Sullivan.  The court ruled that the Reagan Administration could, in fact, require that abortion providers receiving Title X must conduct the “family planning” counseling and services in a facility entirely separate from an abortion clinic.  They could also require that the staffing for these two functions be completely separate.

Tragically, that rule was never actually implemented. By the time the ruling came down from the high court, Bill Clinton had become president.  And he rewrote the rules governing Title X to suit Planned Parenthood.  The Clinton rules have remained in place ever since – including throughout the years of the Bush Administration.

It took Donald Trump to take the fight to Planned Parenthood.

Naturally, they sued. And, naturally enough – they found various liberal judges to issue rulings in their favor, despite the previous ruling by the Supreme Court.  In fact, a number of district court judges actually issued “national injunctions” against the Trump Administration rule changes from taking effect.  (A clear abuse of their authority under the Constitution).

There is no doubt that President Trump is on solid legal ground in demanding that Title X funds be segregated from abortion operations. And there is no doubt that he would eventually win this fight in the courts.

What is astonishing is that he won this important round before the 9^th Circuit.  We cannot recall another pro-Life ruling by this circuit, even an accidental one.  But this week a 3 judge panel lifted the injunctions imposed by their arrogant colleagues.

Planned Parenthood and their allies must be flabbergasted. They have owned this circuit for decades.

They have little choice but to try an appeal – perhaps to a full gathering of the 9^th Circuit.  After all, they stand to lose tens of millions in taxpayer subsidies each year.

In addition to the president’s defense of preborn children, we must acknowledge his sustained effort to fill judicial vacancies with individuals who have some notion of judicial restraint and respect for the clear and obvious text of the U.S. Constitution. It would seem that his efforts are beginning to bear fruit – even in the 9^th Circuit.

As the headlines continue to focus on “RussiaGate Hoax” – a profound battle for Life is underway in the U.S. Congress.

Democrats under Pelosi are waging a full-on assault on the pro-Life accomplishments of the Trump Administration:

This week, the Appropriations committee included language which would allow the District of Columbia to use taxpayer funds to pay for abortions-on-demand.

The full House approved appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services and State & Foreign Operations this week as well. Buried within those spending bills are deeply disturbing pro-abortion policies:

• Title X – the nefarious federal program to finance Planned Parenthood – would see an increase of $114 million in the next fiscal year, a bonanza of $400 million for America’s largest abortion provider.
• The Conscience Protection Rule enacted by the Trump Administration would be repealed by the House language.
• Trump’s program to promote abstinence would be defunded by House Democrats; instead, they would increase funding for another Planned Parenthood program (Teen Pregnancy Prevention – or TPP).
• Congressional Democrats are also seeking to overturn President Trump’s Executive Order which again forbids federal tax dollars from flowing to international organizations that promote or perform abortion as a method of “family planning”. (Mexico City Policy).
• To add salt in the wound – Democrats want to increase US funding of international “family planning” programs by a whopping $230 million.

These are grave threats to taxpayers and the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom under the First Amendment. They are also unmistakable demonstrations of the modern Democrat Party’s full-throated embrace of Planned Parenthood’s agenda.

God willing, the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate will reject these radical policies and fight to the end to defend the gains we have made through the leadership of President Trump. If they choose to stand tall and be counted as champions of life, there will no doubt be contentious and bloody fights later this year as cries mount to “keep the government open”.

We submit that a government driven by the dark agenda of Planned Parenthood is not one that deserves to “stay open”. The abuse of the Constitution and taxpayers must be stopped.  The lives of the next American generation depend upon it.

The US Department of Health & Human Services announced yesterday that it was ending a research grant to the University of California at San Francisco because that institution continues to use aborted baby parts in its medical research. That grant is worth almost $14 million a year.

The research going on at UCSF requires tissue harvested from babies aborted at between 17-24 weeks, or almost 6 months into a pregnancy. Some babies can survive outside the womb at that stage of his or her development.  And, without serious debate, all of those babies can and do experience intense pain during the abortion experience.

This whole issue came into national focus several years ago when undercover videos were shot showing that Planned Parenthood had developed a lucrative black market by harvesting tissue and organs from babies they kill in the abortion procedure; the organization then sells those organs to unscrupulous medical researchers who feel unbound to abide by ethical standards in conducting human research.

On the heels of that revelation, Idaho Chooses Life pressed the Idaho Legislature to make it clear that such heinous medical research would be illegal in Idaho. We were successful.

However, during that legislative session, we became aware of the fact our own federal government was up to its hips in financing research efforts using tissue and organs from aborted babies. To the tune of tens of millions of dollars. It is an appalling situation that demanded correction.  We contacted our congressional delegation and asked for their help in getting the U.S. government out of this sordid business.  They responded, and upon the election of Donald Trump, began pressing for a change in policy at the HHS and the National Institutes of Health.

Praise the Lord! We are grateful to announce that, not only did HHS cancel the grant to the University of California yesterday – it also announced a change in policy.  In a press release, the department said that it will no longer fund research involving the use of human fetal tissue from elective abortions.

Going even further, HHS will provide an additional $20 million to find viable, ethical alternatives to tissue gathered from aborted babies.

This is a huge development and we are grateful to the leadership of Senators Crapo and Risch, as well as President Trump for his commitment to building a culture of Life within the entire federal administration.